Spokane Chess Club

by Ben Shedlock

Michael Cambareri (4.0) alone topped the Spokane Chess Club’s late-August quick Swiss, which provided a night of exciting and unpredictable chess. With 9 entrants of 14 rated in the C & D classes, 8 players ended the evening with scores between 2 and 3. Two unrated players made their rated debuts with scrappy showings of 2.0 each, splitting the U1400 prizes while shutting experienced regulars out of the money. John Dill, Tito Tinajero, and Jeremy Burnett tied for 3 points apiece, splitting the remaining overall prizes and the U1700 kitty for the four-round game 15/d3 event.

While the middle of the field struggled to find any daylight to separate them, it was the bottom half of the cross table that shone bright. Jordan Fischer—the lowest-rated player of the evening—tallied a whopping 530-point upset against Jeremy Burnett—who shared the second-place prize—to start off his campaign. Not to be outdone, the top-seeded U1400 player, Logan Faulkner, scored the evening’s second biggest upset with perhaps the night’s most brilliant find—a quiet bishop move deep in time trouble that earned him a 339-point upset over Dakota Wickel. Logan’s bishop set up the impressive back rank checkmate in game-winning style, supporting his rook to trap the king Wickel had hoped to use to support a pawn promotion. The closely rated competition led to another first round surprise, with unrated J. Carper gaining tempo early against Devin Wolford and staying a move and a piece ahead for the rest of the game. 

Though things began to settle in Round 2, several games continued the excitement. Unrated Aspen Seiver converted a challenging win against Dave Griffin, earning the win while up time but down material. In the hunt for a repeat upset, Fischer pushed a brutal queen-side pawn squeeze on John Dill, who converted a 7-pawn endgame with a promotion, taking the win in a hotly contested endgame.

The third round brought more thrillers. The unrated Carper went up a piece with a passed pawn early against Griffin, converting a rook advantage to dominate a 5-pawn endgame. Taking his revenge on the unrated, Wolford forced Seiver’s white king to take a lonely walk back to the 7th rank with no other pieces in sight, winning when white ran out of room to roam.

While the fourth round still failed to separate the middle of the field in several deliberately played games, Cambareri and Dill blitzed out a couple dozen moves in the winner-takes-all match up, resolving to an endgame that favored Cambareri’s two passed center pawns. 

At the bottom of the cross table, Carper earned his way into the second highest scoring group with an odd number of players, pitting him against the tournament’s second seed, Dakota Wickel. Carper played an aggressive opening, dropping only an exchange before losing several middle-game pawns on the way to a tough loss. The game was a fitting coda to the evening, with the young unrated player equaling Wickel’s overall score.

The local chess scene looks forward to more explosive play from these newcomers and intense battles from our strong crop of experienced, intermediate regulars.

The USCF cross table link: US Chess MSA – Cross Table for AUGUST QUICK TOURNAMENT (Event 202208250112)

The Lou Gehrig quads, held August 20 on the 86th anniversary of Lou’s final grand slam home run, drew 12 players to the West Central Abbey. Michael Cambareri handily won quad A with the only perfect score of the day. Kellogg’s Adam Porth scored 2.5 to win quad B, while Missoula’s Declan Pham topped Quad C with the same score. Congratulations to all the winners!

The USCF cross table link: US Chess MSA – Cross Table for LOU GEHRIG QUADS (Event 202208209752)

The annual August Ajeeb Quads, first played in 1992, drew a record number of participants — 24. The event began August 4 and was nearly completed August 18 except for two make up games. The winners of the six sections, with their winning score in parentheses, were: Top Quad, Michael Cambareri (3.0); Second Quad, Logan Faulkner (2.5); Mid Quad, Casey Bruner and Devin Wolford (2.0); Low Quad, Jack Johnson (3.0); New Quad, Jordan Fischer (3.0); and the Late Quad, John Frostad (3.0). Congratulations to the seven winners!

The USCF cross table link: US Chess MSA – Cross Table for AJEEB QUADS (Event 202208180942)

Ryan Ackerman continued his club winning streak, extending it to nine games in a row, by topping Jeremy Burnett in the final round to claim the Spring Championship with a perfect 4.0 score. Jeremy (3.0) tied for second with Michael Cambareri and claimed the u/1700 prize. Logan Faulkner (2.5) won the u/1500 prize and newcomer Ben Patterson (2.5) took the u/1300 prize. Ben’s performance rating for the event was 1740!

The USCF cross table link: US Chess MSA – Cross Table for JUNE ’22 (Event 202206239452)

The club’s experiment with a one day Quad format event was a big success, with 20 players taking part in the inaugural Dad’s Day Quads, held June 18. As is typical, the tightly packed rating groups led to many tight games that were fought to the wire — Indeed, the final game ended with four seconds on Michael Cambareri’s clock when Dave Rowles flagged!

Ryan Ackerman won the first quad with a 3.0 score. Jeremy Burnett (2.5) won the second quad, while Dave Griffin won the third quad with the same score. Ben Shedlock in the fourth quad and Collin Cremers in the fifth quad also both finished with perfect 3.0 scores. Congratulations to all of the winners!!

The USCF cross table link: US Chess MSA – Cross Table for DAD’S DAY QUADS- NEW DADS (Event 202206187322)

This was the first event played at The Hive on East Sprague. The venue is lovely and I recommend folks consider checking out a room with their library card to play casual games.

The club’s annual meeting drew 15 members to the May 19 meeting. The four current officers — President Michael Cambareri, Vice-President Tito Tinajero, Treasurer Kevin Korsmo, and Secretary Ted Baker — were returned to office and the club’s future plans were discussed. The club’s schedule was set through the end of August.

Ten players then participated in a blitz tournament that was, quite surprisingly, won by your editor with a score of 8-1. James Stripes (7-2) was second and Michael Cambareri (6.5-2.5) finished third.

Michael Cambareri won the two-week g/40 tournament that kicked off at club on May 5 with the only perfect 4.0 score among the 14 players taking part. Dave Rowles, Kevin Korsmo, and Frederik van Pallandt tied for second with scores of 3.0. Dave and Kevin split the over 1499 prize, while Frederik took the under 1500 prize.

The USCF cross table link: US Chess MSA – Cross Table for 554X40D5 (Event 202205120102)

Brian Lee, a WSU freshman by way of Napavine, won the Inland Empire Open with a perfect 5.0 score. Brad Bodie finished second with a 4.0 score. Brian defeated Brad in their round four matchup of the first day’s only perfect scorers. Brian then topped Spokane veteran Dave Rowles in the final round to clinch outright first place.

Dave Rowles and James Stripes each finished with 3.5 to tie for the class A prize. Jeremy Burnett, 3.0, won the class B/C prize. Unrated newcomer Dakota Wickel, who arrived in Spokane only a month earlier, won the class D/unrated section with a score of 3.0 on his way to earning a provisional rating of 1695. Second place in the section was shared by Owen McDevitt and Arnav Wadikar with scores of 2.5.

Although the field of 18 who turned out for this year’s edition was small, the competition was decidedly strong! Six of the players were rated 1845 or higher, and they are augmented by a pair of underrated 1300s and two strong online players making their OTB debut. In all, it made for a very competitive event.

The annual Taxing Quads are underway April 7-14-21. A total of 16 players are taking part. The first round saw upset results in the top three quads, with only the fourth quad seeing the top two players win their games.

The Jepson building is locked at all time, so the club will have people at the northeast door (the one closest to St. Al’s) from 6:30 to 7:00 to admit players. Gonzaga is no longer requiring masks.

Eleven hardy souls skipped the sour 16 Gonzaga game in favor of competing in a night’s blitz tournament on March 24. Ryan Ackerman was a perfect 10-0, topping the field by two games. An evening of free play will be held March 31 before the club’s annual Taxing Quads begins on April 7.