By: Russell Miller of Camas WA

This was the Portland Beavers' "Oregon Chess Recognition Night."

Shortstop Quads for scholastic players played at G/30 were held before the Portland Beavers baseball game on Tuesday, July 28 afternoon. After the tournament, the players relaxed and enjoyed the baseball game with friends and family in premium reserved infield seats at discount prices. All participants received a Beavers baseball cap and winners got special recognition and awards on the field before the baseball game.

Chuck Schulien, the highest rated chess player in Oregon, played a 16-board simultaneous exhibition before the quads started.

The 2009 Oregon State Chess Champion, Carl Haessler of Lake Oswego, threw out the first pitch before the baseball game between the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League and the Las Vegas 51s team. Photo (left): Jen Manlig (see below) and Carl.

Photo (right): Winners of each quad received their awards on the field before the game and were announced to the crowd at the ball park.

Quad winners were:

• Calvin Parnon of Cheldelin Middle School of Corvallis, OR 2.5-.5

• Freddy Davis of Cornerstone Christian of Vancouver, WA 3-0

• Bryce Croucher of Hockinson Intermediate, Brush Prairie, WA and Tushar Sah of Stollier Middle School, Portland, OR both 2.5-.5

• Casey Ford of Franciscan Montessori Earth School, Portland, OR 3-0

• Rohan Moore of Sabin Access, Portland, OR and Thomas Kneeland of Cheldelin Middle School Corvallis, OR both 2-0

• Kyle Kayler and Cheyenne O'Neal both of Franciscan Montessori Earth School, Portland, OR 2-1

• Ben Ratcliff of Franciscan Montessori Earth School, Portland, OR 3-0

• Abhinav Prudvi of Valley Catholic Elementary, Hillsboro, OR 4-1.

All participants received a Beavers baseball cap and some a United States Chess Federation (USCF) cap. The games were not USCF rated, but were an Oregon Scholastic Chess Federation (OSCF, http://www.oscf.org) 2010 state championship qualifier event, and all games were Northwest Scholastic Rating System rated. Dan Dalthorp and Jeff Dobbins were the organizers for the OSCF. Russell Miller of Camas Washington for the Portland Chess Club (http://www.pdxchess.org/) was the organizer of the first pitch along with Jen Manlig, Account Executive, Group Ticket Sales for the Portland Beavers Baseball club.

Attendance for the chess event and the baseball game was hurt by the temperatures on that day of the event, over 100 degrees.

For a memento of the night check out http://www.cafepress.com/ChessNight where there are t-shirts, mugs and caps plus more with the Chess Night logo on them that was done by Phil Peterson of Puyallup, WA. The website for the baseball team is www.portlandbeavers.com.

See additional photos of the event by Russell Miller.