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 470 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 and TA pages for more info about upcoming chess events.

January - NWC Grand Prix events!

• See calendar and TA pages for more info about upcoming chess events, including the reopening of venues for over-the-board chess.
• See Seattle CC January ad for more details on these and other SCC events.
• As in 2020, the 2021 NWC Grand Prix was conducted in two sections - Washington and all others. See the standings intended for publication in the January magazine. The 2021 GP was named in honor of Russell ("Rusty") Miller. Final 2021 standings will be published in February, then details of the 2022 GP will be announced.

• All WCF online events are US Chess Online Rated if eligible.
• Jan 15-16 Seattle City Championship, Seattle, WA
• Jan 15-17 Tessellated, Boise, ID
• Jan 22-23 Two Bishops Arena, Boise, ID
• Jan 23 SCC Sunday Tornado, Seattle, WA
• Jan 29-30 Welcome to the Year of the Tiger, Boise, ID

January - Other (non-GP) events!

• All WCF online events are US Chess Online Rated if eligible.
• Jan 14 Seattle CC January Thaw (round 2), Seattle, WA
• Jan 16 (Sundays as announced on website) Bellingham Chess Club Sunday Chess (may include in-house Tournament), Bellingham, WA
• Jan 30 2nd Annual WA Chess960 Championship, online via Chess.com

January - Scholastic Events

• Chess4Life is offering live virtual chess classes/camps.
• Jan 17 WA Junior Open & Reserve, now online via Chess.com
• Jan 22 North Regional Scholastic Tournament, Rathdrum, ID details | flyer
• Jan 29 East Regional Scholastic Tournament, TBA, ID details | flyer
• Jan 29 Decatur Gator Fest, online via Chess.com

Important notes: Beginning with the January 2022 issue of Northwest Chess, all extra copies will be 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. Also effective immediately, 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.

Documentary! Adam Whitaker has produced a new documentary about GM Lev Alburt, which is available on YouTube. You may share the link with anyone who might be interested.

January magazine! The January 2022 issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on 12/28. It's a 32-page issue with "Youngest Ever Washington IM" by Josh Sinanan, "Coaching Corner" by Ralph Dubisch, "Chess4Girls" by Nesara Shree, "2021 Oregon Class Championships" by Wilson Gibbins, "Commentary On The World Championship" by Eric Holcomb, "2021 World Chess Championship (All The Games)," "Southern Idaho Open (Veteran’s Tournament)" by Barry Eacker, "2021 WA Fall Mini-Teams Championship" and "2021 Northwest Chess Winter Open" by Josh Sinanan, "Miscellaneous Game" by Jeffrey Roland and Ralph Dubisch, "Detective Cookie" by Karen Schmidt, "ICA Chess News From The North" by Adam Porth, and a back-cover photo of a "Hand-Carved Chess Set" by Jeffrey Roland. Cover: Tyler Barron by Detroit Rogers. See the teaser edition (selected pages with color).

Interesting article! "Check mates: how chess saved my mental wellbeing" by Sam Parker in The Guardian (British publication). Posted 12/26.

Washington Champion Anthony He now FIDE IM! Anthony He became Washington State’s youngest ever FIDE International Master on September 6, 2021 by achieving his third IM norm in the PNWCC FIDE Masters - Artist Point tournament with 5/9. His FIDE rating reached 2453, and he is currently world number 7 ranked in his age group. Anthony achieved the title at the age of 16 years and 28 weeks. Anthony He is the current Washington State Chess Champion. Congratulations, Anthony! Photo: Anthony with his IM certificate in the background.

Seattle CC in the paper! The Seattle Chess Club is featured in an article in The Seattle Times, which was subsequently published in the Times' Pacific NW Magazine. Read the story online. Reporter Christy Karras was at the club to take notes and talk with players. Alina Ramig, Austin Cluff and Chad Boey are in the photo. So is Paul Morphy!

World Championship - Carlsen Wins! Magnus Carlsen has successfully defended his title against Russia’s Ian Nepomniachtchi. The match ended on 12/10, with Carlsen winning 7.5-3.5 after a decisive and record-breaking 136-move marathon in game 6, followed by wins in games 8, 9 and 11. The opening ceremony of the $2m World Championship Match was on 11/24 in Dubai, and the opening game got underway two days later on 11/26. NBC Sports provided limited (but interesting) TV coverage on its NBCSN sports channel, with commentator Maurice Ashley.

A more local commentary on the world championship was provided in conjunction with the Portland Winter Open by Matt Zavortink on Friday, December 3 at the Portland Chess Club at Lloyd Center. Other world championship coverage: chess24.com | ChessBase | John Henderson blog.

Detective Cookie Chess Park! - Local Seattle news outlet KIRO 7 recently released a news story about SPD detective "Cookie" about her amazing work using chess to help teach kids life lessons. Watch the full video on the KIRO 7 website, or watch a shorter YouTube version of the video. (Nov. 12)

Congratulations to Jeff Roland, now the most prolific Northwest Chess editor of all time with 109 issues, as of December 2021! See the historical editor's list, and Jeff''s write-up in the teaser edition of the December magazine.

December magazine! The December 2021 issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on 11/23. It's a 32-page issue with "Charles And His Furrowed Brow," "Norman Friedman Memorial" and "My First 109 Issues" by Jeffrey Roland, "Merely A Game?" by Glen O’Harra, "Susan Polgar Foundation National Open" by SPFNO Organizers, "What Did I Get Myselt Into This Time?" by Karen Schmidt, "2021 Washington G/60 Championship," "2021 Washington G/15 Championship," "2021 Washington Blitz Championship," "2021 Washington Challenger’s Cup" and  "2021 Challenger’s Cup Scholastic" by Josh Sinanan, "Why Does Losing Sting So Much?" by Nobel Ang, "Interview With The Sinquefields" by Karen Schmidt, and a back-cover photo of "Ralph Anthony and James Wei" by Adam Porth. Cover: Eric Vigil, Alex Machin, and Kaustubh Kodihalli by Desmond Porth. See the teaser edition (selected pages with color).

November magazine! The November 2021 issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on 10/27. It's a 32-page issue with "71st Oregon Open" by Wilson Gibbins, "Coaching Corner" by Ralph Dubisch, "Washington Chess960 Fall Open" and "Washington State Women’s Chess Championship" by Josh Sinanan, "Shunkai Peng (Pan American Youth Champion)" by Chad Lykins, and a back-cover photo of Pranav Anoop by Lilly Tang. Cover: Deborah Petzal-Pupols and Viktors Pupols-Petzal at 2021 Oregon Open. Photo credit: Lilly Tang. See the teaser edition (selected pages with color).

Lee competing in U.S. Women's Championship! Good luck to WIM Megan Lee, the 2020 WA State Champion, as she competes in her first U.S. Women's Championship! Megan was chosen as the wildcard entry and faced the top seed, GM Irina Krush, in the first round on Tuesday October 6. (Reported by Josh Sinanan.) Update (10/20) - IM Carissa Yip won the Women's Championship, while GM Wesley So won the U.S. Chess Championship. Congratulations to the winners and all the participants.

Shubin now NM! (Reported by Josh Sinanan) Congratulations to Daniel Shubin of Redmond, Washington (on right in photo), who recently became Washington State's newest National Master! Daniel achieved a US Chess rating of 2209 as a result of scoring 4.5 out of 6 points at the 2021 Susan Polgar Foundation National Open for Girls & Boys, held at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue, October 2-3. Along the way, Daniel scored wins against Oscar Petrov (1843), Vignesh Anand (2080), and Advaith Vijayakumar (1972) and drew with Shunkai Peng (2378). Way to go Daniel!! See the US Chess crosstable.

October magazine! The October 2021 issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on 9/28. It's a 40-page issue with Letters to the Editor by Murlin Varner and John Donaldson, "75th Annual Idaho Closed State Championship" by Jeffrey Roland, "Recollections Of A Champion" by Larry Parsons, "Washington Shines At U.S. Open Invitationals" and "2021 Seattle Classic Scholastic" by Josh Sinanan, an "Ignacio Perez Game," "The King’s Gambit" by Kaushik Attuluri, "GM Mikhalevski at the SCC" by Fred Kleist, "Tactics vs. Patience: The Power Of Time" by Siva and Sarang Sankrithi, "Detective Cookie Pop-Up Chess Park" and "Fifth Annual Seattle Chess Classic" by Josh Sinanan, "A Day In The Life Of Chess" by Karen Schmidt, "Chandra Alexis New Venue In Boise" by Michael Presutti, and a back-cover photo by Philip Peterson. Cover: Larry Parsons by Jeffrey Roland. See the teaser edition (selected pages with color).

Note: A few moves were accidentally omitted from the "Ignacio Perez Game" in the October print edition. This has been corrected in the teaser edition, and you can also download the published games.

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.