by Jeff Roland

The 2008 Western Idaho Open was held at the Purple Sage Golf Course. This turned out to be a great site for playing chess. I want to thank John Watson for working with me and for providing such a wonderful site. While this tournament was originally slated to occur in January, it was delayed until May due to the site being closed for the Winter. Holding tournaments in Western Idaho is particularly difficult because site costs become very prohibitive. John Watson gave us a very nice deal, and it was beneficial to us and to him, as he played as well and had a great time!

The competition was excellent! And everyone seemed to have a great time. The higher rated players stayed away for some reason, leaving everything to Class B and below to fight for the overall prizes! This was a wonderful opportunity for players to sharpen their skills and still have fun playing in a high quality ICA event.

This tournament was very special to me personally too because I considered that it would be the last tournament I would direct for some time. And I find that I enjoy chess on many levels...first and foremost as a player, but as an organizer and director as well. So I chose to put on the Directors hat for this one!

The door is open to hold another Western Idaho Open at the Purple Sage in Caldwell at some point in the future. I look forward to it.

Prizes: