There will be no chess club meeting September 3rd but we will meet September 10th, when our rated Copa del Menlo tournament begins (see the Events page to register now).

Author: markdrury

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Impromptu Blitz #42 Results & No Chess Meeting July 17th & 24th

We enjoyed a very large turnout at the club last night, with no fewer than 8-10 first-time visitors and almost as many more who were joining us for just the second or third time, and 38 people partook of seven rounds of G/3;d3 blitz as we spilled out of our normal playing room into the hall with two additional tables. Perennial blitz favorite Pranav Jindal returned after a short hiatus to share equal first at 6.0 points with first-time visitor Sanat Singhal, who appeared to be headed for a 7-0 sweep until he ran afoul of Hayden Brongersma’s knight fork in the waning seconds of their final-round game, a victory which elevated Hayden to sole third at 5.5 points. Four strong players, including juniors Austin Chen and Jiaming Zhao, tied for 4th place with 5.0 points, leaving a very large contingent to gnash their teeth at 4.0 points and below. I never seem to have the presence of mind to ask all the new visitors how they learned about the club but word is clearly getting out and it’s wonderful to see so many new faces at these casual events.

In other chess news, club stalwart Cesar Tamondong had a fantastic result over the July 4th weekend, winning sole first place with 5.5/6 in the U1700 Senior Reserve Section of the 27th Annual Sacramento Chess Club Championship. Well done, Cesar—you’ll be an A player again before long!

I also wanted to pass along one final reminder that I’ll be out of town the next two Thursdays, July 17th and 24th, and the chess club will not meet those evenings, regrettably. It turns out there are more than enough volunteers to cover for me while I am out of town so I think this will be the final time we cancel a club meeting due to my absence. Have a great couple weeks and I hope to see many of you at the club July 31st (for another casual evening and blitz tournament). Regards,

Mark Drury

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Impromptu Blitz #41 Results & Summer Schedule

Twenty intrepid people, including five first-time visitors to the club, joined us this past Thursday for another excellent lecture followed by seven rounds of G/3;d3 blitz, which is fast becoming the favored (or least despised) time control at the club of late. Alex Su once again shared first place with 6.0 out of 7 points, though this time with relative newcomer Vishesh Agrawal, a strong blitz player who took third the previous week, while Adam Ferrell had another strong showing with sole third at 5.0, ahead of the usual dejected throng of 4.0 players. I was expecting a lighter turnout given we met on the eve of a national holiday but attendance was good and it was great to see so many new people at the club.

This coming Thursday we’ll do the same, with a lecture and free, unrated blitz tournament, then we’ll take the weeks of July 17th and July 24th off (I’ll be riding my bike across Iowa with the RAGBRAI horde). I’m including the tentative summer schedule below but always check https://menloparkchess.club/events/ for the latest event and tournament information:

Jul 10: Lecture & Free Blitz Tournament
Jul 17: No Chess Meeting
Jul 24: No Chess Meeting
Jul 31: Lecture & Free Blitz Tournament
Aug 07: Rounds 1-2, August Double-Round Quick-Rated Event
Aug 14: Rounds 3-4, August Double-Round Quick-Rated Event
Aug 21: Rounds 5-6, August Double-Round Quick-Rated Event
Aug 28: No Chess Meeting

Registration is now open for our August Double-Round Quick-Rated Quads & Small Swisses for those who are interested. Participation is limited to 32 players so please register early. Regards,

Mark Drury

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Impromptu Blitz #40 Results

Twenty people took part in last week’s free, 7-round G/3;d3 blitz tournament, with several new visitors and some returning players in the mix. Alex Su and Yoyo He shared first place with 6.0 points out of 7, first-time visitor Vishesh Agrawal took sole third with 5.0 points and a raft of players tied for fourth at 4.0. This G/3;d3 time control seems to be working for us, with little in the way of complaint, but we’re always willing to try something different if earlier arrivals at the club have a request.

We will meet tonight, July 3rd, for a lecture and another free blitz tournament and will do the same the following week, July 10th, before taking two weeks off for a summer break of sorts. In August the tentative plan is to hold double-round quick-rated quads or small Swisses over 3-4 weeks, as we’ve done in the past, but please let me know if you’d prefer some other format which might work with our ~7-9pm time constraint. I hope to see many of you at the club this evening! Regards,

Mark Drury

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Last Week’s Impromptu Team Blitz #1 Results

Last Thursday we tried, for the first time, a free team blitz event using the SwissSys ‘fixed team’ setup with eight teams of two for the sixteen brave souls who were willing to give this format a try. Suffice to say, the pairings were interesting, as were the results. I haven’t yet taken a closer look at the pairings in question but during many of the rounds the higher rated players on each team were not paired against one another, as I was expecting–it may be the software was favoring color alteration or actual team player score in these intra-match pairings but there was no lack of questions as the tournament unfolded, understandably.

When all was said and done, Josen Kalra and Lua Loyalka stood atop the other teams with four match points out of five, followed by three other teams at 3 points. The team scores were reasonably even which suggests that the proprietary algorithm used to make the teams was a success, never mind the good-natured grousing heard from a couple of the younger teams. I don’t know that I would call this event a success but we may give it another try at some point if there’s any interest, and thank you to everyone who boldly took part.

Tonight we’ll have another lecture at 6:30pm followed by a free, unrated blitz tournament at 7pm–I hope to see many of you then! Regards,

Mark Drury

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Impromptu Blitz #39 Results

We had an excellent turnout for our lecture and blitz tournament last week, with 28 people playing a full seven rounds of G/3;d3. After five rounds Breakwell Loyalka found himself alone in first place with 4.5 points, before running afoul of Simon Rubinstein-Salzedo in round six. Similarly, young Austin Chen was sole first after six rounds with 5.0 points, before falling to Simon in the final round, leaving Breakwell and Simon tied for first at 5.5 out of 7 when all was said and done. Austin held on to sole third with 5.0 points, ahead of some very strong players. The full results are in the attached image and thank you to everyone who joined us for this event.

Note that this evening there will be no lecture, given Frisco is covering the Golden State Valkyries game at Chase Center tonight, so we’ll hold casual play until 7pm then start our free, unrated blitz tournament at that time, perhaps with a team twist to mix things up. I hope to see many of you at the club this evening! Regards,

Mark Drury

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May Dual-Rated Swiss Results & Lecture + Blitz Tournament Tonight

Attached are the final results and prize distributions for our May Dual-Rated Swiss event. Congratulations to Alex Chin for his first place win and perfect score in the 1400+ section, to Hayden Brongersma and Yaniv Vinish for shared second and to Austin Chen and Josen Kalra for splitting the 1600-and-under prize. In the U1400 section, Di Lin and Neeraj Rao shared first place followed by David Tagatac and Cameron Troy in a tie for third. Note that Cameron claimed the U1200 prize in that section, leaving David with the $60 third prize (the U1400 section had two more paid entries than did the 1400+, hence the slightly larger prize fund).

The tournament was rated by US Chess earlier this week and the results are available here: https://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?202505299942.0 (full cross tables for both sections are in the attached images).

Thank you to everyone who played in this event and to Sriram Rao for ably directing it. We’ll hold additional rated tournaments in July and September—as always, please let me know if you have a preference where format and/or time control are concerned.

Tonight we will hold another casual evening with a lecture beginning at 6:30pm followed by a free, unrated blitz tournament round 7pm–I hope to see many of you at the club then!

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Impromptu Blitz #36 Results & Casual Play/Blitz Evening Tonight

Twenty-two people played in our Impromptu Blitz #36 last week, a G/5;d2 affair over six rounds and, when the final flag fell, Pranav Jindal and David Flores tied for first place with five points each out of six. Breakwell Loyalka had another good result and sat alone in third with 4.5 points, followed by three of the club’s typically strong blitz players at 4.0 points. Full results are in the attached image, congratulations to all of our top finishers and thank you to everyone who joined us for this fun, free event.

Tonight is another casual evening with a free lecture beginning at 6:30pm followed by another free, unrated blitz tournament round 7pm. Next week we commence our four-week rated Swiss event with the G/45;d5 time control and four rounds over four consecutive weeks in two sections. A couple spots remain if you’d like to join us for this event:

https://menloparkchess.club/event/may-dual-rated-g-45d5-swiss-in-two-sections-round-one/

Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions and I hope to see many of you at the club this evening. Regards,

Mark Drury

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Lecture & Blitz Tournament Tonight

Just a quick update to let you know we will hold a typical “casual” chess evening tonight, with a lecture beginning at 6:30pm followed by a free, unrated blitz tournament round 7pm. Also, if you haven’t yet registered for our rated tournament beginning May 8th please do so asap at https://menloparkchess.club/event/may-dual-rated-g-45d5-swiss-in-two-sections-round-one/. I look forward to seeing many of you this evening! Regards,

Mark Drury

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More Schedule Changes & Impromptu Blitz #35 Results


Apologies for the short notice (and the long message) but I am out of town today and next Thursday and will not be at the club either evening, regrettably, but we still plan to meet for casual play and Frisco’s lecture beginning at 6:30pm. If some of you are able to arrive early, round 6:15pm or so, to help set up the room that would be great. Having a few people help put away all the chess sets and boards round 8:45pm or earlier is also important, given the desk attendant, Harold, is typically ready to march out the door at 9pm sharp.

The chess equipment (boards and pieces) are in the usual cabinet in the Willow Room–Harold and several members know where it is stored. Note that the club chess clocks won’t be available this evening given they are at my home so please bring your clock or download one of the free apps onto your phone if you would like to play timed games tonight. Next week the club clocks will again be available.

Another scheduling change is that for our dual-rated G/45;d5 event, which will now begin May 8th and not next week. Sriram and I were looking at our calendars and it simply makes more sense to run that event in May, when we wouldn’t need a protracted break between rounds. I’ll follow up with everyone who has registered thus far with more details and will ask about continued interest in participating, bye requests, possible entry fee refunds and the like.

Lastly, we held one of our oddest impromptu blitz tournaments last week with a double-round G/1+5 (game in 1 minute with a 5-second increment) affair and, suffice to say, reviews were mixed on the time control. It was too short for an enjoyable blitz experience yet too long to warrant the double-round format, with sentiment seeming that most were glad to have tried it but don’t wish to do so again. When all eight rounds were finished Hayden Brongersma stood atop the field of 22 with 7 out of 8 points, followed a half point back by perennial wall chart-topper Pranav Jindal. Yash Shah and Liam Liu shared third at 6 points while relative newcomer Di Lin was alone in fifth at 5.0. Full results are in the attached image, thank you to everyone who slogged through this event with us and know that we’ll stick to more conventional blitz formats in the future. Regards,

Mark Drury

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Schedule Updates

As some of you know, we were not able to play chess at the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center last week due, in the end, to a simple clerical error: the facility director didn’t have us “on the schedule” for the night and, thus, we couldn’t use their room for legal/liability reasons. A number of adults made the best of things by walking the two blocks to Barebottle Brewing Co. for chess and libations, but I do sincerely apologize to those of you who made the trek to the club and played no chess for your pains. I remained at the center until 7:20pm so hopefully I was able to get word of the cancelation to everyone who showed up that evening.

On the bright side, we are once again “on the schedule” and will meet this Thursday, April 3rd, for another casual evening with a lecture at 6:30 followed by a free, unrated blitz tournament round 7pm. Round one of the dual-rated tournament originally scheduled for tomorrow will now start on April 17th and the event will run over five weeks with rounds 2, 3 and 4 occurring April 24th, May 8th and May 15th, respectively (the week of May 1st will be another casual evening with a lecture and blitz tournament).

The club Events page (https://menloparkchess.club/events/) includes the full schedule through the end of May and if you wish to play in the dual-rated tournament now beginning on April 17th please register asap at:

https://menloparkchess.club/event/april-dual-rated-g-45d5-swiss-in-two-sections-round-one

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or comments and I look forward to seeing many of you at the club soon. Regards,

Mark Drury