Spokane Chess Club

A unique quad pairing format — grouping players by age instead of rating — is underway at club. The “Old Men Rule — Not Quick Quads” is entering its third and final week this Thursday, July 23. The Elders section has Dave Rowles in the lead with a 2.0 score. The Middle Age quad features John Frostad and Cam Leslie in the lead with 1.5 scores, while the Youngsters quad has Michael Cambareri in the lead at 2.0.

Drop in to watch the action and/or play some casual chess this week.

The Mid-Summer Night’s Dream event drew 8 players on June 25. Three tied with 3-1 scores for the top honors: Michael Cambareri, Ken Erickson, and John Frostad. The class D prizes were shared by Brian Thomas, Sean Thomas, and Jim Burney, each of whom scored 2.0 in the four round event.

Jo Ong took advantage of an early blunder and beat Michael Cambareri, who had entered the final round with the sole perfect score among a field of 20, to win the club’s Spring Championship. Michael and Travis Miller (4.0) tied for second place. A final round makeup game is being played Tuesday night and the tournament will be submitted for rating shortly afterwards.

Spokane’s oldest weekend tournament was won by Eric Billaux and Drew Bunch. They each scored 4.0 to finish one-half point ahead of Michael Cambareri, Ken Erickson, and James Stripes. The competition at the top was intense — Ken beat Eric and lost to Drew, and only a half-point bye on Saturday night kept him off the top line.

A more complete story from TD Craig Moore is expected in coming days.

The USCF cross table link: 2026 Inland Empire Open | US Chess Ratings

The club’s annual election of officers was conducted at the May 7 club meeting. Craig Moore takes over as President while proud father-to-be Ben Shedlock is off for paternity leave this fall. Michael Cambareri will continue as Vice President and Cam Leslie will return as Secretary. Kevin Korsmo steps back in to the role of treasurer.

The annual Taxing Quads are now complete, with plenty of winners! Quad A was won by Travis Miller, recently returned to the area after a sojurn in Alaska, with a 2.5 score. The Johns won Quad B — John Frostad and Jonathan Rorabeck each scoring 2.5. That same score was enough for Walter van Heemstede Obelt to win Quad C. Quad D winners Michael Michalek and Craig Moore each scored 2.0. Patrick Kirlin won Quad E with the only perfect 3.0 score for the entire event! Congratulations to all of the winners!

The USCF cross table link: Taxing Quads 2026 | US Chess Ratings

Club stalwart Michael Cambareri is the new champion of Idaho after winning the Idaho Closed Championship held in Post Falls March 28-30. Michael Scored 5-1 to edge Linus Wannamaker and Ken Erickson (4.5). Congratulations to the new State Champion!

The USCF cross table link: 80th Idaho State (Closed) Championship | US Chess Ratings

Nikolay Bulakh scored a perfect 4.0 to win the quick event held at club on March 19. Michael Cambareri and Ken Erickson each scored 3.0 to tie for second place. The USCF cross table link: March Quick | US Chess Ratings

Michael Cambareri won the three-week, six-game Winters End g/45 event held at club February 26 through March 12. Michael scored 5 from 6 to edge Ken Erickson (4.5). Jo Ong and Drake Wilson finished third at 4.0. The USCF cross table link: 6 Rd Winters End | US Chess Ratings

Linus Wannamaker, a high school sophomore from Moscow, ID, won the Inland Classic for the second consecutive year! Linus and IM John Donaldson, who trailed by one half point due to a third round bye, agreed to a draw in their final round game to leave Linus with 4.5 and awaiting the results of a board two encounter between Ken Erickson and David Rowles to see if anyone would share the title. The two Spokane veterans fought late into the game before settling with a draw and leaving the title to Linus. Seven players tied for second with 4.0 scores: Donaldson, Erickson, Rowles, Drew Bunch, Michael Cambareri, Eshan Reddy, and John Frostad. That group split the second and third place prizes, as well as the class A prizes and first in class B.

Four people had finished the first day’s action with perfect scores: Wannamaker, Drake Wilson, and two class C players: Daniel Amado and Caleb Courtney. With Amado taking a Sunday morning bye, Courtney had to face Donaldson on board two while Wannamaker and Wilson, newly returned to Spokane after concluding his education, battled on the top board. The IM quickly picked up the pointon board two, but the battle for first board supremacy was fought until the final seconds of time control. Despite being down a pawn much of the contest, Wannamaker displayed strong endgame skills and was able to pull out the victory, settting up the rematch with Donaldson in the final round.

The sixty player field featured closely packed classes that saw quite a few hard fought contests and every round saw multiple games played to the end of the time controls. When the dust settled, there were quite a few ties for class prizes. The second class B prize was shared by Jo Ong, Nikolay Bulakh, John Wheaton, and Francisco Lopez with scores of 3.5. Daniel Amado won the class C first prize with the same score, while four players achieved a 3.0 score to share the second class C prize: Caleb Courtney, Chris Gilbert, and Steve Brendemihl. The Class D/unrated section was won by newcomer Joseph Freedman with a 3.0 score. Second in class (2.5) was shared by Oregon’s Eric Spletstoser, Montana’s Lane Wicks, and Shancie Wagner.

Wes Marburger captured the Jim Waugh award for the largest upset, scoring a 605 point upset victory in round. The second upset prize saw Ben Shedlock overcome a 475 point rating differential to secure his first round victory. There were a half dozen upsets greater than 200 points, including a 450 point upset that just failed to win a prize.

The tournament was held at the gymnasium of St. John Vianney School in the Spokane Valley. The same venue is being considered for future use, so feedback from tournament players is greatly appreciated.

The weekend kicked off with a well attended lecture form IM John Donaldson that addressed the recent Tata Steel tournament, the world championship contender candidates, and his latest book, Inside the Mind of Bobby Fischer. The IM then played a ten person simul, scoring 8-1-1.

The USCF crosstable link: Inland Classic III- Classic | US Chess Ratings