Impromptu G/3+2 Blitz Tournament #2

We had another good showing at our casual night this past Thursday and threw together a second impromptu G/3+2 blitz tournament, which Pranav won with a perfect 4-0 score. Full results are below for the curious. We’re overdue to host our second Surfeit of Blitz marathon so that may happen in September or October, at the latest.

Our August Quick-Rated Double-Round Quads begin this Thursday and I’ll send the groups and round-by-round pairings later today or tomorrow. Note that we have one extra spot in the larger Swiss section for someone rated 750 or below—please contact me if you or someone you know may wish to play some quick-rated games over the coming three weeks. Regards,

Mark Drury

Casual, Blitz, Bughouse, Ladder Chess Evening

Our regular weekly club meeting occurs Thursday evenings from 6:00-9:45pm in the Oak Room of the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center. Casual, blitz, bughouse and ladder chess games are in the offing and we’ll discuss details of the next tournament, tentatively scheduled for August 10th. We may also hold another impromptu blitz tournament this evening, interest permitting.

Casual, Blitz, Bughouse, Ladder Chess Evening

Our regular weekly club meeting occurs Thursday evenings from 6:00-9:45pm in the Oak Room of the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center. Casual, blitz, bughouse and ladder chess games are in the offing and we’ll discuss details of the next tournament, tentatively scheduled for early August. Note that Mark Drury won’t attend this week so new visitors may wish to arrive round 7pm to give other club members time to set up for the evening. Please bring your own boards, sets and clocks if you have them.

Casual, Blitz, Bughouse, Ladder Chess Evening

Our regular weekly club meeting occurs Thursday evenings from 6:00-9:45pm in the Oak Room of the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center. Casual, blitz, bughouse and ladder chess games are in the offing and we’ll discuss details of the next tournament, tentatively scheduled for early August. Note that Mark Drury won’t attend this week so new visitors may wish to arrive round 7pm to give other club members time to set up for the evening. Please bring your own boards, sets and clocks if you have them.

Casual, Blitz, Bughouse, Ladder Chess Evening

Our regular weekly club meeting occurs Thursday evenings from 6:00-9:45pm in the Oak Room of the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center. Casual, blitz, bughouse and ladder chess games are in the offing and we’ll discuss details of the next tournament, tentatively scheduled for early August.

Casual, Blitz, Bughouse, Ladder Chess Evening

Our regular weekly club meeting occurs Thursday evenings from 6:00-9:45pm in the Oak Room of the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center. Casual, blitz, bughouse and ladder chess games are in the offing and we’ll discuss details of the next tournament, tentatively scheduled for early August.

Casual, Blitz, Bughouse, Ladder Chess Evening

Our regular weekly club meeting occurs Thursday evenings from 6:00-9:45pm in the Oak Room of the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center. Casual, blitz, bughouse and ladder chess games are in the offing and we’ll discuss details of the next tournament, tentatively scheduled for June 15th.

Casual, Blitz, Bughouse, Ladder Chess Evening

Our regular weekly club meeting occurs Thursday evenings from 6:00-9:45pm in the Oak Room of the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center. Casual, blitz, bughouse and ladder chess games are in the offing and we’ll discuss details of the next tournament, tentatively scheduled for mid-June.

MPCC Ladders

This evening we’ll host casual, blitz and bughouse play at the club but will also open up our Blitz and Quick ladders a little early for those seeking to climb either. The idea remains to run each ladder for three months and award points for ladder games as one would an ordinary Swiss, where a win is one point, a draw half a point and a loss zero points, and we may also incorporate a bonus for the person or persons who climb the most rungs during each three-month period.

As mentioned during the Quick Swiss last week, Chess.com is sponsoring some nice prizes, including 1-month Diamond memberships for three club members every month, which we will award to ladder participants based on monthly results, with some additional prizes awarded for one’s three-month performance. If you’ve read this far, you deserve a little prize already—please use the following link to get Chessable Pro free for one month, another benefit Chess.com is passing along to affiliate clubs such as ours: http://chessable.com/MenloParkChessClub.

More information about our ladders, along with rules and initial standings based upon our two most recent tournaments, may be found here: https://menloparkchess.club/ladders/ (if you wish to be added to either ladder just let me know). Questions? Send a message to info@menloparkchess.club or see me at the club tonight. Regards,

Mark Drury

Hall Of Bright Carvings Quick Swiss Results

Our Hall of Bright Carvings Quick Swiss ended dramatically Thursday with perfect scores in two sections, and with Michael Ho looking to make it three until he ran afoul of WFM Olivia Smith in the final round, leaving the two tied for first atop the 1400+ section with 3 points apiece. Of particular note are the performances of Banks Bennion, U1400 champion, and Austin Rolfe, winner of the Unrated section, both of whom scored the aforementioned 4-0 in their respective groups. Banks is all of nine or ten years old, I think, and his rating clearly has some catching up to do with his ever-increasing skill in the game, while Austin now finds himself with a 1735 provisional rating after just four games, 300+ points higher than he was speculating Thursday night. Congratulations to both on their excellent results and to Siddharth Kalra, as well, another strong junior who tied for second in the U1400 section!

The full results for all three sections may be found in the attached images, while the tournament rating reports are now available here: https://www.uschess.org/msa/XtblMain.php?202305111132.0. The prize winners for each section follow and I’ll contact them directly to ask how they wish to receive the proceeds. Thank you to everyone who participated in this event, especially for your patience with the slightly noisier playing conditions during the first two rounds (rounds 3 and 4 were better, I hope). As always, please let me know if you have feedback, good or bad, and I hope to see many of you at our next tournament! Regards,

Mark Drury

1400+ (12 players):
Michael Ho: $30
Olivia Smith: $30

U1400 (15 players):
Banks Bennion: $45
Kornél Csernai: $10
Nicholas Tan: $10
Siddharth Kalra: $10
Unrated (12 players):
Austin Rolfe: $40
Atul Dhingra: $10
Amogh Rao: $10