Category: blitz

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Impromptu Blitz #61 Results

We enjoyed another excellent turnout for last night’s free, unrated blitz tournament and I may dub this event the inaugural “Where the heck is Hayden?!” blitzfest, given we opted for his suggested G/3 of nine or ten rounds and he wasn’t able to join us (all jesting aside, we hope everything is okay on your end, Hayden).

Filling the considerable void left by Hayden’s absence, however, were no fewer than six first-time visitors to the club, including Max Elisman, a very strong player who tied for first place with Pranav Jindal, Austin Chen and Alex Chin at 7.0 points. Sharing fifth place one point behind that group of blitz worthies were David Flores, Breakwell Loyalka and newcomer Sam Bekker. We ended up playing just nine rounds and I think that was more than enough, given the glazed expression most people were wearing near the end of the evening.

Full results are in the attached image and our club/unofficial blitz ratings and club blitz points pages have been updated at the following links:

https://menloparkchess.club/ladders/club-unofficial-blitz-ratings/

https://menloparkchess.club/ladders/club-blitz-points-standings/

The tentative plan for next Thursday is Chess960 Draft followed by the A4c Variant April 30th and I think we’re going to offer book prizes to those who score well in both events combined. More information about those two tournaments will be available in a few days. Regards,

Mark Drury

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Impromptu Blitz #60 Results

Attached are the results for last week’s blitz tournament, seven rounds of G/3+2 as is our wont. Relative newcomer NM Dmitry Dzhanhirov enjoyed another excellent showing with 6.5 points, a full point and a half ahead of second place finishers Pranav Jindal and Hayden Brongersma, while no fewer than six players tied for fourth at 4.5. Full results are in the attached image and we’ll do something similar at the club this evening for those who are interested.

Our latest club blitz ratings and blitz point standings pages have also been updated and are available via the following links:

https://menloparkchess.club/ladders/club-unofficial-blitz-ratings/

https://menloparkchess.club/ladders/club-blitz-points-standings/

A vague notion about what we’ll do with the above is swirling in the ol’ noggin and I’ll run the idea by those at the club this evening to see if there’s any interest — I hope to see many of you there! Regards,

Mark Drury

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Impromptu Blitz #59 Results & Updated Events Calendar

This past Thursday saw both an excellent lecture from Frisco Del Rosario as well as another strong showing for our free, unrated blitz tournament series, with four first-time visitors and three masters participating. After seven rounds of G/3+2 chess FIDE Master and former World Youth Under-12 Co-Champion Rayan Taghizadeh stood alone in first with 6.5 points, his lone draw ceded to our second place finisher at 5.5, NM Dmitry Dzhanhirov. Club stalwarts Hayden Brongersma, Nicholas Tan and Cameron Troy tied for third at 5.0 while Austin Chen was alone in sixth at 4.5. Full results are in the attached wall chart and I’ve also included the updated club blitz point totals and club blitz ratings, the eventual purpose of which remains embarrassingly unclear at this time.

In other chess news, our very own Lauren Goodkind enjoyed an excellent result at the XVII Campeonato Continental Femenino de Ajedrez de Las Américas 2026 (17th American Women’s Continental Championship 2026), with a score of 5.0 points out of nine games and the distinction of being the top untitled player. Well done, Lauren, and perhaps a FIDE title of your own is soon in the offing!

Lastly for now, the club’s Events page (https://menloparkchess.club/events/) has been updated through the beginning of May and, to summarize, we’ll have two more weeks of casual blitz events followed by Chess960 Draft on April 23rd and an A4c Variant tournament on the 30th, then I hope to begin our next rated event May 7th — more details about that will be shared soon. Regards,

Mark Drury

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Impromptu Blitz #56 Results

Twenty-six people joined our latest “impromptu” blitz tournament, with several first-time and returning visitors participating in seven rounds of G/3+2 chess over 90 or so minutes. Hayden Brongersma once again emerged victorious with 5.5 points out of 7, his lone loss coming in the final round against second-place finisher Yoyo He. Yoyo tied for second at 5 points with Austin Chen and newcomer Thomas Allard, Lauren Goodkind and the club’s house patzer tied for fifth at 4.5 and there followed a raft of strong players in the 4.0 scrum. Full results are in the attached image, along with the latest blitz point totals and club blitz ratings — thank you, as always, to everyone who joined us for this event.

One particularly interesting game between two veteran if cheeky players saw a speculative double under-promotion to two bishops (of opposite colors, thankfully), leaving the king and two prelates against lone king. In the ensuing endgame it became a little unclear if the bishopmonger would garner the full point, given mutual time trouble and a protracted dance around the board by all the pieces, but in the end Hayden the bishops prevailed in a nice demonstration of that mating pattern.

We’ll hold one more impromptu blitz tournament February 26th before beginning our “March Quadness” event on the 5th of next month. If you have not yet registered for the quads please do so asap. Regards,

Mark Drury

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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

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Daniel Naroditsky Lecture & A4c Variant Tournament

Last Thursday we were treated to Frisco’s excellent lecture on the games and character of the late Daniel Naroditsky, whose passing deeply affected the many members of our club who knew him. I never met Daniel but everything I’ve heard and read about him makes clear the magnitude of the loss his untimely death is for the world-wide chess community. There was a celebration of his life and legacy (one of many, I’m sure) in San Mateo this past Sunday and I hope more than a few of you were able to attend and share what Daniel meant to you and to those who knew him and his work.

After the lecture we held another 7-round Swiss blitz affair with G//5+0, a time control we don’t use all that often and one which left a number of people pining away for any increment or delay, self included. Pranav Jindal was upset in the first round by perennial threat Venugopal Mani before righting the ship and notching six straight victories for sole first place, including a final-round victory against the ever more formidable Austin Chen. Austin tied for second with Alex Chin at 5.0 points while returning player William Mandrusov and junior Caleb Leong shared 4th place at 4.5. Full results are in the attached image, thank you to everyone who played in this event and congratulations to our winners!

This Thursday night, after our lecture, we will once again assay Alaric Stein’s A4c variant, our third such event with this format and it proved very popular the first two times we gave it a try. The event is free and unrated (no need to register in advance) and more information may be found here:

https://menloparkchess.club/event/a4c-variant-tournament-3/

Please let me know if you have any questions and I hope to see many of you at the club tomorrow night. Regards,

Mark Drury

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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):

Autumn Double-Round Quick-Rated Quads, Rounds 1-2