For NWC magazine contents and PDF files, see the magazine back issues page.

Another World Champion! Bellevue 8th grader wins World School Chess Championship! (link to NWC blog) Naomi Bashkansky won the 2016 World School Chess Championship in the Girls Under 13 category, held Dec. 2–12 in Sochi, Russia. Congratulations!

Carlsen Retains Title! FIDE World Chess Championship Match, Sergey Karjakin of Russia v. defending champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway, Nov 11-30 in New York City. See the official match website. The match was tied 6-6 after normal (classical) play, with each player having won one game, after the first seven games were drawn! But Carlsen won two consecutive quick chess games on 11/30 to retain his title, by a final score of 9-7 (two more games were also drawn). See the story and the games on U.S. Chess. Also see the reports about Karjakin's Game 8 win and Carlsen's Game 10 win, also on U.S. Chess. Magnus the movie opened on Friday 11/18 in New York - see the official movie website on FilmRise.

Was For Sale! 1972 Bobby Fischer vs. Boris Spassky World Chess Championship Used Chess Board. Link is to description on Heritage Auctions website. This item was offered at $119,500 with Buyer's Premium, but did not sell.

December magazine! The December issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on 11/23, the day before Thanksgiving. It's a 32-page issue with "Tales Of The Latvian Gambit" by Mike Murray, "Tacoma Chess Times (covering three events)" by Gary Dorfner, "Bethel September Quads" by Owen McCoy, "Bend Falls Quads" by Eric Holcomb, "Norman Friedman Memorial" by Adam Porth, "Emerald City Chess Tournament" by Owen McCoy, "October 2016 PCC Quads" by Brian Berger, "Aaron Grabinsky at SPICE" by Aaron Grabinsky, "Vancouver Open" by Josh Sinanan and Gary Dorfner, "October 2016 PCC Game 60" by Brian Berger, "Washington Challengers Cup" by Josh Sinanan and Gary Dorfner, "Michael Lee wins Inaugural Seattle Chess Masters" by Josh Sinanan, "Challengers Cup Scholastic" by Josh Sinanan and Gary Dorfner, "Oregon Class Championship" by Brian Berger, "Miscellaneous Games," "2017 Newport June Open Planning Stages" by H.G. Pitre, and a back-cover photo of "Kyle Haining observes Alikhan Irgaliyev, Curt Collyer, Michael Lee, and Anthony He at the Seattle Masters" by Xuhao He. Cover: Aaron Nicoski vs. Jake Winkler at Vancouver Open by Josh Sinanan.

November magazine! The November issue of Northwest Chess was mailed early on 10/25. It's a 32-page issue with "Seattle Kings vs. Princes Match III" by Josh Sinanan, "Film Review: Wazir" by Mike Hasuike, "Casual Chess at the Boise Chess Club," "September 2016 PCC Quad 45" by Brian Berger, "2016 Washington Women’s Championship" by Carol Kleist and Mary Kuhner, "September 2016 PCC Game 60" by Brian Berger, "2016 Eastern Washington Open" by Kevin Korsmo, "2016 Norman Friedman Memorial" by Adam Porth, "Film Review: The Dark Horse" by Mike Hasuike, "National Chess Day Portland Fall Open" by Brian Berger, and a back-cover photo of "Jason Cigan at Kings vs. Princes Match" by Victoria Jung-Doknjas. Cover: Minda Chen at Kings vs. Princes/Round Robin #2, by Victoria Jung-Doknjas.

Another young master! Congratulations to high-school student Seth Talyansky of Portland, Oregon, who achieved a U.S. Chess rating of 2200 by winning two games at the Vancouver Open, Oct. 22-23 in Vancouver, WA.

October magazine! The October issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on 9/29. It's a 32-page issue with Oregon Chess News, Washington Chess News, "Chess Groovies" by NM Daniel He and NM Samuel He, Idaho Chess News, and a back-cover photo of Perry and Moshe Rachmuth at PCC Quad 45 by Brian Berger. Cover: Gavin Zhang in St. Louis by Kristina Zhang.

U.S. Team Wins Chess Olympiad!! The 42nd World Chess Olympiad was held Sept. 1-14 in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan. More than 180 teams took part in the open section, and more than 140 teams fought for medals in the women's section. As reported by team captain John Donaldson, "Congratulations to the 2016 U.S. Chess Olympiad team, which won the gold medals in Baku, and to MI (Mechanics' Institute in San Francisco) member GM Sam Shankland, who was part of the U.S. team." The MI also held a celebration to honor the team on Tuesday, Sept. 20. Congratulations! You can read the team captain’s report at https://new.uschess.org/news/olympicgold. Also see Oct. 22 article in the San Francisco Chronicle, including an interview with John Donaldson about drug testing in chess and other subjects.

Chess Movie! Two special screenings of Disney's Queen of Katwe were held in Seattle; the first showing was on Sept. 7 at AMC Pacific Place; the second showing was on Sept. 20 at Regal Thornton Place. Regular theater screenings began on Sept. 23. Background: Phiona Mutesi is a chess prodigy from Uganda. Born in 1993, she grew up in the Ugandan slum of Katwe. When Phiona was nine years old she joined a chess program run by Sports Outreach Institute. By 2012, she was one of two candidates to earn the title Woman Candidate Master (WCM), making her one of the first chess players from Uganda to earn a title. The movie is based on the book The Queen of Katwe: One Girl's Triumphant Path to Becoming Chess Champion by Tim Crothers. See flyer | See feature on KING 5 news about NM Elliott Neff's link to the Queen of Katwe.

September magazine! The September issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on 8/25. It's a 32-page issue with Washington Chess Letter Historic Cover from September, 1958, Washington Chess News, CJA Award for 2016 Best State Magazine/Newsletter (special center-fold!), Oregon Chess News, Idaho Chess News, and a back-cover photo of Jesse Batten at the Boise Chess Club by Jim Berezow. Cover: The Oregon Scholastic Champions by Nancy Keller.

GM Norm! Congratulations to Idaho IM Luke Harmon-Vellotti, 17, for achieving a GM norm in the 25th Chicago Open held May 26-30 in Wheeling, Illinois. In the 9-round tournament, IM Harmon-Vellotti defeated GM Carlos Hevia Alejano and IM James A Rizzitano, and drew with GMs Varuzhan Akobian, Jianchao Zhou, Elshan Moradiabadi, Eugene Perelshteyn, Alexander Shabalov and IM Andrey Gorovets. Reported by Hock San Lee. Also see an interview of Luke on local TV station KBOI 2 (posted 6/28/2016). New! See new interview of Luke on YouTube in Idaho Living feature, also produced by TV station KBOI 2 (posted 8/20/2016).

August magazine! The August issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on 7/28. It's a 32-page issue with Idaho Chess News, Oregon Chess News, Washington Chess News, and a back-cover photo of Ching-E Nobel Ang by Jeffrey Roland. Cover: Janos Fucsko by Jeffrey Roland.

Chess in Hollywood! - See collection of photos on the Anatoly Karpov International School of Chess website. Note that GM Yasser Seirawan is in a couple of the photos!

Master! Anthony He becomes Washington’s youngest ever master (link to blog post) - Congratulations, Anthony!

July magazine! The July issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on 6/23. It's a 32-page issue with Oregon Chess News, Idaho Chess News, Washington Chess News, and back-cover photos of John Glenn and Tom Booth at the Boise Chess Club by Jim Berezow. Cover: Chesstoon of “Blitz The Kid” by Brian Berger.

Book Review! Review of new book about GM Yasser Seirawan: A Short Review of Karolyi's Legendary Chess Careers: Yasser Seirawan on The Chess Mind blog.

June magazine! The June issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on 5/26. It's a 32-page issue with The Ross Report (Grand Pacific Open, Victoria BC) by IM Dave Ross, Idaho Chess News, Washington Chess News, Oregon Chess News, and a back-cover photo of "OSCF State Championship Bughouse trophy" by Robert Schuff. Cover: Andy Halda wearing his prize-winning fiery bughouse hat, at the OSCF State Championship in Seaside, Oregon. Photo credit: Robert Schuff.

May magazine! The May issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on Thursday, 4/28. It's a 32-page issue with Oregon Chess News, Idaho Chess News, Washington Chess News, "Chess Groovies" by NM Daniel He and NM Samual He, and a back-cover photo of the “magic” chess hat of Bob Bishop (photo by Jeffrey Roland). Cover: "The Back is on the Front" ... Christopher Baumann by Jeffrey Roland. You can also see Chris' face on the inside of the magazine.

Candidates! The World Chess Candidates Tournament was held in Moscow, with the closing ceremonies on March 30. See a New York Times article, "The New York Gambit" (posted 3/17) about U.S. candidates Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana. Update (3/29): Sergey Karjakin of Russia was the winner (defeating Caruana in the final round) and will play Magnus Carlsen for the world championship in New York in November.

April magazine! The April issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on Thursday, 3/24. It's a 32-page issue with Washington Chess News, Oregon Chess News, Idaho Chess News (all including the state championship) and a back-cover photo of Viktors Pupols at the 2016 Washington Closed by Wei Feng. Cover: The three State Chess Champions by various photographers.

New Advertiser! We welcome Dill Books in Spokane Valley as a new advertiser in Northwest Chess, beginning in April. See Dill's quarter-page ad.

Maryhill Museum open! - This well-known museum, located near Goldendale, Washington, opened for the season on March 15. They report, "We are especially excited about the new installation of the George E. Muehleck Jr. Gallery of International Chess Sets. With an eye to giving this popular exhibition more 'breathing room' and a visitor-friendly space, we’ve moved it to a long corridor in the new wing. This relocation provides a better view of the nearly 80 sets on display ..." See the museum's website, http://www.maryhillmuseum.org, for more information. Also see a video report on the chess set exhibition. New! See Russell Miller's photos of the exhibition.

In Memoriam - Buz Eddy, 1940-2016 - Russell Miller reports, "My brother in law, Burrard 'Buz' Wayne Eddy, died on March 4 in Lynnwood, Wash. He was born on Jan. 2, 1940. He was a very active chess player and organizer in late 1950s and 1960s in Washington State, an editor of WASHINGTON CHESS LETTER, tournament director for the Washington Chess Federation, and assistant TD for the 1966 U.S. Open in Seattle." (Eddy edited WCL from June 1959 to May 1960, and Northwest Chess Letter from May 1966 to October 1966.) Photo: Eddy at the chessboard in March 1964, courtesy of Russell Miller. Memorial Services will be at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 26, at Maplewood Presbyterian Church in Edmonds, WA. Also see the obituary posted on the Bonney-Watson funeral homes website.

More 1972 Fischer-Spassky photos! See this interesting collection of black & white photos on an Icelandic website. Also see Iceland chess photos of Fischer and Spassky in the AP Archive using this search.

March magazine! The March issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on Thursday, 2/25. It's a 32-page issue with Idaho Chess News, Oregon Chess News, Washington Chess News, "Chess Groovies" by NM Daniel He and NM Samuel He, and a back-cover photo of Kyle Schwab at the Boise Chess Club by Jeffrey Roland. Cover: Players at the Barnes & Noble Blitz Round Robin tournament in Twin Falls, ID, by Adam Porth.

GP Final Results! 2015 Elmars Zemgalis Memorial Grand Prix final standings and results are available from links on the GP page. Checks were mailed to the winners - Congratulations if you're one of them!

Scholastic Chess! Both Washington and Oregon had high school team chess championships scheduled for the Feb. 27-28 weekend; see the completed tournament section below for more information and results. Photo: Playing room at the 2015 Oregon High School Chess Team State Championships event at Portland Community College, courtesy of Nancy Keller.

$10,000 Guaranteed Prize Fund announced for the annual Oregon Open, scheduled for Labor Day weekend, Sept. 3-5, in Portland at the Lloyd Center DoubleTree. See the TA page for details, and for details of the $7,000 prize fund Washington Open, scheduled for May 28-30 in Lynnwood.

In Memoriam (Reported by IM John Donaldson) - Two-time Washington state champion Viesturs Seglins died in Seattle on January 14th at the age of 89. Seglins was born on June 28, 1926, in the town of Bauska in southern Latvia about 40 miles from Riga and was introduced to the game at the age of 9 when his godfather bought him a book by Capablanca. This work (likely Chess Fundamentals) had a great influence on his style and in later years Sieglins would be noted for his expertise in the the endgame, the Cuban's forte. Seglins played in some small tournaments during his school days in Latvia but it was only after World War II that he began competing more seriously. He was second at the 1947 Muhlhausen Championship in Germany and the following year won a strong tournament in Kufstein, Austria. Seglins started playing in the Pacific Northwest around 1958 and immediately made an impact winning the state championship that year and in 1962. He was the top-scoring Washington player in the 1966 U.S. Open (with Viktors Pupols and James McCormick), scoring 9-4. Seglins had another fine result in the 1968 U.S. Open in Aspen, Colorado, where he shared 11th place place in a field of 172 with a score of 8-4. A memorial service was held on Feb. 13 at the Latvian Center in Seattle.

February magazine! The February issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on Thursday, 1/28. It's a 32-page issue with Washington Chess News, Oregon Chess News, Idaho Chess News and a back-cover photo of Wesley Brimstein and Andre Murphy by Adam Porth. Cover: Daniel He and Samuel He by Li Wang.

New Fischer book! IM John Donaldson has released a new greatly enlarged 3rd edition of his book, A Legend on the Road: Bobby Fischer's 1964 Simultaneous Tour, including many annotated games. Link to buy a Kindle or paperback version on amazon.com.

January magazine! The January issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on 12/30. It's a 32-page issue with Idaho Chess News, Oregon Chess News, Washington Chess News, "Chess Groovies" by NM Daniel He and NM Samuel He, and a back-cover photo of Roland Feng and Nick Raptis at the State Champions Match by Josh Sinanan. Cover: Ian Cavey at the Boise Chess Club. Photo credit: Jeffrey Roland.