Are you ready to subscribe to Northwest Chess and join your state chess federation (for residents of Washington/Oregon)? - See the Subscription/Membership Page for information about how to join using PayPal or another method. 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.

• Now 519 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. Games published in the magazine are also included. See the games page.

Note: See calendar for more info about upcoming chess events.

January/February - Advertised Chess Events

• See calendar for more info about upcoming chess events, including ad links.
• Jan 30 (Fri.) Seattle CC Fifth Friday G/15, Seattle, WA
• Feb 6, 13, 20, 27 (Fri.) Seattle CC Cabin Fever (Rds 1-4), Seattle, WA
• Feb 6-8, 21-22 WA State Championship, Lakeside Upper School, Seattle, WA
• Feb 14-15 WA President's Cup, Hotel 116, Bellevue, WA
• Feb 21-22 Seattle CC Winter Adult Weekend (Quads and Tornado), Seattle, WA
• Feb 28 (Sat.) Seattle CC February Quads, Seattle, WA

January/February - Scholastic Events

• Chess4Life offers various events such as classes, camps and quad tournaments.
• Feb 15 Presidential Scholastic, Chinook Middle School, Bellevue, 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.

Opportunity to host high school exchange student from Spain - see the scholastic opportunites page.

Chess & Alzheimer's Research Study Recruiting Seniors! Caton Tsao, a high school student and undergraduate research assistant at the Cognition and Decision Science Lab at Clemson University, is involved in a research study exploring how factors, such as health status, work status, and an engaged lifestyle, are associated with memory and decision-making in individuals aged 65 and older. One of the factors is experience with cognitively stimulating games like chess. The study entails a prescreening digital survey (~10-15 minutes) and one remote study session (~25-30 minutes). For more information or to volunteer, contact the lab at decisionlab@clemson.edu. (Posted 1/9/2026)

Articles with links (in the magazine contents below) are available as separate PDF files.

February magazine! The February 2026 issue of Northwest Chess will be mailed on Friday, 1/30. It's a 48-page issue with "Love, Chess" by The Chess Friends, "Oregon Junior Closed" by Wilson Gibbins, "2025 Washington Challenger’s Cup" by Josh Sinanan, "National Chess Day Scholastic Chess" and "Challenger’s Cup Scholastic" by Rekha Sagar, "A Conversation With Ted Wang" by Ken Lee, "NW Players at 2025 US Senior Women’s Championship" by Mary Kuhner and Chouchanik Airapetian, "19th SPICE Cup" by Josh Sinanan, "Mount McKinley was named by William A. Dickey" by John Donaldson, and a back-cover photo of Susan Polgar (L) and GM Fidel Corrales Jimenez by Ani Barua. Cover: Vinesh Ravuri by Meiling Cheng. See the teaser edition (selected pages including all full-page ads).

January magazine! The January 2026 issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on Friday, 12/26. It's a 32-page issue with "Vihaan Jammalamadaka becomes National Master" by Josh Sinanan, "Chess Resolutions" by The Chess Friends, "A Conversation With Jacob Mayer" by Ken Lee, "Oregon Class Championship" by Wilson Gibbins, "Daniel He Becomes FIDE Master" by Josh Sinanan, "Washington Women’s Championship" by Rekha Sagar, "Washington Women’s Championship" by Ian Holden, Ann Jem, Saiya Karamali, Eliza Wheeler, "Andrew Fletcher Becomes National Master" by Josh Sinanan, and a back-cover photo of of Jason Cigan by Wilson Gibbins. Cover: Zoey Tang by Wilson Gibbins. See the teaser edition (selected pages including all full-page ads).

And another new NM! Congratulations to Andrew Fletcher of Bellevue, Wash., who recently became Washington State's newest National Master! Andrew achieved a US Chess rating of 2209 as a result of tying for 1st Place in the 2025 North Carolina Open with an undefeated 5.5/6 score, followed by winning three more games at a recent Charlotte Chess Center Wednesday Action Quads. Andrew defeated one National Master and three Experts - Miles Tisserand (2037), Chris Mabe (2228), Daniil Kozyrev (2104), and Andrew Duren (2117) - on his way to winning the 2025 North Carolina Open, hosted by the Charlotte Chess Center, Nov. 28-30. See the North Carolina Open crosstable. Andrew continued his hot streak with three more victories against experts Kyle Kuka (2059), Alex Chu (2150), and Steve Alappatt (2176) at the CCC Wednesday Action Quads, also hosted by the CCC, on Dec. 3. See the CCC Wednesday Action Quads crosstable.

And a new FIDE Master! Congratulations to Daniel He, a data scientist from Redmond, Wash., who recently became Washington State's newest FIDE Master! Daniel surpassed the 2300 FIDE and 2400 US Chess thresholds as a result of scoring six points from nine games in the 19th Annual SPICE Cup, an International norm tournament co-hosted by the Susan Polgar Foundation and the WCF (see below). Along the way, Daniel drew against GM Jianchao Zhou (2591) + FM Aziz Degenbaev (2302) and won against CM Nikash Vemparala (2193), NM Siddarth M. Sundaram (2220), & FM Tymur Keleberda (2370). See the 2025 SPICE Cup rating report. Photos: Daniel He at the 2024 WA State Championship (left - photo by Ani Barua) and at the 2025 SPICE Cup (right).

Another NM! Congratulations to Vihaan Jammalamadaka, an 8th grader from Willows Prep School in Redmond, Wash., who recently became Washington State's newest National Master! Vihaan achieved a US Chess rating of 2203 as a result of scoring five points from nine games in the 19th Annual SPICE Cup, a nine-round norm tournament co-hosted by the Susan Polgar Foundation and the WCF, Nov. 19-24 in Bellevue. Along the way, Vihaan drew against GM Denes Boros (2492), FM Stephen Willy (2313), and FM Ryan Porter (2261) and defeated NM Ravi Krishna Govindavajhala (2215) and CM Aayansh Guntaka (2177). See the 2025 SPICE Cup rating report.

December magazine! The December 2025 issue of Northwest Chess was mailed on Friday, 11/21. It's a 32-page issue with "Adam Porth And Eric Vigil At The 2025 US Open" by Adam Porth, "Chess Gifts" by The Chess Friends, "A Conversation With Valentin Razmov" by Ken Lee, "Bertrand Wan Becomes National Master" by Josh Sinanan, "Important Instructions For Online Subscribers" by Eric Holcomb, "NWC Hall Of Fame Inductee: Russell (Rusty) Miller" by John Donaldson, "King County Open" by Josh Sinanan, "My Naroditsky Story" by Adam Porth, "New Adventure Scholastic" and "King County Scholastic" by Josh Sinanan, and a back-cover photo of "Ani Barua, Josh Sinanan, and the October 2025 cover" by Meiling Cheng. Cover: Bertrand Wan by Ani Barua. See the teaser edition (selected pages including all full-page ads).

New Master! Congratulations to Bertrand Wan of Redmond, Wash., who recently became Washington State's newest National Master! Bertrand achieved a US Chess rating of 2205 as a result of winning the 2025 King County Open with a perfect 5/5 score followed by winning two more games at the recent SCC Pumpkin Spice tournament. Bertrand defeated three National Masters - Vidip Kona (2206), Nikash Vemparala (2245), and Rishabh Chinni (2196) - on his way to winning the Inaugural King County Open, hosted by the Washington Chess Federation, Sept. 27-28 in Bellevue. See the King County Open crosstable. Bertrand continued his amazing streak with two more wins against Pratik Thorwe (1983) and Pavel Trochtchanovitch (2009) at the SCC Pumpkin Spice Friday Night tournament, hosted by the Seattle Chess Club, Oct. 3-24 in Seattle. See the SCC Pumpkin Spice crosstable. Congratulations, Bertrand! For chess leasons by Bertrand, see his business card on the calendar or scholastic coaches page.

See old news previously appearing on this page.

Links are usually to the tournament flyers or ads. For tournament reports where available, see the magazine.

Ani Barua honored by Josh Sinanan at King County Open, for appearing on the cover of Northwest Chess. Photo by Haiyong Wang.

Open or Invitational Events (September-October): Oct 24-26 WA vs BC Challenge Match, Saanich (Victoria), BC (Canada) Oct 3-24 Seattle CC Pumpkin Spice, Seattle, WA Oct 18-19 Seattle Fall Open, Seattle, WA Oct 11-12 WA Women's Championship, Bellevue, WA Oct 11-12 Washington Challengers Cup, Bellevue, WA Oct 4-5 High Desert Open, Redmond, OR Oct 4 Seattle CC Saturday Quads, Seattle, WA Oct 3-5 42nd Annual Reno Western States Open, Reno, NV Sep 28 My Chess World Gala, Bellevue, WA Sep 28 King County Blitz, Bellevue, WA Sep 27-28 King County Open, Bellevue, WA Sep 5-26 Seattle CC Autumn Leaves, Seattle, WA Sep 21 Seattle CC Sunday Tornado, Seattle, WA Sep 6 Seattle CC Saturday Quads, Seattle, WA