Impromptu Blitz #46 Results

We enjoyed another good turnout for last night’s lecture (thanks, Frisco!) and G/5+0 blitz tournament of six rounds and, suffice to say, many of us floundered without the benefit of a delay or increment (though most seemed to like the time control). After six long rounds, then, Hayden Brongersma and Alex Chin stood alone atop the wall chart, the lone “blemish” in either’s score a shared draw in round 4. Sanat Singhal took sole third with 4.5 points and clipped me on the way to that score in an interesting From’s Gambit, one which could have gone either way. It was also great to see Alaric Stein again last night, who shared fourth with Pranav, Cameron and Alex. Full results are in the attached image and thank you to everyone who joined us for this event.

Note that the club will NOT meet next week, August 28th, given the Arrillaga Center will be closed then, but we will hold another casual evening with a lecture and blitz tournament the following week, September 4th. We will also postpone our quick-rated event to later in September or early October and will instead run a number of variant tournaments next month–more details about that will be shared soon. Regards,

Mark Drury

Impromptu Blitz #45 Results

Last week saw considerable appetite—demand, even—among those assembled at the club for no fewer than eight rounds of G/3+2 blitz after Frisco’s excellent lecture, something we were able to accommodate with just enough time to spare to meet our 9pm closing deadline (which I’m still trying to extend, incidentally). We again had several first-time visitors to the club, one of whom, Zachary Rhinehart, proved his mettle with a hard-fought first place finish at 7.0 out of 8 points.

Remarkably, young Cameron Troy, who is clearly getting stronger each and every week, took sole second with 6.5 points, and that after an epic final-round battle with fellow junior player Austin Chen, who tied for fourth with four other strong players at 5.0. Pranav Jindal was sole third at 5.5 points (he and I both fell to Cameron in this event). I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: watching our many strong junior players improve week after week is one of the most rewarding aspects of the club for me and I look forward to seeing their continued improvement as they play with our club or elsewhere. Full results are in the attached image and thank you to everyone who participated in the tournament.

Tonight will be another casual evening at the club with a lecture beginning at 6:30pm followed by a G/5+0 blitz tournament round 7pm—I hope to see many of you there! Regards,

Mark Drury

Impromptu Blitz #44 Results

I’m finally getting round to sharing the results from last week’s 7-round, G/3;d3 blitz tournament, one which featured a number of upsets and dramatic time scrambles, not least of which was Josen Kalra’s scintillating effort against Pranav Jindal in round 4, though Pranav recovered nicely to win the event with 6 out of 7 points. Josen and perennial wall-chart-topper Hayden Brongersma tied for second at 5 points while Yash Shah and Austin Chen split 4th place with 4.5 points. For my part, my angry Bird’s Opening got the better of three strong junior players, players who normally have no trouble dispatching me in these blitz events, so I’m pondering retirement from competitive blitz play at the club while I’m ahead (the probability of my ever again besting the same three players in the same evening is very near zero, frankly). Congratulations to our winners, full results are in the attached image and thank you to everyone who joined us last week.

Tonight we’ll do pretty much the same, with a lecture beginning at 6:30pm followed by another free, unrated blitz tournament round 7pm, though we’ll opt for a different time control—much as people appear to like G/3;d3 it’s getting a little stale. I hope to see many of you at the club this evening! Regards,

Mark Drury

Casual, Blitz, Lecture, Ladder Chess Evening

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.

Casual, Blitz, Lecture, Ladder Chess Evening

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.

Casual, Blitz, Lecture, Ladder Chess Evening

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.

Impromptu Blitz #43 Results & August Quads Postponement

We had another good turnout at the club last week with several first-time visitors joining us for the lecture and free blitz tournament. After seven rounds of G/3;d3 schadenfreude Hayden Brongersma stood alone atop the wall chart with a perfect 7-0 score, followed a point behind by Pranav Jindal in sole second, while we dropped down to 4.5 points to pick up the four-way tie for third between Gabe Sanchez, Josen Kalra and juniors Austin Chen and Surya Raghav. Two other young players, Cameron Troy and Max Cheung, also had excellent results in this event, foretelling the inevitable changing of the chess guard, as it were. Full results are in the attached image and thank you to everyone who joined us for this fun, free tournament.

At present we have just eight people registered for our August quick-rated quads so I plan to postpone that event some number of weeks, perhaps into early  September (the 4th or 11th). We could proceed if we get 4-8 more registrations this week so I’ll make the final call tomorrow, Wednesday, and I apologize for the uncertainty round our schedule. Note that if we do proceed with the rated event we’ll also have a skittles room open for those who wish to play casual games or even a concurrent, unrated blitz event. As always, please let me know if you have any questions and I hope to see many of you at the club this week.

Mark Drury

Impromptu Blitz #42 Results & No Chess Meeting July 17th & 24th

We enjoyed a very large turnout at the club last night, with no fewer than 8-10 first-time visitors and almost as many more who were joining us for just the second or third time, and 38 people partook of seven rounds of G/3;d3 blitz as we spilled out of our normal playing room into the hall with two additional tables. Perennial blitz favorite Pranav Jindal returned after a short hiatus to share equal first at 6.0 points with first-time visitor Sanat Singhal, who appeared to be headed for a 7-0 sweep until he ran afoul of Hayden Brongersma’s knight fork in the waning seconds of their final-round game, a victory which elevated Hayden to sole third at 5.5 points. Four strong players, including juniors Austin Chen and Jiaming Zhao, tied for 4th place with 5.0 points, leaving a very large contingent to gnash their teeth at 4.0 points and below. I never seem to have the presence of mind to ask all the new visitors how they learned about the club but word is clearly getting out and it’s wonderful to see so many new faces at these casual events.

In other chess news, club stalwart Cesar Tamondong had a fantastic result over the July 4th weekend, winning sole first place with 5.5/6 in the U1700 Senior Reserve Section of the 27th Annual Sacramento Chess Club Championship. Well done, Cesar—you’ll be an A player again before long!

I also wanted to pass along one final reminder that I’ll be out of town the next two Thursdays, July 17th and 24th, and the chess club will not meet those evenings, regrettably. It turns out there are more than enough volunteers to cover for me while I am out of town so I think this will be the final time we cancel a club meeting due to my absence. Have a great couple weeks and I hope to see many of you at the club July 31st (for another casual evening and blitz tournament). Regards,

Mark Drury

Impromptu Blitz #41 Results & Summer Schedule

Twenty intrepid people, including five first-time visitors to the club, joined us this past Thursday for another excellent lecture followed by seven rounds of G/3;d3 blitz, which is fast becoming the favored (or least despised) time control at the club of late. Alex Su once again shared first place with 6.0 out of 7 points, though this time with relative newcomer Vishesh Agrawal, a strong blitz player who took third the previous week, while Adam Ferrell had another strong showing with sole third at 5.0, ahead of the usual dejected throng of 4.0 players. I was expecting a lighter turnout given we met on the eve of a national holiday but attendance was good and it was great to see so many new people at the club.

This coming Thursday we’ll do the same, with a lecture and free, unrated blitz tournament, then we’ll take the weeks of July 17th and July 24th off (I’ll be riding my bike across Iowa with the RAGBRAI horde). I’m including the tentative summer schedule below but always check https://menloparkchess.club/events/ for the latest event and tournament information:

Jul 10: Lecture & Free Blitz Tournament
Jul 17: No Chess Meeting
Jul 24: No Chess Meeting
Jul 31: Lecture & Free Blitz Tournament
Aug 07: Rounds 1-2, August Double-Round Quick-Rated Event
Aug 14: Rounds 3-4, August Double-Round Quick-Rated Event
Aug 21: Rounds 5-6, August Double-Round Quick-Rated Event
Aug 28: No Chess Meeting

Registration is now open for our August Double-Round Quick-Rated Quads & Small Swisses for those who are interested. Participation is limited to 32 players so please register early. Regards,

Mark Drury

Casual, Blitz, Lecture, Ladder Chess Evening

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.