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Northwest Chess — Chess News from Washington, Oregon and Idaho

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NWC: Home > Magazine > Editors

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Jeff Roland, now the most prolific Northwest Chess editor of all time with 137 issues, as of April 2024! (Jeff took the lead in December of 2021.)

Editors List

The WASHINGTON CHESS LETTER (WCL) was started in Nov 1947 under the editorship of Lawrence Taro of Everett. A list of all the people who have been editors was compiled in February 2009 by Russell Miller and John Donaldson from their magazine collections. It is only a small list of the names of many people who have made chess news of activities in the Pacific Northwest available in printed form every month since 1946.

The publication of chess news started as a one page sheet in September 1946 PUGET SOUND CHESS NEWS, became a several page monthly in 1947, WASHINGTON CHESS LETTER published by the Washington Chess Federation. The name changed to NORTHWEST CHESS LETTER in January 1965 to better reflect the area the news was covering and then to NORTHWEST CHESS in May 1968, as we know it now.

The editor of the most issues was previously the late Daniel E. Wade of Seattle who did 108 issues with the first one in August 1952. However, current editor Jeffrey Roland is now first on the list with an impressive 137 issues and counting - congratulations, Jeff! Next on the list, moving into 3rd place, is Robert A. Karch (83.75) with his first issue in January 1973. Russell Miller's (79.75) first issue was November 1966. Fred Kleist (79.25) is next on the list and his first one was May 1989, in which he shared the duties with Ralph Dubisch, Karch and Miller. Ralph Dubisch moved into fifth place - now sixth (54.25 issues), surpassing Philip Peterson (47). There were some editors who lived in Oregon, California and now Idaho, and even one who lived in British Columbia.

 
Puget Sound Chess News
Published by the Puget Sound Chess League by the Bremerton YMCA
Issue dates #Issues Editor City
September 1946 to February 1947 6 George Rehberg Bremerton, WA
Washington Chess Letter
November 1947 to March 1949 17 Lawrence Taro Everett, WA
April 1949 to May 1950 14 Jack L. Finnigan Seattle, Gig Harbor and Bremerton, WA
June 1950 to June 1952
(May-Jun 1952 was combined issue)
24 Robert Stork Chehalis and Seattle, WA
July 1952 1 O.W. Manney (temporary editor) ?
August 1952 to March 1954 20 Daniel E. Wade Seattle, WA
April 1954 to February 1955 11 John S. DeWitt Seattle, WA
March 1955 to July 1955 5 Gerald (Jerry) B. Schain Seattle, WA
August 1955 to December 1955 5 Daniel E. Wade Seattle, WA
January 1956 to April 1956 4 George Bishop Seattle, WA
May 1956 to May 1959 37 Daniel E. Wade Seattle, WA
June 1959 to May 1960 12 Buz Eddy Seattle, WA
June 1960 to March 1961 10 Daniel E. Wade Seattle, WA
April 1961 to April 1962 13 Richard Schultz Seattle, WA
May 1962 to December 1964 32 Daniel E. Wade Seattle, WA
Northwest Chess Letter
January 1965 to April 1965 4 Daniel E. Wade Seattle, WA
May 1965 to April 1966 12 Richard Parsons Seattle, WA
May 1966 to October 1966 6 Buz Eddy Seattle, WA
November 1966 to April 1968 18 Russell (Rusty) Miller Yakima, WA
Northwest Chess
Links are to memorial page or "people" page for editors who have passed away (if information is available).
May 1968 to February 1970 22 Russell Miller Yakima, WA
March 1970 to April 1971 (June 1970 was a one-page issue. July 1970 was a 32-page double issue to make up for this.) 14 Willie Skubi Seattle, WA
May 1971 to July 1972 15 Rob Hankinson Richmond, BC, Canada
August 1972 to December 1972 5 Russell Miller Yakima, WA
January 1973 to July 1973 7 Robert A. Karch Seattle, WA
August 1973 to October 1974 15 Russell Miller Yakima, WA
November 1974 to October 1975 12 Dan Bailey Tacoma, WA
November 1975 to October 1978 36 Kennedy (Kip) Poyser Wenatchee and Olympia, WA
November 1978 to September 1982 except
Oct. 1979
46 Robert A. Karch Seattle, Kenmore and Issaquah, WA
October 1979 (guest editor) 1 Russell Miller Yakima, WA
October 1982 to January 1983 4 Mary Lasher Seattle, WA
February 1983 to May 1983 4 Robert A. Karch Issaquah, WA
June 1983 to November 1984 (Note: John Donaldson was listed as the Editor on the masthead but John Braley was the actual Editor.) 18 John Braley Seattle, WA
December 1984 to November 1985 12 Robert A. Karch Lynnwood, WA
December 1985 to October 1986 11 John Howell Portland, OR
November 1986 1 John Howell
Robert A. Karch
Portland, OR
Everett, WA
December 1986 to November 1987 12 Robert A. Karch Everett, WA
December 1987 to November 1988 12 Nikolay Minev Seattle, WA
December 1988 to April 1989 5 James Blackwood Seattle, WA
May 1989 1 Ralph Dubisch, Robert A. Karch,
Fred Kleist and Russell Miller
various
June 1989 to November 1990 18 Ralph Dubisch Seattle and Bellevue, WA
December 1990 to January 1993 26 Philip Peterson Salem and Puyallup, WA
February 1993 to October 1994 21 Mike Neeley Yelm, WA
November 1994 to March 1996 17 Russell Miller Seattle, WA
April to May 1996 2 Robert A. Karch (interim editor) Des Moines, WA
June 1996 to January 1997 8 Matthew R. Goshen Salem, OR
February 1997 to November 1998 22 David Roper Seattle, WA
December 1998 1 Dave Roper and Russell Miller Seattle, WA
January 1999 1 Russell Miller (interim editor) Seattle, WA
February 1999 to March 1999 2 Philip Peterson Puyallup, WA
April 1999 to October 1999 7 Peter Prochaska Beaverton, OR
November 1999 to April 2000 6 Philip Peterson Puyallup, WA
May 2000 to September 2000 5 Peter Prochaska Beaverton, OR
October 2000 to April 2001 7 Philip Peterson Puyallup, WA
May 2001 to October 2001 6 Peter Prochaska Beaverton, OR
November 2001 to April 2002 6 Philip Peterson Puyallup, WA
May 2002 to October 2002 6 Peter Prochaska Beaverton, OR
November 2002 to August 2008 and October 2008
(Feb-Mar 2008 was combined issue)
70 Fred Kleist Seattle, WA
September 2008 1 Ralph Dubisch (Guest Editor) San Jose, CA
November 2008 to October 2011
(Jun-Jul 2010 was combined issue)
35 Ralph Dubisch San Jose, CA
November 2011 to July 2012 9 Fred Kleist Seattle, WA
August 2012 to November 2012 4 Frank Niro Meridian, ID
December 2012 to April 2024 137 Jeffrey Roland Boise, ID
TOTAL (excluding Puget Sound Chess News) 915    
 
Number of Issues Edited
as of last update above
Name of Editor Born-Died # Issues
Jeffrey Roland 1962- 137
Daniel E. Wade 1918-1998 108
Robert A. Karch 1930-2010 83.75
Russell (Rusty) Miller 1942-2020 79.75
Fred Kleist 1955- 79.25
Ralph Dubisch 1960- 54.25
Philip Peterson 1961-2022 47
Kennedy (Kip) Poyser 1945-2009 36
Robert Stork deceased 24
Peter Prochaska 1951- 24
David Roper 1971- 22.5
Mike Neeley ?-2019 21
Buz Eddy 1940-2016 18
John Braley 1944-2017 18
Lawrence Taro 1891-? 17
Robert Hankinson 1949-1981 15
Willie Skubi c. 1950- 14
Jack L. Finnigan deceased 14
Richard Schultz deceased 13
Richard Parsons   12
Dan Bailey 1951- 12
Nikolay Minev 1931-2017 12
John Howell   11.5
John S. DeWitt deceased 11
Matthew R. Goshen   8
Gerald (Jerry) B. Schain c. 1931-? 5
James Blackwood   5
Mary Lasher   4
George Bishop deceased 4
Frank Niro 1948- 4
O.W. Manney deceased 1
Total   915
#Editors   31

Issue Numbers

The February 2009 magazine is shown on the inside cover as Issue 727. Research by IM John Donaldson and Russell Miller has shown that it actually was Issue 734, beginning with the Washington Chess Letter in November 1947. The Puget Sound Chess News is not counted since the Washington Chess Federation did not exist until 1947, and in any event the PSCN did not cover the entire state.

The numbering discrepancies over the years were identified as follows: (total 7 issue discrepancy)

  • July 1975 was Issue 332, August 1975 was Issue 333 but September 1975 was again listed as 332, October 1975 as 333 and November 1975 as 334 – so there were two issues numbered 332 and 333 (2).

  • March and April 1982 were both numbered Issue 410 (1).

  • September to December 1991 were all numbered Issue 523 (3).

  • October and November 2001 were both numbered Issue 641 (1).

Note that there were also two double issues (May-Jun 1952 and Feb-Mar 2008), resulting in a total of 734 issues over a 736 month period. Not bad for a state (or two-state) chess publication! (That's in addition to the Jun-Jul 1970 double issue after a one-page Jun 1970 issue.)

NWC has adjusted the issue numbers shown in the magazine, beginning with March 2009, which is now Issue 735. Our 750th issue was published in June-July 2010 (combined issue), and our 900th issue was published in January 2023! The 900th issue also represents our 75th anniversary, remarkably with only a three-month delay over the years due to combined issues.