Autumn Double-Round Quick-Rated Quads

Below are the complete wall charts and pairings for our Autumn Double-Round Quick-Rated Quads, which begin Thursday, September 25th. As a reminder, participants will play two games against the same opponent each evening, one as white and one as black. Players should arrive at the club no later than 6:50pm to be ready to start their first game at 7pm sharp. Chess boards, chess sets, chess clocks, score sheets and pens will be provided by the club but feel free to bring your own clock of you prefer. Our tournament rules summary is worthwhile reading if you are new to rated chess or need a refresher.

Quad One

#Name/Rating/IDRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Rd 6TotalPrize
1Yoyo HeW 4B 4B 3W 3B 2W 2
1917 1517449100½1012.5$15
2Adam FerrellW 3B 3B 4W 4W 1B 1
1879 12644884100½102.5$15
3Jason WrightB 2W 2W 1B 1B 4W 4
1844 1270714701½0001.5
4Hayden BrongersmaB 1W 1W 2B 2W 3B 3
1838 31240441111½115.5$50

Quad Two

#Name/Rating/IDRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Rd 6TotalPrize
1Breakwell LoyalkaW 4B 4B 3W 3W 2B 21st
1728 315695211111116.0$50
2Yaniv VinishW 3B 3B 4W 4B 1W 1
1705p 32105653110½002.5
3Mark DruryB 2W 2W 1B 1W 4B 4
1700 124593130000½00.5
4Hugo PuB 1W 1W 2B 2B 3W 3
1679 31093860001½½13.0$30

Quad Three

#Name/Rating/IDRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Rd 6TotalPrize
1Austin ChenW 4B 4B 3W 3B 2W 2
1641 312932491111015.0$50
2Di LinW 3B 3B 4W 4W 1B 1
1555p 324023561½01103.5$30
3Kaio DeeterB 2W 2W 1B 1B 4W 4
1440 319519860½000F0F0.5
4Jeffrey McGinnisB 1W 1W 2B 2W 3B 3
1400 1319583000101F1F3.0

Quad Four

#Name/Rating/IDRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Rd 6TotalPrize
1Steven SwickW 4B 4B 3W 3W 2B 2
unr. 325874961000001.0
2Caleb LeongW 3B 3B 4W 4B 1W 1
1284 3020784910½1114.5$50
3Cameron TroyB 2W 2W 1B 1B 4W 4
1233 306326210111014.0$30
4Vinayak VikramB 1W 1W 2B 2W 3B 3
1081 3100766301½0102.5

Quad Five

#Name/Rating/IDRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Rd 6TotalPrize
1Lua LoyalkaW 4B 4B 3W 3B 2W 2
1043 315695310011103.0$30
2Alan ChenW 3B 3B 4W 4W 1B 1
502 312932650000011.0
3Alfred DavisB 2W 2W 1B 1B 4W 4
438p 319392411100002.0
4Saveen SahniB 1W 1W 2B 2W 3B 3
unr. 325157441111116.0$50

Impromptu Blitz #48 Results

Twenty-four people joined us for our Impromptu Blitz #48 last week, another 7-round G/4+2 affair which produced no real surprises where the final results were concerned. Alex Chin claimed another sole first place with 6.0 out of 7, with his only loss a tough game against Breakwell Loyalka, a name we’re seeing far more of in these summaries. Hayden Brongersma and first-time club visitor and Bay Area chess stalwart Cailen Melville tied for second at 5.5, while Breakwell was alone in fourth at 5.0 followed by a raft of strong if vexed players at 4.0. I suppose after 48 iterations of these blitz tournaments it’s time to lose the “Impromptu” title and I’m thinking of ways to change the format to make it more league-like, with results over several weeks or months leading to prizes and the like—more to come about that soon. Full results are in the attached image and thank you to everyone who joined us for this tournament.

We still have some spots available in our double-round quick-rated quads or small Swisses which begin this Thursday. Note that there will be no on-site registration for this event, given I need to set up the groups ahead of time, so if you wish to play please register today, if at all possible (if you didn’t receive email from the club address today stating you are registered for the event you are not currently in the tournament):

Freestyle Chess with Draft #2 Results

Well, the inevitable happened last week when ten-year-old Austin Chen (I think he’s but ten) tied for first place with Breakwell Loyalka in our five-round Freestyle Chess with Draft tournament, one with a relatively short (for the variant) G/5;d3 time control. Austin and Breakwell played some nice games en route to their 4.5 out of 5 scores, with Austin grinding down both me and Sanat Singhal in what were likely drawn rook and pawn endgames while Breakwell won a wild final-round game against WFM Olivia Smith. Olivia, Hugo Pu and Raghav Ramesh tied for third with 3.5 points. The full results are in the attached image and thank you to everyone who joined us for this fun variant tournament.

This Thursday we’ll hold yet another casual evening with a lecture at 6:30pm followed by a free, unrated blitz tournament round 7pm. Also, we will proceed with our autumn quick-rated quads beginning September 25th so if you wish to play and have not yet registered for that event please do so asap here. Regards,

Mark Drury

Impromptu Blitz #47 Results

I’m once again sharing the results of last week’s impromptu blitz tournament a little late but we enjoyed another great turnout, with several first-time visitors rounding out the 26-player field for six rounds of G/5+0. There were a number of upsets in this event but seeing Hayden Brongersma and Pranav Jindal share first at 5.0 out of 6 is no surprise these days, while junior Hugo Pu had an excellent showing at 4.5 points for sole third, ahead of some very strong players. The full results are in the attached image and thank you to everyone who played in this event!

I would also like to thank Alex Chin once again for sharing his very nice Smith-Morra Gambit tournament win with us while Frisco was otherwise engaged at a Valkyries game. As someone who plays the Sicilian and who regularly loses to the Smith-Morra it was both a pleasure and a pain to watch Alex’s crushing position unfold during his lecture. If any others among our membership would like to share a game with the club please let me know and we can work you in to the lecture rotation at some point.

Tonight we’ll have another lecture at 6:30pm followed by the promised Freestyle Chess/Chess960 event with a draft (details here). I haven’t yet settled on a time control or number of rounds so the first few people at the club this evening will make that call for me. I hope to see many of you tonight! Regards,

Mark Drury

Alex Chin Lecture & Blitz Tournament Tomorrow Night

Just a brief message to let everyone know the double-round, quick rated quads will not begin this week, as planned, but will go ahead on September 25th per the updated events page here: https://menloparkchess.club/events/ — please register for that event soon if you plan to play. This week, with Frisco needing to attend the Valkyries game at Chase Center, Alex Chin has stepped up to regale us with one of his recent, interesting tournament games, so please plan to be at the club round 6:30pm to enjoy Alex’s lecture and game analysis (and thank you, Alex, for offering to fill Frisco’s very large shoes this week!).

After Alex’s lecture we’ll hold another blitz tournament round 7pm, as ever, but note that the following week, September 11th, will include both a lecture and a Freestyle Chess (Chess960) Draft Tournament, something which has been popular in the past. No need to register ahead of time for that event but do try to be at the club by 6:30pm for the lecture and so we can play freestyle round 7pm.

I hope to see many of you at the club this week and next! Regards,

Mark Drury