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 (free, no prizes), given there appears to be an appetite for same.
Chess960 Draft Tournament
Our club dabbled in yet another interesting chess variant Thursday with the Chess960 Draft Tournament and, poorly as I did this time around, I think I speak for everyone in stating that the event was a lot of fun, with unusual positions seen in every round. In one of my games I made the cardinal mistake of failing to take stock of immediate threats on my first move and, as a result, lost a pawn and the exchange to a marauding bishop on move 2 or 3, which was mildly embarrassing. The timed draft aspect of this variant really adds something new and different to the game, especially with a relatively short time control like G/7;d3, but players got the hang of it quickly and there were few if any illegal setups that I’m aware of.
Eighteen participants turned out to be perfect for the four rounds we were able to play and congratulations are once again due to Pranav Jindal for another perfect score, his 4-0 result half a point better than Gabe Sanchez’s 3.5 for sole second. David Zhao and Josen Kalra enjoyed another excellent showing with their shared third place finish at 3 points, ahead of some very strong expert-level competition. Thank you to everyone who played in this event, please let me know if you have any feedback and we’ll give it another go later this year. Regards,
Mark Drury
# | Player | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Pranav Jindal | W 9 | B 11 | W 7 | B 5 | |
1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | ||
2 | Gabriel Sanchez | W 3 | B 8 | W 5 | B 7 | |
1.0 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | ||
3 | David Zhao | B 2 | W 16 | B 17 | W 9 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
4 | Josen Kalra | W 6 | B 7 | W 12 | B 11 | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
5 | Alaric Stein | B 10 | W 14 | B 2 | W 1 | |
1.0 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | ||
6 | Kunal Modi | B 4 | W 17 | B 9 | W 10 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
7 | Wentao Wu | B 16 | W 4 | B 1 | W 2 | |
1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
8 | Alex Wu | W 12 | W 2 | B 10 | W 17 | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
9 | Michael Byun | B 1 | W 18 | W 6 | B 3 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
10 | Hayden Brongersma | W 5 | B 15 | W 8 | B 6 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
11 | Austin Chen | B 13 | W 1 | B 14 | W 4 | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
12 | Hugo Pu | B 8 | W 13 | B 4 | B 15 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
13 | Richard Wang | W 11 | B 12 | W 16 | B 14 | |
0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | ||
14 | Renzo Frigato | W 18 | B 5 | W 11 | W 13 | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | ||
15 | Jeremy Arthur | B 17 | W 10 | B 18 | W 12 | |
0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
16 | Mark Drury | W 7 | B 3 | B 13 | W 18 | |
0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
17 | Aditya Dhamdhere | W 15 | B 6 | W 3 | B 8 | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
18 | Carlos Fuertes | B 14 | B 9 | W 15 | B 16 | |
0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
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 (free, no prizes), given there appears to be an appetite for same.
Chess960 Draft Tournament
On the heels of our very successful A4c Variant Tournament, we’ll hold another Chess960 variant tournament, this time using a piece placement draft with the following format and rules:
- There will likely be 4 or 5 Swiss rounds at G/7;d3 in one or two sections
- The games will be played with the normal Chess960 rules except for the use of a draft, wherein white starts black’s clock then black places the first piece on the back rank and starts white’s clock, white copies that move then places another piece of their own, black copies that placement then places a second piece, etc., until black places a final piece and white makes the first chess move of the game
- It’s important to note that the draft phase covered above occurs while players’ clocks are running, just as in normal moves for the game
- The king must be placed between the two rooks as in normal Chess960
- The bishops must be placed on opposite-colored squares
- We will use clock move rather than touch move, as in our blitz tournaments
- An illegal move pointed out by an opponent (no one else) immediately ends the game as a loss for the player who made the illegal move
A4c Variant Tournament
We enjoyed an excellent turnout this past Thursday for our first foray into A4c Chess, as we’re styling it (though the variant’s creator may yet object). As a reminder, this variant is best-of-three games against each opponent with ten total minutes on one’s clock, so time management across the two or three games in each match is critical. Indeed, we saw a number of matches in each round where time was used, how shall we say, less than optimally, which led to severe time crunches in the third game and to much clock slapping (sometimes in a vain attempt to stave off the inevitable loss on time)—it definitely made for interesting spectacle and was fun to watch. More information about the variant and the tournament details may be found here.
Twenty-eight people participated in three sections, which worked well for the three rounds we were able to squeeze in during the evening. Below are the results for each section and congratulations are due to winners Kunal (group one), David (group two) and Hayden and Austin (group three). Thank you to everyone who played in this event and the feedback was universally positive, even with the late start, so we’ll definitely play A4c Chess again soon.
Group One
# | Player | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kunal Modi | B 8 | W 5 | B 3 | |
1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
2 | Pranav Jindal | W 7 | B 3 | W 6 | |
1.0 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | ||
3 | Gabriel Sanchez | B 4 | W 2 | W 1 | |
1.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | ||
4 | Karim Seada | W 3 | B 7 | B 5 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | ||
5 | Wentao Wu | B 6 | B 1 | W 4 | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | ||
6 | Alaric Stein | W 5 | B 8 | B 2 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
7 | Josen Kalra | B 2 | W 4 | W 8 | |
0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
8 | Renzo Frigato | W 1 | W 6 | B 7 | |
0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Group Two
# | Player | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | David Zhao | W 6 | B 4 | B 2 | |
1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
2 | Paul Tanenbaum | W 8 | B 5 | W 1 | |
1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
3 | Pablo Jadzinsky | B 4 | W 6 | B 7 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
4 | Michael Byun | W 3 | W 1 | B 5 | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
5 | Samuel Agdamag | B 7 | W 2 | W 4 | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
6 | Amogh Rao | B 1 | B 3 | W 8 | |
0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
7 | Charles Mayville | W 5 | B 8 | W 3 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
8 | Evan Sobel | B 2 | W 7 | B 6 | |
0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Group Three
# | Player | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Hayden Brongersma | W 10 | B 8 | B 3 | |
1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
2 | Austin Chen | W 7 | B 4 | W 6 | |
1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
3 | Atul Dhingra | W 9 | B 5 | W 1 | |
1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
4 | Fadi Arodaki | B 12 | W 2 | W 8 | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
5 | Hugo Pu | W 11 | W 3 | B 7 | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
6 | George Purtell | B 8 | W 10 | B 2 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
7 | Kumaravel Mohamkumar | B 2 | W 12 | W 5 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
8 | Aditya Dhamdhere | W 6 | W 1 | B 4 | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
9 | Will Kesselman | B 3 | W 11 | —- | |
0.0 | 1.0 | U1.0 | 1.0 | ||
10 | Shlok Chowdhury | B 1 | B 6 | W 12 | |
0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
11 | Victor Chen | B 5 | B 9 | bye | |
0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | ||
12 | Bud Woll | W 4 | B 7 | B 10 | |
0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
A4c Variant Tournament
“A4c” or “The Clock (Almost) Never Stops” Variant
Impromptu Blitz #10 Results
We had an excellent turnout for our impromptu blitz tournament last night, with 25 people participating, including a number of first- or second-time visitors—welcome to Munci Inonu, Wyatt Morgan, Pablo Jadzinsky, Evan Sobel, Serena Shinault and Carlos Fuertes and thank you for joining us! Renzo Frigato was able to join us again after a prolonged absence and it was great to see him, as well! This event saw a somewhat unusual 4-way tie for first with four points out of five—congratulations to Munci Inonu, Pranav Jindal, Josen Kalra and David Zhao on their excellent play! The full results for the tournament follow and next week we will play another free, fun-focused tournament using the A4c variant—more details will be on our Events page later today.
# | Player | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Munci Inonu | B 16 | W 9 | B 7 | W 13 | W 2 | |
1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | ||
2 | Pranav Jindal | W 17 | B 4 | W 15 | W 7 | B 1 | |
1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | ||
3 | Josen Kalra | B 12 | W 18 | B 16 | W 6 | B 7 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | ||
4 | David Zhao | W 21 | W 2 | B 11 | B 8 | W 9 | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | ||
5 | Renzo Frigato | bye | W 25 | B 6 | B 12 | W 13 | |
0.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | ||
6 | Wyatt Morgan | bye | bye | W 5 | B 3 | B 16 | |
0.5 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
7 | Olivia Smith | B 11 | W 10 | W 1 | B 2 | W 3 | |
1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
8 | Pablo Jadzinsky | B 18 | W 12 | B 10 | W 4 | B 17 | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
9 | Alex Wu | W 24 | B 1 | W 17 | B 15 | B 4 | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
10 | Evan Sobel | W 22 | B 7 | W 8 | B 20 | W 19 | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
11 | Michael Byun | W 7 | B 22 | W 4 | B 24 | W 15 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
12 | Austin Chen | W 3 | B 8 | B 13 | W 5 | W 20 | |
1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
13 | Alex Su | bye | B 20 | W 12 | B 1 | B 5 | |
0.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | ||
14 | Mark Drury | W 23 | B 15 | bye | bye | bye | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 2.5 | ||
15 | Jeff McGinnis | B 19 | W 14 | B 2 | W 9 | B 11 | |
1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
16 | Samuel Agdamag | W 1 | B 24 | W 3 | B 23 | W 6 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
17 | Charles Mayville | B 2 | W 21 | B 9 | B 18 | W 8 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
18 | Hayden Brongersma | W 8 | B 3 | B 21 | W 17 | W 23 | |
0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
19 | Serena Shinault | W 15 | B 23 | W 20 | B 25 | B 10 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
20 | Hugo Pu | bye | W 13 | B 19 | W 10 | B 12 | |
0.5 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | ||
21 | Aditya Dhamdhere | B 4 | B 17 | W 18 | W 22 | B 24 | |
0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | ||
22 | Shlok Chowdhury | B 10 | W 11 | W 24 | B 21 | W 25 | |
0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | ||
23 | Brian Chen | B 14 | W 19 | B 25 | W 16 | B 18 | |
0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
24 | Jeff Ungar | B 9 | W 16 | B 22 | W 11 | W 21 | |
0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
25 | Carlos Fuertes | bye | B 5 | W 23 | W 19 | B 22 | |
0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
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 may also play another impromptu blitz tournament (free, no prizes), given there appears to be an appetite for same.
Impromptu Blitz #9 Results
Due to the miscommunication between rec. center staff and yours truly we postponed the start of our January quads one week, to January 18th, leaving the evening of the 11th free for yet another impromptu blitz tournament. Last night’s affair was a free 5-round G/5+0 affair, one which included 22 players, three of them new visitors to the club (welcome, Anaida, Sandhya and Venugopal!) and saw Pranav emerge victorious, as is often the case. Below are the full results for this event and we will likely hold another impromptu blitz tournament on February 8th—check our Events page for more details when available. Regards,
Mark Drury
# | Player | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Pranav Jindal | B 10 | W 5 | B 3 | W 2 | B 8 | |
1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | ||
2 | Cesar Tamondong | B 15 | W 7 | B 6 | B 1 | W 5 | |
1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | ||
3 | Josen Kalra | B 16 | W 9 | W 1 | B 8 | W 10 | |
1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | ||
4 | Chris Murphy | W 14 | B 6 | W 8 | B 12 | B 9 | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
5 | Charles Mayville | W 20 | B 1 | W 14 | B 13 | B 2 | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
6 | David Zhao | B 21 | W 4 | W 2 | B 10 | W 14 | |
1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
7 | Kornel Csernai | W 12 | B 2 | W 11 | B 16 | W 15 | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
8 | Venugopal Mani | B 17 | W 19 | B 4 | W 3 | W 1 | |
1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
9 | Nicholas Tan | W 18 | B 3 | W 16 | B 11 | W 4 | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
10 | Hayden Brongersma | W 1 | B 13 | B 19 | W 6 | B 3 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
11 | Austin Chen | B 19 | W 17 | B 7 | W 9 | W 13 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
12 | Shlok Chowdhury | B 7 | W 15 | B 21 | W 4 | B 19 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
13 | Ashwin Ganesh | B 22 | W 10 | B 20 | W 5 | B 11 | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
14 | Michael Darr | B 4 | W 21 | B 5 | W 20 | B 6 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
15 | Aditya Dhamdhere | W 2 | B 12 | W 18 | W 19 | B 7 | |
0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
16 | Joey Lo | W 3 | B 18 | B 9 | W 7 | B 21 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
17 | Brian Chen | W 8 | B 11 | W 22 | B 18 | W 20 | |
0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
18 | Alan Chen | B 9 | W 16 | B 15 | W 17 | B 22 | |
0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
19 | Mark / Esther | W 11 | B 8 | W 10 | B 15 | W 12 | |
1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
20 | Bud Woll | B 5 | W 22 | W 13 | B 14 | B 17 | |
0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
21 | Sandhya C | W 6 | B 14 | W 12 | B 22 | W 16 | |
0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
22 | Anaida Stepanyan | W 13 | B 20 | B 17 | W 21 | W 18 | |
0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
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 may also play another impromptu blitz tournament (free, no prizes), given there appears to be an appetite for same.