Two British Columbia chess players, Bindi Cheng and (Isaac) Joe Roback, tied for first place at the Portland Chess Club Fall Open October 11-12, also celebrating National Chess Day in the U.S. Each scored 4 out of 5 possible points. (See the USCF crosstable for details.) This is hardly surprising for Cheng, rated about USCF 2500 (higher than anyone who normally plays in Portland), but was a big success for Roback, who raised his USCF rating from 1923 to 2031. Two additional BC players also did well with 3 points, while Oregon and Washington players tied for the 3rd-5th place positions with 3.5 points. In the Reserve section, Oregon player Kian Patel took a clear first place with 4 of 5 points.
Oregon state champion Nick Raptis competed in a separate and exciting six-game match against Washington state champion Nat Koons, which ended in a 3-3 tie. A match report with games will appear in a future edition of Northwest Chess.