There will be no chess club meeting May 28th but we will meet June 4th

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Impromptu Blitz #67 Results

Just a quick update to share the results of our Impromptu Blitz #67 from last week, another seven-round G/3+2 affair which enjoyed a great turnout of thirty players and five first-time visitors. We also saw a club first, if memory serves, in that there was a four-way tie for first place at 5.5 points between Robert Barder, Alexander Su, Carlos Jerez and newcomer Sarp Sahin, who is perhaps 13 years old and has a 2173 FIDE rating and Candidate Master title.

Sarp’s younger brother, Bora, nine or ten years of age and FIDE-rated 1829, joined Alex Zhao and Marcellus Pelcher in a three-way tie for fith place at 4.5, an excellent result for all three given the number of strong blitz players left scratching their heads at 4.0 points. Congratulations to our winners, full results are in the attached image, thank you to everyone who joined us for this fun, free event and we’ll likely do the same thing this coming Thursday—I hope to see many of you then.

Also of note after last week’s tournament is that young Austin Chen overtook Pranav Jindal in the club blitz points standings, given Pranav was unable to attend last week. Congrats to Austin and I imagine he will be hard to unseat at the top of this list given his consistent attendance and high placing in these tournaments. Both the club blitz points standings and club unofficial blitz ratings pages have been updated and are available at the links below:

https://menloparkchess.club/ladders/club-blitz-points-standings/

https://menloparkchess.club/ladders/club-unofficial-blitz-ratings/

Regards,

Mark Drury

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Impromptu Blitz #66 Results & Copa del Menlo Postponed

We enjoyed another large gathering at the club last week, despite the conflict with the USA-Turkey World Cup match and its 7pm PDT start. I naively expected a smaller crowd for our seven rounds of G/3+2 blitz and kicked off the tournament at the top of the hour, only to watch seven people walk into the room shortly after the first round started — apologies once again for the unexpected and unwelcome promptness of the proceedings.

After seven rounds, then, Dmitry Dzhanhirov once again stood alone in first place with 6.0 points, ceding two draws in the final two rounds to second place finisher and relative newcomer Robert Barder, 5.5, and Alex Chin, who tied for third with Lauren Goodkind at 4.5. Several of the strong players who tied for fifth at 4.0 arrived after the first round and thus ceded a point handicap to the field, which made for an interesting score distribution. Congratulations to our winners, thank you to all who joined us for this event and our updated club blitz ratings and point standings may be found via the usual links:

https://menloparkchess.club/ladders/club-unofficial-blitz-ratings/

https://menloparkchess.club/ladders/club-blitz-points-standings/

In other club news, I postponed our Copa del Menlo rated event until September, given the paucity of entries thus far received and the feedback from a good number of you indicating July and August were already booked with vacations and the like. If September works better for you please register asap and let me know if you have questions about this quick-rated tournament:

https://menloparkchess.club/event/copa-del-menlo-round-one/

July and August will include mostly casual evenings and we may throw in a few variant or gambit-themed tournaments just to mix things up — please let me know if you have any preferences where either are concerned. Regards,

Mark Drury

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Impromptu Blitz #65 Results

We enjoyed another excellent lecture from Frisco last week along with a large turnout for our G/3+2 Impromptu Blitz #65, with no fewer than 32 players participating, nine of whom were first-time visitors and two of whom had not joined us in many months. I’m still at something of a loss to explain why we’re seeing so many new people at the club each week but I love it and hope it continues!

After the usual seven rounds, then, NM Dmitry Dzhanhirov stood alone in first at 6.5 points, his lone draw ceded to Yoyo He in the second round. Also alone in second place at 5.5 points was the ever-more-formidable Austin Chen, whose name is becoming a fixture at the top of our wall charts. Three strong players tied for third at 5.0: Alex Chin, Caleb Leong and Jenny Qi. Jenny is a friend of Liam Liu and I discovered late in the evening that both of these junior players are now rated well over 2100, which explains Jenny’s 5-0 run after a late entry into the tournament. A veritable who’s who of the club’s blitz elite were left wondering what might have been in their tie for sixth place at 4.5 points, still an excellent result given the competition. Congratulations to our winners, thank you to everyone who joined us for this event and the club blitz points standings and ratings lists have been updated with the latest here:

https://menloparkchess.club/ladders/club-blitz-points-standings/

https://menloparkchess.club/ladders/club-unofficial-blitz-ratings/

Note that I did not end up bicycling through Oregon this week as originally planned so I will be at the club Thursday, June 25th, when we’ll have another lecture and free, unrated blitz tournament. I don’t think we’ll begin the “Copa del Menlo” rated event in July given we have too few entries at this point (presumably most people are on vacation some or all of that month) so we may instead play some thematic tournaments, like gambit openings of the like. Let me know if you have a preference for something this summer and I hope to see many of you at the club later this week. Regards,

Mark Drury

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Lecture & Blitz Tournament Tomorrow Evening, Copa del Menlo Registration

I wanted to thank Jeff McGinnis once again for running the club in my absence last week, along with everyone who helped him—I truly appreciate your support! Seems we had at least seven first- or second-time visitors during the evening, which is in keeping with the current trend of lots of new people joining us—here’s hoping the burgeoning interest continues.

Tomorrow night will be another casual evening with a lecture followed by a free, unrated blitz tournament beginning round 7pm. I’ll be gone the following week, June 25th, riding my bicycle on the Oregon coast, but am hoping the club will still meet with the help of additional volunteer organizers—more about that a few days hence.

Finally for now, I updated our rated July tournament to be a G/45;d5 affair given that appears to be the club preference where time control is concerned, so we will play just one dual-rated game each of the three weeks, rather than two quick-rated games. Signups are still light so please register asap if you plan to play, something which makes planning for the tournament far easier:

https://menloparkchess.club/event/copa-del-menlo-round-one/.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions and I hope to see many of you tomorrow evening. Regards,

Mark Drury

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Club Will Meet Tomorrow, June 11th

Just a quick note to confirm that the club will meet tomorrow evening, June 11th, at 6pm with Jeff McGinnis hosting (thank you again, Jeff!) and with a possible lecture from Frisco round 6:30pm. I will not be able to get the club chess clocks to the recreation center tomorrow so please bring a clock if you own one and wish to played timed games. Also, if you are able to arrive around 6pm to help Jeff set up and/or stay until 9pm to help him tear down that would be great — both tasks take but a few minutes with several people helping.

I will be at the club the following week for another “casual” evening with lecture and free, unrated blitz chess tournament and hope to see many of you then. Regards,

Mark Drury

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Impromptu Blitz #64 Results & Copa del Menlo Registration

Last Thursday saw no less than nine first-time visitors at the club as well as a few members who returned after a considerable absence, which made for some interesting results in our Impromptu Blitz #64. Young Cameron Troy looked like he was headed for a 7-0 sweep after five rounds of crushing G/3+2 chess before running afoul of eventual winners Vedant Verma and Hayden Brongersma in rounds six and seven, respectively, both of whom amassed 6.0 points against a strong field. Pranav Jindal and Alexander Su shared third place with Cameron a point back while Lauren Goodkind sat alone in sixth place with 4.5 points. Full results are in the attached image and thank you to everyone who joined us for this casual tournament.

Relatedly, our club blitz rating and blitz points standing lists have been updated with the latest results and Hayden Brongersma has unsurprisingly taken over the top ratings spot while Pranav Jindal maintains his slim lead over Austin Chen in the points race:

https://menloparkchess.club/ladders/club-unofficial-blitz-ratings/

https://menloparkchess.club/ladders/club-blitz-points-standings/

Note that I will not be at the club this coming Thursday (I’ll be in Santa Barbara attending my daughter’s college graduation) but I will know in a day or two if others will run the club in my absence and will update https://menloparkchess.club/events/ no later than Wednesday afternoon with the status for this week. I will be at the club June 18th, of course, hosting another casual evening with a lecture and blitz tournament.

Finally for now, our “Copa Del Menlo” rated tournament remains scheduled for the first three Thursdays in July and one change we’re considering for this event is the time control, playing a single G/45;d5 instead of two G/20;d3 games each evening, given our club members appear to favor the longer time control. Let me know if you have a preference and please register asap if you plan to play in this event. Regards,

Mark Drury

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Impromptu Blitz #63 Results & No Chess Meeting Thursday, May 28th

We were joined by three first-time visitors at the club last night, two of whom played in our free, unrated blitz tournament (welcome, John Ballard and Lawrence Chao!), as well as several returning members whom we haven’t seen in a while and the new blood always makes these informal events that much more interesting. After seven rounds of G/3+2 action there is a new sheriff in town, with 10-year-old Austin Chen not only claiming sole first place with 5.5 points out of 7—he now tops our club blitz rating list for the first time, leapfrogging Pranav Jindal, NM Dmitry Dzhanhirov, Hayden Brongersma, FM Rayan Taghizadeh and other strong players with his 90-point gain last night:

https://menloparkchess.club/ladders/club-unofficial-blitz-ratings/

Half a point behind Austin in sole second was David Flores and there followed four strong players in a tie for third at 4.5: Hayden Brongersma, Sam Bekker, Cameron Troy and Alexander Su. Full results are in the attached image, thank you to everyone who joined us last night and the updated impromptu blitz point standings may be viewed here:

https://menloparkchess.club/ladders/club-blitz-points-standings/

Note that the club will not meet next week, May 28th, given Frisco and I are both unavailable that Thursday but we will hold another casual evening with a lecture and free, unrated blitz tournament June 4th—I hope to see many of you then. Regards,

Mark Drury

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Casual Night Tonight, “Copa del Menlo” in July

Sharing a quick note to let people know we’ll hold another casual evening at the club tonight, with a 6:30pm lecture followed by a free, unrated blitz tournament beginning round 7pm, with book prizes awarded based upon standing in our ongoing blitz series. I have also updated the club Events page to include our next rated offering, the “Copa del Menlo” tentatively scheduled for July 2nd, 9th and 16th (a gratuitous nod to this summer’s World Cup):

https://menloparkchess.club/event/copa-del-menlo-round-one/

This event is quick-rated (G/20;d3) with two rounds per evening but I may switch it to a single nightly game of G/45;d5 over three weeks, given our club appears to prefer the longer time controls. Take a look at the details and let me know if you have a preference (and feel free to register if you plan to play).

There remains a small chance that we’ll hold another rated event before July, given a number of members wish to do so, but I will miss the evenings of May 28th, June 11th and June 25th so I don’t know if we’ll be able to make that happen. More to come on that front soon and, as always, please let me know if you have any questions or comments in the interim. Regards,

Mark Drury

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Impromptu Blitz #62 Results

We had a good turnout this past Thursday for an excellent lecture by Frisco Del Rosario on another classic Morphy game followed by seven rounds of G/3+2 blitz action, which has become standard fare during our casual evenings. Twenty one people participated in the free, unrated tournament, including no less than five first-time visitors to the club as well as two people who returned after an absence of many months.

After the final round wound down Pranav Jindal and Hayden Brongersma shared top honors with 5.5 points out of seven, followed by junior standout Caleb Leong and relative newcomer Sam Bekker at 5.0. NM Gabe Sanchez and yours truly shared fifth place after handing younger nemeses tough losses in round 7. Full results are in the attached image and our current club blitz ratings and points totals may be viewed at the following links:

https://menloparkchess.club/ladders/club-unofficial-blitz-ratings/

https://menloparkchess.club/ladders/club-blitz-points-standings/

We’ll hold another casual evening this coming Thursday with a lecture and blitz tournament and will offer book prizes based on blitz point standings after the tournament concludes. May 28th is still in flux as I won’t be able to attend that evening but I’m hoping to have others run the club in my absence, while our next rated tournament begins June 4th — more details about that event will be shared soon.

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A4c Variant Results & No Chess Meeting May 7th

First and foremost, the chess club will not meet tomorrow, May 7th, given I need to be out of town and had neither the time nor the wherewithal to secure approval from recreation center staff for my replacement (it’s more complicated at Arrillaga given one typically must have a contract in place with the city to serve as the instructor for a club or class, even as a temporary stand-in). Apologies for the short notice but we will definitely meet again next week, May 14th, at the usual time.

We’ve held two variant events since my last update and, regrettably, the SwissSys software did what it sometimes does after the final round of our Freestyle Chess with Draft event back on April 23rd, failing to save the final round results even though I did so at least three times before leaving the club that evening. I discovered the error several days after the fact and wasn’t able to reliably reconstruct what happened in the fifth and final round, though I may still try to do that if enough people are interested.

There was no such problem with our A4c Variant tournament last week, however, and after four rounds of this metagame within a game, best of three games in ten minutes format Hayden Brongersma stood alone with a perfect 4.0 points. Four strong players tied for second a full point behind: Pranav Jindal, Lauren Goodkind, Austin Chen and Cameron Troy, while Yoyo He secured sole sixth with 2.5 points. Full results are in the attached image, thank you to everyone who joined us and we’ll play this variant again soon, given most people expressed enthusiasm for it.

The other item of note is that I’ve updated the club Events page at to reflect the fact that we now plan to hold our next rated tournament in June. I cannot be at the club May 28th and that coupled with the closure this week made a rated event more difficult to schedule. I’ll update the June 4th event with more information as soon as I have it and please let me know in the meantime if you have any questions or preferences where that is concerned. Regards,

Mark Drury