Month: May 2024

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Impromptu Blitz #17 Results

Twenty-six worthies competed in our Impromptu Blitz #17 last Thursday, including two first-time visitors and one returning member (great to see you again, Nicholas!). When all five rounds of G/5;d2 action were said and done Andy Applebaum and Frisco Del Rosario unsurprisingly shared equal first at 4.5 points—well done to both players! It is passing strange how Frisco rails against blitz on occasion (to be fair, in a learning context) yet never manages worse than first place in these events. Hayden Brongersma nabbed sole third with 4.0, another excellent result and clearly a harbinger of first place finishes to come. Full results are in the attached image, thank you to everyone who participated in this tournament and our next impromptu blitz will occur June 27th, per the club schedule found here: https://menloparkchess.club/events/.

Speaking of the schedule, please register in advance for the free, unrated A4c Variant tournament if you plan to play this Thursday—details and a registration link are here: https://menloparkchess.club/event/a4c-variant-tournament-2/.

And beginning June 6th we will commence another double-round quick-rated event of three rounds/weeks in sections of 4, 6 or 8 players, depending upon ratings distributions. Two games against the same opponent will be played each evening, one as white and one as black using the G/15;d5 time control. There is a $10 entry fee for this US Chess-rated event and the entire amount will be returned in the prize fund. More details and a registration link may be found here: https://menloparkchess.club/event/june-double-round-quick-rated-quads-round-1/.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions and I hope to see you at the A4c variant tournament this Thursday!

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Impromptu Blitz #16 Results

We enjoyed another excellent turnout for our Impromptu Blitz #16 Thursday, with some very strong players gracing our ranks and with Frisco Del Rosario, our reluctant blitz champion, once again claiming first place, this time in a tie with young Liam Liu at 4.5 out of 5 points. Pranav Jindal and Triet Vo tied for second at 4 points while Hayden Brongersma had another strong showing in sole 5th at 3.5. Thank you to everyone who joined us for this fun event!

We’ll hold another free blitz tournament this coming Thursday, May 23rd, likely with the same G/5;d2 time control, and the following week we’ll take our second foray into A4c chess with a tournament of three or four rounds. More information about that event and about the variant plus a registration link may be found here:

A4c Variant Tournament #2
More information and a registration link for our second A4c Variant Tournament

Please register ahead of time if you plan to play in this event, which typically helps us start closer to 7pm on tournament night. I hope to see many of you this Thursday and next! Regards,

Mark Drury

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Impromptu Blitz #15 Results

I meant to share the results from our previous impromptu blitz tournament sooner but had a very busy week this past—apologies for the delay. Per the wall chart below, Frisco Del Rosario enjoyed a perfect 5-0 score last Thursday, despite his open disdain for these faster time controls, while junior Hayden Brongersma managed sole second ahead of some stiff competition at 4-1 and David Zhao was alone in third with 3.5 points. Thank you to everyone who joined us for this tournament, as always!

Before last week’s tournament began Frisco gave a lecture on a Capablanca game from early in his career, one which ended with a number of sacrifices and a beautiful double-check mate. If you missed that lecture try to be at the club this evening round 6:30pm, when Frisco will review another Capa masterpiece—his justly famed rook ending against Tartakower from New York, 1924.

After Frisco’s lecture we’ll hold another G/5;d2 blitz tournament beginning round 7pm—I hope to see many of you this evening!

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Impromptu Blitz #14 Results

Twenty-three people participated in our Impromptu Blitz #14 tournament this past Thursday, a G/5;d2 affair which included four first-time visitors to the club—thank you again to Simon Rubinstein-Salzedo, Vin Armelin, Matt Kmiecik and Matt Mascioli for joining us in this event!

For perhaps the first time in one of our casual blitz tournaments we had a four-way tie for first at four out of five points, with Gabe, Kunal, Simon and Josen sharing top honors, while a raft of others tied for second at three points (juniors Max and Chase among them). We’ll hold another casual evening and blitz tournament this coming Thursday then may have a week or two of variant tournaments before beginning our next rated event.

As always, please let me know if there’s anything specific you’d like to see happen at the club (chess-related, preferably) and we’ll try to make it happen. Regards,

Mark Drury