Syttende Mai is the Norwegian version of 4th of July or Cinco de Mayo, and, with one of the strongest tournaments in history wrapping up in Stavanger, Norway and with one of the strongest players in history being Norwegian, what better excuse could there be for Oregon’s top scholastic players to meet?
Most of the very top high school players in the state converged on Zion Lutheran Church in Corvallis to play the Syttende Mai Invitational last Saturday (May 18). Going by the most recent All-Stars list, it was the top two juniors, top three sophomores, and top two freshmen who played (with a couple of chess dads filling in as needed).

They played three rounds of G/90 + d5. After the battles were finished and the dust had settled, Matt Dalthorp (#1 Junior), Aaron Grabinsky (#1 Freshman), and Yogi Saputra (#1 Sophomore) were knotted in a three-way tie for first with 2/3. A half point back were Andy Trattner and Erik Skalnes (1.5), followed by Clemen Deng and David Wen (both at 1.0).

In the sub-battle of Corvallis vs. the rest, Corvallis came out on top with 5/9 in a close match. Stay tuned for a more detailed summary (with games and annotations) in next month’s issue of Northwest Chess.

The Spring 2013 All Stars lists have been compiled and posted!  The top ten established ratings in each grade, for those players who played at least one rated game in the January-April 2013 time period, are listed for each grade from K through 12th.  Do let us know if you think that you see something incorrect in the list, and we’ll check and correct it if necessary.

All-Stars lists are published each trimester of the year. Any player on one or more of the winter, spring or fall (to be published in September 2013) lists — or on the 2013 Lifetime Achievement list, also to be published in September — will be eligible to participate in the 2013 6th Annual Oregon All-Stars Invitational, which will be held in Salem in October, 2013.  We look forward to seeing all of these players there!

Congratulations once again to everyone who participated at the 8th Annual OSCF State Championship!  It was the largest OSCF Championship ever (328 players checked in and participated), preceded by (as best we can tell!) the largest blitz (129 players, compared to 92 last year) and bughouse (202 players, compared to 164 players last year) events ever.  More details about prior championships are listed after the break.

In the discussion below, each year’s statistics are accompanied by a photograph of the Commemorative Pin for each year that the OSCF State Championship has been active.  In the last several years, we have been fortunate to have our pins designed by Mark Dalthorp (with the assistance of his dad, former OSCF President Dan Dalthorp).  Thanks to them for their fine design work!  We managed to distribute the latest version of these pins to almost all of the players in their final rounds at State 2013, but if you didn’t get one and want one for your collection, please contact us and we can get one to you. Read more »

The Syttende Mai Invitational chess tournament for top Oregon juniors will be held on May 18. Players will celebrate Syttende Mai with loads of fun, great chess, and lefse. Participation is by invitation only. If you are rated above 1700 and are interested, please contact Dan Dalthorp at onco111@yahoo.com.

With the close of the 8th Annual OSCF State Championship, it’s time for something of an annual tradition: Publication of the State’s Top 25 scholastic players.  The latest list ranks the top 25 scholastic players in the state (i.e., those enrolled in grades K-12) who were active (i.e., played at least one rated game) over the course of the last year.  The updated list can be found here (thanks to Dan Dalthorp).  Congratulations to all of these hardworking players!

Thanks to the hard work of chief Pairings TD, Roza Kotlyar, along with the assistance of our long-time Oregon Ratings Coordinator, Amy Coughlin, the rating reports for the 2013 OSCF Championship have now been posted on both the NWSRS and (for the 6 dual-rated sections) the USCF website.  Thanks to both of them, and to all of you, for helping to make our 2013 Championship a success.

The 9th Annual OSCF State Championship is scheduled for April 11-12, 2014.  Mark your calendars!!

As chess players and their families return to their regular weekly routine, the entire OSCF Board (including four new members) would like to thank everyone for making our 8th Annual OSCF State tournament the biggest, buggiest, and blitz-iest ever!  A total of 328 players competed during Saturday’s main event, more than 50 more than the year before.  There were 129 blitz players on Friday night, and a cocoon-busting 202 Bughouse players who took shelter in the packed Necanicum room from the blowing rainstorm outside.

Thanks to our volunteer photographers Herma Ornes (returning for yet another year of great photos), Travis Albers (who stepped up quickly at our request for assistance), and Rob Schuff (who has also helped manage uploading photos to the web), a collection of 600+ photos from this year’s event have already been uploaded to the OSCF Picasa albums.  You can access the photos from the oscf.org home page; look for the “Photos” link on the left under Tournaments.

Final results will be rated and posted later this week.  Keep an eye out for an announcement about that, as well as a more detailed thanks to the many volunteers who helped make the event possible!

Registration has closed for the 8th Annual OSCF State Tournament in Seaside.  Thank you for registering!  We will be sending an email later in the week with last-minute information about the event, but in the meantime, almost all of your questions can be answered by looking at the latest version of tournament details, tournament rules, blitz rules, and bughouse rules.  Also, an updated list of Who’s Coming has been posted.

Note that the Who’s Coming page lists the 14 High School Elite and 23 Middle School Elite players who are the only players that begin play on Friday morning; please check in by 10:30 or so! If you’re playing Blitz on Friday, come no later than 3:45 so you can check in by 4:00. If you’re playing Bughouse on Friday, come no later than 5:45 to check in by 6:00. And for everyone else, check in by 9:00am on Saturday morning.

With one more day to go before registration closes, we already know that the 8th Annual OSCF State Championship in Seaside will be the biggest OSCF Championship ever!  We are looking forward to seeing everyone on the coast in just over a week.  If you haven’t already, move quickly to register, as registration closes at Midnight Tonight Friday, April 5.  You can look here to see who is coming.

Shake off those pre-tournament jitters by playing in the blitz tournament Friday afternoon. Purchase tickets online with your registration ($10) or purchase a ticket at Chess Central on Friday ($15).  Check in by dropping off your ticket by 4:00 at the B-hive. Games begin as soon as possible after that (pretty close to, but no earlier than, 4:40).

Blitz is almost exactly like regular chess except you have to make all your moves in just five minutes and if you catch your opponent making an illegal move, you win! Most games end when a king is captured (an emphatic way of saying, “Illegal move! I win!”) or when a player runs out of time.

Brief summary of blitz rules (USCF Blitz Rules, which you can find here, govern):

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