Month: January 2026

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Impromptu Blitz #53 Results

Continuing last week’s free, unrated blitz tournament with a focus on establishing relative club member ratings, we held six rounds of the slightly slower G4;d4 this week and Hayden Brongersma prevailed over 24 other players with 5 points out of six, followed by three very strong players in a tie for second: Pranav Jindal, Breakwell Loyalka and Lauren Goodkind. Full results for the tournament and the updated club ratings follow in the attached images.

We’re still contemplating what we plan to do with this ratings experiment and perhaps that will become more clear as the weeks progress though, again, if you have any bright ideas about what we should be doing please let me know. Regards,

Mark Drury

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Impromptu Blitz #52 Results

We tried something a little different beginning with this week’s free, unrated blitz tournament — we gave all thirty players the same beginning rating with the thought that, over the course of 4-5 such blitz events, we’d come to better understand the relative strengths of club members’ blitz play. That, and there’s still some vague idea floating around that we’ll create a ladder, tournament and/or related prize structure based on ratings accrual and other factors over that time. More information will be shared as the idea crystalizes and please let me know if you have any opinions or ideas, of course.

Triet Vo had an excellent result in this large first event with a perfect 7 out of 7 score, while Hayden Brongersma sat alone in second a point behind. Pranav Jindal and Caleb Leong shared third with 5 points, Austin Chen was sole fifth at 4.5 and a swarm of strong players settled for T6 honors at 4 points. Full results are in the attached image and the SwissSys ratings report is also attached (it includes a couple anomalies that I’ll need to investigate). We will continue the blitz ratings folly in the coming weeks and hopefully it will be modestly entertaining as we figure out what we’re actually doing with this experiment. Regards,

Mark Drury

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Impromptu Blitz #51 Results

We had a smaller turnout for last week’s lecture and blitz tournament but there was no lack of appetite for the usual seven rounds of G/4;d2 chess. There were quite a few upsets over those seven rounds but Pranav Jindal still prevailed with 5.5 points and sole first place. Jason Wright and young Austin Chen tied for second with 5.0 out of 7 while Hayden Brongersma was alone in fourth with 4.5 points. Full results are in the attached image, congratulations to our winners and thanks to everyone who played in this free, unrated event.

Tonight will be much the same as last week, with a lecture beginning at 6:30pm followed by another free, unrated blitz tournament round 7pm, this time with a G/3+2 time control. I hope to see many of you then! Regards,

Mark Drury

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Impromptu Blitz #50 Results

Our first meeting of 2026 was a success with 24 players partaking of seven rounds of G/5+0 blitz action, including many first-time visitors to the club. A hearty welcome to Scott Stoll, Billy and Ketch Allen, Tushar Janefalkar and Nicholas Zhu and thank you again for joining us at the club!

Breakwell Loyalka added an exclamation point to his club championship win last month with a convincing 7/7 score in this event, a full point and a half ahead of second place finisher Hayden Brongersma. NM Gabe Sanchez claimed sole third at 5.0 out of 7 while young Austin Chen was alone in fourth at 4.5 points. There followed a raft of strong players at 4.0 who were left wondering what might have been, though mention should be made of Lua Loyalka’s performance in that group–she is quietly making her way up these wall charts week after week and I won’t be surprised to find her nearer the top by year’s end.

The full results for this blitz tournament are in the attached image and we will do the same thing this coming Thursday, though perhaps with a G/4;d2 time control this time around–I hope to see many of you then. Regards,

Mark Drury