Menlo Park Chess Club

Casual, Blitz, Lecture, Ladder Chess Evening
2024-09-19 18:00 - 21:00, 2024-09-26 18:00 - 21:00, 2024-10-03 18:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Arrillaga Family Recreation Center, 700 Alma Street, Menlo Park, CA, 94025, United States
Our regular weekly club meeting occurs Thursday evenings from 6:00-9:00pm in the Oak Room of the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center. Casual, blitz, bughouse and ladder chess games as well as a possible lecture are in the offing and we will also play another impromptu blitz tournament beginning at 7pm (free, no prizes), given there appears to be a strong appetite for same.

Casual, Blitz, Lecture, Ladder Chess Evening
2024-10-10 18:00 - 21:00, 2025-01-16 18:00 - 21:00
Our regular weekly club meeting occurs Thursday evenings from 6:00-9:00pm in the Oak Room of the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center. Casual, blitz, bughouse and ladder chess games as well as a possible lecture are in the offing and we will also play another impromptu blitz tournament beginning at 7pm (free, no prizes), given there appears to be an appetite for same.

Casual, Blitz, Lecture, Ladder Chess Evening
2025-01-23 18:00 - 21:00, 2025-01-30 18:00 - 21:00
Our regular weekly club meeting occurs Thursday evenings from 6:00-9:00pm in the Oak Room of the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center. Casual, blitz, bughouse and ladder chess games as well as a lecture are in the offing and we will also play another free, unrated blitz tournament beginning round 7pm, given there appears to be a continuing appetite for same.

Casual, Blitz, Lecture, Ladder Chess Evening
2025-02-06 18:00 - 21:00, 2025-02-20 18:00 - 21:00, 2025-03-13 18:00 - 21:00, 2025-03-27 18:00 - 21:00, 2025-04-03 18:00 - 21:00, 2025-04-10 18:00 - 21:00, 2025-04-17 18:00 - 21:00, 2025-04-24 18:00 - 21:00 and 13 more dates
Our regular weekly club meeting occurs Thursday evenings from 6:00-9:00pm in the Oak Room of the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center. Casual, blitz, bughouse and ladder chess games as well as a lecture are in the offing and we will also play another free, unrated blitz tournament beginning round 7pm, given there appears to be a continuing appetite for same. Note that our weekly lecture begins at 6:30pm and it remains one of the highlights of club attendance.

Freestyle Chess (Chess960) Draft Tournament
2025-03-20 19:00 - 20:30
A number of people have requested that we revisit Chess960 or, as it’s now styled, Freestyle Chess in another casual tournament so that’s exactly what we’ll do in this event, again using a piece placement draft with the following format and rules:

There will likely be 4 or 5 Swiss rounds at G/5;d3 in one or two sections
Registration will occur onsite–please try to arrive by 6:45pm
The games will be played with the normal Freestyle/Chess960 rules except for the use of a draft, wherein white starts black’s clock then black places the first piece on the back rank and starts white’s clock, white copies that move then places another piece of their own, black copies that placement then places a third piece, etc., until black places a final piece and white makes the first chess move of the game
It’s important to note that the draft phase covered above occurs while players’ clocks are running, just as in normal moves for the game
The king must be placed between the two rooks as in normal Freestyle/Chess960
More information about castling may be found in chess.com tutorials here and here
The bishops must be placed on opposite-colored squares
We will use clock move rather than touch move, as in our blitz tournaments
An illegal move pointed out by an opponent (no one else) immediately ends the game as a loss for the player who made the illegal move

Freestyle Chess (Chess960) Draft Tournament
2025-09-11 18:00 - 21:00
A number of people have requested that we revisit Chess960 or, as it’s now styled, Freestyle Chess in another casual tournament so that’s exactly what we’ll do in this event, again using a piece placement draft with the following format and rules:

There will likely be 5 or 6 Swiss rounds at G/5;d3 in one or two sections
Registration will occur onsite–please try to arrive by 6:45pm
The games will be played with the normal Freestyle/Chess960 rules except for the use of a draft, wherein white starts black’s clock then black places the first piece on the back rank and starts white’s clock, white copies that move then places another piece of their own, black copies that placement then places a third piece, etc., until black places a final piece and white makes the first chess move of the game
It’s important to note that the draft phase covered above occurs while players’ clocks are running, just as in normal moves for the game
The king must be placed between the two rooks as in normal Freestyle/Chess960
More information about castling may be found in chess.com tutorials here and here
The bishops must be placed on opposite-colored squares
We will use clock move rather than touch move, as in our casual blitz tournaments
An illegal move pointed out by an opponent (no one else) immediately ends the game as a loss for the player who made the illegal move
