Are you ready to subscribe to Northwest Chess and join your state chess federation/association (for residents of Washington, Oregon and Idaho)? - See: PayPal Subscription/Membership Form | Printable Form (PDF file).

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• Online Registration – Available for some upcoming WCF and scholastic events.

• Search the NWC website using Google™ custom search (this opens a new page).

• Northwest Chess blog - See reports on local chess events and occasional comments and discussion from NWC officers and editors.

• Northwest Chess logo store on CafePress - order shirts, coffee mugs and other merchandise.

• Now 429 issues! Northwest Chess magazine back issues - For a complete list of available issues (scanned prior to Sept. 2008, made from the print production files thereafter), please see the Northwest Chess Scanning Project page. Washington Chess Letter scans from the 1947-1964 time period are also available and included.

• As of Nov. 2017, our games viewer has been updated to the Chessbase viewer, which has many modern features. You can view games from the Washington and Oregon state championships and some other regional chess tournaments directly in your browser. See the games page.

Note: See calendar and TA pages for more info about upcoming chess events.

Important note: The Northwest Chess Forum (bulletin board for chess-related discussions) has fallen into disuse for about the past three years, is difficult to properly administer (for example, due to spammers), and will be removed shortly. Please download and save any discussions, games, etc., posted in this forum if you don’t want to lose them. As an alternative, persons with interesting chess-related content to share can request an author account on our Northwest Chess blog. All requests should be made to the Business Manager, and should include a sample of the type of content you intend to share.

Important note: Please read "From The Publisher’s Desk" in the December magazine. There has been an increase in state membership dues for the first time in 15 years, starting in January. See the PayPal membership application page to make a payment, or see the printable membership/subscription form. Life memberships are also available - please inquire if interested.

This Week/Weekend - NWC Grand Prix events!

• Sep 29 Seattle CC Saturday Quads, Seattle, WA - See September SCC ad
• Sep 29 Portland Game in 60, Portland, OR
• Sep 29-30 Eastern Washington Open, Spokane, WA

This Week/Weekend - Other (non-GP) events!

• Sep 25 Portland Tuesday Night Quads (Rd 3), Portland, OR
• Sep 28 Seattle CC Close Ratings 3 (Rd 4), Seattle, WA - See September SCC ad
• Sep 28 Seattle CC Championship (Rd 3), Seattle, WA - See September SCC ad

Chess Olympics! As reported by IM John Donaldson, "The Chess Olympiad starts in Batumi, Georgia, on Sept. 24. The United States, defending champions, enters the 180 country event as the top seed with an average rating for its first four boards (Caruana, So, Nakamura and Shankland) of 2772. Right behind it are Russia (Kramnik, Nepomniachtchi, Karjakin and Jakovenko) at 2764 and China (Ding, Yu, Yi and Hao) at 2755."

October magazine! The October issue of Northwest Chess is in production, and should be mailed on 9/26. It's a 32-page issue with "Upset Drama At Spokane Falls Open" by James Stripes, "August 2018 Unrated Rapids" by Brian Berger, "Boise Chess Club #20" by Jeffrey Roland, "2018 Vancouver Open" by Jacob Mayer, "2018 Vancouver Open Sacrifices" by Phillip Seitzer, "Seattle Classic" by Jacob Mayer and Josh Sinanan, "Truelson At The Seattle Classic" by Joseph Truelson, "More Seattle Classic" by Eric M. Zhang,  "Jason Yu Becomes National Master" by Josh Sinanan, "Mini-Tournament No. 7, Return Of The Mouse Trophy" by Jeffrey Roland, "Coquille Summer Of 2018" by Nancy Keller, "Seattle GM Summer Camps And Flood" by Jacob Mayer and Josh Sinanan, "August 2018 PCC Game 60" by Brian Berger, and a back-cover photo of Dustin Herker at Las Vegas International Festival by Nancy Keller. Cover: Bill Rottmayer at Spokane Falls Open by James Stripes. See the teaser (selected pages with color).

It's a Tie! The 6th Sinquefield Cup, staged at the Saint Louis Chess Club, ended in dramatic fashion with an unprecedented three-way share of the title - see "A Walk in the Forest" on John Henderson's blog (posted 8/28); also "Carry On Caruana" (posted 8/31). Note that two of the tied players, M. Carlsen (Norway) and F. Caruana (USA), will meet for the world championship this fall.

September magazine! The September issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on 8/30. A few copies were available at the Oregon Open on Sunday. It's a 32-page issue with "ICA Summer Classic" by Jeffrey Roland, "4th Annual Rose City Sectionals" by Brian Berger, "US Chess National Senior Invitational" by Michael Presutti, "2018 Players Memorial" by Adam Porth, "East Idaho Senior Games" by Jay Simonson, "July 2018 PCC Game 60" by Brian Berger and Isaac Vega, "2018 Washington State Championship Brilliancy Prize" by Josh Sinanan/Curt Collyer/Jacob Mayer, "Aaron Grabinsky Third IM Norm In Philadelphia" by Aaron Grabinsky, "Photo of past CJA Awards" by Adam Porth, and a back-cover photo of Drew Machin by Jeffrey Roland. Cover: Jerrold Richards and Morgan the Dog by Brian Berger. See the teaser (selected pages with color).

New Master! See Jason Yu becomes National Master on the NWC blog.

NWC Wins CJA Award! Northwest Chess is pleased to once again be the recipient of the Chess Journalist Award for Best Magazine / Newsletter, one of "The Top Four" awards, awarded by the Chess Journalists of America (CJA). The 2018 award certificate, shown here, names Editor Jeffrey Roland. Congratulations to Jeff and all of our NWC magazine contributors. This is five years in a row for Jeff!

Pan-American Youth follow-up! We had previously reported that several local youth chess players would represent the U.S. at the 2018 Pan-American Youth Championships in Santiago, Chile, July 21-29. Now that it's over, we're pleased to report that Sophie Velea and Anne-Marie Velea won gold medals in the girls under 10 and girls under 14 divisions, respectively, with Anne-Marie also earning the title of Woman FIDE Master. Both of them will continue to represent the U.S. at future events in Spain and Greece, and at the 2019 Pan-American Championship in Ecuador. 22 countries participated in the 2018 tournament, with Team USA winning 1st place! Photo of Team USA courtesy of Monica Olaru. Also see the post on the NWC blog.

International Chess Day! Although many people remember July 20 as the anniversary of the first manned lunar landing in 1969, did you know it's also International Chess Day, the anniversary of the founding of FIDE in 1924? See John Henderson's blog post.

Juvenile facility seeks volunteers - Echo Glen is a Washington State juvenile detention facility and a school operated by the Issaquah School District. The facility has approximately 125 male and female youth in residence. If you are intersted in volunteering to help these youth reach their untapped potential, please read more about the facility and its chess program, or email Susan at susan@smilepower.org.

43rd World Chess Olympiad! This event, along with the annual FIDE congress, will be held Sept. 23-Oct. 6 in Batumi, Georgia. Official website: batumi2018.fide.com. IM John Donaldson is expected to once again be the U.S. team captain.

August magazine! The August issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on 7/24. It's a 32-page issue with "Idaho Senior Open" by Jeffrey Roland, "Portland Summer Open" and "June 2018 Unrated Rapid" by Brian Berger, "Summer Chess Barbeque at Presutti’s" and "Boise Chess Club #19" by Jeffrey Roland, "June 2018 PCC Game 60" by Brian Berger, "More Games From The Washington Open" by Various Players, "The Brian Black Dedication Event" by Gary Dorfner & Vivi Barton, and a back-cover "Group Photo at Idaho Senior Open" by Janos Fucsko. Cover: Hans Morrow, winner of 2018 Senior Open, by Jeffrey Roland. See the full issue (all pages with color).

'Chess' the musical! This show is playing in Lake Oswego at various times until Aug. 12. See the review on the Oregon Live website.

July magazine! The July issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on 6/27. It's a 32-page issue with "Friday Night Blitz In Twin Falls" by Adam Porth, "GM Hou Yifan Visits Seattle" by Josh Sinanan & Xuhao He, "Washington Open (A Personal Account)" by Andrey Terekhov, "Raelund Wins Inland Empire Open" by Kevin Korsmo, "The Anatomy Of A Blunder" by Cleveland Ray Johnson, "Penguin Extravaganza" and "May 2018 PCC Game 60" by Brian Berger, "2018 BCC #18" and "Northwest Chess Scanning Project" by Jeffrey Roland," and a back-cover photo expressing that "Isaac Vega really likes penguins" by Josh Sinanan. Cover: 2018 Washington Open Winner GM Andrey Gorovets by Jeffrey Roland. See the full issue (all pages with color).

Pupols wins Marshall Award! Longtime chess master and WCF life member Viktors Pupols has been named a winner of the annual Frank J. Marshall Award from US Chess, along with Franc Guadalupe of Texas. This award is given "for being an outstanding ambassador for chess and lifetime contributions to the game." Congratulations, Vik!

Now Available!
Chesstoons Drawn by Brian Berger:
Book 1: November 2013-October 2015
Book 2: November 2015-February 2018
Online books are free for private non-commercial use. For any commercial use, re-publishing, etc., please contact the NWC Business Manager or Publisher.

June magazine! The June issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on 5/30. It's a 32-page issue with "Letters To The Editor" by Jerrold Richards & Cleve Johnson, "2018 Idaho Open" by Jay Simonson, "Oregon Senior Open" by Brian Berger, "2018 OSCF State Championship" by Owen McCoy, "Jack Schrader (1935-2018)" by Russell Miller, "April 2018 PCC Game 60" by Brian Berger, "US National Junior Congress 2018" by Vijay Sankaran, Igor Shubin, and Stephan Jiang, "2018 WA State Middle School Chess Champion Mahalakshmi Arasu," "Grand Pacific Open" by Naomi Bashkansky, and a back-cover photo of "Rusty’s Socks" by Russell Miller. Cover: Michael Abron at the Idaho Open by Jeffrey Roland. See the full issue (all pages with color).

Local Juniors Qualify! The US Chess Federation recently announced (on May 8) the list of junior players who have qualified to participate in the 2018 World Cadet Chess Championships to be held in Galicia, Spain, Nov. 3-16, 2018. 14 Washington and Oregon players qualified either for this event or for the World Youth (ages 12-18) event, which will be held in Halkidiki, Greece, Oct. 19-31, 2018! Please see the blog post on this website, and congratulations - Looks like some travel coming up!

Scholar Award! The U.S. Chess Federation (US Chess) named five recipients of the 2018 Scholar-Chessplayer Awards, and we're pleased to report that Seth Talyansky, age 17, from Portland, Oregon was one of the five. See the article on the US Chess website. Seth previously appeared on the cover of Northwest Chess for May 2017 - see the 2017 news page.

U.S. Championships! - The 2018 U.S. Chess Championships were held April 17-29 at the Saint Louis Chess Club for the tenth consecutive year. Congratulations to new U.S. Chess Champion GM Sam Shankland, with a final score of 8.5 out of 11, going undefeated. World championship candidate GM Fabiano Caruana finished a close second with 8 points, losing only once.

In Memoriam (reported by Russell (Rusty) Miller) - Jack Arthur Schrader of Vancouver, Wa., and originally from Oregon, passed away on Apr. 18 at the age of 82. He is survived by his wife, a son and daughter, 5 grandchildren and 2 great granddaughters. Jack was a man of many talents, of which chess was one, playing at a respectable amateur level. A number of his cartoons have appeared in Northwest Chess. Photo: Jack Schrader at Biscuits restaurant. Photo courtesy of Esther Schrader.

Local youth to represent U.S.! - Sophie Velea will be the Official U.S. Representative for Girls U10 at the 2018 Pan-American Youth Championships in Santiago, Chile, July 21-29! Stephanie Velea and Bryce Tiglon also qualified by Personal Rights by achieving gold medals at the 2017 North American Youth. See the official news on the US Chess website, and congratulations to Sophie, Stephanie, and Bryce! Note (added 4/25): Stephanie and Anne-Marie Velea also had great results at the All-Girls National Chess Championships held Apr. 20-22 in Chicago. Stephanie tied for 1st place in girls under 12 and Anne-Marie took 2nd place in girls under 14. Photo at right: Stephanie and Anne-Marie Velea at the April event. Photo courtesy of Monica Olaru.

See old news previously appearing on this page.

Some local tournament reports are posted to the Northwest Chess (NWC) blog, found at http://www.nwchess.com/blog/. Links are to NWC blog post or other report, usually US Chess or scholastic rating report. Thanks to Rusty Miller for writing most of the tournament reports from 2013 until April 2014. Rusty stepped down, but started blogging again occasionally as of Nov. 2014. If you are interesting in blogging for your club's events, please let us know. Click on photos to enlarge, or see photos in some of the blog posts.

Photo: Washington Women's Co-Champions WCM Minda Chen and WFM Anne-Marie Velea. Credit: WCF.

Open or Invitational Events (September-October): Sep 23 Bethel Monthly Sunday Chess Quads, Eugene, OR (flyer) Sep 21-23 Seattle Fall Open, Seattle, WA Sep 14-16 and 22-23 Oregon State Championship and Invitational (rescheduled), Portland, OR Sep 15 Eastern Idaho Open, Pocatello, ID Sep 14-16 WA Women’s Championship, Seattle, WA (flyer) Sep 9-13 Headless King Tournament, Spokane, WA Sep 9 Portland Sunday Quads, Portland, OR Sep 9 Seattle CC Sunday Tornado, Seattle, WA Sep 8 Portland CC Unrated Rapid, Portland, OR Sep 1-3 68th Annual Oregon Open, Portland, OR (flyer) Sep 2 Oregon Open Blitz, Portland, OR

Photo: Chess players gave the Bryan Black memorial chess tables a workout after the dedication ceremony. Credit: Sean Robinson.

Open or Invitational Events (July-August): Aug 7-31 Portland Tuesday Night Quads, Portland, OR Aug 3-31 Seattle CC Dog Days, Seattle, WA Aug 9-30 August Adjeeb Quads, Spokane, WA Aug 26 Boise Chess Club #20, Boise, ID (flyer) Aug 26 PNWCC Blitz Fundraiser, Redmond, WA Aug 25 Seattle CC Saturday Quads, Seattle, WA Aug 25 Portland Game in 60, Portland, OR Aug 19 Portland Sunday Quads, Portland, OR Aug 18-19 Spokane Falls Open, Spokane, WA Aug 18-19 Spokane City Championship (match), Spokane, WA Aug 15-19 2nd Annual Seattle Chess Classic, Seattle, WA (flyer) Aug 12 Seattle CC Sunday Tornado, Seattle, WA Aug 11-12 Vancouver Open, Vancouver, WA (flyer) Jul 28-Aug 5 119th U.S. Open Championship, Middleton, WI Aug 4 Portland CC Unrated Rapid, Portland, OR Aug 4 Medford Open, Medford, OR Jul 28-31 National Senior Tournament of Champions, Middleton, WI Jul 10-31 Portland Tuesday Night Quads, Portland, OR Jul 29 Seattle CC Novice, Seattle, WA Jul 28 Seattle CC Saturday Quads, Seattle, WA Jul 28 Portland Game in 60, Portland, OR Jul 6-27 Seattle CC Hot as Hades, Seattle, WA Jul 25 Presentation to Seattle Chess Club, "Chess – It’s More Than Just a Game" by Jim Egerton, MBA Speaker, Best-Selling Author, Teacher, & Chess Coach (flyer | video) Jul 20-22 Seattle Seafair Open, Seattle, WA Jul 21 Portland Rapid and Blitz Championships, Portland, OR Jul 21 Bend Summer Open, Bend, OR (flyer) Note: Quads changed to 6-player rated open section. Jul 15 Portland Sunday Quads, Portland, OR Jul 13-15 WA vs. OR Challenge Match, Seattle, WA (flyer) Instead of a WA vs. OR Challenge Match, we held two Scheveningen Team Matches, with teams composed of 5 players as advertised in the original flyer. Jul 14 ICA Summer Classic, Boise, ID (flyer) Jul 8 Seattle CC Sunday Tornado, Seattle, WA Jul 7-8 4th Annual Rose City Sectionals, Portland, OR Jul 7 Seattle Chess Masters Series, Seattle, WA (flyer) Jul 5 Bryan Black Chess Park Memorial Dedication, Puyallup, WA See the City of Puyallup webpage for this event. Facebook invite page: https://www.facebook.com/events/391430618028957/. See The News Tribune and Puyallup Herald article.

May 5 Intermat group photo by Victoria Doknjas.

Scholastic Events (May-June): Jun 23-24 International Youth Chess Championship, Las Vegas, NV Jun 22-24 U.S. Junior Open, Kenner, LA Jun 15 Happy Valley Park Open, Portland, OR Jun 10 Bethel June Quads, Eugene, OR Jun 9 Orlov Chess Academy Tournament of Champions, Seattle, WA May 26 WA Open Scholastic Chess Tournament, Lynnwood, WA May 5 WA vs. BC International Scholastic Match, Vancouver, BC BC won 33-19. See results on the official match website.