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.
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:
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
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!
A4c Variant Tournament #2
Background: This will be our second foray into A4c Chess and it’s long overdue, given how well our first such event was received. One of the strongest blitz players in our club came up with this variant and, after hearing it described, we couldn’t resist holding an informal tournament to give it a try. It involves a good deal of fast chess plus a game within a game (a metagame) centered around how best to manage one’s fixed time allotment over several games.
Concept: Players will play best of 3 games against the same opponent in each round with 10 minutes on their clocks, with no increment or delay. When a game ends, players pause the clock but do not reset the time. They reset the pieces then restart the clock for the next game with the times remaining from the prior game(s). If a player runs out of time they lose the match. If a player wins the majority of the points possible in the 3 games, they win the match (so if a player wins two games and still has time remaining on their clock they win the match). One player gets two games with the white pieces (first and third games) and the other gets preferred clock side for all games.
Oddities: Clock location does not change so one player always keeps it on their preferred side. Typically the players start the game by drawing for colors then whomever wins the draw chooses White or Clockside, but given we’ll be holding a Swiss system tournament the player assigned White in any round gets two whites and the player assigned Black gets to choose clockside. (We could also allow the player who is assigned White by the pairing software to choose color preference or clockside to further complicate the metagame).
Comments: I like the metagame aspect of this format because it incentivizes players to manage their clock across multiple games with tactical decisions (whether it is burning down an opponent’s time when they are ahead on time or resigning quickly to preserve more time for subsequent games). It also allows a stronger slower player to manage their time differently and take more time to win the majority of games (though this is risky if they go into a third game after budgeting time poorly).
Format: As mentioned above, we will play best of 3 games at Gs/10 over three or possibly four rounds (no increment or delay), depending upon when we get started, and we may split players into groups of 4-8 by rating if the tournament doesn’t start very near 7pm (leaving time for just three rounds), so please arrive a little earlier if at all possible.
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.
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
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.
| # | Player | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gabriel Sanchez | W 3 | B 2 | W 5 | B 4 | W 7 | |
| 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | ||
| 2 | Liam Liu | B 22 | W 1 | W 15 | B 12 | W 4 | |
| 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | ||
| 3 | David Zhao | B 1 | W 21 | B 22 | W 17 | B 11 | |
| 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | ||
| 4 | Kunal Modi | W 12 | B 8 | W 6 | W 1 | B 2 | |
| 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | ||
| 5 | Andy Applebaum | B 11 | W 16 | B 1 | W 7 | B 6 | |
| 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 6 | Pranav Jindal | B 14 | W 13 | B 4 | W 15 | W 5 | |
| 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 7 | Frisco Del Rosario | W 17 | B 9 | W 13 | B 5 | B 1 | |
| 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 8 | Hayden Brongersma | B 20 | W 4 | B 11 | W 22 | B 13 | |
| 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 9 | Mark Drury | B 23 | W 7 | bye | bye | bye | |
| 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 10 | Renzo Frigato | W 24 | B 15 | W 17 | B 18 | W 19 | |
| 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 11 | Rohan Kapre | W 5 | B 18 | W 8 | B 19 | W 3 | |
| 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 12 | Josen Kalra | B 4 | W 20 | B 16 | W 2 | B 17 | |
| 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 13 | Cesar Tamondong | W 19 | B 6 | B 7 | W 16 | W 8 | |
| 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | ||
| 14 | Max Cheung | W 6 | B 19 | W 25 | B 20 | B 21 | |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | ||
| 15 | Hugo Pu | bye | W 10 | B 2 | B 6 | W 20 | |
| 0.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | ||
| 16 | Evan Sobel | W 18 | B 5 | W 12 | B 13 | W 24 | |
| 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 17 | Austin Chen | B 7 | W 23 | B 10 | B 3 | W 12 | |
| 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 18 | Brian Chen | B 16 | W 11 | B 23 | W 10 | B 22 | |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 19 | Shlok Chowdhury | B 13 | W 14 | B 21 | W 11 | B 10 | |
| 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 20 | Joey Lo | W 8 | B 12 | W 24 | W 14 | B 15 | |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | ||
| 21 | Victor Chen | bye | B 3 | W 19 | B 25 | W 14 | |
| 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | ||
| 22 | George Purtell | W 2 | B 24 | W 3 | B 8 | W 18 | |
| 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
| 23 | Bud Woll | W 9 | B 17 | W 18 | B 24 | W 25 | |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
| 24 | Wendy Gu | B 10 | W 22 | B 20 | W 23 | B 16 | |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
| 25 | Malcolm Willig | bye | —- | B 14 | W 21 | B 23 | |
| 0.5 | U0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
Impromptu Blitz #12 Results
Just as with the week before, twenty-one people played in our impromptu blitz tournament this past Thursday, another G/3+2 affair of five rounds and, as with the week before, Pranav Jindal claimed sole first with 4.5 points, the lone draw ceded to young Liam Liu. Three others tied for second in this battle of blitz heavyweights, with Andy Applebaum, Kunal Modi and Cesar Tamondong all securing 4 points (I don’t know that Cesar has ever scored less than 4 points in similar events)—well played, all of you! Full results are in the table below and thank you to everyone who joined us for this event.
We’ll hold one more casual evening this week, with another free blitz tournament beginning at 7pm, then will commence a US Chess dual-rated Swiss-system event over three weeks beginning 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.
Please let me know if you have any questions and I hope to see many of you at the club this Thursday!
| # | Player | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pranav Jindal | B 15 | W 5 | W 10 | B 6 | B 3 | |
| 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | ||
| 2 | Andy Applebaum | B 13 | W 12 | B 6 | W 3 | B 5 | |
| 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | ||
| 3 | Kunal Modi | W 14 | B 7 | W 4 | B 2 | W 1 | |
| 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | ||
| 4 | Cesar Tamondong | W 20 | B 11 | B 3 | W 15 | B 9 | |
| 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | ||
| 5 | Liam Liu | W 9 | B 1 | B 12 | W 8 | W 2 | |
| 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | ||
| 6 | Alex Chin | W 16 | B 8 | W 2 | W 1 | B 14 | |
| 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 7 | Richard Wang | B 19 | W 3 | B 15 | W 18 | B 17 | |
| 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 8 | Hayden Brongersma | B 21 | W 6 | B 16 | B 5 | W 12 | |
| 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 9 | Hugo Pu | B 5 | W 13 | B 19 | B 14 | W 4 | |
| 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 10 | Mark Drury | W 17 | bye | B 1 | bye | bye | |
| 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 2.5 | ||
| 11 | Max Cheung | bye | W 4 | —- | W 19 | B 15 | |
| 0.5 | 0.5 | U0.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | ||
| 12 | Jason Cruz | B 18 | B 2 | W 5 | W 16 | B 8 | |
| 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 13 | Samuel Agdamag | W 2 | B 9 | W 21 | B 17 | W 18 | |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 14 | Kornel Csernai | B 3 | W 19 | B 18 | W 9 | W 6 | |
| 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 15 | Jeff McGinnis | W 1 | B 17 | W 7 | B 4 | W 11 | |
| 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 16 | Austin Chen | B 6 | W 21 | W 8 | B 12 | W 20 | |
| 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 17 | Joey Lo | B 10 | W 15 | B 20 | W 13 | W 7 | |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 18 | Beata Ang-Dutta | W 12 | B 20 | W 14 | B 7 | B 13 | |
| 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
| 19 | Brian Chen | W 7 | B 14 | W 9 | B 11 | W 21 | |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
| 20 | Maybelline Hinlo | B 4 | W 18 | W 17 | B 21 | B 16 | |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
| 21 | Gautam Dutta | W 8 | B 16 | B 13 | W 20 | B 19 | |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |