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 494 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.

January and Happy New Year! - Advertised Chess Events

• See calendar for more info about upcoming chess events, including ad links.
• Jan 12, 19, 26 SCC January Thaw (close ratings - rds 2-4), Seattle, WA
• Jan 13-14 SCC Seattle City Championship, Seattle, WA
• Jan 20 SCC Novice, Seattle, WA
• Jan 20 Washington Winter G/60 Championship, Seattle, WA
• Jan 21 SCC G/20 Hexes, Seattle, WA
• Jan 27-28 SCC Adult Swiss, Seattle, WA

January - Scholastic Events

• Chess4Life is offering live virtual chess classes/camps.
• Jan 13 Pierce County High School (and Middle School) Chess Championships, Eatonville HS, WA
• Jan 15 Washington Junior Open & Reserve, Bellevue, WA
• Jan 19-20 HS State Individual, Seattle, WA
• Jan 27 FPHRC "Middle Game" Regional State Qualifying Tournament, Vancouver, WA

Important note: All extra copies of Northwest Chess 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.

Three New National Masters!

(1) Congratulations to Ryan Min of Bellevue, Washington, who recently became Washington State's newest National Master! Ryan achieved a US Chess rating of 2206 by winning three games in a row at the North American Open, held in Las Vegas, Nev., Dec. 26-30, 2023. Along the way, Ryan scored clutch wins against NM Nathan Yan (2277) and GM Dmitry Gurevich (2475), with the victory against the Grandmaster officially sealing the title. See: US Chess crosstable, Game which made Ryan Min a National Master. Photo (left): Ryan at the North American Open on Dec. 27. (2) Advaith Vijayakumar of Bothell, Washington, was recognized as a National Master by U.S. Chess, in Sept. 2023. He achieved his NM title at a PNWCC norm event. Photo (right): Advaith (on vacation?).

(3) Congratulations to Yu-Cheng Liang of Camas, Washington, who became one of Washington State's newest National Masters in 2023. Yu-Cheng achieved a US Chess rating of 2214 as a result of scoring 4/9 at the Independence Day IM Norm tournament, hosted by 1000GM in Sunnyvale, Calif., June 30-July 4, 2023. Along the way, Yu-Cheng scored clutch victories against NM Alejandro Maass (2254) and WGM Martha Fierro (2353). See: US Chess crosstable. Yu-Cheng maintained a rating of 2213 by scoring 5/9 at the North American Open, defeating Yesun Kate Lee (2046), Vincent Yang (2055), and Steve Wongso (2275). See one of Yu-Cheng's games from the SPICE Cup Open. Photo (left): Yu-Cheng at a 2023 chess event.

January magazine! The January 2024 issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on Friday 12/29. It's a 32-page issue with "News Flash: Bryce Tiglon Grandmaster" by Josh Sinanan, "2023 Oregon Class Championships" by Wilson Gibbins, "2023 Washington Challenger’s Cup" by Josh Sinanan, "A Conversation With Super GM Liem Le Ken Lee," "2023 Challenger’s Cup Scholastic" and "Inaugural Veterans Day Open" by Josh Sinanan, "WCF and SettleKing Announcement" by Josh Sinanan, and a back-cover photo of George Oliver by Meiling Cheng. Cover: Stephen Willy by Wilson Gibbins. See the teaser edition (selected pages).

New Local GM!! Congratulations to Bryce Tiglon of Woodinville, Washington, who recently became the Pacific Northwest's newest Grandmaster! Bryce achieved his third and final GM Norm at the recently concluded Chessable Sunway Sitges International Chess Festival, which took place from December 12-22, 2023 in Barcelona, Spain. Along the way, Bryce scored an undefeated 7.5/10 points in Group A, including victories against GM Jingyao Tin (2573) and GM H. Bharath Subramaniyam (2504): https://www.sunwaychessfestival.com/en/sitges/player/Bryce-Tiglon_2087456. See his games on ChessBase. Bryce is currently in college at Stanford University, where he is pursuing a double major. With this fantastic performance, Bryce becomes the second grandmaster ever from Washington State since Yasser Seirawan achieved the title in 1980! (And Yasser has sent his congratulations to Bryce!)

December magazine! The December 2023 issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on Friday 11/24. It's a 32-page issue with "Plateau Youth Chess Club" by Anna Jonson and Susanna Lim, "A Tribute To Ignacio Perez" by Josh Sinanan, "Do Brown Cows Make Chocolate Milk?" by Ken Lee, "Open Window School Fall Tornado" by Josh Sinanan, "Southern Idaho Open Veterans Day" by Barry Eacker, six more Washington chess stories by Josh Sinanan - "2023 National Chess Day Scholastic," "Washington National Chess Day Blitz," "Washington G/60 Championship," "Washington Bullet Championship," "CM Nikash Vemparala Clock Simul," "2023 Lakeside Fall Classic," and a back-cover photo of Juan Larios with Jace Liu and Kyle Liu spectating by Justin Johnson. Cover: Handshake between Sahan Katipally and Alice Li, by Justin Johnson. See the teaser edition (selected pages).

November magazine! The November 2023 issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on Friday 10/27. It's a 32-page issue with "Chess In A Nutshell" by Glen O’Harra, "2023 Oregon Open" by Wilson Gibbins, "Jeremy Silman" (August 28, 1954 - September 21, 2023)" by John Donaldson, "2023 Eastern Idaho Open" by Jay Simonson, "Washington Women’s Championship," "Seattle Classic Scholastic" and "Washington G/15 Open" by Josh Sinanan, and a back-cover photo of Vikram Srivastava by Wilson Gibbins. Cover: Stephen Willy by Salome Jacob. See the teaser edition (selected pages).

October magazine! The October 2023 issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on Friday 9/29. It's a 32-page issue with "Seattle Chess Classic" by Josh Sinanan, "Penguin Extravaganza Drei" by David Murray, "About This Photo" (of penguins) by Steven Breckenridge, "USPS Statement of Ownership," "Randy Dean Remembered" by John Donaldson, "NM Derek Zhang Simul" by Josh Sinanan, and a back-cover photo of "Blue Silicon King" by Josh Sinanan. Cover: Siddarth Sundaram by Josh Sinanan. See the teaser edition (selected pages). Note: The online version of the October magazine has been updated with a new ad for the Inaugural Veteran’s Day Open (Nov. 11), giving a new location (the Centilia Cultural Center), and a higher prize fund. If you have a print copy with the old location, please disregard it.

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.