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 |
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.
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 #11 Results
Twenty-one people played in our impromptu blitz tournament last Thursday, a G/3+2 affair of five rounds, and Pranav Jindal once again claimed sole first with 4.5 points, a first-round bye notwithstanding. Gabe Sanchez, Ramkumar Jeyaraman and 9-year-old Liam Liu tied for second with 4 points, followed by Kornel Csernai in sole 5th with 3.5—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 two more casual evenings this week and next, with free blitz tournaments occurring in each, 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. 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!
| # | Name/Rating/ID | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pranav Jindal | bye | W 5 | B 11 | W 12 | B 3 | |
| 0.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | ||
| 2 | Gabe Sanchez | B 8 | W 13 | B 6 | W 3 | B 9 | |
| 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | ||
| 3 | Ramkumar Jeyaraman | B 19 | W 10 | B 4 | B 2 | W 1 | |
| 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | ||
| 4 | Liam Liu | B 16 | W 12 | W 3 | B 7 | B 6 | |
| 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | ||
| 5 | Kornel Csernai | bye | B 1 | W 21 | W 13 | B 12 | |
| 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | ||
| 6 | Lauren Goodkind | W 9 | B 7 | W 2 | B 15 | W 4 | |
| 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 7 | Hayden Brongersma | B 20 | W 6 | B 19 | W 4 | B 16 | |
| 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 8 | David Zhao | W 2 | B 18 | W 9 | B 19 | W 15 | |
| 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 9 | Austin Chen | B 6 | W 20 | B 8 | W 11 | W 2 | |
| 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 10 | Mark Drury | —- | B 3 | bye | bye | bye | |
| X1.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 2.5 | ||
| 11 | Rohan Kapre | bye | W 21 | W 1 | B 9 | B 17 | |
| 0.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | ||
| 12 | Andy Applebaum | W 15 | B 4 | W 14 | B 1 | W 5 | |
| 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 13 | Evan Sobel | W 17 | B 2 | W 15 | B 5 | W 19 | |
| 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 14 | Renzo Frigato | bye | bye | B 12 | W 16 | B 20 | |
| 0.5 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 15 | Arnav Bhavsar | B 12 | W 16 | B 13 | W 6 | B 8 | |
| 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 16 | George Purtell | W 4 | B 15 | W 18 | B 14 | W 7 | |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 17 | Brian Chen | B 13 | W 19 | B 20 | W 18 | W 11 | |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 18 | Bud Woll | bye | W 8 | B 16 | B 17 | W 21 | |
| 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | ||
| 19 | Beata Ang-Dutta | W 3 | B 17 | W 7 | W 8 | B 13 | |
| 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
| 20 | Jerome Oriel | W 7 | B 9 | W 17 | B 21 | W 14 | |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
| 21 | Gautam Dutta | bye | B 11 | B 5 | W 20 | B 18 | |
| 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 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 |