Maryhill Museum hosts tournament for students in rural Oregon (September, 2025)

I had the great opportunity a couple weeks ago to serve as TD for the Husky Tournament at the Maryhill Museum on the Columbia River Gorge, an amazing location and venue, which made an OSCF state tournament qualifier accessible to students from the far reaches of eastern Oregon. I wanted to take the opportunity thank OSCF board member Kevin Stuart for putting this on, and the Maryhill Museum for hosting. For those who do not know, they have a huge collection of super unique chess sets. Well worth the visit! - Phil Schapker Mendez, OSCF President

Press release:
Written by Kevin Stuart | 9.25.2025

On Saturday, September 20, 2025, chess players from four counties in Oregon and three in Washington came together at Maryhill Museum of Art for a Husky Scholastic Chess Tournament. This was the second time that Sherman County School had hosted a U.S. Chess Federation (USCF-rated) Swiss-style tournament, but it was their first time hosting one in the M.J. Murdock Education Center of Maryhill Museum, and for those who were able to attend, it was an enjoyable event! Forty-two players competed in two groupings based on age and ability for trophies and medals. 

In the K12 Open (advanced) Section, Eevie Tare from the Beaverton area won 1st place, while Gage Simpson (Sherman) took 2nd, and Colby Large from Goldendale HS took 3rd. In addition, Riley Darcy (Hermiston) earned an Evens Medal for winning half of his games.

In the U700 MS/HS section, Stephen Orendorff (Sherman) won 1st place, while Olivia Burbank (Sherman) took 2nd, and Wyatt Bolton (Goldendale HS) took 3rd. Additionally, Colin Watts (Goldendale HS) and Arian Burnett (Sherman) both earned Plus medals for winning more than half of their games, and Ivan Miner (Goldendale homeschool) earned an Evens Medal.

In the U700 Elementary section, Xavier Harmening (Goldendale homeschool) won 1st place in a Blitzoff with Gibbs Miner (Goldendale homeschool), who took 2nd. Kennan Cranston (Sherman) took 3rd place. 

In the U300 MS/HS section, Riley Hyer (Goldendale HS) won 1st place, while Trapper Malcolm (Sherman) won 2nd place, and Sebastian Burbank (Sherman) won 3rd place. Additionally, Xander Spadt, Trysten Lofthouse, Mark Susi, Aiden Devlaeminck, Evan Lancaster, and Zane Moore (all from Sherman) earned Plus medals, while Luke Holliday (Sherman), William Phelps (Sherman), and Elli Wood (Goldendale, Homeschool) each earned Even’s Medals. 

In the U300 Elementary section, Micah Earl (Sherman) won first place, while Simon Burbank (Sherman) won 2nd place, and Joey Batastini (Goldendale Homeschool) won 3rd place. In addition, Joyce Orendorff (Sherman) won a Plus Medal.

The museum's George E. Muehleck, Jr. Gallery of International Chess Sets offers a historical global overview of chess, accompanied by anecdotes and stories about the game. A varied selection of its unique chess sets and chess-related works of art are on display, from antique Indian warriors to Simpsons-themed and other pop culture sets. According to Phil Schapker Mendez, the President of Oregon Scholastic Chess Federation, who served as the Tournament Director at this event, this facility at Maryhill Museum was “the most amazing environment for a chess tournament that I have ever seen!” With stunning views of the Columbia River, a nice, warm, sunny day, with only a moderate breeze, and world-class art all around (of which, in the vicinity of the tournament), there were so many stunning artistic chess sets, the environment is quite possibly the most perfectly conceived for a chess tournament, that any at the tournament have ever known! 

Perhaps what is even more amazing is that the museum offered free admission to all who were there for the tournament, so naturally, many players and family members took time to explore the museum. Sherman County Chess and all of the participants wish to thank the Maryhill Museum of Art for being such gracious hosts, and wish to offer thanks as well to the James Weir Fund for providing the funding used to provide this opportunity to the 42 players who participated and their families. We are very grateful as well to the Oregon Scholastic Chess Federation for covering the transportation costs of the TD and for covering the USCF Membership fees for the new and renewing players (a very kind gesture, indeed!). Thanks as well to Jeremy Lanthorn, who photographed the event at this awesome venue, and to all the staff of Maryhill Museum of Art for their help setting up and facilitating the tournament!

For those interested, Sherman County School will be hosting one more tournament this school year on Nov. 8th, so please mark your calendars for it.

Zoey Tang is US Girls Junior Champion! (July, 2025)

Written by Phil Schapker Mendez, OSCF President

Congratulations to Portland high schooler WGM Zoey Tang, who became the US Girls Junior Champion this July in St. Louis. In order to do this, she had to compete in a 10-person round robin of girls all rated over 2000, in which no draw offers were allowed. Zoey was undefeated and won a commanding 7 points out of 9 possible. According to Zoey, this tournament was a dream come true after many years of hard work, and she has earned an invitation to next year’s Women’s World Cup.

You can see an article about the tournament, and play through some of Zoey’s games on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/news/view/alex-fishbein-andy-woodward-zoey-tang-win-national-titles-2025#girls

Oregon players rack up wins at national invitational! (July, 2025)

Written by Phil Schapker Mendez, OSCF President

The 2025 US National Championship was held between 28 July - 3 August, 2025 in Middleton, Wisconsin. The players in the Oregon delegation fought hard and had strong showings in 4 invitational tournaments. Congratulations to Austin Tang for winning 3 points out of 5 in the Denker tournament of High School Champions, Neil Natarajan, who achieved an even score of 2.5 in the Barber tournament of Middle School champions, Lucas Maokhampio, who won 3 points in the Rockefeller Tournament of Elementary School Champions, Emel Bayrambeyli, who won 3 points in the Haring tournament of national girls champions, and Carl Haessler, who won 3 points in the Irwin tournament of senior champions.

Overall a very solid showing for Oregon. Congratulations, all of you!

The Oregon delegation is nominated by the Oregon Chess Federation, and the contestants for the Denker, Barber, and Rockefeller tournaments are decided at the annual K12 State Championship in Seaside. Next year, the US Open will be including a new invitational tournament for K-3 champions, named in honor of GM Maurice Ashley, which you can read about here: https://new.uschess.org/ashley/event-information. This fall, OSCF will be updating its official rules for the state championship to allow for an Oregon nominee for the Ashley.

Biggest Oregon State Championship in years selects nominees for national tournaments (4/22/2025)

Written by  Jaskaran Singh
Grade 5, Scholls Heights Elementary School

April 4, 2025. That was the big day. Over 340 students from all over Oregon participated in the 2025 Seaside State Chess Tournament. This was a 2 day long tournament full of surprises and fun. On the first day the blitz tournament, the bughouse tournament, and the first 2 rounds for the highschool platinum and middle school platinum sections were held. There were many different fun contests such as a “who has the silliest hat” contest. One really fun event which I personally enjoyed was the bughouse tournament. To play (and win) in bughouse, you don’t really have to be very good at chess. To play well, you just have to be creative with your pieces. The time control for the Bughouse tournament was a blitz G/5:+0. The champions of their sections at the bughouse tournament were rewarded with beautiful bug trophies.

On April 5, hundreds of anxious players filled up the skittles room. What would await them upon the chessboard was unknown. Everyone would come back with something important. They might come back with plaques, medals, learnings, and most importantly, memories that they would share with friends and family. Players were divided into 4 different age groups viz. Primary school, Elementary school, Middle school, and High school. The Primary school sections had a Copper section, a Silver Section, and a Platinum section. The Elementary section had Cobalt, Iron, Zinc, Copper, Silver, and Platinum. The Middle school section was divided into Iron, Zinc, Copper, Silver, and Platinum. The High school section had 4 sub-sections, Zinc, Copper, Silver, and Platinum. 

Platinum sections had some of the best players in Oregon for their age group. The tournament featured star players such as Candidate Master Austin Tang and other amazing players. The tournament venue was the Seaside Convention Center on First Avenue. The first round for Middle school and High school Platinum was from 11:00 am to 4:15 pm with a classical time control of G/85;+5. For the rest of the groups and sections, the 1st rounds were at 9:15. For the players in the Necanicum Room, the time control was G/30;+5. For the players in the Riverside Room, the time control was G/45;+5. In between rounds, players could participate in a chess puzzle scavenger hunt, spin-the-wheel challenge, and play mega chess. For the parents, there was a friends and family tournament where families competed against each other. 

After 5 vigorous rounds, the players headed to the skittles room to find out who would be the champion amongst them. The winners for the Friends and Family tournament was Daniel Bass with Allen Johnson in second place. The winners for the Primary section were Noah Julius (Copper), Dhyan Shanmukh Kanadhibhotla (Silver) and Rihaan Rahul (Platinum) respectively. 

The winners for the Elementary section were Shashank Ganapabathula (Cobalt), Matrim Tew (Iron), Trishal Basavaraju (Zinc), Aditya Alok (Copper), Rianna Paul (Silver). The Elementary  Platinum section had two co-champions, Ekam Sardar & Lucas Maokhampio. After a gruelling series of blitz tie-breakers, Lucas Maokhampio ended up winning the nomination to represent Oregon in the Rockefeller National Tournament of Champions.   

The winners for the Middle School section were Angelo Ceccacci (Iron), Vedanth Yada (Zinc), Harish Ramesh (Copper), Conrad Chang (Silver), and Neil Natarajan (Platinum), with Neil winning the nomination to represent Oregon in the Barber National Tournament of Middle School Champions. 

Finally, the winners in the High School section were Quincy Converse (Iron), Naren Deivanayagam (Copper), Rowan Solovitz (Silver), and Austin Tang (Platinum).  Austin won the nomination to represent Oregon in the Denker National Tournament of High School Champions. 

In all it was an amazing tournament for everyone. Like I said before, everyone walked away with at least something. How about you? What did you earn or learn? See you at the next Seaside State Championship!

Coed Team Championship a success, breaks Oregon record for girl participants (3/26/2025)

Written by  Jaskaran Singh
Grade 5, Scholls Heights Elementary School

The much awaited OSCF Coed chess tournament was held on March 16th 2025. Over 260 students participated from all over Oregon from grades K-12. They were all anxious about how their day would unfold,  whether they would come home victorious like a champion with a medal around their necks or would bring back experience & learning to improve their game. They were like gladiators fighting in the Colosseum. They showcased their finest skills in a battle to the death. There were 94 girls that participated in the tournament, many of which finished the tournament with astounding scores. That’s substantially more than the 78 girls that appeared in last year's tournament, which at that point was a state record. It was nice to see the number of girl participants going up year on year. The number of tables in the skittles room fell short of the number of teams participating in the tournament. I saw many teams sitting on the floors and practicing their games. My own team, despite arriving early, could not get a table inside the skittles room but we somehow managed to arrange some chairs.

Finally, at 10:15 am, the pairings were out. The players hurried to their tables and took last minute pictures. The time control was a short G25/+5. After the players had finished their games, there were many fun activities such as a Spin-the-Wheel and a mega chess to help entertain the players. Players were also reviewing their games with their team members and getting advice from parents and coaches. 

The highest rated team in K-5 Open/Reserve was Springfield Group A with a team rating of 1174. The  highest rated team for K-8 Open Reserve was Willamette Valley K8 with a team rating of 1106.3. The best rated team in K-12 Open/Reserve was Westview HS Team A with a team rating of 1788. The best rated team in the Mixed Reserve section were the Chess Champs with a team rating of 797. In the Individual Section the top player was William Ho (1429). 

You would be surprised to see that the teams and players that won in each section weren’t always the highest rated in the group, as everyone would later see during the award ceremony. I watched people go in and out of the game hall. There were some joyful and sometimes overconfident faces. There were humble faces which didn’t show either sadness or glee. And then there were the teary-eyed kids who had lost their games. Sometimes the overconfident faces lost their games while the disappointed players got a draw or won. The humble faces either drew or won. For them losing didn’t exist. A “loss” was an opportunity to learn and understand what they did wrong in the game.

After all of the games were over, it was time for the award ceremony. Players huddled around their team to see who would be the champion in their section. The team that won in the K-12 Mixed Open section was Westview HS Team A. The team that won in the K-8 Open Reserve was Stroller. In the K-5 Open Reserve, the winning team was Jacob Wismer K5 A. The team that won in the Mixed Reserve Section were the Chess Champs. In the Individual Section Standings, Phillip Volodkin in first place and William Ho in second. Sohum Paranjpe was the winner in the under 900 section. John Ayoub got first in the Under 600. Siddarth Bondhey got first in the Under 300 section. Kabir Shah got 1st in the Unrated section. Lastly, I would like to congratulate all the parents who put all of their work to the side to bring their children to this tournament. The tournament was a great experience where players got a lot of experience. Whether you are an experienced 1500 or a beginning 400, this is a tournament for all skill levels and age groups. See you at the Coed State Team Championship next year!  

Click here to see the full pairings and standings from the tournament.

Sherman Co. Chess Club hosts first USCF rated tournament (1/29/25)

The 2025 Oregon Chess All Stars Invitational (1/28/2025)

Written by: Riaan Deharia.
Grade 6, Stroller Middle School

The Oregon Chess community came together on January 25, 2025, for the highly anticipated Oregon Chess All Stars Invitational, the first since the COVID-19 pandemic. This event brought the talents of Oregon's top scholastic chess players, offering a platform for young minds to demonstrate their skill and passion for the game.

This tournament was participated by 88 talented players who had proven their abilities through a variety of qualifying methods. Players could secure their spot in the event by ranking among the top ten in their age group in Oregon, or by receiving the esteemed Order of the Knight Award during the Oregon Chess State Championship. This award recognizes individuals who display exceptional sportsmanship and fair play throughout the competition.

Phil Schapker Mendez, President of the Oregon Scholastic Chess Federation (OSCF), opened the event by welcoming participants and providing an overview of the day's proceedings. Following his remarks, Zoey Tang, President and Founder of Puddletown Chess, took the stage to deliver an inspiring speech on the importance of dedication and mastery in pursuing one's passions. Her words not only encouraged the young competitors but also served as a testament to her own achievements, as she had recently earned the coveted title of Grandmaster.

The All-Stars Invitational featured five intense rounds of competition. Players faced off under a time control of 25 minutes per player, with an additional 5 seconds added per move. All 5 rounds ended by 4:15PM PST and the awards ceremony followed. Players were awarded who achieved a plus score of 3.0 points or higher with well-deserved medals. Additionally, the top three places in each of the 9 sections received cash awards, totaling $100 in each section.

The successful return of the Oregon Chess All Stars Invitational is a testament to the dedication of the OSCF board members, volunteers and its sponsors. It was a blast and I’m looking forward to participating in future again. For a more detailed analysis of the tournament, please refer to the official tournament report -  https://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?202501258472.0

Upcoming tournaments:

Don’t forget to sign up for the upcoming tournaments hosted by OSCF: 

  • The Individual State Championships in Seaside (April 4-5, 2025) - Seaside, 

  • The Co-Ed State Team Championship (March 16, 2025)- Oregon Convention Center 

Riaan Deharia

Congratulations, Oregon delegation! (8/2024)

In July, four of our top finishers from Seaside represented Oregon in the USCF national tournaments of high school, middle school, elementary, and girls champions.

Oregon HS champion, FM Zoey Tang, took 1st place overall in the Haring Tournament of Girls Champions! Congratulations also to Kai Sebastian Lewis (Denker tournament of HS Champs), Austin Tang (Barber Tournament of MS Champs), and Sriram Badri (Rockefeller Tournament of Elementary Champions), for their strong showings, and for representing our state with grace and good sportsmanship on the national stage!

Read all about it on USCF’s webpage, where you can see full standings and also play through two of Zoey’s games!

From left to right: Sriram Badri, Kai Lewis, Wilson Gibbons (Irwin Tournament), Zoey Tang, Austin Tang.