Category: tournament

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Freestyle #1 w/Draft Results

We had our first Freestyle Chess/Chess960 event in some time this past Thursday and decided to make it a draft event, where 26 players took turns placing pieces on the back rank to effectively choose their own shared starting position. The time control was G/5;d3 and play proceeded a little slower than expected, constraining us to just four total rounds when all was said and done. That was sufficient to arrive at a single winner with a score of 4 out of 4 points, however, and it may come as little surprise to learn that winner was once again Pranav Jindal. No fewer than five players tied for second with 3 points: Zelin Fang, Hayden Brongersma, Evan Sobel, Hugo Pu and Sushant Shankar, yet another strong showing from our junior players, who seem to be getting markedly better with each passing week. Full results are in the attached image and thank you to everyone who joined us for this interesting and important chess “variant”!

#PlayerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Total
1Pranav JindalB 13W 4B 3W 2
1.02.03.04.04.0
2Zelin FangB 20W 5B 10B 1
1.02.03.03.03.0
3Hayden BrongersmaB 22W 12W 1B 7
1.02.02.03.03.0
4Evan SobelW 24B 1W 20B 15
1.01.02.03.03.0
5Hugo PuW 18B 2W 23B 11
1.01.02.03.03.0
6Sushant ShankarB 15W 22B 18W 10
0.01.02.03.03.0
7Frisco Del RosarioW 14B 11W 8W 3
1.01.52.52.52.5
8Josen KalraW 21B 17B 7W 16
1.01.51.52.52.5
9Mark Drurybyebyebyebye
0.51.01.52.02.0
10Venugopal ManiB 23W 15W 2B 6
1.02.02.02.02.0
11Austin ChenB 25W 7B 16W 5
1.01.52.02.02.0
12Jeff McGinnisW 27B 3W 15B 20
1.01.01.02.02.0
13Cameron TroyW 1B 18W 26B 23
0.00.01.02.02.0
14Vinayak VikramB 7W 23B 24W 22
0.00.01.02.02.0
15Michael FineW 6B 10B 12W 4
1.01.02.02.02.0
16Di LinW 17B 24W 11B 8
0.01.01.51.51.5
17Sam BB 16W 8—-—-
1.01.5U1.5U1.51.5
18Brian ChenB 5W 13W 6B 21
0.01.01.01.51.5
19Lucas Charrette—-—-W 21B 26
U0.0U0.00.51.51.5
20Michael SherrardW 2B 27B 4W 12
0.01.01.01.01.0
21Asher SekharB 8W 25B 19W 18
0.00.00.51.01.0
22Alfred DavisW 3B 6W 27B 14
0.00.01.01.01.0
23Carolyn TravisW 10B 14B 5W 13
0.01.01.01.01.0
24Lucian LiuB 4W 16W 14B 27
0.00.00.01.01.0
25Sean LangleyW 11B 21—-—-
0.01.0U1.0U1.01.0
26Allen Liu—-byeB 13W 19
U0.00.50.50.50.5
27Arjun ThathooB 12W 20B 22W 24
0.00.00.00.00.0
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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

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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
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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
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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

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Impromptu Blitz #32 Results

We enjoyed another full house at the club last Thursday, with 30 people participating in our free, unrated G/3+2 blitz tournament and with several first-time visitors to boot. Yash Shah proved his blitz mettle once again with 6.5 points out of 7 for clear first, followed a half point behind by Zelin Fang in sole second, while three others tied for third with five points: Alex Chin, Pranav Jindal and Venugopal Mani. Full results are in the attached image, congratulations to our winners and thank you to everyone who joined us for this event!

Regarding our rated quads which begin this week, many people let me know that there is no school in some local districts the week of February 17-21, with many players (parents and/or kids) being out of town on the 20th, so I have rescheduled the quads to occur on February 13th, February 27th and March 6th, with the week of the 20th being another casual night with a lecture and informal blitz tournament. If you wish to play in our quads please register asap on the website: https://menloparkchess.club/event/february-double-round-quick-rated-quads-round-one/.

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Impromptu Blitz #31 Results

I’m finally getting round to posting the results from last week’s impromptu G/5;d5 blitz tournament, which saw a return to action for Adithya Karavadi, the club’s first champion. Welcome back, Adithya, and congratulations on your perfect 5/5 score in this event. Following Adithya by a single point in a 3-way tie for second were three club stalwarts who frequent the top of our wall charts: Yash Shah, Adam Ferrell and Cesar Tamondong. Well played, all of you, and thank you to everyone who joined us for this tournament (full results are in the attached image).


We’ll hold another casual evening tonight with a lecture beginning at 6:30pm followed by another free, unrated blitz tournament round 7pm. Note that we only have about 10 registrations for our rated quads beginning next week so unless that number picks up considerably we may postpone or cancel the event (the start date doesn’t work for some people, regrettably): https://menloparkchess.club/event/february-double-round-quick-rated-quads-round-one/. Regards,

Mark Drury

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Impromptu Blitz #30 Results

I am belatedly posting the results from our 7-round G/3+2 blitz tournament of last week, which saw several of the first-time visitors from the previous week return for another chance at glory and/or revenge. Alex Chin ended up alone in first place with a perfect 7/7, with Hayden Brongersma in sole second a point behind and Pranav Jindal and Josen Kalra sharing T-3 with 5 points. Congratulations to our winners and thank you to everyone who joined us last week!

Apparently, and somewhat humorously, a couple people tried to let me know last Thursday that a first-time visitor was engaging in a running monologue during his games and I thought they were implicating another new person with whom I was playing a casual game. In any case, apologies I didn’t get the message and didn’t hear the person in question but I’ll be certain to keep an eye and an ear out for this behavior Thursday, when we’ll play another free, unrated Swiss of some kind.

Lastly, I will share the details for our next rated event tomorrow or Thursday at the latest, but expect it to be a quick-rated tournament beginning on February 13th. More to come soon!

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Impromptu Blitz #29 Results

We had 32 people participate in our free lecture and unrated blitz tournament last week, per the attached results image, including 10 or 12 first-time visitors to the club, which must be a record (there were clearly some play-over-the-board-chess New Year’s resolutions to thank for the big turnout). Congratulations to Triet, Hayden and Raaja on their first-place tie at 5 out of 6 and to Breakwell for his solo fourth performance at 4.5, another excellent showing ahead of a raft of strong players at 4 points! We’ll do the same thing this Thursday (lecture and blitz tournament) and I’ll send more information soon about our upcoming rated event in February.

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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