Chess in Spokane
Eight players showed for the December team event on 12/4, so the format was changed to a Quad event. The top quad included MIchael Cambareri, Ken Erickson, Matt Goodale and Keith Brownlee. Michael scored 3 to sweep the quad. The second quad included Vibi Varghese, Craig Moore, Ben Shedlock, and Wes Marburger. Craig also went undefeated, but a draw with Vibi denied him the perfect score even though it gave Craig the win.
The USCF cross table link: December Quick Quad | US Chess Ratings
The very popular Turkey Quads are complete. Michael Cambareri and Ken Erickson tied in Quad A, Vibi Varghese won Quad B, Jonathan Rohrabeck won Quad C, and Devin Wolford won the six-player mini-Swiss. Congratulations to all of the winners!
The USCF cross table link: Spokane Turkey Quads November 2025 | US Chess Ratings
Most nights the wall chart rules and the higher seeds advance to late round showdowns against each other. Not so on October 23 & 30 during a yet to be named two-week four round g/45 event. Sixteen players entered, the perfect figure for a four round Swiss event. However, upsets on boards three and four jumbled the first round results, and then second round saw an upset in all but one game. At the end of the first night, the four perfect scores belonged to sixth, seventh, eighth, and eleventh seeds: Kevin Korsmo, Dave Griffin, Craig Moore, and Devin Wolford.
Third round action on October 30th saw Korsmo and Wolford fight to a draw with only a couple of minutes left each on the clock, while Moore topped Griffin to enter the final round as the undisputed leader of the pack at 3.0. Craig and Kevin, the third and fourth oldest players in the field, battled on board one while Devin had to compete with top seed Michael Cambareri. Kevin won a pawn in the middle game and kept the pressure on, resulting in a late game mate. Michael’s sacrificial mating attack failed, but Devin was able to force a repetition of postion while facing a forced mate in two. When all was said and down, Kevin (3.5) was on top, while Devin, Craig, and Dave all finished a 3.0 and won the u/1800 prize (Craig and Dave) and the u/1400 prize (Devin). Pat Kirlin took the second u/1400 prize.
The USCF crosstable link: A Very Upsetting Tournament | US Chess Ratings
Ken Erickson is the new club champion, winning the Fall Championship with a 4.5 score to claim his first club championship. Second place was shared by three Class A players — Michael Cambareri, Antonious Raelund, and Dave Rowles — whose 4.0 scores claimed the two A prizes. The Class B prizes were shared by three players with 3.5 scores — Keith Brownlee (who fell to Erickson on board one in the final round), Nikolay Bulakh, and Ben Legard. Newcomer Deric Lamphiear scored 3.0 (and earned a 1720 provisional rating) to win the first Class D/unrated prize. Five players with 2.5 scores shared the two Class C prizes — Omar Embaby, Dave Griffin, Karl Milton, Craig Moore, and Asa Wadden. Second place in Class D went to Pat Kirlin (2.0).
A record 31 players signed up for the event. The USCF cross table link: US Chess MSA – Cross Table for FALL CHAMPIONSHIP 2025- FALL 2025 (Event 202510163912)
by Craig Moore
A diverse group of 33 players participated in the 2025 edition of the Eastern Washington Open held September 27-28 at West Central Abbey. For instance, geographically, players came from as far Idaho’s Silver Valley, Pendleton, Oregon and Washington’s Tri-Cities. The age distribution ranged from 6 to older than 70 (about as senior as I am willing to identify), with nearly a third under 18. Various chess ratings were also well-represented:
Expert 2
Class A 9
Class B 5
Class C 5
Class D 6
=<E/Unr. 6
Each round had exciting games and unexpected results. There were 16 upsets! The largest was in the first round when Ben Shedlock (1419) overpowered Pat Herbers (1900). Perhaps it mysteriously influenced the high portion of upsets relative to all games played – 22%! Only one player – Jose Jair Gomez Rodriguez – was unrated. Although he had an established regular rating on chess.com under 700, he played significantly better, achieving a score of 2.5 and an estimated 1500 rating based on 5 games.
The results:
Prize Score Winnners
Overall 1st-2nd (tie): 4.5 Eric Billaux & Drew Bunch
Class A 1st-2nd (tie): 4.0 Brian Lee & James Stripes
Class B 1st: 3.5 David Rowles
2nd (tie): 3.0 Matt Goodale, Walter VHO, Kevin Korsmo
Class C 1st-2nd (tie): 2.5 Ben Legard, Dave Griffin, Ben Shedlock
Class D 1st-2nd (tie): 2.0 Jessie Li, Adam Porth, Eric Spletstoser
Class E/Unrated 1st: 2.5 Jose Jair Gomez Rodriguez
2nd: 2.0 Leo Grace
Finally, this was my first time directing this tournament. It was a pleasure. Thanks to Mike Byrne and Ben Shedlock for their assistance. Thank you to the Abbey for the playing hall. Thank you to all the players for the peaceful atmosphere and no disputes!
The USCF cross table link: US Chess MSA – Cross Table for 2025 EASTERN WA OPEN (Event 202509280872)
Sixteen players turned out for the Chess in the Courtyard event held jointly by the Spokane Chess Club and our friends over at Blitz and Blunders. Twelve competed in the rated section, with four participating in an unrated round robin.
It was a warm but not hot day with a breeze, and players squared off under the shade of two broad trees in the courtyard of the SPokane Chess Club’s home, the West Central Abbey.
A big thank you to Joe at Blitz and Blunders for providing beautiful wooden sets and boards to play on and pre-set clocks! Thanks also to those who visited our site for the first time!
Four players shared the top prize at the four-round G20 tournament last Thursday. A slew of upsets capped the highest score at 3, resulting in no clear winner.
Sharing the top spot were Nikolay Bulakh, Ken Erickson, Vibi Varghese, and Keith Brownlee. Of the top group, the only player not suffering an upset was Varghese, whose performance was the strongest of the evening, including dealing second-ranked Erickson his only loss.. Brownlee worked his way to the top tier as the fifth ranked player of the event. This group split the overall and C-class prizes.
On the other side of those results, Wes Marburger was the night’s most upsetting player, earning a 700-point upset over Brownlee, whose steeliness earned him the upset of Omar Embaby two rounds later. Other notable upsets included Ben Heiken’s 300+-point upset over Bulakh and Patrick Kirlin’s 400+-point upset over Embaby,
The most impressive performance of the evening, however, was your editor, who turned in the only perfect performance with three losses and a bye. Adding insult to injury, he was the only member of the U-1400 group—a group in which he was ranked first—not to share in the group prize.
Thanks to the efforts of club member Chris Bruceri, two new concrete chess tables have been added to Riverfront Park in the shadow of the iconic Red Wagon. Chris, on behalf of the Greater Spokane (high school) Chess League, successfully obtained a grant for the tables from the park system’s foundation.
Bring your pieces down to the park and enjoy our favorite game in the comfort of the park!
Photo compliments of Chris Bruceri.
A dozen players took part in a four round g/15 event June 26th. After taking a first round bye, Joe Ong won his final three games to top the field with a 3.5 score. Michael Cambareri and Ken Erickson scored 3.0 to finish second. Kevin Korsmo and Vibi Varghese finished 2.5 to win the under 1600 prize. Khai Le and Michael Michalak (2.0) tied for the under 1400 prize.
The USCF cross table link: US Chess MSA – Cross Table for 626 QUICK (Event 202506263582)
The club’s annual meeting on June 5 saw a shuffling of officers for the next year. Ben Shedlock takes over as president, while Michael Cambareri serves as vice president and Cam Leslie is now the club’s secretary. Craig Moore replaces Kevin Korsmo as treasurer.