Spokane Chess Club/ Home Page

The weekends of August 14-15 and 21-22 were full of local chess activity. First, the six contenders for the challenger's role in the City Championship met on August 14 and 15 for the right to play defending champion Dave Sprenkle. John Julian and James Stripes tied at 4-1, with John winning the right to play the champion on the basis of a tiebreak system.

The City Championship match took place the following weekend in conjunction with the Spokane Falls Open. Defending champion Sprenkle topped former champion Julian 2.5-.5 to retain the title. Sprenkle won the crown for the sixth time in his seven years in Spokane.

The fourth Spokane Falls Open was won by Avi Subedi, who topped the 16 player field with a 4-1 score. Second place (3.5) was shared by Nikolay Bulakh, Mark Havrilla, and Aaron Nicoski. The under 1400 prize went to newcomer Tyler Groeig, while Louis Blair claimed the biggest upset (289 points) prize.

This year's installment of the Eastern Washington Open will be played at Gonzaga's Schoenberg Center October 9-10. Complete details are posted on our Area Events page (link at left). Dave Griffin is directing this year because your editor will be out of town that weekend.

The club's September 2 meeting saw 13 turn out, with ten playing a round robin blitz event. Michael Cambareri and John Julian each went 8-1 to tie for first. Next up, on September 9 and September 16 is a four round 30/30 tourney -- g/30 with 30 second increments per move. There will be two rounds per week.

The annual August Ajeeb Quads, a staple of the club's season since Gary Younker introduced them in the mid-90s, began August 5 and continued through August 26. 14 players entered the event, resulting in two quads and a six player mini-Swiss.

Quad A was captured by John Julian (2.5). Quad B was won by Louis Blair with a perfect 3.0 score. The mini-Swiss resulted in a four way tie for first (2.0). The section winners were Ted Baker, David Blue, Pat Kirlin, and Jim Waugh. The cross table will be posted on our "recent results" page (link at left) when rated by the USCF.

The club's July 29 meeting saw 15 players take part in a round robin blitz event that kept players racing through a long night of g/5 chess! James Stripes was the clear winner with a 12.5-1.5 score. Nikolay Bulakh and Kevin Korsmo were second with scores of 11.5.

The highlight of the evening was the return of some "old" players. Angel(a) Corby visited from California and retired professor Rod Stackelberg came down for the evening as well. They were two of the primary folks who revived the club 30 years ago. Other players from that era were present and some old memories were shared among the evening's many games. Thanks, Angel and Rod, for joining us for the evening.

As usual, John Julian is again the club's Grand Prix winner, as he has been every year since the competition started. In addition to being the overall winner, John also won the prizes for top "A" player and best regular rating results. He claimed a total of $40 in gift certificates to Aunties Bookstore.

Jim Waugh, age 81, was the second biggest winner, collecting $30 in prizes for being the top "D/E" player and winning four(!) different biggest upset prizes!! Loyd Willaford collected $20 for being the top "C" player and two upset prizes. Nikolay Bulakh was the top "B" player ($10), while Brian Rinker and Ben Blue each won $5 prizes for winning in additional upset categories.

The final standings will be posted once Dave Griffin's computer recovers from its current illness and can pass the numbers along. All prizes are donated by Dave. For details on the prize categories, please see our Grand Prix page (link at left).

The new Coeur d'Alene Chess Club meets on Saturdays from12:00 to 4:00 at the Hayden Library. The building is located at 8385 N. Government Way in Hayden. The library space is not available every week, so check the club's website (link in the next paragraph) before you head over there.

Organizers hope to make the club a USCF affiliate and sponsor USCF-rated events. The club's website can be found at: www.cdachessclub.com

Spokane CCers are encouraged to turn out to help this new fledgling club get off the ground. The more chess clubs, the more chess for all of us! Good luck, CDA!!!

Our friends from the University-Community Chess Club in Missoula have done it again. We recently received a beautiful wall plaque from the UCCC which lists each of the winners of the first 18 Dave Collyer Memorial tournaments and also has room for the next 18 years! Included with the plaque were pictures of some of Missoula's finest posing with it. We owe special thanks to Bill McBroom, Dan McCourt, Bob Rajala, John Hay, Jim Wierson, Sherwood Moore, Dale Gross, and all the other Missoula chess players who help make our local tournaments special.

The plaque, pictured below, will be displayed at Ellen Collyer's home between tournaments.

We previously announced that National Chess Day would be celebrated at Uncle's Games in the Spokane Valley on October 8 and October 9. Those days are going to change due to the Eastern Washington Open. We will post revised information as soon as possible. You can also call Dave Griffin (928-3260) for more information.

The Spokane Chess Club was stunned by the recent death of Doug Trainor, 55, on June 23. Doug, the son of longtime Spokane chess stalwart Ray Trainor, became an active tournament player only one year ago after spending some time bringing his father to club and staying to play casual games. In a short time he built his rating up over 1500 and proved himself a formidable opponent. More importantly, Doug was a gentleman and sportsman at the board. He was always a gracious opponent in victory or defeat. Doug was also one of those dependable people that form the backbone of any successful club. He will be greatly missed.

The meeting on July 22 saw 11 take part in a two section round robin. Seven players in the top section played a single round robin, while the four in the second section played a double round robin (two games against each opponent); both sections were g/15 quick tourneys. The winning score was 5-1 in each section. Top seeds James Stripes and Phil Weyland won section A, while Dave Griffin and Ron Weyland won section B. The cross table will be posted on our Recent Results link later this weekend when the event is rated.

The club's July 15 meeting featured a g/10 quick tourney in which ten took part in a round robin event. Top seed Phil Weyland won the event with a 8-1 score. Second place went to Michael Cambareri and Kairav Joshi (best u/1600 prize) with 7-2 scores. Ron Weyland (3.0) was the best under 1400. The cross table is posted on our Recent Results (link at left).

The June Consolation g/45 tourney filled the club's June calendar. Michael Cambareri won the event with a 3.5 score. Second place went to Nikolay Bulakh (3.0). The cross table for the event can be found on our recent events page (link at left).

The club's annual election of officers took place at the May 27 club meeting. A pair of younger attorneys took over the club, with John Julian (busily studying for the bar exam) chosen as President and Loyd Willaford serving as the new Vice President. Ted Baker continues as Secretary and Kevin Korsmo will remain as Treasurer.

The state elementary championships drew 1200 players to the Tacoma Convention Center on April 24. Dr. James Stripes filed the following report on local participants:

Spokane Area Players and Teams Win State Trophies

Garrett Casey is the kindergarten co-champion and took first on tie-breaks over the other two with perfect scores. Tariq Ravasia placed sixteenth with the strongest tie-breaks of all the 3.0 scores; his teammate James Gunn also had 3.0. All competitors with 3.0 or more earned trophies.

In first grade, Dawson Jury finished without a loss, and had stronger tie-breaks than the player he drew in the final round, placing him third.

Second grader Braxton Casey had a disappointing loss against last year's third place finisher in their grade, Max Wu (whose rating has improved 500 points over the past year), but bounced back to win his last round game and finish with 4.0. In second grade, 4.0 was good for places 7-26, and Braxton's tie-breaks put him at sixteenth.

Wenatchee's Gregory Berndt, a regular at Spokane area tournaments, scored 3.0 at placed 106 in third grade, and Pullman's Daniel Arthurs, also with 3.0, finished at 111.

With 3.0 (places 44-105) and eighty-fifth on tie-breaks, Alexandra Elkins was the top placing fourth grader from the Spokane area. Reo Reyes was five places down from her.

Brandon Hill's twenty-fourth place finish in fifth grade with 4.0 put him at the top of the Spokane contingent in that section. His teammate Jacob Gifford had 3.5 and placed thirty-eighth. Drew Lindh's 3.0 placed him in seventy-sixth place, and earned a trophy.

In sixth grade, Pullman teammates Nathan Arthurs (eighth) and Peter Schumaker (nineteenth) both finished with 4.0, as did Shay Hutyler (twenty-first) and Collin Cremers (twenty-third).

Lake Spokane Elementary won twelfth place in the team competition in 4-6. Saint George's strong kindergarten contingent led them to twenty-first in K-3 team scoring.

Our own Phil Weyland of Post Falls, currently a student at Boise State University, shared the Idaho Closed Championship title with a 5-1 score. The 42-player event was played February 13-15 in Boise. Proud papa Ron Weyland also played in the event and finished with a 3.0 score.

There is a new chess club meeting at the Liberty Lake Library on the first and third Wednesdays (6-8 p.m.) and Saturdays (10:30 a.m. --1:30 p.m.). Phil Lechtenberg is hosting the club and has purchased sets for people to use. There will be a special emphasis on lessons for young players. Stay tuned here for more details, or email Phil at: plechten@msn.com