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

International Exchange Students - Youth for Understanding has a few international exchange students needing a host family this upcoming school year beginning in August. See the flyer with a resume for each availble student, or contact Olive Elwell, oelwell@yfu.org. There is also an opportunity to host a German exchange student via the CIEE high school foreign exchange program. See the scholastic opportunities page.

Young Master! Ted Wang, a 4th grader from St. Thomas School in Medina, became Washington State's youngest ever master on June 15. Ted achieved the title at the age of 10 years, 6 months, and 26 days, breaking the previous record held by IM Anthony He (11 yrs, 3 months, 20 days). Ted scored 2/2 at the Seattle Chess Club June Quads, hosted at the Seattle Chess Club in Greenlake and gained 21 points to boost his US Chess rating to 2211, scoring wins against LM Viktors Pupols (2200) and NM Yiding Lu (2231). Congratulations Ted! Also see the July NWC teaser edition. Photo courtesy of U.S. Chess.

July magazine! The July 2024 issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on Friday, June 28. It's a 32-page issue with "Ted Wang Becomes Washington’s Youngest Ever NM" by Josh Sinanan, "2024 Oregon Senior Open" by Wilson Gibbins, "2nd Annual Eastside Open," "Second Annual Bellingham Open" and "Rockefeller + Barber Closed" by Josh Sinanan, "SCC 2nd Annual Friday Night Championship Invitational" by John Selsky and Fred Kleist, "Surreal" by Glen O’Harra, "Western States Regional CC For Woman And Girls" by Chouchan Airapetian, "Building Community Through Chess" by Ken Lee, and a back-cover photo of Megan Lee by Meiling Cheng. Cover: Dominic Colombo by Josh Sinanan. The Gelareh Golanbar interview is also available as a separate PDF file here.

June magazine! The June 2024 issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on Friday, May 31. It's a 32-page issue with "2024 Idaho Scholastic Chess Champion James Wei" by Jeffrey Roland, "Yiding Lu (Washington’s Newest National Master)" by Ani Barua, "Washington President’s Cup" by Josh Sinanan, "Interview With Bruce Pandolfini" by Ken Lee, "2024 Harmon Memorial," "2024 Washington State Barber And Rockefeller Open," "St. Anne Celtic Challenge Spring 2024," "Lakeside Spring Fling" and "Second Annual Detective Cookie Chess Classic" by Josh Sinanan, and a back-cover photo of "Selina Cheng With Her New Best Friend" by Meiling Cheng. Cover: Yiding Lu at The Harmon Memorial by Meiling Cheng. The Bruce Pandolfini interview is also available as a separate PDF file here.

Newest National Master! Congratulations to Yiding Lu of Bellevue, Wash., who recently became Washington State's newest National Master! Yiding achieved a US Chess rating of 2227 as a result of winning Scheveningen Group 3 of the 1000GM April BonaFIDE and Scheveningen Tournament, held in San Jose, Calif., April 20-21, 2024. Along the way, Yiding scored clutch wins against Cesar Zuluaga (2268), Diego Blandon (2228), Luis Rodi (2257), and Arturo Morales (2214). Congratulations, Yiding! See the US Chess crosstable. Photo: Yiding Lu at the San Jose event (taken by Juan Cendejas, organizer of the tournament, and supplied by Ani Barua).

May magazine! The May 2024 issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on Monday, April 29. It's a 32-page issue with "Siddharth Bhaskaran and Aarav Bharathy Mohan" (photo) by Meiling Cheng, "Interview with Alexandra Botez" by Ken Lee, "Washington State Championship" by Josh Sinanan, "The Late August Piper" (September 2010 Issue Cover) by Philip Peterson, Photographer & Ralph Dubisch, Editor, and a back-cover photo of Siddharth Bhaskaran by Meiling Cheng. Cover: Josh Sinanan and Daniel He by Meiling Cheng. The Alexandra Botez interview is also available as a separate PDF file here.

April magazine! The April 2024 issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on Friday 3/29. It's a 32-page issue with "2024 Inland Classic" by Kevin Korsmo, "2024 Oregon Girls Championship" by Wilson Gibbins, "2024 Idaho Closed" by Jeffrey Roland, "Interview With Attorney General Bob Ferguson" by Ken Lee, "2024 Oregon Closed" by Wilson Gibbins, "Washington Junior Open & Reserve," "Washington High School Individual," "Washington WInter Game/60" and "Presidential Scholastic" by Josh Sinanan, "Howard Chin (1947-2021)" by John Donaldson, and a back-cover photo of Walter van Heemstede Obelt by James Stripes. Cover: Brian Lee by James Stripes. The Bob Ferguson interview is also available as a separate PDF file here.

March magazine! The March 2024 issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on Friday 2/23. It's a 48-page issue with "NWC Hall Of Fame Inductee (Clark Harmon)" by Ralph Dubisch, "Remembering August Piper" by John Selsky with Fred Kleist, "Bryce Tiglon Interview" by Ken Lee, "2023 Washington Class Championships" by Josh Sinanan, "2024 East Idaho Regional Scholastic Qualifier" by Jay Simonson, "IM Eric Tangborn Simul" by Josh Sinanan, "2023 Washington Junior Invitational" and "2023 Washington Winter Classic" by Josh Sinanan, and a back-cover photo of John Selsky by Meiling Cheng. Cover: Kyle Haining by Meiling Cheng.

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 at the HS State Individual tournament (Jan. 2024), taken by Ani Barua.

(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.

February magazine! The February 2024 issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on Friday 1/26. It's a 32-page issue with "Reader Appreciation" by Josh Sinanan, Stephen Willy, and Su Lim, "2023 Oregon Junior Closed" by Wilson Gibbins, "18th Annual SPFNO For Girls And Boys" by SPFNO Organizers, "St. Anne Celtic Challenge Fall 2023" by Josh Sinanan, "The Unique Connection Between Music And Chess" by Ken Lee, "Blast From The Past!" by Viktors Pupols, "Sridhar At North American Open" by Sridhar Seshadri, "Happy New Year 2023" by Jeffrey Roland, "NM Ryan Min" and "NM Yu-Cheng Liang" by Josh Sinanan, and a back-cover photo of Emel Bayrambeyli and Pace Lykins by Wilson Gibbons. Cover: Zoey Tang by Wilson Gibbins. You can also separately view the article "The Unique Connection Between Music And Chess (A Conversation With FM Slava Mikhailuk)" by Ken Lee.

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.

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!)