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Surfeit of Blitz G/3+2 Results

Our Surfeit of Blitz G/3+2 event was contested last night with quite a few new people joining the fray, including FM-elect Shawnak Shivakumar, who went 5-0 to take sole first place and the $25 prize. Five people were one point back, including newcomer Badamkhand Norovsambuu, a strong expert-level player, and Ethan Mei, who took home the U17 $15 first prize and a commanding lead in the U17 marathon standings. Cameron Rampell and Sahil Shivakumar shared second U17 honors with excellent 3-2 scores (Shawnak is U17, as well, but no longer needs trifle with age group prizes).

The attached images give the full results for last night’s event as well as the current marathon standings. I pulled these together rather quickly late last night so please let me know if you see any errors. Given second-place ties in the Open and U17 groups, $25 and $10 will be added to the respective marathon prizes as follows:

Open: $45, $35, $30, $25, $15, $10, $5
Under-17: $20, $10, $10, $5

Next week is the final G/3+0 event of our Surfeit of Blitz Marathon and, given Alaric’s stated affinity for the time control, odds are he’ll share in the top prize (if not win it outright). But if we’re graced with a few more strong wildcards like Shawnak and Badamkhand the final result may be far less clear. Should be entertaining, regardless, and please register online asap if you plan to play next week.

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Surfeit of Blitz G/5+3 Results

Well, there is clearly demand for blitz at the club, at least for the “slower” G/5+3 time control used last night. Forty-one people turned out for the first installment of our Surfeit of Blitz Marathon, which is perhaps twenty-one more than we were expecting, and we filled both playing rooms plus had one board in our skittles room. It was great to have so many players join us and the fact that ~90% registered online before the event made things that much easier and smoother–thank you all for taking the few seconds to do that!

Per the wall chart below, Richard, Pranav and Sean tied for first place with perfect scores, while eight others were close behind with 3 points out of 4. Joshua Garrow took the Under-17 first prize ($15) with 3 points and Raajas Dixit took second ($10) with 2.5. Given there were no ties for prizes in the U17 division last night no prize money will roll over to the U17 marathon fund this week (the blue cells in the wall chart show juniors vying for marathon prizes).

The three-way tie for first in our Open division, however, means all $50 of last night’s prizes ($25, $15, $10) will be rolled into the marathon prize fund, as promised/hoped for. At present we have ten people vying for marathon prizes (gold cells in the wall chart), so at $5/person the initial marathon prizes would have been $25, $15 and $10, but with last night’s $50 infusion we now have $35, $25, $20, $15, $5 (somewhat arbitrary, I realize). I expect the same infusion to happen next week, given it’s another 4-round event.

Note that if you thought you entered the marathon and don’t see your name highlighted in gold or blue, below, please let me know. We will also give people one more opportunity to enter the marathon before the start of next week’s first round. Again, thank you all for playing last night and I hope you enjoyed the evening as much as I did!

— Mark Drury

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June Mini-Marathon Rating Reports

The US Chess rating reports for our June Mini-Marathon and now available via the following links:

Main Tournament
Extra Rated Games

Note that Pranav Jindal ended with a provisional 2255 rating based on the three games he played (all wins), so it will be interesting to see where his rating goes from there (he joked at the club Wednesday that he may retire from rated tournament play, undefeated, or some such).

We’d like to thank Jim Eade again for his excellent lecture and game review this past Wednesday. It is a sincere privilege to have someone with his experience, expertise and clear love for the game help foster our club in the way that he has and we appreciate all that you do for the broader chess community, Jim!

We’ve had quite a few people register for our free G/5+3 blitz tournament next week. If you haven’t already done so and wish to play in this event please sign up asap, as we may limit participation to ~32 players this time around (you can withdraw at any time if your plans change).

Please let us know if you have any questions about the tournament rating reports or the blitz tournament (info@menloparkchess.club) and we hope to see all of you at the club soon!

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June Mini-Marathon Final Standings

Our rated June Mini-Marathon wrapped up this past Wednesday with some very exciting games and a clear first place: Mikhail ended up with 3.5 points after a tough win over Shahin, while Ritam, Cesar and Pranav tied for second with 3.0 out of 4. Pranav was slated to play Mikhail in the final round but came down with the flu and was unable to join us, regrettably, though as some consolation his first provisional Regular rating is 2255 (based on 3 games).

Daniel and Ragav were our top juniors at 2.5 and Daniel had an excellent chance to join Mikhail with 3.5 points, but succumbed in time trouble in a wild game with Ritam. I’ll share all the games as Lichess studies soon (thank you again to those who sent me your digital scores), have submitted both the tournament and extra games for rating and would like to offer a hearty thanks to all of you who participated!

MPCC Surfeit of Blitz Marathon: 3+0

The Menlo Park Chess Club seeks to answer a simple question: How much blitz chess is too much? Over four consecutive Wednesday evenings in July we will hold four separate unrated blitz tournaments of ever-shortening time controls (5+3, 5+0, 3+2, 3+0), each with free entry and modest cash prizes. Where this event differs from most, however, is that players may optionally contribute $5 to an overall prize fund, to be awarded based on one’s performance through all four individual blitz tournaments (the marathon).

Every dollar contributed to the overall prize fund will be returned in marathon prizes. Additionally, any ties for cash prizes in the individual tournaments will see that money placed in the overall/marathon prize fund, to bolster existing and add new place prizes. For example, if two people score a perfect 4-0 to tie for first in the 3+0 event and one person takes sole third with 3.5-0.5, $40 will be added to the overall prize fund (the 1st-2nd tie, $25 + $15) while the person in 3rd place would take home $10 (see Prizes, below). If three or more people tie for first place then the entire $50 (1st-3rd prizes) will be added to the overall/marathon prize fund. The same applies to the under-17 prizes.

Note that each individual tournament is a standalone event and you may play in 1, 2, 3 or 4 of these tourneys as you please, with no obligation to chip in $5 unless you wish to take part in the marathon. Details follow:

  • Format: Four separate Swiss-system tournaments in one section over four consecutive Wednesday evenings
  • Dates: July 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th — games begin at 7:00pm
  • Control: July 6th, 5+3; July 13th, 5+0; July 20th, 3+2; July 27th, 3+0
  • Rounds (#): July 6th, 4; July 13th, 4; July 20th, 5; July 27th, 5
  • Entry Fee: $0 (MPCC will sponsor the prizes)
  • Prizes: Each event will offer 1st, $25; 2nd, $15; 3rd, $10; Under-17 1st, $15, 2nd, $10
  • Ties: If there is a tie for any cash prize the associated funds will be rolled into the overall purse mentioned above (yes, this is unusual but we think it may prove interesting and, given the entry fee is $0, there should be little complaint)
  • Byes: Zero-point byes available any round
  • Register: Click the Register button, above
  • Boards, sets and clocks will be provided by the Menlo Park Chess Club (bring a clock if you own one)
  • U.S. Chess Rules for Blitz Chess will be followed for all play in this event
  • For more information please send email to info@menloparkchess.club or tweet @MenloParkChess
  • Join our Facebook group to stay abreast of future club tournaments and events

MPCC Surfeit of Blitz Marathon: 5+0

The Menlo Park Chess Club seeks to answer a simple question: How much blitz chess is too much? Over four consecutive Wednesday evenings in July we will hold four separate unrated blitz tournaments of ever-shortening time controls (5+3, 5+0, 3+2, 3+0), each with free entry and modest cash prizes. Where this event differs from most, however, is that players may optionally contribute $5 to an overall prize fund, to be awarded based on one’s performance through all four individual blitz tournaments (the marathon).

Every dollar contributed to the overall prize fund will be returned in marathon prizes. Additionally, any ties for cash prizes in the individual tournaments will see that money placed in the overall/marathon prize fund, to bolster existing and add new place prizes. For example, if two people score a perfect 4-0 to tie for first in the 5+0 event and one person takes sole third with 3.5-0.5, $40 will be added to the overall prize fund (the 1st-2nd tie, $25 + $15) while the person in 3rd place would take home $10 (see Prizes, below). If three or more people tie for first place then the entire $50 (1st-3rd prizes) will be added to the overall/marathon prize fund. The same applies to the under-17 prizes.

Note that each individual tournament is a standalone event and you may play in 1, 2, 3 or 4 of these tourneys as you please, with no obligation to chip in $5 unless you wish to take part in the marathon. Details follow:

  • Format: Four separate Swiss-system tournaments in one section over four consecutive Wednesday evenings
  • Dates: July 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th — games begin at 7:00pm
  • Control: July 6th, 5+3; July 13th, 5+0; July 20th, 3+2; July 27th, 3+0
  • Rounds (#): July 6th, 4; July 13th, 4; July 20th, 5; July 27th, 5
  • Entry Fee: $0 (MPCC will sponsor the prizes)
  • Prizes: Each event will offer 1st, $25; 2nd, $15; 3rd, $10; Under-17 1st, $15, 2nd, $10
  • Ties: If there is a tie for any cash prize the associated funds will be rolled into the overall purse mentioned above (yes, this is unusual but we think it may prove interesting and, given the entry fee is $0, there should be little complaint)
  • Byes: Zero-point byes available any round
  • Register: Click the Register button, above
  • Boards, sets and clocks will be provided by the Menlo Park Chess Club (bring a clock if you own one)
  • U.S. Chess Rules for Blitz Chess will be followed for all play in this event
  • For more information please send email to info@menloparkchess.club or tweet @MenloParkChess
  • Join our Facebook group to stay abreast of future club tournaments and events

MPCC Surfeit of Blitz Marathon: 5+3

The Menlo Park Chess Club seeks to answer a simple question: How much blitz chess is too much? Over four consecutive Wednesday evenings in July we will hold four separate unrated blitz tournaments of ever-shortening time controls (5+3, 5+0, 3+2, 3+0), each with free entry and modest cash prizes. Where this event differs from most, however, is that players may optionally contribute $5 to an overall prize fund, to be awarded based on one’s performance through all four individual blitz tournaments (the marathon).

Every dollar contributed to the overall prize fund will be returned in marathon prizes. Additionally, any ties for cash prizes in the individual tournaments will see that money placed in the overall/marathon prize fund, to bolster existing and add new place prizes. For example, if two people score a perfect 4-0 to tie for first in the 5+3 event and one person takes sole third with 3.5-0.5, $40 will be added to the overall prize fund (the 1st-2nd tie, $25 + $15) while the person in 3rd place would take home $10 (see Prizes, below). If three or more people tie for first place then the entire $50 (1st-3rd prizes) will be added to the overall/marathon prize fund. The same applies to the under-17 prizes.

Note that each individual tournament is a standalone event and you may play in 1, 2, 3 or 4 of these tourneys as you please, with no obligation to chip in $5 unless you wish to take part in the marathon. Details follow:

  • Format: Four separate Swiss-system tournaments in one section over four consecutive Wednesday evenings
  • Dates: July 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th — games begin at 7:00pm
  • Control: July 6th, 5+3; July 13th, 5+0; July 20th, 3+2; July 27th, 3+0
  • Rounds (#): July 6th, 4; July 13th, 4; July 20th, 5; July 27th, 5
  • Entry Fee: $0 (MPCC will sponsor the prizes)
  • Prizes: Each event will offer 1st, $25; 2nd, $15; 3rd, $10; Under-17 1st, $15, 2nd, $10
  • Ties: If there is a tie for any cash prize the associated funds will be rolled into the overall purse mentioned above (yes, this is unusual but we think it may prove interesting and, given the entry fee is $0, there should be little complaint)
  • Byes: We don’t need no stinkin’ byes (zero-point byes available any round)!
  • Register: Click the Register button, above
  • Boards, sets and clocks will be provided by the Menlo Park Chess Club (bring a clock if you own one)
  • U.S. Chess Rules for Blitz Chess will be followed for all play in this event
  • For more information please send email to info@menloparkchess.club or tweet @MenloParkChess
  • Join our Facebook group to stay abreast of future club tournaments and events