188 players, down some from the 2011 event, took part in the Western States Open in Reno Oct 19-21, 2012. Many of them from the Pacific Northwest.
The TD and Organizer for the event was Jerry Weikel of Reno. PNW players in the Open section were: Nick Raptis of Portland, Ignaxio Perez of Renton, Samir Sen of Vancouver WA all with 3-3 and Viktors Pupols of Kingston at 2.5-3.5.
Expert Section: Paul Bartron of Tacoma 4.5-1.5 tied for 2nd place, Paul Romero of Portland at 4-2, Steve Merwin of WA and John Schwarz of Lacey both at 3-3, Randy Dean of Olympia and Bill Heywood of Portland both 2.5-3.5. A Section: Aaron Grabinsky of Coquille OR with 5-1 tied for 1st place., Drayton Harrison of Seattle, Mich Schemm of Seattle and Randall Smolensky of Oregon all scored 4-2, Joseph Kiiru of Tacoma and Mika Mitchell of WA scored 3-3 while Dan Mayers of Sun Valley ID scored 2-4. B Section: Lon Brusselback of Newport OR and Ritchie Duron OR were at 4-2, Jothi Ramesh of Shoreline WA, Peter Grant of Jacksonville OR, Ronald Kirsch of Tacoma, Kerry Van Veen of Seattle all finished with 3-3, Ewald Hopfenzitz of OR 2.5-3.5, Richard Golden of Brainbridge Island WA and Michael Titus of OR 2-4, plus David Wagner of OR at 1.5-4.5. C Section: August Piper of Seattle 4.5-1.5 tied for 2nd, Jeim Fety of OR 4-2, Michael Orr of Indianola WA and Michael Mellott of Tacoma at 3.5-2.5, Stephen Shook of Bellevue 2.5-3.5 and Bernard Spera of OR at 2-4. D Section: Tomothy Sheehan of WA and Joshua Grabinsky of Coquille OR both at 3-3 and Kichael Kent of WA at 2.5-3.5.
The Seattle Chess Club team won the team prize by .5 ahead of Reno Chess Club.
I don’t list hometowns for some of players because they are not current subscribers to NORTHWEST CHESS. If any readers know them ask them to sign up.
Compiled by Russell Miller.