2019 Washington State Championship

2019 Washington State Championship / Premier / Invitational / Challengers

The 2019 Washington State Championship / Premier / Invitational / Challengers chess tournaments were conducted as round-robins the weekends of February 16-18 and 23-24, 2019 (revised) in Redmond as detailed below. Rounds began at 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM on the weekends, and at 5:00 PM on President's Day, Monday, February 18.

Four Sections! Format: Four invitation-only 10-player Round Robins by rating: Championship, Premier, Invitational, and Challengers. The field of each section was determined by seeding and by the highest rated players to respond to an invitation based on the January 2019 U.S. Chess rating list. All sections are dual U.S. Chess and FIDE rated. Fred Kleist was the TD for all four sections.

Time control: 40/2, SD/30; d10.

Entry Fee: Championship/Premier: Free, Invitational: $75, Challengers: $50.

Schedule: Rounds 1-8: Feb. 9, 10, 16, 17 at 10 AM and 5 PM. Round 9: Feb. 18 (President's Day) at 5 PM.

Site: Microsoft Building 99 rooms 1915 and 1919: 14820 NE 36th St., Redmond, WA 98052. Note: registration and badging were required to access Microsoft building for this event.

Prize Fund: The initial prize fund for each section is guaranteed by the WCF, and may be increased based on donations. Championship: $1,500, Premier: $1,000, Invitational: $750, Challengers: $500. Prize distribution (each section): 1st 45%, 2nd 25%, 3rd 15%, 4th 10%, 5th 5%. Brilliancy Prizes: $400 ($100 for best game in each section). The winner of the Championship section receives the title of Washington State Champion. Plaques awarded to the winners of each section.

Drawing of lots: Feb. 2 at 9 p.m. at the Rose Hill Starbucks in Kirkland. Attendance was optional, though encouraged.

Byes: Since this is a prestigious round robin, there were no half-points byes or rescheduling of games allowed in any of the sections. All games must be played on site under TD supervision at the scheduled round times.

Seeds: (note not all accept invitation; see below for actual player fields for each event)

Championship: FM Roland Feng (State Champion), IM Georgi Orlov (Open Champion), FM Tian Sang (Championship Runner-up), LM Viktors Pupols (Challenger's Cup Champion), Brendan Zhang (Premier Champion), Joseph Truelson (Junior Closed Champion).

Premier: WIM Naomi Bashkansky (Premier Runner-up), Joseph Frantz (Invitational Champion), Zachary Zhang (President's Cup Champion), Harrison Toppen-Ryan (Junior Open Champion), WIM Minda Chen (Women’s Champion).

Invitational: Wenyang Du (Invitational Runner-up), Nicholas Whale (Challengers Champion).

Challengers: WFM Anne-Marie Velea (Challengers Runner-up), TBD (WCF Nominee).

Registration: Invited players were requested to register online via online registration, or reply to the email they received. The deadline to reply was Friday, Feb. 1.

Tournament Flyer: http://nwchess.com/calendar/WA%20State%20Championship%202019.pdf.

Questions? Josh Sinanan, WCF President, (206) 769-3757, joshsinanan@gmail.com.

Brilliancy prizes - See the 2019 WA State Championship Brilliancy Prizes report (PDF file) available after the event.

Requests/Updates: (subject to change for 2019)

• Please arrive at Microsoft on Saturday morning by 9:45 a.m. for a mandatory players meeting in which Fred will remind us of the FIDE rules. All players must be present by 10:00 a.m. or may risk forfeiting round 1 and being withdrawn from the tournament.

• Boards, sets, scoresheets, and digital clocks will be provided. Please bring an extra set/clock for skittles and game analysis.

• We kindly ask that each player send a brief chess bio with picture for publication in Northwest Chess magazine. Only players who submit a bio and annotated game upon completion of the tournament will be eligible to win prize money. Please send the bio to Josh Sinanan or Jeff Roland (jroland@cableone.net) by 2/10. Annotated games should be submitted no later than 3/4.

• The group photos for all sections will be taken on Sunday 2/17 at 4:45 p.m. prior to round 8. Please remember to dress nicely!

Organizers: Josh Sinanan (WCF President). Thank you for your service to chess in Washington State.