Congratulations to Jeff Roland, now the most prolific Northwest Chess editor of all time with 142 issues, as of September 2024! (Jeff took the lead in December of 2021.)

The WASHINGTON CHESS LETTER (WCL) was started in Nov 1947 under the editorship of Lawrence Taro of Everett. A list of all the people who have been editors was compiled in February 2009 by Russell Miller and John Donaldson from their magazine collections. It is only a small list of the names of many people who have made chess news of activities in the Pacific Northwest available in printed form every month since 1946.

The publication of chess news started as a one page sheet in September 1946 PUGET SOUND CHESS NEWS, became a several page monthly in 1947, WASHINGTON CHESS LETTER published by the Washington Chess Federation. The name changed to NORTHWEST CHESS LETTER in January 1965 to better reflect the area the news was covering and then to NORTHWEST CHESS in May 1968, as we know it now.

The editor of the most issues was previously the late Daniel E. Wade of Seattle who did 108 issues with the first one in August 1952. However, current editor Jeffrey Roland is now first on the list with an impressive 137 issues and counting - congratulations, Jeff! Next on the list, moving into 3rd place, is Robert A. Karch (83.75) with his first issue in January 1973. Russell Miller's (79.75) first issue was November 1966. Fred Kleist (79.25) is next on the list and his first one was May 1989, in which he shared the duties with Ralph Dubisch, Karch and Miller. Ralph Dubisch moved into fifth place - now sixth (54.25 issues), surpassing Philip Peterson (47). There were some editors who lived in Oregon, California and now Idaho, and even one who lived in British Columbia.

The February 2009 magazine is shown on the inside cover as Issue 727. Research by IM John Donaldson and Russell Miller has shown that it actually was Issue 734, beginning with the Washington Chess Letter in November 1947. The Puget Sound Chess News is not counted since the Washington Chess Federation did not exist until 1947, and in any event the PSCN did not cover the entire state.

The numbering discrepancies over the years were identified as follows: (total 7 issue discrepancy)

• July 1975 was Issue 332, August 1975 was Issue 333 but September 1975 was again listed as 332, October 1975 as 333 and November 1975 as 334 – so there were two issues numbered 332 and 333 (2).

• March and April 1982 were both numbered Issue 410 (1).

• September to December 1991 were all numbered Issue 523 (3).

• October and November 2001 were both numbered Issue 641 (1).

Note that there were also two double issues (May-Jun 1952 and Feb-Mar 2008), resulting in a total of 734 issues over a 736 month period. Not bad for a state (or two-state) chess publication! (That's in addition to the Jun-Jul 1970 double issue after a one-page Jun 1970 issue.)

NWC has adjusted the issue numbers shown in the magazine, beginning with March 2009, which is now Issue 735. Our 750th issue was published in June-July 2010 (combined issue), and our 900th issue was published in January 2023! The 900th issue also represents our 75th anniversary, remarkably with only a three-month delay over the years due to combined issues.