Spokane Chess Club

Michael Cambareri scored 5.0 to win the 60 player Turkey Open held in Missoula November 11-12. Nine Spokane chess club members helped swell the record turnout for the event. Brad Bodie (4.0) tied for second place. Steve Brendemihl (3.5) tied for the class C prize. Your editor was the victim of the biggest upset!

It took 28 years, but Dave Rowles is once again club champion, winning the Fall Championship with a perfect 5.0 score. His most recent club championship was the 1995 Winter Championship! Work and family obligations kept Dave away from regular club night events for most of that time period, but retirement is allowing the club stalwart to actively participate in our weekly competitions once again.

Dave defeated Nikolay Bulakh (3.5) on board one in the last game of the night October 19. Makeup games kept most of the prize categories up in the air through October 26th, but North Central student Benjamin Legard (2.5) won the D/unrated section on the 19th. He fought through a tough position to ultimately force Dave Griffin to play for repetition in a game that ended just before board one reached its conclusion.

After the makeup games were played, the other prize winners fell into place. Griffin Herr (4.0) won the class A prize, while Nikolay Bulakh won the class B prize. The top two class C prizes were shared by David Peoples and Vibi Varghese with scores of 3.5. There was a five-way tie for the third class prize among the following 3.0 scores: Steve Brendemihl, Jeremy Burnett, Matthew Goodale, Dave Griffin, and Jack Johnson. The second class D/unrated prize went to Pat Kirlin (2.0).

Congratulations to all of the winners!! The USCF cross table link: US Chess MSA – Cross Table for FALL CHAMPIONSHIP 2023- FC1 (Event 202310266792)

The 2023 Eastern Washington Open title was won by Michael Cambareri with a 4.5 score. He defeated Walter van Heemstede Obelt, the only perfect score after four rounds, in the final round. Walter shared second place (4.0) with Nikolay Bulakh and Griffen Herr, with Walter also claiming the top class B prize.

Second place in class B went to Andrew Rankin with a score of 3.5. The remaining class prize winners all scored 3.0 to share their respective class prizes. The class C winners were Steve Brendemihl, Caleb Courtney, and Loyd Willaford. Matt Goodale, Lane Wicks, and unrated player Daniel Yermakov won the class D prizes. Daniel posted a 1703 initial provisional rating with his performance! Rob Harder scored the largest upset prize. Congratulations to all the prize winners!

The event drew 35 contestants and was played September 30 and October 1 at the West Central Abbey. The USCF cross table link: US Chess MSA – Cross Table for 2023 EASTERN WASHINGTON OPEN (Event 202310013232)

Ryan Ackerman won his second consecutive City Championship by defeating challenger Dave Rowles in a tiebreaker 2-0. Rowles won the first match game before Ackerman took the next two. Dave then took game four to force the tiebreaker. The rapid tiebreak format favored the champion who gets to keep the trophy for another year. Congratulations, Ryan!

Dave had topped a five player field with a 3-1 score to win a return to the championship match. The USCF cross table results for the Contenders event is found here: US Chess MSA – Cross Table for 2023 CITY CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDERS (Event 202308051032)

August 24 saw the final round of the annual Ajeeb Quads, and the winners of each section were determined by the final four games of the night. Jack Johnson bested Pat Kirlin to win Quad C in a hard fought game that was next to last to finish. Jack finished 3.0, while the other members of the section finished tied for second with a point a piece.

Just prior to the conclusion of that game, Griffin Herr topped Walter van Heemstede Obelt in hard fought endgame to win Quad B with 2.5 points. The winner of the mini-Swiss (section D) was Matt Goodale, who prevailed over Johnny Buckner with a pretty queen sacrifice that led to a checkmate via pawn promotion. The position had been challenging with both sides having mate threats. Buckner, Nathan Garza, and Pat Nance tied for second with 2.0 scores. All four of the top finishers are comparatively new to over the board play.

The top quad featured the last game of the night. Michael Cambareri and Ryan Ackerman engaged in a slug fest, with each having opportunities for mate in two when the game ended with Ryan flagging in the complex position. The conclusion was entertaining for spectators as the two young men kept finding defensive moves that simultaneously threatened to win. The victory left Cambareri alone in first place with a score of 2.5.

The USCF cross table link: US Chess MSA – Cross Table for AJEEB23- 23AAJEEB (Event 202308314442)

James Stripes prevailed in a back and forth final game against Michael Cambareri to win the 2023 Inland Empire Open with a score of 4.5. Second place (4.0) was shared by Cam Leslie and David Rowles.

The tourney featured numerous hard-fought games, with the top boards being challenged every round before they started playing each other. Since your editor got to play this year, he didn’t have quite the time to watch all of the action, but it was an entertaining event for spectators! The top four seeds — Cam Leslie, Michael Cambareri, Ryan Ackerman, and David Rowles — typically constitute the top of the charts at Thursday night club meetings. Andrew Rankin of Helena , MT, ventured over from Victoria, BC, to continue his climb toward class A, and was joined by Stevens County teenager Ben Patterson and Neal Bonrud at the top of the charts. The fur began to fly when they began tangling with one another.

Although the upper seeds generlaly prevailed, the contests were lengthy and hard-fought. The first crack in the upper board armour occurred in round two, when Ackerman and Rowles yielded draws, leaving five perfect scores standing. With Stripes taking a third round bye, Rankin and Leslie squared off while Cambareri had to face Patterson. The board one contest drew, leaving Cambareri the lone perfect score at the end of the first day.

Round four featured an entertaining contest on board one with Cambareri having a rook and two minor pieces against Leslie’s queen and knight. In the ensuring mutual time scramble, Michael was forced to try and mate with a bishop and knight, but ran out of time and had to settle for the draw. Stripes prevailed against veteran Steve Fabian in another hard fought contest, while yours truly let a winning position against Ben Patterson slip into a draw. Rankin and Ackerman had the last game of the round, with Ryan playing dozens of moves with less than a minute to go; he was at two seconds when a draw was reached. Heading in to the final round, Stripes (3.5) and Cambareri (3.5) topped the field, with a host of 3.0 scores waiting to pounce in the event of a board one draw.

Stripes prevailed in a comeback to claim the IEO crown. Meanwhile, Leslie and Rowles disptached Ackerman and Rankin, respectively, to finish in second, with Rowles also claiming the class A prize. Class B was shared by Fabian and Korsmo with 3.5 scores, while Steve Brendemihl and Ben Shedlock won the class C prizes with 3.0 scores. The same score gave Michael Byrne first in the class D and under category. Stanley Deng of the Tri-Cities, Declan Pham of Missoula, and Alex Rosenkratz each scored 2.5 to share the second class D prize. Declan and Stanley continued their climb up the ratings list with strong performances. Stanley’s two victories also won the two largest upset prizes!

29 players took part this year. The USCF cross table link: US Chess MSA – Cross Table for INLAND EMPIRE OPEN 2023 (Event 202305218732)

The club met May 18 to select officers for the next year. Michael Cambareri was re-elected President, Jeremy Burnett is the new Vice President. Kevin Korsmo was retained as Treasurer. Ben Shedlock was chosen to be the new Secretary. The officers will serve until the annual election in May, 2024.

Two newcomers topped the field in the Greater Spokane High School team championship played March 3, 2023, at Gonzaga Prep. Cheney, fielding its first teams since the late 1990s, and University High School, making its first appearance, fought to a final round draw to finish with respective scores of 3.5 in the four round event. U-High took home the first place trophy on the basis of tiebreak (15-12). Third place was shared by Gonzaga Prep and West Valley, with the Bulldogs finishing third by virtue of defeating the Titans in their head-to-head competition.

The top individual performances were turned in by U-High first board Michael Coe and West Valley first board Hasan Al-hakeem. The two seniors won their four match games. They met in a blitz playoff for the outstanding individual performance trophy, with Hasan claiming the hardware.

Twelve teams competed this year, making it the largest team tournament since 2001. Congratulations to all of the schools and players that made the event the largest in recent memory!

Michael Cambareri won the final Collyer Memorial with a perfect 5.0 score to claim undisputed first prize and also win a donated $300 prize for a perfect score. Cambareri emerged the sole winner from a record-sized field of 112 players at the 30^th, and final, Dave Collyer Memorial tournament in Spokane February 25-26, 2023.  His 5.0 score finished half a point ahead of a trio who shared second place: Geoff Gale, Brian Lee, and Cam Leslie.

Tournament rating was delayed by USCF computer issues related to membership renewals. The event was finally rated late Tuesday afternoon. The cross table link: US Chess MSA – Cross Table for COLLYER 30 (Event 202302268162)

The complete story is found on our Dave Collyer Memorial page.

The evening of quick chess on October 27 drew 16 players, and 11 of them ended up winning prizes! Michael Cambareri was a perfect 4.0 to take undisputed first place. Every other prize was shared by multiple players! Cam Leslie, Dave Rowles, and Dakota Wickel all scored 3.0 to take second in the class A/B category. The C/D prizes were shared by Jeremy Burnett, Ethan Rowe, and Devin Wolford. Similarly, the E/F category saw four players tie for the two prizes: Sam Bethman, Chris Bruceri, Tiernan Waggoner, and Buster Wagner. Congratulations to all of the winners!

The event cross table link: US Chess MSA – Cross Table for OCTOBER QUICK SWISS (Event 202210276052)