November 8, 2009 Submitted by Russell Miller, Camas, WA.

Special Prizes Announced for Women Chess Players (revised)

See the original March 1, 2009 press release.

The family of Martha Jane Miller (Russell Miller, John David Miller, Mary Ruth Harper, Hilliary Church, lelleen Miller) provided a $100.00 cash prize for the best score by a woman chess player in the top sections of each tournament for the 2009 Washington Open (winner: King Liao) and the 2009 Oregon Open (winners: Alexandra Botez and Dana Hannibal, both of Oregon). There will be $100.00 prizes in 2010 events also (Gresham Open will have one of them), but which other events have not been decided yet. This is a $100.00 special prize and will still be awarded should the winner of this special prize win other cash prizes. Also the money will be split if there is a tie score. If no women take part in the top section, then there is no prize for that event.

Photo: Russell Miller's mother, taken in 2005. She died 1 Oct 2007. The money for these prizes came from the sale of some very old books that she owned and the family decided to donate the funds from that sale to chess in her name. Some of you may recall that the NW Chess Grand Prix was named several years ago in honor of Russell's dad.