Are you ready to subscribe to Northwest Chess and join your state chess federation (for residents of Washington)? - 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 451 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.

• As of Nov. 2017, 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 directly in your browser. See the games page.

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

This Week - NWC Grand Prix events! (Oregon GP may rejoin NWC GP in 2020; otherwise administered separately)

• Most over-the-board chess events have been cancelled until at least mid-April. Please contact the event organizer for more information. Some events have been moved online. See calendar and TA pages for more info about upcoming chess events.
• Apr 4-5 Harmon Memorial Open, now online at chess.com
• Apr 4-5 Arthur Dake Memorial Open, now online at chess.com

This Week - Other (non-GP) events!

• See PNWCC website for online chess classes/camps and other events.
• Chess4Life is also offering live virtual chess classes/camps.

FIDE Candidates Tournament in Yekaterinburg, Russia suspended halfway through the event due to Russian travel restrictions - see John Henderson's blog post.

April magazine! The April issue of Northwest Chess is being mailed on 4/2 after a delay. It's a 32-page issue with "Chess During The Pandemic" by James Stripes, "Idaho Closed State Championship" by Jeffrey Roland, "Michael Schemm (1947-2019)" by John Donaldson,  "Oregon Chess News" by Frank Niro, "Singer Hill Sunday Update" by Brian Berger, "Dave Collyer Memorial" by Kevin Korsmo, "Presidential Scholastic" by Josh Sinanan, "Washington President's Cup" by Travis Olson, "Washington Girls Championship" by Jacob Mayer, "Yermo Annotates MLK Games" by Alex Yermolinsky, Chess Vignette "Peter's Story" by Karen Schmidt, and a back-cover photo of Luke Wei by Jeffrey Roland. Cover: Chesstoon by oil-painting Brian Berger. See the teaser (selected pages with color).

March magazine! The March issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on Monday 3/2. It's a 32-page issue with "Susan Polgar Comes To Town" by Frank Niro, "Idaho (+ Eastern Oregon) Chess News" by various authors, "Washington Junior Open" and "High School State Individual Championship" by Josh Sinanan, "PNWCC MLK FIDE Open" and "Oregon Chess News" by Frank Niro, "BC vs. Washington Match BCCF Bulletin" by Stephen Wright, Editor, "Victoria Open" by Paul LeBlanc, "Chess Vignette - Randy's Story" by Karen Schmidt, "Mike Neeley" by Ralph Dubisch, and a back-cover photo of Lisa Xu by Frank Niro. Cover: Collin Dang vs Jan Buzek (at Washington State High School Individual Championship) by Josh Sinanan. See the full edition (all pages with color).

GP Final Results! 2019 Glen Buckendorf and Buz Eddy Memorial Grand Prix final standings and results are available from links on the GP page. Checks have been mailed to all of the winners, or some winners received NWC subscriptions if not currently subscribing. Congratulations if you're one of the winners!

February magazine! The February issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on 1/31. It's a 32-page issue with Letter To The Editor by Owen McCoy, "Oregon Chess News (with a wide variety of coverage)" by Frank Niro including also the "Neil Dale Memorial" by Mike Morris, "Open Letter To The WCF" by Cleveland Johnson, "Kings vs. Princes VII Match" by Josh Sinanan, "Junior Closed And Invitational" by Jacob Mayer, "Extravaganza" by Carol and Fred Kleist, "Western Idaho Open" by Jeffrey Roland, and a back-cover photo of "Lincoln Whitney at Western Idaho Open" by Jeffrey Roland. Cover: IM Aaron Grabinsky of Webster University. See the full edition (all pages with color).

New! PNWCC recognized by US Chess for "Chess Renaissance in Seattle." See the article, which is specifically about the Winter of Washington (WOW) event held just before the end of 2019. A couple of high-level games (including a GM and a GM norm game) are included.

New/Old! More Fischer stuff - The exhibition A Memorable Life: A Glimpse into the Complex Mind of Bobby Fischer was on display at the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis back in 2014-15. Fortunately, an article with photos and descriptions of the items on display is available on the WCHoF website: https://worldchesshof.org/exhibit/memorable-life-glimpse-complex-mind-bobby-fischer. (Thanks to Rusty Miller for discovering this.)

January magazine! The January issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on 12/30. It's a 32-page issue with "Toasting The Host (Chess Poem)" by Glen O'Harra, "Samuel Clemons Tournament Game" by Alex Machin, "Chess Vignette - Abdul's Story" by Karen Schmidt, "Oregon Chess News (with a wide variety of coverage)" by Frank Niro, "Washington Class Championship," "Thanksgiving Scholastic," "Chess Workshop For Women And Girls" and "Washington Class Blitz" by Josh Sinanan, "Washington Class Games" (various), "Girls And Women's Workshop" by Angela Agaian, and a back-cover photo of Stephanie Velea, Monica Olaru and Andrei Botez by Paul Truong. Cover: Megan Lee and Ignacio Perez by Josh Sinanan. See the full edition (all pages with color).

Ratings! How to check US Chess ratings and "Top 100" lists - From the US Chess homepage (https://new.uschess.org/home/), select "Players/Ratings Look-Up" under "Ratings." That will take you to the page https://new.uschess.org/players/search/. Once you're there, you'll see a "Click here" link to search for individual player ratings, and a "VIEW THE TOP 100 LISTS" button. Many of the top 100 lists are already linked, or you can choose "Top Players By State" to create a list for a particular state. Doing this for Washington for all players with recent activity, you should see one GM, several IMs, a WIM and quite a few FMs. There are eight players rated 2400+, and 16 rated 2300+.

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.

WA Junior Closed group photo. Credit: Josh Sinanan and Jacob Mayer.

Scholastic Events (January-February): Feb 28-29 HS State Team Championship & HS All-Comers Tournament, Mount Vernon, WA - Congratulations to our 2020 Washington High School Chess Team Champions, Interlake High School! Feb 22-23 WA State Girls Championship, Seattle, WA (flyer) Feb 15 Presidential Scholastic Chess Tournament, Bellevue, WA Feb 8 Boy Scout Quads, Wilsonville, OR Feb 8 Rocky Mountain Scholastic, Ontario, OR Feb 1 The King's Tournament (K-8), Bellingham, WA Jan 24-25 Washington State High School Individual Chess Championship, Seattle, WA Jan 24-25 Denker Qualifier, Seattle, WA Jan 20 WA Junior Open and Reserve, Bellevue, WA Jan 12 Bethel Monthly Sunday Chess Quads (OSCF Qualifier), Eugene, OR (flyer) Jan 10-12 WA Junior Closed and Invitational, Seattle, WA Congratulations to Daniel Shubin - his 5/5 performance earns him a spot in the Championship section of the 2020 WA State Championship! Jan 5 Seattle Prep Classic Chess Tournament, Seattle, WA Jan 4 Assumption Winter Classic (K-8), Bellingham, WA

Washington vs. BC match team photo. Credit: Rachna Soneji.

Open or Invitational Events (January-February): Feb 29-Mar 1 Seattle CC Adult Swiss, Seattle, WA Feb 29 PNWCC Monthly G45 Transformer, Kirkland, WA Feb 29 Leap Year Day Open, Bend, OR (flyer) Feb 28 PNWCC Friday Night Rapids and Fundraiser (Ignacio Blitz), Kirkland, WA (flyer) Feb 7-28 Seattle CC Cabin Fever, Seattle, WA Feb 22-23 PNWCC Insanity, Kirkland, WA Feb 22-23 The 28th Dave Collyer Memorial, Millwood, WA Feb 21 IM John Donaldson Simul and Lecture, Spokane, WA Jan 23-Feb 20 Spokane Winter Championship, Spokane, WA Feb 8-9 and 15-17 WA State Chess Championship at PNWCC, Kirkland, WA (flyer) This event was four RR sections, by invitation. See event webpage. Feb 15-17 Idaho Closed State Chess Championship, Boise, ID Feb 15-16 Washington President’s Cup, Seattle, WA (flyer) Feb 8-9 Oregon Amateur, Portland, OR Feb 7 PNWCC Friday Night Rapids, Kirkland, WA (flyer) Feb 1-2 PNWCC Monthly USCF Open, Kirkland, WA (flyer) Feb 1 Seattle CC Saturday Quads, Seattle, WA Feb 1 NRST, Rathdrum, ID Jan 31 PNWCC G45 Duel, Rapids and Blitz, Kirkland, WA Jan 3-31 Seattle CC January Thaw, Seattle, WA Jan 26 PNWCC Transformer G45, Kirkland, WA Jan 26 Seattle CC Sunday Tornado, Seattle, WA Jan 25 PNWCC G60, Kirkland, WA Jan 24 PNWCC G45 Duel, Rapids and Blitz, Kirkland, WA Jan 17-20 PNWCC FIDE Open - MLK, Kirkland, WA (flyer) See report on the ICC website by GM Alex Yermolinsky. Jan 17-19 Washington vs. British Columbia Challenge Match, Victoria, BC (flyer) - BC won the match 32-18. A report is available in BCCF E-MAIL BULLETIN #388; contact Stephen Wright to inquire. Jan 17-19 Seattle City Championship, Seattle, WA Jan 18 MLK Blitz, Boise, ID Jan 17 PNWCC Friday Night Rapids, Kirkland, WA Jan 11-12 PNWCC USCF Open (G90), Kirkland, WA Jan 10 PNWCC Friday Night Rapids, Kirkland, WA Jan 5 Seattle CC Novice, Seattle, WA Jan 4-5 4th Annual Neil Dale Memorial Open, Portland, OR (flyer) Jan 1-5 PNWCC FIDE GM Norm Invitational, Kirkland, WA Dec 27-Jan 5 Seattle CC Turn of the Year, Seattle, WA Jan 4 Seattle CC Saturday Quads, Seattle, WA