Category: rated

Posted on

Recent Tournament Results & Upcoming Tournaments

Our February Small Swisses concluded March 13th with a couple make-up games and the full results with prize distributions are available on the following page:

Congratulations to Pranav Jindal, Breakwell Loyalka, Amogh Rao and Evan Sobel for winning clear first in their respective sections, with a special shout out to Pranav for the perfect score in his group–well played, all of you! I should also point out that 8 out of 11 of our prize winners were junior players, proving once again the old maxim that “youth will be served!” The full US Chess rating report for this quick-rated event may be viewed here, and thank you to everyone who joined us for this tournament.

Speaking of youth served, the top four finishers in last week’s Impromptu Blitz #34 were all juniors, perhaps for the first time ever in our club but certainly not the last. Breakwell Loyalka secured first alone with 5 out of 6 points after a tough last-round win over Hugo Pu, who tied with Zelin Fang and Austin Chen for second at 4.5 points. Zelin ground me down in the final round and Austin did the same to newcomer (and another strong junior) Cameron Troy. Full results for #34 are in the attached image.

Interestingly, in my third-round game with Breakwell he played some offbeat b4 line as white against my Sicilian and quietly encouraged me to take the pawn, that it was “perfectly safe.” I accepted and soon found my uncastled king and uncoordinated pieces in a world of hurt. Not two rounds later I was seated next to Breakwell and Vinayak Vikram during their game when the same b4 position in the Sicilian arose, and I’m certain I heard the same, now hollow-sounding “perfectly safe” assurances emanating from the white side of the board during that game, as well (with the same result, it seems). Just a heads-up in case you find yourself playing Breakwell and he offers you similar “safety.”

Note that tomorrow evening Frisco will give his lecture from 6:30pm to 7pm and then we will hold another free, informal Freestyle Swiss tournament of 4 or 5 rounds, with a draft format and G/5;d3 time control. More information about the tournament is here and you can register at the club Thursday beginning round 6:30pm. The following week we’ll hold a blind draw bughouse tournament and on April 3rd we’ll begin a four-week, four-round rated Swiss in two sections with a G/45;d5 time control. I’ll send more information about both tournaments in a day or two. As always, I hope to see many of you at the club soon! Regards,

Mark Drury

Posted on

February Small Swisses Rounds 3 & 4 Results

Below are the results from rounds 3 and 4 of our February Small Swisses event along with the tentative pairings for final rounds 5 and 6, to occur on March 6th. The prizes for each section are as follows:

Sections One & Four : $80, $50, $30
Section Two: $60, $40, $20
Section Three: $50, $30

Section One

#Name/Rating/IDRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Rd 6TotalPrize
1Pranav JindalB 6W 6W 3B 3W 4B 4
1965p 306288841.02.03.04.05.06.06.0$80
2Zelin FangW 5B 5B 8W 8W 7B 7
1851 170830430.00.01.02.03.04.04.0$50
3Chase WangB 7W 7B 1W 1W 5B 5
1788 150158521.02.02.02.03.03.53.5$30
4Vedant VermaW 8B 8B 5W 5B 1W 1
1733 169948320.01.02.03.03.03.03.0
5Jialin WuB 2W 2W 4B 4B 3W 3
1707 304102901.02.02.02.02.02.52.5
6Yash ShahW 1B 1W 7B 7B 8W 8
1717 306521910.00.00.00.01.02.02.0
7Cesar TamondongW 3B 3B 6W 6B 2W 2
1688 124390910.00.01.02.02.02.02.0
8Josen KalraB 4W 4W 2B 2W 6B 6
1639 126152101.01.01.01.01.01.01.0

Section Two

#Name/Rating/IDRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Rd 6TotalPrize
1Breakwell LoyalkaB 5W 5W 3B 3W 4B 4
1526 315695211.01.52.53.04.04.54.5$60
2Hayden BrongersmaW 3B 3B 6W 6W 5B 5
1562 312404410.00.01.02.03.04.04.0$30
3Venugopal ManiB 2W 2B 1W 1W 6B 6
1500 164197531.02.02.02.53.04.04.0$30
4Yaniv VinishW 6B 6W 5B 5B 1W 1
1516p 321056530.51.52.52.52.53.03.0
5Hugo PuW 1B 1B 4W 4B 2W 2
1439 310938600.00.50.51.51.51.51.5
6Justin DongB 4W 4W 2B 2B 3W 3
1598p 172122530.50.50.50.51.01.01.0

Section Three

#Name/Rating/IDRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Rd 6TotalPrize
1Amogh RaoB 3W 3W 2B 2B 4W 4
1295p 309493411.02.02.53.04.05.05.0$50
2Austin ChenB 4W 4B 1W 1B 3W 3
1373 312932491.02.02.53.04.04.54.5$30
3Jeffrey UngarW 1B 1W 4B 4W 2B 2
1202p 163967430.00.01.02.02.02.52.5
4Michael SherrardW 2B 2B 3W 3W 1B 1
1300 124473680.00.00.00.00.00.00.0

Section Four

#Name/Rating/IDRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Rd 6TotalPrize
1Evan SobelB 7W 7W 5B 5W 2B 2
839p 318600441.01.02.03.04.04.54.5$80
2Zelan FangW 8B 8W 6B 6B 1W 1
882 306297641.02.03.03.53.54.04.0$50
3Lua LoyalkaW 5B 5W 7B 7B 6W 6
813 315695310.01.02.02.03.03.53.5$30
4Lucian LiuB 6W 6W 8B 8W 7B 7
unr. 322753270.00.01.01.02.03.03.0
5Alon DoitelB 3W 3B 1W 1B 8W 8
unr. 322523261.01.01.01.02.03.03.0
6Daniel JostW 4B 4B 2W 2W 3B 3
unr. 322923271.02.02.02.52.53.03.0
7Tyler MiddletonW 1B 1B 3W 3B 4W 4
unr. 323011630.01.01.02.02.02.02.0
8Alfred DavisB 2W 2B 4W 4W 5B 5
unr. 319392410.00.00.01.01.01.01.0
Posted on

February Small Swisses Round 1 & 2 Results

Below are the results from rounds 1 and 2 of our February Small Swisses event along with the tentative pairings for rounds 3 and 4, to occur on February 27th. The prizes for each section are as follows:

Sections One & Four : $80, $50, $30
Section Two: $60, $40, $20
Section Three: $50, $30

Section One

#Name/Rating/IDRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Total
1Pranav JindalB 7W 7W 2B 2
1965p 306288841.02.02.0
2Chase WangB 8W 8B 1W 1
1788 150158521.02.02.0
3Jialin WuB 6W 6W 4B 4
1707 304102901.02.02.0
4Vedant VermaW 5B 5B 3W 3
1733 169948320.01.01.0
5Josen KalraB 4W 4W 6B 6
1639 126152101.01.01.0
6Zelin FangW 3B 3B 5W 5
1851 170830430.00.00.0
7Yash ShahW 1B 1W 8B 8
1717 306521910.00.00.0
8Cesar TamondongW 2B 2B 7W 7
1688 124390910.00.00.0

Section Two

#Name/Rating/IDRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Total
1Venugopal ManiB 6W 6B 2W 2
1500 164197531.02.02.0
2Breakwell LoyalkaB 5W 5W 1B 1
1526 315695211.01.51.5
3Yaniv VinishW 4B 4W 5B 5
1516p 321056530.51.51.5
4Justin DongB 3W 3W 6B 6
1598p 172122530.50.50.5
5Hugo PuW 2B 2B 3W 3
1439 310938600.00.50.5
6Hayden BrongersmaW 1B 1B 4W 4
1562 312404410.00.00.0

Section Three

#Name/Rating/IDRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Rd 6Total
1Austin ChenB 2W 2B 3W 3B 2W 2
1373 312932491.02.02.0
2Michael SherrardW 1B 1B 4W 4W 1B 1
1300 124473680.00.00.0
3Amogh RaoB 4W 4W 1B 1B 4W 4
1295 309493410.0
4Jeffrey UngarW 3B 3W 2B 2W 3B 3
1202 163967430.0

Section Four

#Name/Rating/IDRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Total
1Zelan FangW 8B 8W 2B 2
882 306297641.02.02.0
2Daniel JostW 7B 7B 1W 1
unr. 322923271.02.02.0
3Evan SobelB 5W 5W 6B 6
839p 318600441.01.01.0
4Lua LoyalkaW 6B 6W 5B 5
813 315695310.01.01.0
5Tyler MiddletonW 3B 3B 4W 4
unr. 323011630.01.01.0
6Alon DoitelB 4W 4B 3W 3
unr. 322523261.01.01.0
7Lucian LiuB 2W 2W 8B 8
unr. 322753270.00.00.0
8Alfred DavisB 1W 1B 7W 7
unr. 319392410.00.00.0
Posted on

February Small Swisses Round 1 & 2 Pairings

Below are the tentative round 1 and 2 pairings for our February double-round, quick-rated small Swisses in three sections (by rating). These pairings (or even groups) could change before the start of play Thursday, February 13th, but will be updated here if that is the case.

Section One

Section Two

Section Three

Posted on

Club Championship Final Results

Attached is the wall chart showing the final results for our 2024 Club Championship as well as the prize amounts and distributions for our different prize groups. Congratulations to our newest club champion, Yoyo He, on his perfect score in this event and on the addition of 100+ points to his regular rating—well played, Yoyo! Pranav Jindal took sole second in the event with four points followed by a number of players at 3.5, and both Thomas Petrillo and Breakwell Loyalka played well above their ratings to be part of that august group. The tournament has already been rated and the US Chess report is available here:

https://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?202412125552-12459313

Thank you to everyone who participated in our club championship and if you have any feedback or suggestions for future tournaments please don’t hesitate to share them with me. Regards,

Mark Drury

Posted on

Club Championship Round 4 Results

Last night’s round 4 of our 2024 Menlo Park Chess Club Championship was replete with more upsets and heartbreaking losses, setting up a final-round showdown between Pranav Jindal and Yoyo He for the title and $120 first prize. This has been a great tournament thus far and has likely been more enjoyable as a spectator than a player, given some of the tragicomic events witnessed over the board these past many weeks. We’ll play round 5 next Thursday, hold another free, impromptu blitz tournament December 19th then take a few weeks off for the Holidays. As always, Frisco’s 6:30pm lectures alone are worth a visit to the club, even if you’re not playing in the championship, and I hope to see many of you before the year ends. — Mark Drury

Posted on

Club Championship Round Four Pairings

The attached image includes the December 5th round 4 pairings for our club championship and, as always, these could change if we get late bye requests or cancelations due to illness or the like. A number of you have asked about byes so I wanted to reiterate what is stated in the tournament announcement: each player is eligible for one half-point bye in any of rounds 1 through 4. Any additional bye requests (including for round 5) will be zero points, the most equitable thing to do where prizes are concerned. Late bye requests on Thursday may be given zero points (an unrated forfeit loss) if I cannot re-pair the round ahead of the 7pm start. If there are any changes to the pairings below I will email participants the updated wall chart asap. Looking forward to Thursday night!

Posted on

Club Championship Round Three Results

Upsets were again a theme in round 3 of our club championship, with no fewer than ten games ending in a draw or loss for the higher-rated player. Young Austin Chen in particular showed incredible resolve to hold then win a position while down an exchange (and about 600 rating points vis-à-vis his strong opponent)–his passed c-pawn proved a difficult problem and he eventually capitalized on Wentao’s time trouble late in their game. Tough losses aside, our talented junior players are a joy to watch and I’ve little doubt more than a few of them will be candidate masters or better soon if they keep playing the game with the same enthusiasm seen at the club.

Frisco shared his excellent round 2 bulletin with us last night and if you weren’t able to pick up a copy at the club you can view or download it here, Thank you, Frisco!

As a final reminder, the club will not meet next week due to Thanksgiving, with round 4 of the championship occurring on December 5th. Have a great holiday and I hope to see many of you in December!

Posted on

Club Championship Round 2 Results, Round 3 Pairings

There was more exciting chess in round 2 of our club championship this past Thursday, with perhaps two games ending in what may be considered upsets along with quite a few time scrambles up and down the wall chart. Below are the current standings after two rounds as well as the tentative round 3 pairings—these could change if there are late bye requests or withdrawals. Many of you have asked me about getting a copy of Frisco’s round 1 bulletin, which includes analysis of three games from the first round, and I think he plans to make that available digitally at some point (but won’t hold him to it).

As a reminder, we’ll play round 3 of the tournament next week then will take a week off November 28th for Thanksgiving. We’ll resume the championship after the holiday with round 4 on December 5th. Regards,

Mark Drury