Tag: blitz

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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!

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 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

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.

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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

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Impromptu Blitz #15 Results

I meant to share the results from our previous impromptu blitz tournament sooner but had a very busy week this past—apologies for the delay. Per the wall chart below, Frisco Del Rosario enjoyed a perfect 5-0 score last Thursday, despite his open disdain for these faster time controls, while junior Hayden Brongersma managed sole second ahead of some stiff competition at 4-1 and David Zhao was alone in third with 3.5 points. Thank you to everyone who joined us for this tournament, as always!

Before last week’s tournament began Frisco gave a lecture on a Capablanca game from early in his career, one which ended with a number of sacrifices and a beautiful double-check mate. If you missed that lecture try to be at the club this evening round 6:30pm, when Frisco will review another Capa masterpiece—his justly famed rook ending against Tartakower from New York, 1924.

After Frisco’s lecture we’ll hold another G/5;d2 blitz tournament beginning round 7pm—I hope to see many of you this evening!

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 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, Bughouse, 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 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, Bughouse, 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 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.

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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

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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