GM Varuzhan Akobian simultaneous exhibition was held December 20, 2007 at the Chess4Life Center, Bellevue, WA.

Final! United States Chess League 2007 playoffs concluded with the Championship (Final Round), Boston Blitz vs. Dallas Destiny, on November 28. Congratulations to the Dallas Destiny, winner in a blitz playoff! (The Seattle Sluggers didn't make the playoffs this year.)

Chess Day! On October 9, 1976, President Gerald Ford, the nation’s thirty-eighth president, declared October 9th to be National Chess Day. So get out there and celebrate and play a few games of chess!! There was a special event in Chelan, WA on 10/13.

See list of Northwest Top 100 USCF-rated adult chess players.

Updated! The NWC links page has been completely reorganized and updated. Use this page to help you find other chess sites of interest to you!

The Tacoma Chess Club was at the Puyallup Fair Sunday 9/16 and Monday 9/17.

Rona Frank is looking for a chess coach for an elementary school in Bellevue, WA.
If interested, contact Rona at res0fkho1@verizon.net.

Northwest Chess receives honorable mention in annual Chess Journalists of America state publications competition! See http://www.chessjournalism.org/aw2007.htm.
Longtime local chess promoter Robert Karch also received an award!

Chess4Life is pleased to present a new chess school and after-school program (for ages 5-12) at Clarus Academy in Bellevue. Contact the Chess4Life Chess Center at (425) 283-0549, or E-mail kids@chess4life.com for more information.

David Weinstock (of ChessMate.com & WizerGames) reports that he was discharged from the rehab facility, following his auto accident earlier this year. He would like to thank people for their well wishes and kind thoughts while he was in the hospital.

Pogo Chess League – Online chess players using Pogo (www.pogo.com) might be interested in a new chess league. For more info, see www.mate.leaga.com.

Congrats! – Congratulations to Fred and Carol Kleist on receiving the United States Chess Federation's Outstanding Career Achievement Award! Fred is the NWC editor.

GM Anka visits Bellevue, Portland – GM Emil Anka was in the Northwest! He gave a simul at the Chess4Life Center in Bellevue on July 10, and gave another at the Portland Chess Club the evening of July 16. He was also involved in two workshops at the PCC; one for high school kids and one for adults (both July 17-18). Have a game from either simul that you want to share? – Send it to the NWC editor!!

"Help Our Kids Develop Critical Thinking Skills" was submitted as a proposal to the American Express Member's Project by Chess4Life on behalf of America's Foundation For Chess. American Express cardholders could vote on the top 50 proposals until July 15.

Lottery Winner Wants Chess Set – According to a story in The Seattle Times "Odds and Ends" column for June 13, the winner of a Canadian lottery jackpot valued at US$35 million "hankers" for a new chess set! Now that's what we call dedication to chess!! The winner's name is Graham Gelineau, and he lives in a rooming house in Toronto.

LatestChess.com is hosting a "Chess problem solving and Blog writing contest for the year 2007." (See their website for details.)

We regret to announce that David Weinstock of ChessMate.com was seriously injured in a car accident. He is at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Please keep him in your well wishes and prayers. His e-mail is being handled by Rachael Scandarion on behalf of ChessMate.com. For updates, see http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/myloveone.

Congratulations! GM Alexander Shabalov is the United States Chess Champion,
winning the Frank K. Berry US Chess Championship with a score of 7 out of 9. This event was played May 15-23, 2007 as a 9-round Swiss in Stillwater, Oklahoma. GM Alex Onischuk finished second with 6.5. See the USCF website for additional info and links.

Spokane Chess Club Out-of-Towner's Grand Prix – See the Spokane club page.

In Memoriam – The Oregon Chess Federation and Northwest Chess regret to announce the death of Clark R. Harmon, OCF treasurer and longtime chess master and organizer, on the morning of April 12. Funeral services were held on April 19. Additional info and stories.
Tribute to Clark Harmon from Vancouver, BC, Canada (PDF file).

Blunder! Some annual renewal notices were e-mailed stating that a person's membership expired at the end of April, when in fact it may not expire until the end of May. Please check your mailing label code for either "0704" (April) or "0705" (May). Sorry about this error.

GM Yasser Seirawan invented a new chess variant involving two new pieces which come into play once any piece has been moved off its starting square. Yasser was in Vancouver, BC on March 31 to play a Seirawan Chess simultaneous against a small group of players. See http://www.chessmastery.com/seirawan-chess.html. See video clips and photos of this exhibition (the first ever Seirawan Chess event) at: http://www.chessmastery.com/seirawan-simul.html, and we also now have a report with some games!

Video! For those who can't get enough of the Fischer mystique, we offer the latest semi-satirical music video with special effects, "A Rook House for Bobby," on YouTube. Go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjXKR6xVzAI. For the 1992 Fischer-Spassky game in the video, see http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044755.

Blitz! Portland Chess Club started Thursday Blitz Night on 3/1 – See TA Page.

He was Here! IM John Donaldson visited the Northwest – he gave lectures and simultaneous exhibitions at the Portland Chess Club on 2/21 and in Spokane on 2/23 before the annual Dave Collyer Memorial Tournament (2/24-25).

Final! Franett Memorial Northwest Chess Grand Prix Results for 2006.

Woodpusher Champ! – Scholastic player Peter Lessler won the WA Woodpushers (U/1800) championship Feb 17-18 in Tacoma with a very impressive score of 4.5 out of 5.0!

Congrats! Also, congratulations to Viktors Pupols, the newest honorary life member of the Washington Chess Federation!! WCF President Geoff Gale is looking for "Unkle Vik" stories; see "Legendary Vik Pupols" on the NW Chess Forum.

HAPPY NEW YEAR from Northwest Chess! See the calendar for 2007 chess events!!

Affiliate program – Northwest Chess is now a marketing affiliate of The Chess House, whose ads also appear monthly in the magazine. See the banner at the bottom of this page to purchase chess equipment and books. Note that chess ads may also appear at the top of web pages, however those are controlled by the web hosting company and are not affiliated with Northwest Chess.

Memorial for Eric Winges – A memorial was held for former state scholastic chess champion Eric Winges in Seattle on December 29, 2006. Eric died tragically from an apparent suicide on December 19. Eric's father, Kirk Winges, is a very active promoter of scholastic chess in Washington State, and this loss certainly affects all of us in the Northwest chess community. Also see http://www.whsca.org/.

Games from 2006 WA Class Championships – Games are available in ChessBase archive format or PGN format. Many thanks to Drayton Harrison for compiling the 149 games that were submitted with readable scoresheets (and thanks to the players as well)!