Category: ladder

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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 #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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COVID Continues

I tested positive again for COVID late last night so I won’t be at the club Thursday and our championship will now be delayed an additional two weeks, given I was already planning to be out of town October 19th. The new start date is October 26th, then continuing the weeks of November 2nd, 9th, 16th and 30th (the 23rd is Thanksgiving, no chess). This change may or may not work for some of you who have registered or added your name to our wait list so please let me know if you wish to withdraw or take a bye on one of the indicated days. You may also review the details of this event, as well as update/cancel your registration or add yourself to the wait list here: https://menloparkchess.club/…/second-menlo-park-chess…/.

This Thursday and October 19th will be casual, blitz, bughouse and ladder chess game evenings–please bring your own equipment if you plan to attend: https://menloparkchess.club/events/. I hope you see many of you on October 26th! Regards,

Mark Drury

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MPCC Ladders

This evening we’ll host casual, blitz and bughouse play at the club but will also open up our Blitz and Quick ladders a little early for those seeking to climb either. The idea remains to run each ladder for three months and award points for ladder games as one would an ordinary Swiss, where a win is one point, a draw half a point and a loss zero points, and we may also incorporate a bonus for the person or persons who climb the most rungs during each three-month period.

As mentioned during the Quick Swiss last week, Chess.com is sponsoring some nice prizes, including 1-month Diamond memberships for three club members every month, which we will award to ladder participants based on monthly results, with some additional prizes awarded for one’s three-month performance. If you’ve read this far, you deserve a little prize already—please use the following link to get Chessable Pro free for one month, another benefit Chess.com is passing along to affiliate clubs such as ours: http://chessable.com/MenloParkChessClub.

More information about our ladders, along with rules and initial standings based upon our two most recent tournaments, may be found here: https://menloparkchess.club/ladders/ (if you wish to be added to either ladder just let me know). Questions? Send a message to info@menloparkchess.club or see me at the club tonight. Regards,

Mark Drury