Are you ready to subscribe to Northwest Chess and join your state chess federation (for residents of Washington/Oregon)? - See: PayPal Subscription/Membership Form | Printable Form (PDF file). Residents of other states may subscribe without a state membership.

• Northwest Chess Facebook page | NWC Facebook "app" page for mobile device screen.

• Online Registration – Available for some upcoming open and scholastic events.

• Search the NWC website using Google™ custom search (this opens a new page).

• Northwest Chess blog - See reports on local chess events and occasional comments and discussion from NWC officers and editors.

• Northwest Chess logo store on CafePress - order shirts, coffee mugs and other merchandise.

• Now 483 issues! Northwest Chess magazine back issues - For a complete list of available issues (scanned prior to Sept. 2008, made from the print production files thereafter), please see the Northwest Chess Scanning Project page. Washington Chess Letter scans from the 1947-1964 time period are also available and included.

• Our games viewer has been updated to the Chessbase viewer, which has many modern features. You can view games from the Washington and Oregon state championships and some other regional chess tournaments in your browser. See the games page.

Note: See calendar for more info about upcoming chess events.

February - Advertised Chess Events!

• See calendar for more info about upcoming chess events, including ad links.
• There are no more GP events. The GP is discontinued as of 2023.
• Feb 3, 10, 17, 24 SCC Cabin Fever, Seattle, WA
• Feb 4 SCC Saturday Quads, Seattle, WA
• Feb 4-5 Washington President's Cup, OCA Seattle + Redmond, WA
• Feb 11-12, 18-20 Washington State Championship, Redmond, WA
• Feb 25-26 The 30th Collyer Memorial, Spokane, WA
  Note: Also see linked flyer for side events including IM John Donaldson simul.
• Feb 25-26 Eastside Open, Issaquah Highlands Chess Club, Issaquah, WA
• Feb 26 SCC G/20 Hexes, Seattle, WA

February - Scholastic Events

• Chess4Life is offering live virtual chess classes/camps.
• Feb 4 SW Washington High School and Middle School Chess Championships, Centralia College, WA
• Feb 4 Oregon Girls Championship, Portland, OR
• Feb 20 Presidential Scholastic, Chinook Middle School, Bellevue, WA
• Feb 24-25 Oregon High School Chess Team Championship, Junction City, OR

Important notes: Beginning with the January 2022 issue of Northwest Chess, all extra copies are received and handled by Josh Sinanan. If you would like to request an extra copy or didn't receive your copy in the mail, please contact Josh, joshsinanan@gmail.com. Eric Holcomb is no longer the Business Manager. Please mail all checks and other written items to the Orlov Chess Academy address at the top of this page.

Philip Peterson 1961-2022 - With the February magazine (see below), we regret to report the accidental death of former NWC editor Philip Peterson over the Christmas holiday. Philip edited 47 issues of NWC during the 1990s and early 2000s, and was an accomplished chess photographer, with his work appearing in NWC as recently as the January 2023 cover (see below) which was edited and sent to print shortly before his passing.

February magazine! The February 2023 issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on Friday 1/20. It's a 32-page issue with "Chessable and Chess.com at the Pan-Am" by Alexey Root, "Philip Peterson 1961-2022" by Ralph Dubisch, "2022 Oregon Junior Closed" by Wilson Gibbins, "Robert “Bob” Bishop 1953-2022" by David And Ellen Baumann, "Chess, Art and the Power of Community" by Gabriela Osias, "2022 Washington Class Championships" by Josh Sinanan, "Northwest Grand Prix—Final Report" by Murlin Varner, and a back-cover photo of “Smoky Queen” by the late Philip Peterson. Cover: “Evening at the Club” by Gabriela Osias. See the teaser edition (selected pages with color).

The NWC Grand Prix for 2022 was conducted in three sections - Washington, Idaho and all others. See the GP page or the February 2023 magazine for a final report. The 2022 GP is named in honor of Ignacio Perez. There will not be a GP in 2023.

900th Issue! Our 750th issue was published in June-July 2010 (combined issue), and our 900th issue was just published for January 2023! The 900th issue also represents our 75th anniversary, remarkably with only a three-month delay over the years due to combined issues. See the editors page for more information and details about Northwest Chess magazine over the years. We're getting close to 500 of the 900 issues available online, and we hope to go well over 500 in 2023.

January magazine! The January 2023 issue of Northwest Chess has been printed and mailed but we don't have the mailing report yet with the exact date of mailing. We'll post an update when available. This is the second NWC full-color issue, and all future issues will be in full color! It's a 32-page issue with "Northwest Chess Hall of Fame" by Ralph Dubisch for the NWC Board of Directors, "Northwest Chess Hall of Fame Inductee: Viktors Pupols" by John Donaldson, "2022-2023 States Cup" by Siva Sankrithi, "2022 Turkey Shoot" by Adam Porth, "17th Susan Polgar Foundation National Open" by SPFNO Organizers, "Susan Polgar Foundation National Open" by Karen Schmidt, "Where Have All The Novices Gone" by Nobel Ang, "2022 Oregon Class Championships" by Wilson Gibbins, "2022 Washington Challenger’s Cup" and "2022 Challenger’s Cup Scholastic" by Josh Sinanan, and "900-themed artwork" by Eric Holcomb on the back cover. Cover: “Issue 900!” by Philip Peterson. See the teaser edition (selected pages with color).

Ted Wang wins National K-12 3rd Grade Section! See the linked blog post. This scholastic chess event took place Dec. 9-11 in Maryland. Ted was the only 3rd grader from Washington.

December magazine! The December 2022 issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on Friday 11/25. This is the first NWC full-color issue! It's a 32-page issue with "2022-2023 States Cup Chess Tournament" by Siva Sankrithi, "Norman Friedman Memorial And National Chess Day" by Adam Porth, "Detective Cookie Chess Park Grand Opening" by Josh Sinanan, "Gary Dorfner (1947-2022)" by Bill Rogers, "Remembering Gary" by John Donaldson, "2022 Washington G/60 Championship," "2022 Washington G/15 Championship" and "2022 Washington Blitz Championship" by Josh Sinanan, Washington Junior Open & Reserve (Ad) Bellevue, January 16 "Took The Train To Spokane" by Karen Schmidt, "2022 Eastern Idaho Open" by Jay Simonson, and a back-cover photo of Brian Lee and Jason Cigan by Adam Porth. Cover: Jason Cigan, Brian Lee, and Ryan Ackerman by Adam Porth. See the teaser edition (selected pages with color).

Gary J. Dorfner, 1947-2022 - As reported by Vivi Bartron, "It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of Gary Dorfner, Tacoma Chess Club's Tournament Director. Gary died sometime last weekend of natural causes at the age of 75. He was discovered on Monday, October 31st sitting in his easy chair, maybe contemplating chess. ... Gary was active in Tacoma chess since high school. Besides being a major part of the Tacoma Chess Club, he was secretary of the Washington Chess Federation for many years and an active tournament director for many regional tournaments for adults and children." WCF President Josh Sinanan adds that "Gary served as an active member of the WCF Board and Tacoma Chess Club for many decades. He will be dearly missed." Photo: Gary at the Washington State (Puyallup) Fair in 2013.

Chess Coach Wanted! Seattle Prep is looking for a new chess coach! Please see the scholastic opportunities page, and email William Liu if you are interested: WLiu@seaprep.org.

November magazine! The November 2022 issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on 10/28. It's a 32-page issue with "Aryan Deshpande Becomes National Master" by Josh Sinanan, "72nd Oregon Open" by Wilson Gibbins, "Fantastic FIDE Titles And Where To Find Them" by Joseph Levine, "Washington Women’s Championship" by Josh Sinanan, and a back-cover photo of Rekha Sagar, Chouchan Airapetian, and Josh Sinanan by Meiling Cheng. Cover: Matt Zavortink and Erik Richardson on Denali, by Nick Sweeney. See the teaser edition (selected pages with color).

New Master! (Reported by Josh Sinanan) Congratulations to Aryan Deshpande of Sammamish, Washington, who recently became Washington State's newest National Master! Aryan achieved a US Chess rating of 2202 as a result of winning two games at the recent PNWCC Friday night tournament on October 7, held at the Microsoft campus in Redmond. Along the way, Aryan won against young phenoms Michael Lin (1579) and Vidip Kona (1933). Way to go Aryan!! See the US Chess crosstable.

See old news previously appearing on this page.

Some local tournament reports were previously posted to the Northwest Chess (NWC) blog, found at http://www.nwchess.com/blog/. Links are to NWC blog post or other report, usually US Chess or scholastic rating report. However, blogging activity has stopped. If you are interesting in blogging for your club's events, please let us know.