Last Week’s Results & Upcoming Meetings

Yet another late update for the previous week: we enjoyed an excellent lecture from Frisco Del Rosario then assayed a longer time control in our first impromptu slightly-longer-than-blitz event, a G/7;d2 affair with 18 people joining the fray, and with yours truly being treated most shamefully over the board, it must be said. Andy Applebaum once again claimed first with a perfect 4-0, while Pranav Jindal, Adam Ferrell and Venugopal Mani tied for second a full point behind (3-0); full results for this event are in the attached image. People appeared to approve of the time control but the general thinking is that G/5 or less with some small delay affords more rounds and less waiting between rounds, so we’ll likely return to the faster time controls for our impromptu tournaments.

Frisco will give another lecture this Thursday evening beginning at 6:30pm sharp then we’ll play another free, unrated blitz event beginning shortly after 7pm. As a reminder, there will be no club meeting July 4th, given it’s a national holiday and I believe the Arrillaga Center will be closed, and I will be out of town July 11th but Frisco offered to host the club that evening for a lecture, casual play and/or a thematic tournament. Thank you once again for all you are doing for the club, Frisco!

Unrated Quick & Impromptu Blitz #18 Tournament Results

Just a quick note to share the results from our previous two informal tournaments, with the unrated quick event taking place on the 6th (congratulations to Andy Applebaum, Breakwell Loyalka, and Austin Chen for meting out perfect scores in their respective sections) and our impromptu blitz #18 occurring last week, with first-time visitor Ashwin Hebbar claiming sole first ahead of a stacked if smaller field (four masters and several near-masters), while Adam Ferrell sat alone in second, enjoying his best showing yet in one of these blitz affairs. We’ll hold another imformal blitz tournament tomorrow evening and the first couple people to arrive at the club will choose the time control. In other news, Olivia Smith ran away with the most recent Tuesday Night Marathon at the Mechanics Institute, landing 1.5 points clear of second-place finisher IM Elliot Winslow. Great result, Olivia! The full results and all the games may be found via the following links:

https://www.milibrary.org/chess-tournaments/2024-summer-tuesday-night-marathon#standings

https://www.chess.com/events/2024-summer-tuesday-night-marathon

I hope to see many of you at the club tomorrow evening and, as always, please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Mark Drury

Impromptu Blitz #17 Results

Twenty-six worthies competed in our Impromptu Blitz #17 last Thursday, including two first-time visitors and one returning member (great to see you again, Nicholas!). When all five rounds of G/5;d2 action were said and done Andy Applebaum and Frisco Del Rosario unsurprisingly shared equal first at 4.5 points—well done to both players! It is passing strange how Frisco rails against blitz on occasion (to be fair, in a learning context) yet never manages worse than first place in these events. Hayden Brongersma nabbed sole third with 4.0, another excellent result and clearly a harbinger of first place finishes to come. Full results are in the attached image, thank you to everyone who participated in this tournament and our next impromptu blitz will occur June 27th, per the club schedule found here: https://menloparkchess.club/events/.

Speaking of the schedule, please register in advance for the free, unrated A4c Variant tournament if you plan to play this Thursday—details and a registration link are here: https://menloparkchess.club/event/a4c-variant-tournament-2/.

And beginning June 6th we will commence another double-round quick-rated event of three rounds/weeks in sections of 4, 6 or 8 players, depending upon ratings distributions. Two games against the same opponent will be played each evening, one as white and one as black using the G/15;d5 time control. There is a $10 entry fee for this US Chess-rated event and the entire amount will be returned in the prize fund. More details and a registration link may be found here: https://menloparkchess.club/event/june-double-round-quick-rated-quads-round-1/.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions and I hope to see you at the A4c variant tournament this Thursday!

Impromptu Blitz #16 Results

We enjoyed another excellent turnout for our Impromptu Blitz #16 Thursday, with some very strong players gracing our ranks and with Frisco Del Rosario, our reluctant blitz champion, once again claiming first place, this time in a tie with young Liam Liu at 4.5 out of 5 points. Pranav Jindal and Triet Vo tied for second at 4 points while Hayden Brongersma had another strong showing in sole 5th at 3.5. Thank you to everyone who joined us for this fun event!

We’ll hold another free blitz tournament this coming Thursday, May 23rd, likely with the same G/5;d2 time control, and the following week we’ll take our second foray into A4c chess with a tournament of three or four rounds. More information about that event and about the variant plus a registration link may be found here:

More information and a registration link for our second A4c Variant Tournament

Please register ahead of time if you plan to play in this event, which typically helps us start closer to 7pm on tournament night. I hope to see many of you this Thursday and next! Regards,

Mark Drury

Impromptu Blitz #14 Results

Twenty-three people participated in our Impromptu Blitz #14 tournament this past Thursday, a G/5;d2 affair which included four first-time visitors to the club—thank you again to Simon Rubinstein-Salzedo, Vin Armelin, Matt Kmiecik and Matt Mascioli for joining us in this event!

For perhaps the first time in one of our casual blitz tournaments we had a four-way tie for first at four out of five points, with Gabe, Kunal, Simon and Josen sharing top honors, while a raft of others tied for second at three points (juniors Max and Chase among them). We’ll hold another casual evening and blitz tournament this coming Thursday then may have a week or two of variant tournaments before beginning our next rated event.

As always, please let me know if there’s anything specific you’d like to see happen at the club (chess-related, preferably) and we’ll try to make it happen. Regards,

Mark Drury

April Petite Swiss Final Results

Our three-round April Petite Swiss wrapped up last night with some very exciting games deciding first through third places in each section, as well as some interesting games which didn’t factor into the prizes, including my effort against Frisco Del Rosario wherein my already-shaky position crumbled dramatically in serious time trouble (I haven’t yet had time to analyze the game, Frisco, but am wondering if f6 instead of the more cavalier f5 might have prolonged things).

The full results are included in the attached image and of special note is the performance of Josen Kalra, who gained 80 and 121 points in his Regular and Quick ratings, respectively, with his tie for first in section one. The tournament has already been rated by US Chess—if you spot any errors please let me know and I will correct them immediately.

The winners and their earnings are given below—thank you to everyone who played in this event and we’ll hold another rated tournament beginning in late May or early June. Regards,

Mark Drury

Secton One:
1-3: Alexander Su, $33.33
1-3: Wentao Wu, $33.33
1-3: Josen Kalra, $33.33

Section Two:
1: Hayden Brongersma, $40
2: Banks Bennion, $25
3-4: Samuel Agdamag, $7.50
3-4: Amogh Rao, $7.50

Section Three:
1: Thomas Gerber, $50
2: Charles Mayville, $30
3-5: Jeffrey Ungar, $7
3-5: Andrew Yu, $7
3-5: Shlok Chowdhury, $7

April Petite Swiss Round Two Results

Below are the round two results and round three pairings for our dual-rated G45;d5 Swiss in three sections. The third and final round will begin promptly at 7pm Thursday, April 25th, so please try to arrive at the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center by 6:50pm if at all possible. More details about this tournament may be found on the event page.

Section One

#Name/Rating/IDRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Total
1Kathan ShuklaB 9W 7B 3
1907 158086011.02.02.0
2Alexander SuB 8W 3B 4
1999 128573291.01.51.5
3Wentao WuW 6B 2W 1
1935 166297821.01.51.5
4Tobin BennionB 10byeW 2
1770 126795731.01.51.5
5Josen KalraB 7W 9B 6
1600 126152100.51.51.5
6Taewoo KimB 3W 10W 5
1692 306225090.01.01.0
7Frisco Del RosarioW 5B 1W 8
1900 109877920.50.50.5
8Mark DruryW 2byeB 7
1734 124593130.00.50.5
9Cesar TamondongW 1B 5W 10
1610 124390910.00.00.0
10David ZhaoW 4B 6B 9
1543 147937840.00.00.0

Section Two

#Name/Rating/IDRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Total
1Samuel AgdamagB 7W 4B 2
1458 148747341.02.02.0
2Hayden BrongersmaB 5W 7W 1
1118 312404411.02.02.0
3Banks BennionB 6byeW 4
1351 301756461.01.51.5
4Leia LinW 8B 1B 3
1453 171108281.01.01.0
5Kornel CsernaiW 2B 8W 6
1265 305943800.01.01.0
6Amogh RaoW 3byeB 5
1166p 309493410.01.01.0
7Atul DhingraW 1B 2bye
1204p 312363220.00.00.0
8Hugo PuB 4W 5bye
1177 310938600.00.00.0

Section Three

#Name/Rating/IDRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Total
1Jeffrey UngarB 6W 4B 2
1063p 163967431.02.02.0
2Thomas GerberW 7B 5W 1
1061p 316475051.02.02.0
3Charles MayvilleB 10byeW 5
1012p 316403661.01.51.5
4Brian ChenW 9B 1W 7
839p 315837531.01.01.0
5Austin ChenB 8W 2B 3
820 312932491.01.01.0
6Andrew YuW 1B 9W 8
718 313640870.01.01.0
7Shlok ChowdhuryB 2W 10B 4
566 306279950.01.01.0
8Neeraj RaoW 5byeB 6
1066 307892960.00.50.5
9Maxime GerberB 4W 6B 10
339p 316475540.00.00.0
10Victor ChenW 3B 7W 9
265 307608480.00.00.0

April Petite Swiss Round One Pairings

Below are the round one pairings for our dual-rated G45;d5 Swiss in three sections. The first round begins promptly at 7pm this Thursday, April 4th, so please try to arrive at the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center by 6:50pm if at all possible. More details about this tournament may be found on the event page.

SECTION ONE

#Name/Rating/IDRd 1Total
1Alexander SuB 6
1999 128573290.0
2Wentao WuW 7
1935 166297820.0
3Kathan ShuklaB 8
1907 158086010.0
4Frisco Del RosarioW 9
1900 109877920.0
5Tobin BennionB 10
1770 126795730.0
6Mark DruryW 1
1734 124593130.0
7Taewoo KimB 2
1692 306225090.0
8Cesar TamondongW 3
1610 124390910.0
9Josen KalraB 4
1600 126152100.0
10David ZhaoW 5
1543 147937840.0

SECTION TWO

#Name/Rating/IDRd 1Total
1Samuel AgdamagB 5
1458 148747340.0
2Leia LinW 6
1453 171108280.0
3Banks BennionB 7
1351 301756460.0
4Kornel CsernaiW 8
1265 305943800.0
5Atul DhingraW 1
1204p 312363220.0
6Hugo PuB 2
1177 310938600.0
7Amogh RaoW 3
1166p 309493410.0
8Hayden BrongersmaB 4
1118 312404410.0

SECTION THREE

#Name/Rating/IDRd 1Total
1Neeraj RaoW 6
1066 307892960.0
2Jeffrey UngarB 7
1063p 163967430.0
3Thomas GerberW 8
1061p 316475050.0
4Charles MayvilleB 10
1012p 316403660.0
5Brian ChenW 9
839p 315837530.0
6Austin ChenB 1
820 312932490.0
7Andrew YuW 2
718 313640870.0
8Shlok ChowdhuryB 3
566 306279950.0
9Maxime GerberB 5
339p 316475540.0
10Victor ChenW 4
265 307608480.0

Impromptu Blitz #13 Results

Twenty-five people played in our impromptu blitz tournament this past Thursday, a G/5+2 affair of five rounds and the slightly longer time control helped to shake up the results in yet another strong field. Gabriel Sanchez took sole first with 4.5 points while Liam Liu and David Zhao shared second at 4, ahead of some very strong master- and expert-level competition. Kunal Modi grabbed sole fourth at 3.5, leaving a raft of players to share fifth with 3 points.

Of particular note, chess expert, author, journalist and friend Frisco Del Rosario was able to visit the club for the first time and it was great to see and play a game with him—hopefully you will join us again soon, Frisco! Full results are in the table below and thank you to everyone who played in this event.

As a reminder, we’ll begin a US Chess dual-rated Swiss-system event over three weeks beginning this Thursday, April 4th, and concluding April 25th (there will be no chess club meeting April 18th). Players will be divided into groups of 6 or 8 based on rating and will play one game at G/45;d5 each week. A few spots remain for this event and more information and a registration link may be found here. As always, please register early if you plan to play in this event.

#PlayerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Total
1Gabriel SanchezW 3B 2W 5B 4W 7
1.02.03.03.54.54.5
2Liam LiuB 22W 1W 15B 12W 4
1.01.02.03.04.04.0
3David ZhaoB 1W 21B 22W 17B 11
0.01.02.03.04.04.0
4Kunal ModiW 12B 8W 6W 1B 2
1.02.03.03.53.53.5
5Andy ApplebaumB 11W 16B 1W 7B 6
1.02.02.02.53.03.0
6Pranav JindalB 14W 13B 4W 15W 5
1.01.51.52.53.03.0
7Frisco Del RosarioW 17B 9W 13B 5B 1
1.01.52.53.03.03.0
8Hayden BrongersmaB 20W 4B 11W 22B 13
1.01.01.02.03.03.0
9Mark DruryB 23W 7byebyebye
1.01.52.02.53.03.0
10Renzo FrigatoW 24B 15W 17B 18W 19
1.01.01.02.03.03.0
11Rohan KapreW 5B 18W 8B 19W 3
0.01.02.03.03.03.0
12Josen KalraB 4W 20B 16W 2B 17
0.01.02.02.03.03.0
13Cesar TamondongW 19B 6B 7W 16W 8
1.01.51.52.52.52.5
14Max CheungW 6B 19W 25B 20B 21
0.00.01.01.52.52.5
15Hugo PubyeW 10B 2B 6W 20
0.51.51.51.52.52.5
16Evan SobelW 18B 5W 12B 13W 24
1.01.01.01.02.02.0
17Austin ChenB 7W 23B 10B 3W 12
0.01.02.02.02.02.0
18Brian ChenB 16W 11B 23W 10B 22
0.00.01.01.02.02.0
19Shlok ChowdhuryB 13W 14B 21W 11B 10
0.01.02.02.02.02.0
20Joey LoW 8B 12W 24W 14B 15
0.00.01.01.51.51.5
21Victor ChenbyeB 3W 19B 25W 14
0.50.50.51.51.51.5
22George PurtellW 2B 24W 3B 8W 18
0.01.01.01.01.01.0
23Bud WollW 9B 17W 18B 24W 25
0.00.00.00.01.01.0
24Wendy GuB 10W 22B 20W 23B 16
0.00.00.01.01.01.0
25Malcolm Willigbye—-B 14W 21B 23
0.5U0.50.50.50.50.5

Impromptu Blitz #12 Results

Just as with the week before, twenty-one people played in our impromptu blitz tournament this past Thursday, another G/3+2 affair of five rounds and, as with the week before, Pranav Jindal claimed sole first with 4.5 points, the lone draw ceded to young Liam Liu. Three others tied for second in this battle of blitz heavyweights, with Andy Applebaum, Kunal Modi and Cesar Tamondong all securing 4 points (I don’t know that Cesar has ever scored less than 4 points in similar events)—well played, all of you! Full results are in the table below and thank you to everyone who joined us for this event.

We’ll hold one more casual evening this week, with another free blitz tournament beginning at 7pm, then will commence a US Chess dual-rated Swiss-system event over three weeks beginning Thursday, April 4th, and concluding April 25th (there will be no chess club meeting April 18th). Players will be divided into groups of 6 or 8 based on rating and will play one game at G/45;d5 each week. A few spots remain for this event and more information and a registration link may be found here.

Please let me know if you have any questions and I hope to see many of you at the club this Thursday!

#PlayerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Total
1Pranav JindalB 15W 5W 10B 6B 3
1.01.52.53.54.54.5
2Andy ApplebaumB 13W 12B 6W 3B 5
1.02.03.03.04.04.0
3Kunal ModiW 14B 7W 4B 2W 1
1.02.03.04.04.04.0
4Cesar TamondongW 20B 11B 3W 15B 9
1.02.02.03.04.04.0
5Liam LiuW 9B 1B 12W 8W 2
1.01.52.53.53.53.5
6Alex ChinW 16B 8W 2W 1B 14
1.02.02.02.03.03.0
7Richard WangB 19W 3B 15W 18B 17
1.01.01.02.03.03.0
8Hayden BrongersmaB 21W 6B 16B 5W 12
1.01.02.02.03.03.0
9Hugo PuB 5W 13B 19B 14W 4
0.01.02.03.03.03.0
10Mark DruryW 17byeB 1byebye
1.01.51.52.02.52.5
11Max CheungbyeW 4—-W 19B 15
0.50.5U0.51.52.52.5
12Jason CruzB 18B 2W 5W 16B 8
1.01.01.02.02.02.0
13Samuel AgdamagW 2B 9W 21B 17W 18
0.00.01.01.02.02.0
14Kornel CsernaiB 3W 19B 18W 9W 6
0.01.02.02.02.02.0
15Jeff McGinnisW 1B 17W 7B 4W 11
0.01.02.02.02.02.0
16Austin ChenB 6W 21W 8B 12W 20
0.01.01.01.02.02.0
17Joey LoB 10W 15B 20W 13W 7
0.00.01.02.02.02.0
18Beata Ang-DuttaW 12B 20W 14B 7B 13
0.01.01.01.01.01.0
19Brian ChenW 7B 14W 9B 11W 21
0.00.00.00.01.01.0
20Maybelline HinloB 4W 18W 17B 21B 16
0.00.00.01.01.01.0
21Gautam DuttaW 8B 16B 13W 20B 19
0.00.00.00.00.00.0