10 Great things to do around Portland

Portland's Aerial Tram (photo taken August 2010 by F. Niro)

Whether you live in the area or are visiting Portland in order to play in the Portland Chess Club Centennial tournament, there are lots of fun and interesting things to do. My goal is to offer some options that you might not ordinarily think about or see in the common travel guides. You will find that Portland is one of the easiest cities to navigate on foot, by bike, public transportation or in your car. So, based on my five years living in the Great Northwest (2006-2011), here are my recommendations:

1. Ride the Tram - Portland's Aerial Tram, opened in 2007, is a public transportation link connecting Marquam Hill and OHSU with South Waterfront. Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) is a public university in Oregon with a main campus, including two hospitals. The Tram cabins travel 3,300 linear feet between the South Waterfront terminal adjacent to the OHSU Center for Health & Healing, and the upper terminal at the Kohler Pavilion on OHSU's main campus. Traveling at 22 miles per hour, the Tram cabins rise 500 feet for the three-minute trip over I-5, the Lair Hill neighborhood and the Southwest Terwilliger Parkway.

2. Visit Geezer Gallery - The Geezer Gallery, opened in 2010, is a Gallery that is defining a whole new old for the elder community. Located in the Loaves & Fishes building in the Multnomah section of the city, the Geezer Gallery has been a supporter of chess activities during the past two years including the 2011 Oregon Senior Open. The Geezer Gallery is generally open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays during the day and the first Friday evening of each month. Check the website (link above) for details.

3. Walk along the Willamette - The west side of the Willamette river (pronounced "Will"-"Lam"-"Ett", with emphasis on the second syllable) is as beautiful as it is walkable. You can enter the main trail in downtown Portland along the waterfront (!) or a few miles South at the Sellwood Bridge (or most anywhere in between). In my opinion, the walk is pleasant (and mostly flat) all along the trail.

While a bit outside the city, my favorite spots to walk along the river are at George Rogers Park in Lake Oswego and Mary S. Young Park in West Linn.

George Rogers Park is the original site of the The 1866 blast furnace built by the Oregon Iron Co. in old Oswego, where officials dreamed of the city's becoming the "Pittsburgh of the West". The first iron furnace on the Pacific Coast, it supplied pig iron to West Coast foundries between 1867 and 1885. Recently renovated, the furnace still stands in the park.

Click here for a trail map of Mary S. Young Park.

4. Shop at Powell's - To quote Andy F., a recent visitor from Worcester, Mass... "One of the greatest bookstores on the planet. Don't come here if you need to be somewhere later in the day because this is the kind of place you browse endlessly."

And, believe me, I have done that...just in the chess section alone! Powell's is located at 1005 W Burnside St, right in the middle of downtown Portland.

5. Take the Oregon City elevator - The Oregon City Municipal Elevator is a 130-foot elevator which connects two neighborhoods in Oregon City. It is the only outdoor municipal elevator in the US and one of only four in the world. The upper portion contains an observation deck which accounts for its flying saucer appearance (source: wikipedia)

When leaving the elevator at the upper level, you can walk along the promenade and view Willamette Falls, a natural waterfall on the Willamette River between Oregon City and West Linn. It is the largest waterfall in the Pacific Northwest.Upper promenade overlooking the river in Oregon City

If you are there on a Tuesday evening after 7 pm, walk a few blocks to the Pioneer Senior Center and the Oregon City/West Linn Chess Club . Enter from the basement entrance off Washington Street. Both the elevator and the Pioneer Center are wheelchair accessible.

From the lower lever of the municipal elevator, you MUST walk over and stop in at Winestock. It's only 1/4 mile around the corner. The reviews speak for themselves. A charming little wine bar in an historic old mill city with wonderful owners. If you stop in, Please tell Sarrah and Carlos that Tash & I sent you.

6. Dine Out - These are our favorite restaurants in the area:

a. Oswego Grill, off I-5 at Rte. 217 and soon adding a second restaurant in Wilsonville.
b. Chart House Steakhouse, high on a hill overlooking the city. The last time we ate there the Boston Celtics basketball team had just left following their game with the Portland Trailblazers. Now, that's an endorsement!
c. Paley's Place, all the restaurant reviews and guides will tell you that this is the best restaurant in Portland (with good reason). Great for special occasions, but you had better make reservations way in advance, especially on weekends.

Or, if you are just in the mood for pizza, here is my daughter Elizabeth's recommendation.

7. Play Chess - The Portland Chess club is 100 years old (but not always in the same location). Visit the club and see if you can find the Key to the city of Crossville, Tennessee, hanging among the fascinating chess memorabilia on the walls (my favorite is the photo of Reuben Fine in disquise during a simul at the club). Check the web site for hours and events.

8. Say a prayer for those you love - I can't do this without mentioning our wonderful church home. It is one of the things we miss the most since we moved away from Oregon! Pay Father Bruce a visit; you will most certainly be glad you did.

9. Make a winery tour in the Yamhill Valley - Our favorite Oregon winery is Eola Hills, about 10 miles west of Salem just off of state route 22. But you can't go wrong anywhere in the Yamhill Valley.

10. Explore the Columbia Gorge to Maryhill - The best way to cover the most ground and still take in the sights is to go west along I-84 until you get to Biggs, OR, around mile marker 104. Cross over the bridge into Goldendale, WA, and stop at the Maryhill Museum of Art.

Drive back along Rte. 14 on the Washington side. It's a slower trip home, but the views are spectacular, especially the views of Mount Hood on a clear day. Bring your camera!Part of the unexpectedly amazing chess exhibit at the Maryhill Museum of Art in Washington state.

OK, that's it for trying to be tour guide. Now I'm heading out to put my Tournament Director hat on. Perhaps I will see you this weekend at the Doubletree in Lloyd Center. If you can't make, please follow along on this blog.

Sincere thanks,
Frank

3 days 'til Portland Chess Club Centennial

Happy birthday to Oregon's Portland Chess Club, established in 1911. For the last century the Portland Chess Club has provided a place for chess players to congregate while hosting world champions and national tournaments.

The Club will celebrate the occasion by staging the unique and spectacular Centennial Open August 12th, 13th and 14th at the Lloyd Center Doubletree Hotel in Portland. As tournament director of the FIDE rated open section, my plan is to include frequent updates throughout each day of the PCC Centennial Open on my blog, including tentative round by round pairings in advance so players can look up their next round opponents and board assignments (for both sections) from their home or hotel room. Others can follow the action as they please.
Click twice on entry blank to enlarge

Here's the link to the tournament announcement.
See the players who have registered in advance.

Included will be game scores that can be played out on your computer screen, assuming that I can perfect the technique by then (working on it...). Here is my first practice attempt with one of my own recent games (move pieces by clicking on the arrows below to play through each game):

(2) Niro,F - Manross,S (1906) [C10]
Pocatello, Idaho (4), April 17, 2011
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Nxf6+ Nxf6 7.Bd3² Bd7 8.0-0 c5 9.c3 Bc6 10.Ne5 Rc8 11.Nxc6± bxc6 12.Bf4 [12.Be3!] 12...cxd4 13.Ba6 dxc3 14.Bxc8 Qxc8 15.bxc3 Nd5 16.Qd4 Nxf4 17.Qxf4 Be7 18.Qd4 0-0 19.Qxa7+- Bd6 20.Rab1 h6 21.Rb7 Bb8 [21...Bc5!?] 22.Qb6 Rd8 23.g3 Be5 24.c4 Rd2 25.Ra7 [25.Rb1!?] 25...Rb2 26.Qa5 [26.Qa6!?] 26...Bf6 27.Rd1 c5 28.Ra8 Rb8 29.Rxb8 Qxb8 30.Qxc5 Qb2 31.Qc8+! Kh7 32.Qa6 [32.Qd7!] 32...Qc2 33.Rf1 h5 34.a4 h4 35.Qb5 Qg6 36.Qb1! hxg3 37.hxg3 Bd4 38.Qxg6+ Kxg6 39.Rb1 f5 40.a5 Kf6 41.a6 g5 42.Rb7 f4 43.gxf4 gxf4 44.a7 Bxa7 45.Rxa7 Ke5 46.Rd7 1-0

Play online chess

It must be the link to the stupid human trick

OK, so I checked my blog stats today and one entry has 2,242 hits, more than double any other. It must be the link to the stupid human trick that did it. How do people find these things?

Go here to learn which one has been viewed the most. Hint: It was added in 2008 and the photo in this post has nothing to do with it.

This article is in second place (one of my own favorites).

By the way, it started as a chess blog... but nine of the top 10 most popular posts have nothing to do with chess?!

Northwest Chess Cover Photo

The photo from my July 30, 2011 blog is now the cover photo for the August issue of Northwest Chess. Special thanks to Editor Ralph Dubisch and to the Susan Polgar Foundation for supplying the pic.

Go here for the Northwest Chess web site and more details.

Far Above Cayuga's Waters

My new bio page has been posted on the Cornell University website. Click here to see it!

Tash and I will be leaving Idaho August 23 for Ithaca, New York.

Click here to learn more about the Sloan Executive-in-Residence Program.

And what to they do at the top of that tower? See for yourself...



Want lyrics so you can sing along? You can find them here.

All Over the Board

Susan Polgar presented me with this chess board signed by all of the young ladies who played in the 2011 Susan Polgar Girls' Invitational Tournament July 27-29, 2011, in Lubbock, TX. This will be the first item I hang in my new office at Cornell University!

2011 Susan Polgar Girls Invitational

I was given the privilege of directing the 2011 Susan Polgar Girls' Invitational Chess Tournament in Lubbock, Texas, from July 24-29, 2011. I am pictured above with Susan Polgar, Heather Young of Vancouver, WA, and her parents, Ron & Peggy Young.

The winner was the highest rated player, Apurva Virkud, from Michigan with a perfect 6-0 score. Mandy Lu, also of Michigan, and Chenyi Zhao of California each were presented with netbook computers for winning the under age 13 and under age 10 prizes respectively. Mandy also won the blitz tournament in a playoff over Evelyn Chen of Georgia.

There were four scholarships given to players entering the 11th or 12th grade. They went to Vanita Young of Pennsylvania, Cheryl Liu of Illinois, Sneha Chikkila of Arkansas and Dyhemia Young of California. Each scholarship is valued at approximately $40,000 for out-of-state students who will utilize the award for their full four years in college.

As a current resident of the Great Northwest, I was very interested in the results of the girls from my area. Heather Young of Vancouver, WA, who is home schooled and will be entering 10th grade in September, finished 18th out of 46 players. Most of the entrants were champions or co-champions of their respective states.

The Idaho representative was Savanah Naccarato of Sandpoint, who plays mostly in the Spokane scholastic events. Savanah finished in 9th place with a 4-2 score. She will be entering 9th grade in the fall and has begun study in recent months with Seattle chess coach John Graves. Unfortunately there was no Oregon participant this year.

Susan provided three days of intensive training for all of the participants. I was allowed to sit in on the sessions and am very impressed with the quality of play of the girls as well as the depth of learning that is available to them as part of the event.

Many thanks to Jeff Roland of Idaho who reformatted the cross table for the 2011 SPGI event to make it easier to read. It is located here.

Here is the ICA link for the 2011 SPGI story about Savanah Naccarato.

Here is the link for the Bonner Bee article about Savanah Naccarato

And, the follow-up story after the tournament.

Thanks to the interest and energy of Rusty Miller there should be some coverage soon in the Vancouver press concerning Heather Young.

An annual fund is in the process of being established, perhaps through Northwest Chess, to support travel expenses for each year's Northwest nominees (Washington, Oregon & Idaho). My suggestion is to call it the Dr. Ralph L. Hall memorial travel fund after one of the pioneers of scholastic chess excellence in the Northwest. Dr. Hall wrote position papers on the benefits of chess for children years before anyone else even thought about it.

More details of the event can be found on Susan’s blog

I will be tournament director for the Open Section (FIDE Rated) of the Portland Chess Club Centennial Open in August. Please stop by and say “hello” if you play in or visit the event. The tournament flyer is located here.

My Cornell Bio

This bio has been added to my Cornell University faculty bio page and will remain there throughout my two-year tenure as Executive-in-Residence in the Graduate Program for Health Administration.

For the first six years after graduating from the Sloan Program in 1974, Frank Niro worked in the Boston office of Ernst & Young where he served health care clients as an auditor and management consultant. His consulting projects included a feasibility study for a new outpatient facility at Massachusetts General Hospital, a development study that led to the creation of the Tufts Affiliated Health Maintenance Organization, and a strategic plan for the hospitals serving the Lake Placid region during the 1980 Olympics. In addition, he was an advisory member of the firm’s national task force on alternative health delivery systems.

During his tenure at E & Y, he took a year-long sabbatical to work as a project manager for Hotels of Distinction, a hotel management company based in Boston, where he was involved in the daily operations of the Copley Plaza Hotel, renovation of the Biltmore Hotel in Providence, RI, and development of new hotel management contracts.

After returning to E & Y, Frank was invited by the Board of Trustees of Symmes Hospital in Arlington, MA, to serve as interim administrator during the extended illness of the hospital’s chief executive officer. After Symmes merged with a neighboring hospital in 1981, Frank left E & Y to become the new entity’s chief financial officer. He was promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in 1984.

In 1987, Frank was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Glover Memorial Hospital in Needham, MA, were he served for five years before being named President of Neponset Valley Health System in Norwood, MA. He was acknowledged as one of the “Top 25 Turnaround Hospital Administrator’s in the U.S.” by Healthweek magazine in March, 1989. In 1994, he accepted the position of CEO at Monadnock Community Hospital in Peterborough, NH, where he worked until suffering a stroke in May, 1997.

Beginning in 1986, Frank taught as an adjunct professor at four different colleges and universities: University of Massachusetts Lowell (Healthcare Finance), Stonehill College (Systems of Care), Emmanuel College (Comparative Health Systems) and Northeastern University (Healthcare Marketing & Strategic Planning). He was awarded a specialized fellowship in chess and education by University of Texas at Dallas in 2000 where he earned 18 credits towards a Ph.D. before returning to work as volunteer Executive Director of the United States Chess Federation in 2002. He retired for health reasons after a heart attack in 2003.

Frank has spent the last few years on the west coast with his wife, Natasha, working on his memoir All Over the Board. He continues to volunteer his expertise as a member of numerous non-profit boards and committees. Frank and Natasha will reside in Ithaca during his appointment as Executive-in-Residence. His office is on the third floor of MVR Hall.

I have to share this

Lori, I hope you don't mind. I was touched, and I expect others will be also...

Mr. Niro,

I've just come across your blog and have been reduced to tears reading about my grandfather, Stan Tiernan.

You may know that Grandfather died in 1993 shortly after his 70th birthday--a sudden and freak heart attack. You might be glad to hear that he did enjoy running until the end, even on the day he died.

When he died, I was 24 and training for my first race-- a 5 miler in Hopedale, which we had planned to run together. I ran it without him, but came in last! Really.

I kept up the running, however, and have completed two half marathons and this Sunday in Providence, I'll run my first (and surely, only) marathon--just 3 days shy of my 40th birthday.

My family will be there (including my daughter, Tiernan) but I am acutely aware of Grandfather's absence right now. He would have gotten a kick out of this, and maybe even run it with me--kicking my butt, I'm sure!

Thank you so much for writing about him. Various family members have read this post and it's brought back wonderful memories.

I hope you are well, and still running!

Best regards,

Lori Batista McEwen

Click twice to enlarge the news photo and the related article --->

Here's the text of my original post (excerpt from my memoir):

"My goal in 1966 was to run the entire 26 miles and 385 miles without walking. Most of my family, friends and coaches tried to discourage me. They pointed out that I was too young to enter the race as an official runner and that I would have plenty of opportunities to run in future years. Four people, however, gave me all the encouragement I needed: Richard Ramaskwich, Tom Derederian, Bob Pagnini and, most importantly, Stanley C. Tiernan.

Everyone in the area knew Stan Tiernan. He was in his early forties and lived in Bellingham. For many years he lived in neighboring Hopedale. He ran thousands of miles on the streets of Milford, Hopedale, Mendon, Medway and Bellingham. He was a local legend and a fixture on the roads as he relentlessly pounded the pavement, always in training for his next Boston Marathon. He was a daily sight for the local residents as common as the dairy truck delivering milk bottles to each home. One sure way of determining if someone was an out-of-towner was to ask if they knew who Stanley Tiernan was.

Stan Tiernan set a Hopedale High School cross county record in 1942. We still used the same course through the woods twenty years later. Nobody challenged the record over all those years. It was a benchmark that high school runners in the area measured their performances against. “I ran the Hopedale course and only finished 49 seconds behind Tiernan’s record,” I can recall saying.

His running style was distinctive. He held his hands in front of his chest like a puppy dog extending each paw to shake hands. His legs churned away while his upper torso remained perfectly still. He didn’t sway from side to side like I usually did. His style was a model of running efficiency. It was a style that I wanted to emulate.

Stan Tiernan first entered the Boston Marathon in 1950. After that, he ran every year except one. Four times he placed high enough to earn one of the coveted B.A.A. medals awarded to the top 35 finishers. He first broke three hours in 1958 when he finished 31st in 2 hours, 50 minutes and 52 seconds. His best result was 2:43:15 in 1960 when he finished 18th, ahead of both Johnny Kelleys. His best time was 2:42:39 (24th) in 1963. Until Tom Derderian and I started logging 50 miles per week on the Milford roads, only Stan Tiernan had done so. Among the locals, only Stan Tiernan had broken three hours in the Boston Marathon. I wanted to do it too. I wanted to be like Stan Tiernan.

In 1966, he held the North Medford Club record for distance covered in one hour on the track: 11 miles, 189 yards. It was a record he set nearly 10 years earlier. As a junior in high school I ran an hour on the track as fast as I could. I barely made 9 miles, two miles less than Stan’s record.

Tom and I entered an unusual competition during the summer of 1966. We ran in a two-man 10-mile relay on the track at Bowditch Field in Framingham. The relay was intervals of 440 yards. We each ran a quarter mile and passed the baton; twenty laps each with an average of eighty seconds rest while the other ran his lap. We finished in 4th place in 53 minutes and 28 seconds and were proud of the accomplishment…until we realized that if we ran another six minutes and 32 seconds we would probably not be further than 11 miles and 189 yards. With two of us splitting the distance, resting half the time, and racing each lap as fast as we could, we still couldn’t beat Stan Tiernan’s club record for an hour run. Man he was fast in his prime, we thought. His record was broken by Jim Daley, Jr., on 10/22/67.

One day in the fall of 1965, I went running where I expected Stan Tiernan to be. When he came past me I asked if he would help prepare for the Boston Marathon. “Sure, if you are serious about it,” he said. “You need to run as much as you can; you need to train every day. Your pace isn’t as important as the miles you log. If you can’t find the time to run eight to ten miles every day, then don’t bother trying the marathon. Make sure you eat well and get plenty of rest. That’s all there is to it. And keep up your schoolwork. Don’t let running interfere with more important things or your mind won’t let your body do its best. I’ll see you at the starting line.”

I followed his advice completely. I treated it like it was the Gospel handed down by the Lord Himself. To me, it was the 11th Commandment: ‘Thou Shalt not Skip a day of Training’."

Janniro & Deeth are 2011 Oregon Senior Chess Co-champions

Morgan watches the game of his owner, Jerrold Richards, at the 2011 Oregon Senior Open held in Oregon City on July 9, 2011.

Mike Janniro and Steven Deeth tied for first place in the 17-player Oregon Senior Chess Championship held in Oregon City on the weekend of July 9-10, 2011. The co-champions played to a draw in the final round. Both players had three wins and two draws in the five round event for a total of four points. Five players finished within a half point of each other in the hotly contested tournament. Carl Koontz, champion of the host Oregon City/West Linn Chess Club, earned a tie for third place at 3 ½ points with Bill Heywood and Roland Eagles.

Eagles also took the title of over-60 champion while Gerry Reiner had 3 points to earn the over-70 title as well as the under-1800 prize. Greg Markowski and Stephan Pettengill shared under-1600 honors. Dave Prideaux, playing in his first rated tournament, was the under-1400 winner.

A permanent trophy was purchased by the host club in honor of the club’s founder who recently passed away. Known as the Dr. Ralph Hall Memorial Award, the trophy will be engraved each year with the names of the Oregon Senior Chess Champions. This year’s co-champions will also receive individual engraved trophies commemorating their victory. The awards will be presented at a ceremony in honor of Dr. Hall during the Portland Chess Club Centennial Open in August.

The tournament was organized by the Oregon Chess Federation, directed by Frank Niro, and sponsored by the Geezer Gallery (www.geezergallery.com).

Following is the cross table for the 2011 Oregon Senior Chess Championship:

1 JANNIRO, MIKE 2071 2086 W--11 W---5 W---6 D---3 D---2 4.0
2 DEETH, STEVEN 2062 2074 W--14 W--10 D---3 W---6 D---1 4.0
3 KOONTZ, CARL 2027 2033 W--16 W--14 D---2 D---1 D---5 3.5
4 HEYWOOD, BILL 2000 2000 W---8 L---6 H---0 W--14 W--17 3.5
5 EAGLES, ROLAND 1983 1989 W---9 L---1 W--15 W--10 D---3 3.5
6 GUTMAN, RICHARD 2068 2062 W---7 W---4 L---1 L---2 W--10 3.0
7 REINER, GERALD 1603 1608 L---6 L---8 H---0 W--11 W--14 2.5
8 MARKOWSKI, GREG 1377 1419 L---4 W---7 D--14 W--13 L---9 2.5
9 PETTENGILL, STEve 1269 1353 L---5 L--11 D--13 W--16 W---8 2.5
10 BURRIS, CHRIS 1788 1783 W--12 L---2 W--11 L---5 L---6 2.0
11 GREGER, TOM 1656 1640 L---1 W---9 L--10 L---7 W--16 2.0
12 PRIDEAUX, DAVE UNR 1281 L--10 L--14 L--16 B---0 W--13 2.0
13 RICHARDS, JERROLD 1244 1252 L--15 W--16 D---9 L---8 L--12 1.5
14 BERGER, BRIAN 1569 1551 L---2 W--12 D---8 L---4 L---7 1.5
15 BANNER, RICHARD 1800 1800 W--13 L---3 L---5 H---0 U---0 1.5
16 DIETZ, ARLISS 1500 1500 L---3 L--13 W--12 L---9 L--11 1.0
17 NIRO, FRANK 1703 1700 H---0 U---0 U---0 U---0 L---4 0.5

Next year's event will be at the same site on July 7-8, 2012