Spokane Chess Club

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.

The club’s return to Gonzaga continued in fine fashion, with 18 taking part in a two week, g/45 tourney played March 10 and 17. Michael Cambareri won the event with a perfect 4.0 score, defeating Jeremy Burnett in the final round. Cambareri edged Ryan Ackerman in round three, mating Ryan in a time scramble with both players under 5 seconds.

Second place and best in class prizes were shared by Ackerman, Griffin Herr, Burnett, and Arnav Wadikar, all of whom finished at 3.0. Second place in the under 1450 section was shared by Casey Bruner and Devin Wolford with 2.0 scores.

The club’s return to Gonzaga on March 3rd was a huge success, with 20 players turning out. 18 players took part in the night’s g/15 tournament, which was won by Michael Cambareri with a perfect 4.0 score. It was a well-balanced event, exemplified by the fact that there were four and five-way ties for the u/1600 prize and the u/1300 prize. The turnout bodes well for the two week g/45 event beginning March 10.

[For a preview of the Northwest Chess article and a link to the cross table, read the complete article on this year’s tournament on our Dave Collyer Memorial page.}

The 29th Dave Collyer Memorial tournament was “an instant classic” in the language of ESPN and will be remembered for numerous hard-fought games and spectacular results from seriously underrated newcomers. Although many newcomers shined, first place still went to IM John Donaldson who won the tournament once more with a perfect 5.0 score.

The biggest story of the event was 10-year-old Finnegan Flavin of Wenatchee. He entered the tourney with a rating of but 887 and raised it 420 points to 1307 before returning home. Wow. The youngster finished with 4.5 to tie for second place overall with Dave Rowles. In addition, Finnegan won both of the Jim Waugh biggest upset prizes. He was held to a second-round draw by Jeremy Younker, who in his youth had quite a reputation himself for upsetting higher rated adult opponents. Finnegan had the largest upset in the first round and kept raising the bar each succeeding round before defeating the legendary Viktors Pupols on board 3 in the final round.

He had lots of competition for those prizes. Newcomer Owen McDevitt, a graduate student at WSU, sported a provisional rating of 663 entering the event and left with a provisional rating of 1070 after scoring 4.0, including a 2-1 record against class A players in the final three rounds. WSU freshman Brian Lee won his first four games before battling Donaldson on board one with the tournament title at stake.

There were numerous class prize winners. The Expert prize was shared by David Arganian and Michael Cambareri with 4.0 scores. Brian Lee, Steve Merwin (who lost to Donaldson in round 4), and Jeremy Younker all scored 4.0 to win the class A prizes. A score of 3.5 result in a three-way tie for the class B prizes among Neal Bonrud, Griffin Herr, and Andrew Rankin. Niall McKenzie won the class C prize with a similar 3.5 score, while four players shared the second prizes with 3.0 scores: Jess Driscoll, Tayseer Khalil, Murlin Varner, and Jeremy Wohl. Casey Bruner, who recently returned to chess, was first in class D with a score of 2.5; second place in the class was shared by Patrick Kirlin and Arnav Wadikar with 2.0 scores. The class E/unrated category was won by McDevitt with his 4.0 score, while Garrett Thompson finished second at 3.0 in his first tournament.

Congratulations to all of the prize winners and to each of the 72 entrants who made this an entertaining tournament to watch.

Round five report: Ryan Ackerman and Michael Cambareri are the co-champions of the club’s Winter Championship. The two drew with each other in round four and then held serve in their final round games to jointly finish with 4.5 scores and the title. One game is still to be played, but all of the prizes have been decided. Jeremy Burnett (3.5) was tops in the u/1600 category, while Logan Faulkner and Abe Kenney (3.0) tied for second in that section. Arnav Wadikar, who lost to Cambareri on board one in the final round, won the u/1300 section with a score of 3.5. Casey Bruer and Mike Byrne each scored 3.0 to tie for second in the section.

Congratulations to all prize winners! The event will be submitted for rating when the final makeup game is played.

Round four report: Ryan Ackerman saved a lost position late in his board one game with Michael Cambareri, and the parties agreed to a draw that left them tied with LC freshman Arnav Wadikar at 3.5 after four rounds of the five-round tournament. Those three, along with Logan Faulkner and Tito Tinajero (both 3.0), will be competing for the championship title in round five. A tie looks likely absent a rash of draws.

Round three report: Only nine games were played in round three, but most of them were played to the late endgame before resolution. The top two boards, Michael Cambareri and Ryan Ackerman, cruised to comparatively early victories in the middle game, but everyone else decided to enjoy some endgame practice. Those two have the only perfect scores and will battle in round four. The last three games of the round belonged to the lowest boards and exemplified some excellent endgame play. The struggle between Bed Shedlock and Stan Soderberg ended in a draw due to mutual flag falls! Jim Burney saved a position with a draw by repetition, while Dave Rowles drew Casey Bruner in another endgame. The final game of the night saw Abdul Hakkani and Brandon Arnold throw tactics and technique at each other, with one side and then the other having the advantage, until Abdul secured the win with about 30 seconds left on Brandon’s clock.

Round two report: There were several exciting finishes, some upsets, and lots of wild play during the second round. Logan Faulkner upended Dave Rowles on board two in a game that ended with both players under five minutes on their clocks. Not to be outdone, the board three contest ended with both players under 30 seconds as Ryan Ackerman salvaged the point despite being down a pawn entering the endgame. High school freshman Arnav Wadikar showed strong play in salvaging an endgame, playing dozens of moves with just seconds remaining on his clock, to gain the victory. Veterans Jim Burney and Dave Griffin fought to a draw when Burney was able to force repetition with his queen while a knight screened off both of Griffin’s queens! Board 4 saw another draw by repetition when Casey Bruner was able to fend off Tito Tinajero’s attack on the H-file and use his two rooks to force Tito’s King into repeating his moves. The evening was a treat for fans of endgame play!

Round one report: The first Winter Championship in two years drew a nice opening round turnout of 22 players at the River Park Square Kress Gallery on January 20th. There are a number of underrated provisional players and youngsters swelling the 1100 range who are going to do serious ratings damage to some of the veteran players. There were two “upsets” in the first round by players in that category, and there undoubtedly will be more!

Two newcomers with provisional ratings shook up this year’s Turkey Quads. In Quad A, Andrew Beeksma, in his second rated OTB event, pushed his provisional rating into the 1900s by scoring 2.5 points to share the quad title with Michael Cambareri. The two drew in their first round encounter.

Arnav Wadikar, a freshman at LC in Spokane, played better than 1000 points above his old provisional rating while sweeping Quad B. The rating, largely developed in his first to fourth grade years, is significantly below his playing strength by 1000-1500 points. If he can get in a couple more rated games and move out of the provisional rating category, he will be a favorite to win an upset prize in this year’s Collyer Memorial. Watch out if he enters the Idaho Open!!

Ben Shedlock and Joshua Haltom each scored 2-1 to share the prize in Quad C. Everyone won at least one game in that hard fought section before the dust cleared with Ben and Josh on top. Congratulations to everyone who entered!

The USCF cross table link: US Chess MSA – Cross Table for TURKEY21- 21TQUADSA (Event 202111188512).

The annual Turkey Open in Missoula drew a very large turnout of 43 players, including seven with Spokane CC ties. Top seed Michael Cambareri went a perfect 5-0 to win the event by a full point. Third seed Brad Bodie finished 4-1 in a multi-way tie for second place. They paced the Spokane connection. Dave Griffin finished second in class C and Jim Burney finished second in class D. Your editor split his games, but still came away with a few extra rating points, something that seldom happens to me over there!

The turnout reflected the growing interest in OTB chess in this region and came on the heels of the near-record 48 players who turned up for the Montana Open in Helena in May. The Turkey Open is my favorite event to travel to and I recommend it to all with an interest in travelling for chess.

Ellen Collyer’s obituary was published on October 31st, her favorite holiday. This lengthy piece was beautifully written and is a wonderful tribute to someone we all miss.

Ellen COLLYER Obituary (2021) – Spokane, WA – Spokesman-Review (legacy.com)