Area Event Updates
Check out several events coming up in
the next couple of months by clicking on the Area Events link above!
Collyer Memorial
The Dave Collyer Memorial, sponsored by the Spokane Chess Club and the Gary Younker Foundation, is the Spokane area's premiere chess tournament. Gary Younker started the tournament in honor of longtime chess organizer (and strong player) Dave Collyer who passed away at a young age. Gary Younker himself died way too young. Friends of both men began the Gary Younker Foundation, dedicated to promoting chess in the Inland Empire Region of the Northwest, with a special emphasis on youth chess. The Collyer Memorial is now held each year in memory of both of these outstanding men.
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2010
Donaldson & Malugu Win 18th Collyer Memorial
John Donaldson and Satyajit Malugu won the 18th installment of Spokane's premiere chess event, the Dave Collyer Memorial, held February 27 & 28, 2010, at St. Anne's Children's Center in Spokane. The top seeds met in the final round and reached a draw after entering the early middle game without advantage to either party. The result set a final round trend as five of the top seven boards drew, most after extended play. For Donaldson, the title was the ninth win in eleven years. Malugu, a recent transplant to Bellevue from New Jersey, made his first appearance in the tourney.
A group of five finished one-half point back at 4.0 to claim third place. Steve Merwin (4.0) took the expert category prize, while the other four finishers split the third prize and the two Class A prizes: Cyrus Desmarais, Mark Havrilla, Jim Skovron, and Phil Weyland.
Three tied for the Class B prizes with 3.5 scores: Stephen Buck, Dan McCourt, and Jeremy Younker. The Class C prizes were shared by five players with 3.0 scores: Ben Blue, Bill McBroom, Jerry Morton, Aaron Nicoski, and Doug Sly. There was another three-way tie in the Class D/Unrated category, where 2.5 scores were posted by Bryant Baird, Jeremy Krasin, and Murray Strong. Murray also claimed the top upset prize ($100) after a strong first day showing when he drew with a Class B player and beat an expert (708 point upset) and a Class A player. The second biggest upset belonged to Pullman sixth grader Peter Schumaker (586 point upset). The two were nicely rewarded by the USCF: Murray's rating jumped 142 points, while Peter's climbed an even 100!
A total of 63 players took part, tying last's year tally as the second largest Collyer tourney. A large number of the participants were first timers at the event and we hope to see many of them back next year. Two players traveled quite far to play this year. Wayne Hatcher drove up from New Mexico to make another appearance in this event. Meanwhile, world traveler Jerry Morton, who has come from central Asia for two of the past Collyer tourneys, topped his previous travels by coming all the way from Australia this year! Way to go, Jerry!
This year's $1600 guaranteed prize fund was again supported by the Gary Younker Foundation, which was started in memory of long-time Spokane chess stalwart Gary Younker who founded this event in honor of his old friend, David Collyer. Friends of both regularly contribute to the foundation which promotes chess in eastern Washington. In addition to the Collyer tourney, the foundation recently backed the 2009 Washington Open and the 2009 Washington Elementary Chess Championships held in Spokane.
The USCF cross table: http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?201002284271-10328357
The weekend's festivities kicked off with IM John Donaldson giving a lecture and playing a simul on Friday evening at Riverpark Square's Kress Gallery. The lecture covered John's experiences at the world Team Championships in Turkey in January. John captained the U.S. squad to a surprising Silver Medal finish. John then took on 23 players in a simul, and managed to win 19 of the games in just over 2 hours of work! Travis Elisara, Cameron Leslie, and Dave Rowles all managed wins, while ten-year-old Hannah Merwin offered a draw after winning a piece off of the IM! He accepted and the youngster had a great memory for her scorebook.
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2009
Collyer, Sinanan Win 17th Collyer Memorial
National Masters Curt Collyer and Josh Sinanan won the 17th Dave Collyer Memorial, topping the 63 player field with a score of 4.5. NM Nat Koons, Daniel Gay, Peter Watts, and Michael Cambareri tied for third (and won the A and B prizes) with scores of 4.0. Gay, a 1995 rated teenager from the Portland suburb of Tigard, held IM John Donaldson to a draw in Saturday night's third round action. That left the 3 NMs in the lead heading into Sunday morning. Koons and Sinanan played a wild game that ended in a draw. Collyer had the white pieces against Donaldson and they battled late into the time control before Collyer set a mating net that won the point.
The fifth round saw Collyer and Koons battle until a single rook pawn was left on the board, leading to a half point for each. Sinanan topped Steve Merwin to join Collyer at the top of the standings.
There were plenty of prize winners. Merwin and Paul Schuey, who returned to competitive chess after a five year absence, shared the $100 Expert Prize. Gay and Watts shared the Class A prizes. Cambareri was tops in Class B, while second place ($75) went to Nathan Armstrong of Southaven, Mississippi. Nathan was in the area and dropped in to play. Travis Elisara and Henry Pallares shared the Class C prizes. First place in the D and under section went to unrated Odysseus Rodriguez of Yakima, an unrated player trying his first over the board competition. The second prize was split by Mike Clark, another unrated player from Yakima, and WSU student Aaron Nicoski, a native of Vancouver, Washington.
The biggest upset prize ($100) went to Pat Kirlin, and the second biggest upset ($50) was won by Ron Weyland. In all, $1600 in prize money was awarded again this year.
Nearly every round saw multiple games go to the wire. Saturday night's third round saw six games playing right to the end of the time control, and most of the other rounds similarly had several games running to the maximum time. There were few easy draws; the fighting spirit of the event continued to the end of the last round, with much of the field still present when the tourney finally finished.
There field of 63 was the second largest Collyer tourney ever. The cross table can be seen on our Collyer Memorial link at left.
Festivities kicked off with the tenth Friday night Simul & Lecture from International Master John Donaldson at River Park Square. The lecture discussed the recent Bronze medal performance of the U.S. chess olympiad men's team that was captained by John. He shared some stories of what the event was really like and then analyzed the final game of the Kamsky-Topalov match. In the ensuing simul, 19 challenged the IM, with two (John Julian and Cameron Leslie) emerging victorious, and Dr. Ward Chow achieving a draw! Way to go! This was the best showing against the IM in quite awhile
.
(JC Mies,
left, ponders move at simul)
Below: John Donaldson in action at the the simul.
2009 Collyer Action
Round 1 (photo by Adam Attwood)
The first round pairings presented a special surprise when the computer (unassisted by any humans) paired Curt Collyer, son of Dave, and Jeremy Younker, son of tournament founder Gary Younker, together on board 3 (photo below). The pairing was reminiscent of many when the two were youths growing up in Spokane and ended in a victory for the NM.
Photo courtesy of Randy Countryman.
The USCF cross table link: http://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?200903010061-10328357