Chess returns to Ephrata

Event kicks off Saturday morning at Parkway Elementary School

EPHRATA - While growing up in Lynden, Troy and Roger Pugh participated in a chess tournament.

A resident established a trust fund to pay the prize money for the competition, and the Pughs and their brothers looked forward to the activity each year.

"I won it once. My brother Kelly won it twice and my brother Ryan won it three times," Troy Pugh said. "So it was kind of a family tradition."

When Troy and Roger were contemplating things to do with their own foundation, the Waypoint Foundation, as they were setting it up, their thoughts first went to a chess tournament because they had so much fun as kids.

Troy and Roger are trustees of the foundation, which holds its second annual Scholastic Chess Tournament Saturday at the Parkway Elementary School cafeteria, located at 1011 Parkway Boulevard.

The event is open to any student in kindergarten through the 12th grade who lives in or attends the Ephrata, Quincy or Soap Lake School Districts.

Check-in lasts from 7:45 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., and the opening ceremony begins at 8:45 a.m.

"The game of chess itself, it really teaches kids rational thought, strategy and patience," Troy Pugh said. "There's just a lot of things the game of chess teaches kids that typically are not taught well in other avenues. In conjunction with parental teaching and core subjects in school, something like this is a good thing to help develop kids' minds."

In forming the foundation, Ephrata business owners Troy and Roger were thinking about its premise.

"The primary premise was the way most foundations are organized, ways we can give back to the community, primarily children," Troy Pugh said. "We rounded out a list of things we benefited from as kids. One was the chess tournament, another one was to provide scholarships each year here in Ephrata."

The foundation also gives money to the scouting programs.

Youth have been taking preparatory classes to learn tournament rules, chess notation and other issues. Chess sets and clocks will be provided, although foundation documents indicate participants should bring a set if they have one.

Last year, the event drew 38 participants, but it was only open to students within the Ephrata School District, including home schooled or private schools.

This year, the foundation opened up the coverage area to include Soap Lake and Quincy, and Troy Pugh estimated the event will draw about 45 participants.

"It being the second year, I think in time we'll have more and more," he said. "The reason why we included more schools this year is because we have a capacity that can easily handle 100 participants. If we end up with 50 or under participants, next year we will probably open it up to Moses Lake as well."

The foundation has received queries from residents in other areas outside the coverage area, Troy Pugh added.

The format remains the same this year, with participants playing five rounds.

"With the number of participants we have, five rounds pretty much comes down to a clear winner," Troy Pugh said. "If we had a larger number, we might have a playoff round. That is always potentially the case; it depends on how the tournament ends. If we get to a point where we have, say 100 to 200 participants, we might break it up into various classes rather than it just being one open class as it is now."

The event is open to the public.

Troy Pugh said many parents hung out for the duration of the period, and he was expecting the level of competition to be the same this year.

"Last year, an eighth-grader ended up winning the tournament, which was kind of a fun thing," he said. "There's the expectation that the oldest kids are the smartest and will win, but generally speaking we tend to see the better players come out of the middle grades, but the majority of players come from the elementary grades."

The date for next year's event has not been finalized, although Troy Pugh said the foundation hopes to have it on the same weekend every year. He estimated the foundation would end up settling the event date on the first or second Saturday in February.

"The short story is it's something for the kids to do, something for them to learn, a game that's not necessarily an electronic game," Troy Pugh said. "They don't have to have fast thumbs to play chess. (The tournament) is simply to provide an outlet for kids in town and in the area to excel. There's plenty of sports, and we saw this as an opportunity to provide something aside from sporting events."

Cash prizes are awarded. First prize is $500, second is $200 and other prizes are available.

For more information, access the foundation Web site at www.waypointfoundation.org, or contact Troy Pugh by e-mailing troy@waypointfoundation.org or calling 509-754-9796.