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Northwest Chess — Chess News from Washington, Oregon and Idaho

Northwest Chess is a non-profit corporation registered in Washington State.
 Address: PO Box 84746, Seattle, WA 98124-6046. See magazine section for Business Manager address and subscription information.
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Current Chess News (see below for tournaments completed)

This Weekend - NWC Grand Prix events! Portland CC G/60 (May 18); Pierce County Open (May 18) in Tacoma; Idaho Open Chess Championship (May 18-19) in Pocatello - See calendar and TA pages for more info about upcoming chess events.

This Week/Weekend - Other events! Calgary International Chess Classic (May 14-20) in Calgary, Alberta; Cedar Hills Crossing CC Thank Goodness It's Friday (TGIF) Open (Rd 3 on May 17) in Beaverton; May Day Quads (May 17) in Tacoma; 38th Annual Paul Keres Memorial (May 18-20) in Richmond, BC; Red Castle Games G/5 Blitz Tournament (May 19) in Portland - See calendar and TA pages for more info about upcoming chess events.

Register This Week! Washington Open (May 25-27 in Seattle) early registration deadline ... register by Saturday, May 18 for a $15 discount off the onsite fee. See the PDF flyer. (Note: If your membership expiration date is not correct in the Online Registration system, please email info@nwchess.com for assistance.) Do not fret! Newport June Open has extended their special offer deadline by two weeks. Mail by May 18 and get a 10% discount on any single entry, or a 20% discount if four or more entries are combined in an envelope. See info sheet / entry form.

Scholastic Chess Article! Sherwood's Middleton Elementary School hosts largest school-wide chess tournament in Oregon from The Oregonian (May 9 about a May 3 event).

May magazine update! The May issue of Northwest Chess was uploaded to the printer on April 23, and mailed on April 30 after a short delay. It's a 32-page issue with State Championship Games (Part III) Washington Games Conclusion, Oregon Chess News by Frank Niro, Washington Chess News compiled by Russell “Rusty” Miller, Idaho Chess News, and the usual Northwest Grand Prix Report by Murlin Varner. Cover: Nathan Jiang wins the Idaho Scholastic Championship. Also pictured is retiring ICA President, Jay Simonson. Photo credit: Jeff Roland. See the teaser (selected pages with color). Also see calendar and TA pages for more info about upcoming chess events.

New Everett Club! A new chess club in Everett, the Chess Geeks, is meeting at the Everett Mall beginning on Saturday May 18. See the club's information page on this website.

GP Standings! See 2013 Grand Prix standings as of April 15 (PDF file). This year's Grand Prix has been named in honor of Elena Donaldson.

Interview! with Magnus Carlsen by Charlie Rose on PBS (posted April 24, 2013). Carlsen is currently the highest ranked chess player in the world.

Interesting Article! "Chess Should Be Required in U.S. Schools" by Alex Berezow on "Newton Blog" on RealClearScience.com.

New Rates!! - New Northwest Chess subscription rates are now in effect. (These rates include full OCF or WCF memberships as applicable to residents of Oregon and Washington.) Discounts are still available - Pay only $65 for three years (adult), $45 (junior) or $12 (additional family member w/o subscription). The rates are available on the PayPal subscription page and on the PDF (mail-in) subscription form. Washington residents: please add the applicable sales tax. Idaho residents: please see ICA website for information about ICA Premium Memberships which include a NWC subscription.

New Master! Megan Lee has been awarded the Woman FIDE Master (WFM) title, reaching a FIDE rating of 2114. She is also the second highest FIDE-rated woman in the U.S. under the age of 18.

Board Meeting! The Northwest Chess board met on Sunday April 14, 2013 at the Harmon Memorial tournament in Portland. Left to right: David Yoshinaga, Josh Sinanan, Jeff Roland, Eric Holcomb, Grisha Alpernas and Duane Polich. Photo credit: Jeff Roland's camera, taken by Frank Niro.

Match of the Editors! Northwest Chess editor Jeff Roland is playing a USCF-rated chess match against previous editor Frank Niro. The match started on April 4, and details are available on the ICA website.

Discounts on ChessHouse products! - Coupons for April 2013: $5 off $30 (coupon code A446 if needed) or $10 off $75 (coupon code A439).

Yasser in St. Louis! On Tuesday, April 9, the World Chess Hall of Fame held the first installment of its free lecture series, featuring Yasser Seirawan, Rotating Grandmaster in Residence at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. In his first lecture, GM Seirawan discussed chess history, from its roots in India almost 1500 years ago to the advent of modern technology and its impact on today's players. Info.: Lauren Stewart, lauren.stewart@worldchesshof.org, (314) 367-9243 ext 106.

Interesting Article! See "How the Chess Set Got Its Look and Feel" from the Smithsonian Magazine blog.

April magazine mailed! The April issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on Wednesday, March 20. It's another 32-page issue with Dave Collyer Memorial Tournament Report by Kevin Korsmo, "Luck in Chess" by IM John Donaldson, State Championship Games (Part II) Oregon plus Idaho, Idaho Chess News, Washington Chess News, Scholastics, Oregon Chess News and the usual Northwest Grand Prix Report by Murlin Varner. Cover: IM John Donaldson at the 2013 Dave Collyer Memorial by Jeff Roland. See the teaser (selected pages with color).

International Match! Rusty Miller reports than a 6-board email match is in progress between Vancouver, Washington and Dubrovnik, Croatia! The match began Sunday, March 10. See progress of the match.

More Scholastic Articles! Lincoln High chess team wins state, looks ahead to winning future from The Oregonian (Mar 29 about Mar 8 event) | LMS (La Grande, OR Middle School) chess club shows promise from The Observer (posted March 13). | Coquille team wins at state chess tournament from The World (posted March 12). | Ellensburg students move straight to chess on lunch breaks from the Yakima Herald Republic online (posted March 6). | Bits 'n' Pieces: Teen chess expert aims to master from The Columbian (Jan 25 edition).

March magazine mailed! The March issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on 2/28.
It's a 32-page issue with Washington State Championship Results, Oregon State Championship Results, Idaho State Championship Results, State Championship Games (the first weekend, February 9-10), John Donaldson Book Review, Washington Chess News, Oregon Chess News, Idaho Chess News and the usual Northwest Grand Prix Report by Murlin Varner. Also see the ads (available in the teaser version) for a new advertiser, including a special discount code!

New Master! Igor Ummel, a college student at the University of Washington, became the Northwest's newest master on Monday, Feb. 18. He scored 4.5/9 at the 2013 WA State Championship in Seattle and gained 19 points to boost his rating to 2206! He beat Nathan Lee (2155), FM Curt Collyer (2311), and drew with NM Tian Sang (2312) along the way. Congratulations Igor! USCF crosstable link.

Now Online! According to USCF, the award-winning documentary Brooklyn Castle is now available on iTunes and on Video on Demand on most cable systems, Hulu, Amazon and other direct movie channels. Brooklyn Castle is a documentary about I.S. 318, an inner-city public school that's home to the most winning junior high school chess team in the country. Website: http://www.brooklyncastle.com.

Also Online! Rusty Miller reports that "King Arthur" is an article about chess grandmaster Arthur Dake (1910-2000) of Portland by Casey Bush in the Jan./Feb. 2013 issue of 1859 OREGON'S MAGAZINE. The article is now available on the magazine's website - see our own "People Articles" page for more on Dake, including a link to the article, which is well-worth reading.

Simul! Costin Cozianu (2508 USCF), the highest rated player in the Washington state championship and former state champion, graciously agreed to give a simultaneous exhibition at the Seattle Chess Club at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 16 between rounds 5 and 6 of the state championship. The event was free and open to the public, with a maximum of 20 players. We hope to have a report and some game scores from the simul later on. IM John Donaldson will also give a simul and talk on Friday evening, Feb. 22 in Spokane before the Collyer Memorial tournament.

Polgar Article! See "The ‘Queen’ [Susan Polgar] Wants to Turn Chess Into a Spectator Sport," posted Feb. 12 on wired.com. Could chess become as popular as golf or poker?

Scholastic Articles! See "Success through chess - Program helps students develop critical and creative thinking skills while having fun" in the Jan. 28 Camas-Washougal Post-Record, and "Junior chess tournament draws 97 players" in the Columbia Basin Herald about a recent tournament in Ephrata, WA.

February magazine mailed! The February issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on 1/23. It's a 32-page issue with Dr. Ralph Hall Northwest Grand Prix (Final 2012 Report) by Murlin Varner, Oregon Chess News, PNW Players Results at the 22nd North American Open (Las Vegas), Washington Chess News, Scholastics, Idaho Chess News, The Modern von Bardeleben by Matt Wilson. See NWC_201302_opt_color.pdf (full-color version).

Grand Prix Results! Complete results of the 2012 Dr. Ralph L. Hall Memorial Northwest Chess Grand Prix are now available (see the NWC Grand Prix page) and a summary appears in the February magazine. Checks were mailed to the winners at the end of January. Congratulations!

See old news previously appearing on this page.

Completed Tournament / Match News

Thanks to Rusty Miller for providing most of the tournament reports.

Beginning in 2013, most local tournament reports will be posted to the Northwest Chess (NWC) blog, found online at http://www.nwchess.com/blog/. Links are to NWC blog post or other report.


Naomi receives her trophy from former world chess champion Gary Kasparov!		 Scholastics (late April and May):

Players compete at the May 4 rapid chess tournament at Coffee Time.		 Open Events (May):

The playing hall at the Washington State Elementary Championships. Photo credit: Russell Miller. 		Scholastics (April):

Frank Niro (left) presents an autographed picture of Susan Polgar taken under the Portland Chess Club sign in 2011 to Mike Janniro at the Clark Harmon Memorial tournament on April 14, 2013. Photo credit: Jeff Roland.		 Open Events (April):
Scholastics (March): The Washington High School Individual Championship was held on Jan. 25-26, but required a playoff on March 2 to decide the champion ... Xiaoman Chu, a freshman from St. George School in Spokane. For his victory, Xiaoman is invited to represent Washington in the Denker Tournament of High School Champions, held concurrently with the U.S. Open in Madison, Wisconsin in August. Photo: Xiaoman celebrates with (and receives trophy from) Washington High School Chess Association (WHSCA) President David Ellinger. Photo credit: Josh Sinanan.

Back row left to right: Wanchen Zao, Priya Kudva, Sarah May, Audrey Whitmer. Front row left to right: Cheyenne Zhang, Naomi Bashkansky, Becca Lampman, Sujatha Devi Chalasani. Not in photo: Olga Cherepakhin.

Northwest Chess editor Jeff Roland takes second place at the 2013 Magic Valley Chess Club Championship. According to Jeff, "I don’t think I’ve ever looked better in a picture in at least 20 years!" Photo courtesy of Jeff Roland, taken by Desmond Porth.		 Open Events (March):
Congratulations to the 2013 state chess champions! (events held in February)
Photo: Washington State champion Ignacio Perez holds the trophy with his name engraved twice (2007 and 2013). The engraved trophy was presented on March 6 at the Bellevue Hilton. Photo credit: Steve Shoe.
Scholastics (late January and February):

Open Events (February):

See old tournament news previously appearing on this page.

Miscellaneous

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Web site updated 5/17/2013 by J. Eric Holcomb.
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