Month: February 2024

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Chess960 Draft Tournament

Our club dabbled in yet another interesting chess variant Thursday with the Chess960 Draft Tournament and, poorly as I did this time around, I think I speak for everyone in stating that the event was a lot of fun, with unusual positions seen in every round. In one of my games I made the cardinal mistake of failing to take stock of immediate threats on my first move and, as a result, lost a pawn and the exchange to a marauding bishop on move 2 or 3, which was mildly embarrassing. The timed draft aspect of this variant really adds something new and different to the game, especially with a relatively short time control like G/7;d3, but players got the hang of it quickly and there were few if any illegal setups that I’m aware of.

Eighteen participants turned out to be perfect for the four rounds we were able to play and congratulations are once again due to Pranav Jindal for another perfect score, his 4-0 result half a point better than Gabe Sanchez’s 3.5 for sole second. David Zhao and Josen Kalra enjoyed another excellent showing with their shared third place finish at 3 points, ahead of some very strong expert-level competition. Thank you to everyone who played in this event, please let me know if you have any feedback and we’ll give it another go later this year. Regards,

Mark Drury

#PlayerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Total
1Pranav JindalW 9B 11W 7B 5
1.02.03.04.04.0
2Gabriel SanchezW 3B 8W 5B 7
1.02.02.53.53.5
3David ZhaoB 2W 16B 17W 9
0.01.02.03.03.0
4Josen KalraW 6B 7W 12B 11
1.01.02.03.03.0
5Alaric SteinB 10W 14B 2W 1
1.02.02.52.52.5
6Kunal ModiB 4W 17B 9W 10
0.01.01.02.02.0
7Wentao WuB 16W 4B 1W 2
1.02.02.02.02.0
8Alex WuW 12W 2B 10W 17
1.01.01.02.02.0
9Michael ByunB 1W 18W 6B 3
0.01.02.02.02.0
10Hayden BrongersmaW 5B 15W 8B 6
0.01.02.02.02.0
11Austin ChenB 13W 1B 14W 4
1.01.02.02.02.0
12Hugo PuB 8W 13B 4B 15
0.01.01.02.02.0
13Richard WangW 11B 12W 16B 14
0.00.01.01.51.5
14Renzo FrigatoW 18B 5W 11W 13
1.01.01.01.51.5
15Jeremy ArthurB 17W 10B 18W 12
0.00.01.01.01.0
16Mark DruryW 7B 3B 13W 18
0.00.00.01.01.0
17Aditya DhamdhereW 15B 6W 3B 8
1.01.01.01.01.0
18Carlos FuertesB 14B 9W 15B 16
0.00.00.00.00.0
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A4c Variant Tournament

We enjoyed an excellent turnout this past Thursday for our first foray into A4c Chess, as we’re styling it (though the variant’s creator may yet object). As a reminder, this variant is best-of-three games against each opponent with ten total minutes on one’s clock, so time management across the two or three games in each match is critical. Indeed, we saw a number of matches in each round where time was used, how shall we say, less than optimally, which led to severe time crunches in the third game and to much clock slapping (sometimes in a vain attempt to stave off the inevitable loss on time)—it definitely made for interesting spectacle and was fun to watch. More information about the variant and the tournament details may be found here.

Twenty-eight people participated in three sections, which worked well for the three rounds we were able to squeeze in during the evening. Below are the results for each section and congratulations are due to winners Kunal (group one), David (group two) and Hayden and Austin (group three). Thank you to everyone who played in this event and the feedback was universally positive, even with the late start, so we’ll definitely play A4c Chess again soon.

Group One

#PlayerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Total
1Kunal ModiB 8W 5B 3
1.02.03.03.0
2Pranav JindalW 7B 3W 6
1.01.52.52.5
3Gabriel SanchezB 4W 2W 1
1.01.51.51.5
4Karim SeadaW 3B 7B 5
0.01.01.51.5
5Wentao WuB 6B 1W 4
1.01.01.51.5
6Alaric SteinW 5B 8B 2
0.01.01.01.0
7Josen KalraB 2W 4W 8
0.00.01.01.0
8Renzo FrigatoW 1W 6B 7
0.00.00.00.0

Group Two

#PlayerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Total
1David ZhaoW 6B 4B 2
1.02.03.03.0
2Paul TanenbaumW 8B 5W 1
1.02.02.02.0
3Pablo JadzinskyB 4W 6B 7
0.01.02.02.0
4Michael ByunW 3W 1B 5
1.01.02.02.0
5Samuel AgdamagB 7W 2W 4
1.01.01.01.0
6Amogh RaoB 1B 3W 8
0.00.01.01.0
7Charles MayvilleW 5B 8W 3
0.01.01.01.0
8Evan SobelB 2W 7B 6
0.00.00.00.0

Group Three

#PlayerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Total
1Hayden BrongersmaW 10B 8B 3
1.02.03.03.0
2Austin ChenW 7B 4W 6
1.02.03.03.0
3Atul DhingraW 9B 5W 1
1.02.02.02.0
4Fadi ArodakiB 12W 2W 8
1.01.02.02.0
5Hugo PuW 11W 3B 7
1.01.02.02.0
6George PurtellB 8W 10B 2
0.01.01.01.0
7Kumaravel MohamkumarB 2W 12W 5
0.01.01.01.0
8Aditya DhamdhereW 6W 1B 4
1.01.01.01.0
9Will KesselmanB 3W 11—-
0.01.0U1.01.0
10Shlok ChowdhuryB 1B 6W 12
0.00.01.01.0
11Victor ChenB 5B 9bye
0.00.00.50.5
12Bud WollW 4B 7B 10
0.00.00.00.0
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Impromptu Blitz #10 Results

We had an excellent turnout for our impromptu blitz tournament last night, with 25 people participating, including a number of first- or second-time visitors—welcome to Munci Inonu, Wyatt Morgan, Pablo Jadzinsky, Evan Sobel, Serena Shinault and Carlos Fuertes and thank you for joining us! Renzo Frigato was able to join us again after a prolonged absence and it was great to see him, as well! This event saw a somewhat unusual 4-way tie for first with four points out of five—congratulations to Munci Inonu, Pranav Jindal, Josen Kalra and David Zhao on their excellent play! The full results for the tournament follow and next week we will play another free, fun-focused tournament using the A4c variant—more details will be on our Events page later today.

#PlayerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Total
1Munci InonuB 16W 9B 7W 13W 2
1.02.02.03.04.04.0
2Pranav JindalW 17B 4W 15W 7B 1
1.02.03.04.04.04.0
3Josen KalraB 12W 18B 16W 6B 7
0.01.02.03.04.04.0
4David ZhaoW 21W 2B 11B 8W 9
1.01.02.03.04.04.0
5Renzo FrigatobyeW 25B 6B 12W 13
0.51.51.52.53.53.5
6Wyatt MorganbyebyeW 5B 3B 16
0.51.02.02.03.03.0
7Olivia SmithB 11W 10W 1B 2W 3
1.02.03.03.03.03.0
8Pablo JadzinskyB 18W 12B 10W 4B 17
1.01.02.02.03.03.0
9Alex WuW 24B 1W 17B 15B 4
1.01.02.03.03.03.0
10Evan SobelW 22B 7W 8B 20W 19
1.01.01.02.03.03.0
11Michael ByunW 7B 22W 4B 24W 15
0.01.01.02.03.03.0
12Austin ChenW 3B 8B 13W 5W 20
1.02.02.02.03.03.0
13Alex SubyeB 20W 12B 1B 5
0.51.52.52.52.52.5
14Mark DruryW 23B 15byebyebye
1.01.01.52.02.52.5
15Jeff McGinnisB 19W 14B 2W 9B 11
1.02.02.02.02.02.0
16Samuel AgdamagW 1B 24W 3B 23W 6
0.01.01.02.02.02.0
17Charles MayvilleB 2W 21B 9B 18W 8
0.01.01.02.02.02.0
18Hayden BrongersmaW 8B 3B 21W 17W 23
0.00.01.01.02.02.0
19Serena ShinaultW 15B 23W 20B 25B 10
0.01.01.02.02.02.0
20Hugo PubyeW 13B 19W 10B 12
0.50.51.51.51.51.5
21Aditya DhamdhereB 4B 17W 18W 22B 24
0.00.00.00.51.51.5
22Shlok ChowdhuryB 10W 11W 24B 21W 25
0.00.00.00.51.51.5
23Brian ChenB 14W 19B 25W 16B 18
0.00.01.01.01.01.0
24Jeff UngarB 9W 16B 22W 11W 21
0.00.01.01.01.01.0
25Carlos FuertesbyeB 5W 23W 19B 22
0.50.50.50.50.50.5