There will be no chess club meeting September 3rd but we will meet September 10th, when our rated Copa del Menlo tournament begins (see the Events page to register now).

Tag: blitz

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Impromptu Blitz #74 & #75 Results

Attached are the wall charts for our Impromptu Blitz tournaments of the past two weeks, with 22 and 28 players participating, respectively. #74 saw Pranav Jindal and Austin Chen tie for first with 6.0 points out of 7, while Sam Bekker and Carlos Jerez tied for third at 5.0 and, as ever, there followed a raft of strong players left gnashing their teeth at 4.0, still a respectable score in this crowd. #75 saw the return of Vedant Verma, a talented junior player who seems markedly stronger every time he visits the club. Vedant cruised to a 6.5-point first place finish, a full point ahead of second place finishers—you guessed it—Pranav Jindal, Austin Chen and Sam Bekker at 5.5, while visiting Chicagoan Max Newman managed sole fifth place at 5.0 (Max and I played an interesting game in round two which left me gnashing my teeth). Thank you to everyone who joined us for these tournaments, congratulations to our winners and we’ll do much the same next week, October 29th.

Registrations are now open for our annual club championship which begins November 5th. This is a five-round, dual-rated G/45;d5 event, one game per evening over five weeks, with a break for Thanksgiving November 26th. One bye is available for the event in any round save the last and we’ll be using Chess67 to run this tournament, so you’ll need to create an account thereon to register: https://chess67.com/club/menlo-park-chess-club/tournaments/fifth-menlo-park-chess-club-championship-20261105. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments and I hope to see you at the club soon. Regards,

Mark Drury

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Impromptu Blitz #73 Results

Just a quick note to let everyone know we had a good turnout for last week’s Impromptu Blitz #73, with 23 players partaking of seven rounds of free, unrated G/3+2 chess. When the seventh round was done and dead Alexander Su and Hugo Pu sat atop the wall chart with 6.0 points out of seven, and it should be noted that Hugo’s regular US Chess rating is almost 2000 now, so he’ll likely be a candidate master soon. One point behind Alex and Hugo in a tie for third were Austin Chen and Sam Bekker with 5.0 points, followed by a slew of strong players at 4.0. Full results are in the attached image and thank you to everyone who joined us for this event.

We’ll do much the same thing tonight — another free, unrated blitz tournament beginning at 7pm with the same G/3+2 time control. I also have all the details set for our club championship beginning November 5th and I’ll send more information about that tournament this weekend. Regards,

Mark Drury

Casual Evening with Lecture and Blitz Tournament

Our regular weekly club meeting occurs Thursday evenings from 6:00-9:00pm in the Oak or Elm Room of the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center. Casual, blitz 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 free weekly lecture begins at 6:30pm and it remains one of the highlights of club attendance.

Casual Evening with Lecture and Blitz Tournament

Our regular weekly club meeting occurs Thursday evenings from 6:00-9:00pm in the Oak or Elm Room of the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center. Casual, blitz 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 free weekly lecture begins at 6:30pm and it remains one of the highlights of club attendance.

Casual Evening with Lecture and Blitz Tournament

Our regular weekly club meeting occurs Thursday evenings from 6:00-9:00pm in the Oak or Elm Room of the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center. Casual, blitz 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 free weekly lecture begins at 6:30pm and it remains one of the highlights of club attendance.

Casual Evening with Lecture and Blitz Tournament

Our regular weekly club meeting occurs Thursday evenings from 6:00-9:00pm in the Oak or Elm Room of the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center. Casual, blitz 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 free weekly lecture begins at 6:30pm and it remains one of the highlights of club attendance.

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Impromptu Blitz #72 Results

Well, after Frisco’s excellent lecture last week we were supposed to hold a bughouse tournament, which may go some way to explaining the smaller turnout of 23 players seen Thursday, but our bughouse fanatics didn’t show so we opted instead for yet another impromptu blitz event with seven rounds of G/3+2 chess, the clear preference of those in attendance. After the conclusion of the dramatic seventh round, when no fewer than eight players had some chance of nabbing a possible tie for first, Lauren Goodkind claimed her first victory in this blitz series with 5.5 points, a half point ahead of Carlos Jerez, Hugo Pu and Jeff McGinnis (who also enjoyed his best finish to date). The three strong players tied for 5th place at 4.5 points give some idea how hard-fought this tournament was and make Lauren’s performance all the more impressive. Full results are in the attached wall chart, thank you to everyone who joined us for this fun, free event and I’ll update the club’s blitz points standings and club blitz ratings in another day or two.

Please note that the club will not meet this week per the listing on our Events page but we will begin our three-week Copa del Menlo rated tournament the following Thursday, September 10th. If you wish to play in that event please register asap via the following link (you only need register for the first round/week):

https://menloparkchess.club/event/copa-del-menlo-round-one/

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or comments and I hope to see many of you on September 10th. Regards,

Mark Drury

Lecture & Casual Chess Evening

This week we will have a lecture beginning at 6:30pm followed by casual play for the remainder of the evening, given Mark is out of town and cannot host a blitz tournament or the like. Please bring your own clocks if you would like to play timed games — boards and sets will be provided, as always.

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Queen’s Gambit Thematic #1 Results

We enjoyed another good crowd for our Queen’s Gambit Thematic #1 last week, with forty people taking part in six rounds of 1. d4 d5 2. c4 action using the faster G/3+2 time control. After the final c-pawn was pushed some familiar names stood atop the wall chart, with Austin Chen, Pranav Jindal and Carlos Jerez sharing first place at 5.0 points. Sam Bekker and Yoyo He tied for 4th at 4.5, leaving a long list of strong players at 4.0 to wonder what might have been. This was a fun event and I think the majority of participants preferred the faster G/3+2 time control. Full results are in the attached image and thank you to everyone who joined us for this thematic tournament.

Note that this week Frisco Del Rosario, Brian Chen and Jeff McGinnis will be hosting the club in my absence and there will be a lecture followed by casual play, so bring your clock if you wish to play timed games. The following week we may hold a bughouse tournament for those interested and will offer casual play for those who are not—I hope to see many of you then. Regards,

Mark Drury

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King’s Gambit Thematic #1 Results

Twenty-six people joined our King’s Gambit Thematic #1 last week and my casual observations saw most people accept the proffered pawn, leading to some honest, fighting chess which would have made Frisco proud, I think (Frisco’s lecture earlier that evening covered the King’s Gambit). After five rounds of G/6;d2 gambiteering, then, newcomer Sean Zhang stood alone atop the wall chart with 4.5 points, and that success without any avowed familiarity with or preference for the opening. David Flores, Hayden Brongersma and Austin Chen tied for second with 4.0 points while Yoyo He managed sole fifth at 3.5. Full results are in the attached image and thank you to everyone who who joined us for this foray into 19th-century chess.

One bit of feedback I received from many in attendance is that they would prefer a casual evening with lecture and blitz event rather than another thematic tournament this week, so I updated our Events page to reflect that change (we’ll hold another seven-round G/3+2 blitz tournament after the lecture this week). As always, please let me know if you have any suggestions or preferences for chess activities and I hope to see many of you at the club this week. Regards,

Mark Drury