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Mikhailuk Wins Third Consecutive Washington State Championship

Shulman Victorious in OCF Shootout

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National News

Mikhailuk Wins Third Consecutive Washington State Championship

This release was submitted by Russell Miller.

Washington Chess Federation
PO Box A, Chelan WA 98816
509-682-5628 e-mail:rmille9601@aol.com

Contact: Russell Miller 509-682-5628 or Carol Kleist 206-242-7076 (Seattle)

The 2005 Washington Chess Championship and Premier events were held at the Oki Foundation Meeting Center, in Bellevue, WA, Feb 12-13, 19-21. For the third year in a row Senior Master Slava Mikhailuk of Sammamish won the event with a score of 7 wins 1 loss and 1 draw. He won $1,375.00. Tied for 2nd -3rd were FIDE Master William Schill of Kirkland and National Master Viktors Pupols of Poulsbo. They won $675.00 for their 6 wins 3 loss scores.

Other Players in the Championship section were:

National Master Nat Koons of Kenmore 4.5 out of 9
National Master Harley Greninger of Hoquiam 4.5 out of 9
FIDE Master David Bragg of Bothell 3.5 out of 9
National Master Curt Collyer of Spokane 3.5 out of 9
Michael MacGregor of Tacoma 3 out of 9
Adam Weissbarth of Seattle 3.5 out of 9
Eduard Shamilov of Renton 2 out of 9

Mikhailuk also won the event in 1998.

Viktors Pupols first played in a Washington State Championship tournament in 1954. He has played in most of the tournaments since and was the winner in 1961, 1974, tied for first in 1978, and winning in 1989.

William Schill won the event in 2000 and tied with Harley Greninger in 2001 and has finished in 2nd place the last three years now.

The Washington Chess Federation list of the State Champions starts with Clarence Bagley for the years of 1862-1875, full list can be found at http://www.nwchess.com.

The players played for total of $4,000.00 in cash prizes provided by the Sponsors: Washington Chess Federation, and Erik Anderson plus Jim Roberts in conjunction with the American Foundation for Chess of Seattle.

The 10 player Premier Section was won by Matt Fleury of Mountlake Terrace with 4 wins and 5 draws. He won $300.00 plus a spot in the 2006 Championship Section.

Shulman Victorious in OCF Shootout

This release was submitted by Frank Berry.

The Shootout in the OCF Corral finally came to a halt in the 2nd game of the blitz playoff when GM Yuri Shulman defeated GM Aleks Wojtkiewicz. The first 6 games played with time control of G-100 + 30 sec ended with hard-fought draws. The first blitz playoff game was also tied.

The sponsors were pleased with the effort of the 2 GMs but it was discussed that perhaps next time the match stipulations should require the Sicilian Opening to be played in all games by both match contestants creating more un-balanced positions.

This event was sponsored by the Oklahoma Chess Foundation and Frank Berry and was held concurrently with the Winter NAO FIDE Open held in Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA. Arbiters were Frank Berry, Fred Roper, Alex Relyea and Jim Berry and most of the GM games were carried live over ICC.

The 50 player Winter NAO FIDE Open was won by Sergei Galant of Oklahoma City with 5.5 from 7. Equal tied for 2-4 were Dr Carl Latino of Stillwater, OK, Movses Movsisyan of Norman, OK and 73-yr old legendary FM John Curdo of Auburn, Massachusettes who has won 737 USCF tournaments beginning with the 1948 Massachusetts state championship.

Amateur Team Events

The following press releases are now available for the Amateur Team Events:

2005 U.S. Amateur Team East, West, South and Midwest Chess Championships Conclude!

New Jersey State Chess Federation Breaks Record With 2005 U.S. Amateur Team East