Memorial for Eric Winges – A memorial was held for former state scholastic chess champion Eric Winges in Seattle on December 29. Eric died tragically from an apparent suicide on December 19. Eric's father, Kirk Winges, is a very active promoter of scholastic chess in Washington State, and this loss certainly affects all of us in the Northwest chess community. Also see http://www.whsca.org/.

Games from WA Class Championships – Games are available in ChessBase archive format or PGN format. Many thanks to Drayton Harrison for compiling the 149 games that were submitted with readable scoresheets (and thanks to the players as well)!
Deep Fritz 10 wins match 4-2! – For the second time in history, a reigning world chess champion has lost a highly publicized match against a computer. Vladimir Kramnik played aggressively as black with an Open Sicilian in Game 6 in an attempt to tie the match, but the machine was too strong, exploiting a powerful kingside attack to win a pawn.

See: Official match website | ChessBase website | Chess stories on the USCF website.
Want to buy a copy of Fritz 10? – See The Chess House link on the NWC home page.

WA Juniors win match against BC – The Washington junior team took back the Intermat Trophy by winning the annual match 28-20 against the British Columbia juniors.
See the BC chess website at http://www.bjdy.com/juniorchess/news.html for more info.

San Francisco Wins! The final match for the 2006 championship of the United States Chess League took place 11/29 between New York and San Francisco, with SF winning in an exciting tie break. The "Seattle Sluggers" also had a great season, making the semifinals before being defeated by San Francisco. The USCL is a chess league that takes top players in major cities of the US and competes in 10 rounds via the internet.

Selzler simul! Ricky Selzler simultaneous exhibition took place at Eckstein Middle School Friday evening, November 17.

Polgar appearance! Grandmaster and former Women's World Chess Champion Susan Polgar graciously offered to come and visit the Chess4Life Center, giving a short lecture, answering questions, and signing autographs for kids! This event took place Monday 11/13 beginning at 5:00 PM. See http://www.chess4life.com/ for more info.

October 9 was National Chess Day – See story on USCF website.

The College Chess League is kicking off with an individual championship tournament that is being held on ICC. The tournament started on Sunday, October 15. This should be a very strong tournament! Please see www.collegechessleague.com for more information.

Chess4Life Open House took place on Saturday 9/30. See the Chess4Life website.

David Shenk, author of an interesting new chess book entitled The Immortal Game – A History of Chess (Or How 32 Carved Pieces on a Board Illuminated Our Understanding of War, Art, Science, and the Human Brain), was in Seattle for a book-signing session 9/20.

Two qualified and trained chess instructors are available to teach in Seattle/Eastside after school. For inquiries email chess64@comcast.net.

Youth For Understanding USA is seeking families to host foreign exchange High School Students interested in chess for the 2006-2007 academic year. Contact info: phone 1-866-493-8872, web www.yfu-usa.org, or e-mail admissions@yfu.org.

The Central Oregon Chess Journal: www.cocjournal.blogspot.com.

Clint Ballard has set up a new chess discussion forum that has NO popup ads. It is located at http://www.wachess.com. You may wish to start using this forum in addition to Northwest Chess Center Forum (see below).

Chess Top Tables at Powell Barnett Park! – Visit Powell Barnett Park this Summer to experience chess in the great outdoors. All age groups welcome! Located at:
352 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Seattle, WA 98122.

Welcome to newly elected WCF officers Geoff Gale (President) and Dan Mathews (Tournament Coordinator). Also, a round of thanks to Kent McNall and Hanniegn Pitre for their work during the past year!

PayPal Subscription/Membership Form – Northwest Chess now accepts PayPal payments (www.paypal.com) at the address info@nwchess.com, so that you can pay using a credit card, e-check, or funds already in your PayPal account. This should make it much more convenient to renew your subscription or start a new one!

May 15 marks the publication of the inaugural issue of the North American Chess Review! This e-magazine is free (with registration) throughout 2006. See website.

Locals Rock! Congratulations to Oleg Zaikov of Oregon, who took 1st place in the national Scholar-Chessplayer Outstanding Achievement Awards, receiving a scholarship of $2,000. These scholarships are given to high school juniors and seniors who excel in academics, chess, and leadership. Also, the local team of Ben Wyde and Adi Lanka took the National High School Bughouse Championship with a final score of 11.0. The event was held in Milwaukee during the 38th annual National High School Chess Championship.

Article on girls scholastic chess in The Columbian (Clark County, WA).

Rusty Miller reports that Chess for Success has redone their website. Check it out and be sure to read the SUCCESS STORIES section.

Gary Dorfner would like to reorganize the Puget Sound Chess League. The league was last active in 1999-2000. He would first like to know how much interest there is in the PSCL. If you are interested in being involved in the PSCL, forming or playing on a team, etc., please e-mail Gary at Ggarychess@aol.com. If enough players respond, Gary will schedule a meeting during the WA Open tournament in May.

USCF Online Tournament Life Announcements – The USCF is pleased to announce a new service to members and affiliates: an online Tournament Life Announcement (TLA) area. Chess players will be able to search for chess tournaments based on: month, state, distance in miles (based on ZIP codes), specific types of events, cash prizes offered, open/restricted by rating/age, rating system (including FIDE), maximum entry fee. For each event matching the search request, players will be able to see an online flyer describing the event in detail, including an entry form that can be printed and mailed to the organizer.

US Chess Championship was held March 1-12 in San Diego, California.
Congratulations to the new US Chess Champion, GM Alexander Onischuk!

IN MEMORIAM – John Keith Wise, 1953-2006, chess player and scholastic organizer from the Vancouver, WA area. Article by Kate Taylor.

Interactive mapping of chess clubs across the US from Mapmuse.com.

Reminder! USCF discontinued 1/2 K rating option effective March 1, 2006. Reportedly very few TD's were using this option, which allowed a smaller rating change per game for faster time controls such as G/30 or G/60. The normal rating change per game is up to 30 points.

See story about the Stanwood High School chess team at the state championship: http://heraldnet.com/stories/06/02/24/100loc_b1chess001.cfm.

Congratulations to 2005 Christopher Memorial Northwest Chess Grand Prix overall winners Geoff Gale (WA) and Daniel Gay (OR). Complete results are now available, and checks will be mailed to the winners!

Alert! February mailing problem – The February issue of Northwest Chess magazine was mailed on February 17. It's 24 pages, including results from the WA Challenger's Cup. It's been reported that a few copies have some duplicate and missing pages. If your copy is bad, please contact business manager Eric Holcomb to request a replacement copy.

Tacoma and Portland Chess Clubs held their annual membership meetings, Tacoma on Friday 1/27 and Portland on Saturday 1/28. Both clubs also had tournaments the same weekend, and there was also a five-section Air Force tournament in Tacoma.

London System, anyone? – Geoff Gale has started a thread on Northwest Chess Center Forum about this opening, which he hopes to turn into an article for the magazine. No sign-in is necessary, just go to http://pub16.bravenet.com/forum/1316140942/.

HAPPY NEW YEAR from everyone at Northwest Chess! See the tournament calendar to get ready for some big events, including January events in Tacoma, Portland and Spokane.