N WEST - Northwest Chess!

- ..I President's Corner II would like to thank everyone for supporting the recentOregon Open. It is awesome to me, the quality of chess play.which has become standard for both the Washington andOregon Opens. Our tournament was held here in Eugeneover the labor Day weekend and was a great success by allaccounts.The annual meeting of the Oregon Chess Federation wasmore productive and exciting than any I can remember. Inorder to make OCFadministration more effective and COOl"-dinated. the members at the meeting decided to make theterms of the officers two years instead of one. The Presidentwill also serve a third year in the office of ImmediatePast President whose duties will be to complete projects asnecessary and to give necessary training and guidance tothe new President and Vice President. Transitions from oneadministration to the next often result in incomplete or lostwork. Inthe past, such transitions had made the OCFinto asomewhat ineffective organization, dependent upon the occasionalunsunghero to keepthings rolling. Oregon deservesto havean organization truly supportive of chess and responsiveto the needs of its members. I believe it will get goodsupport in retum from its members. as well.A very exciting program was approved at the meeting.Starting this coming spring. the OCF will sponsor the 01"-egon Junior Open Championship. Besides crowning theJunior Open Champion. the top-scoring Oregon high schoolplayer will be named the qualifier for the Amold Denker NationalToumament of High School Champions. and the highest-scoringfemale will be named the qualifier for the SusanPolgar National Invitational Toumament for Girls. Proceedsfrom the tournament will be used to help families with travelexpenses for the Denker and Polgar tournaments.Most of my involvement in chess for the last decade orso has been with junior players. The juniors of today are theadults of tomorrow. It is a privilege to me to be able to workwith young people. Many of the lessons of chess are alsolife lessons. and it i~ a game providing much benefit to anywho follow its ways. It is a priority to promote chess amongjuniors. Onthe other hand, I do not want to ignore the needsof the adult membership. I want to find ways to promotemore programs for everyone. Chess is growing and, withsupport and input from our membership. we can maximizethat growth and make the chess world better.Iwould liketo recognize our new officers and board. It isa wonderful and diverse group made up of young and not soyoung, male and female, all with the motivation and intent toimprove the world of chess. The new Vice President is DavidYoshinaga. Dave is a very intelligent and active man withlots of good ideas. His irrepressible wit and humor help tomake him an ideal working partner. Clark Harmon remainsas Treasurer. Itwould take several paragraphs to mentionall the things Clark has already done for chess in OregonContinued on page 6... T ~ .~Northwest ChessOctober 2004President's Cornerpage 3Youth Served at Oregon Openpage 4Tournament Adspages 7,11, 14,23Sprenkle Reigns in Spokanepage 8Northwest Newspage 10Apropos Invitational #1page 12Ethics Committee on NWRatings Fraud.page 1550 Years Ago in the WAChess Letterpage 15Christopher NWGP Reportpage 16Deja Vu Your Way to Better Tactical PlayImproving Your Chess with NM TomRowanpage 17Scholastic Checkup with Dr. LeoDr.Leo discusses parental involvment in the clubpage 20NW Games from the U.S.Open, Rd. 9page 22The Northwest Chess Calendarof Upcoming Eventsback coverOn the Cover: Winners of the firstApropos Invitational:Clint Ballard of Silverdale, WA, (L) and Eduard Shamilov ofRenton. WA, (R). Photos by Kent McNall.