I haven’t posted in a couple weeks so I’m sharing the results of our Impromptu Blitz #76, which occurred October 29th, as well as the round one results from our club championship, available here. Congratulations to Pranav Jindal and Alexander Su for their first place tie in the blitz with 6.0 points out of 7, while Carlos Jerez and Hugo Pu shared second at 5.0. Full results are in the attached image and we had three first-time visitors play in this event—welcome to Tony Kukavica, Gil Banuelos and Amir Osman and we hope you join us again soon!
Our club championship is, as always, played in one large section and the first round results fell pretty much as expected given the large ratings disparities seen in these early games, save for two upsets: Michael Hadley won against Frisco Del Rosario and Sushant Shanker drew a tough game with with Aiden Huang, while several other games were very competitive. As a reminder, our championship continues until December 10th and we have just the Oak Room available to us, though we will have tables set up outside that room for casual games and tournament postmortem activities if you wish to spectate or play some casual chess. Regards,
Mark Drury
The Menlo Park Chess Club will hold our fifth annual club championship beginning Thursday, November 5th, at 7pm, a five-round USCF-rated Swiss system event using the dual-rated G/45;d5 time control over five weeks (there will be no round on November 26th, Thanksgiving). Our championship is aimed at players with at least some tournament experience (one or two rated events, say) and may not be suitable for children under the age of 10, given games could last until almost 9pm on a school night. Details follow:
- Format: Five-round Swiss-system tournament in one section, one game per evening
- Rounds: November 5th, 12th, 19th and December 3rd and 10th (there is no round November 26th, Thanksgiving)—games begin promptly at 7:00pm
- Control: G/45;d5 (dual-rated game of 45 minutes for each player plus a 5-second delay per move)
- Entry Fee: $25 (the entire entry fee will be returned in prizes)
- Payment: PayPal: mark@drury.com; Venmo: @Mark-Drury-12, Zelle: 6504006393
- Prizes: Four prize groups based upon November US Chess regular ratings with roughly 7 players per prize group (Group 1: $120, $60, $40; Group 2: $100, $60, $40; Group 3: $80, $40, $20; Group 4: $80, $40, $20, with adjustments as needed based on tournament/group size)
- Byes: One half-point bye is available for any round save the last, but the bye must be requested at least two days in advance of the day of play
- Register: Registrations closed after the start of the first round
- Boards, sets, clocks, score sheets and pens will be provided by the Menlo Park Chess Club (bring a clock if you prefer your own)
- All tournament participants must be current US Chess members
- Our tournament chess rules summary is required reading if you’re new to tournament play
- For more information please send email to info@menloparkchess.club
- Join our Facebook group or Google Group to stay abreast of future club tournaments and events
The Menlo Park Chess Club will hold our fifth annual club championship beginning Thursday, November 5th, at 7pm, a five-round USCF-rated Swiss system event using the dual-rated G/45;d5 time control over five weeks (there will be no round on November 26th, Thanksgiving). Our championship is aimed at players with at least some tournament experience (one or two rated events, say) and may not be suitable for children under the age of 10, given games could last until almost 9pm on a school night. Details follow:
- Format: Five-round Swiss-system tournament in one section, one game per evening
- Rounds: November 5th, 12th, 19th and December 3rd and 10th (there is no round November 26th, Thanksgiving)—games begin promptly at 7:00pm
- Control: G/45;d5 (dual-rated game of 45 minutes for each player plus a 5-second delay per move)
- Entry Fee: $25 (the entire entry fee will be returned in prizes)
- Payment: PayPal: mark@drury.com; Venmo: @Mark-Drury-12, Zelle: 6504006393
- Prizes: Four prize groups based upon November US Chess regular ratings with roughly 7 players per prize group (Group 1: $120, $60, $40; Group 2: $100, $60, $40; Group 3: $80, $40, $20; Group 4: $80, $40, $20, with adjustments as needed based on tournament/group size)
- Byes: One half-point bye is available for any round save the last, but the bye must be requested at least two days in advance of the day of play
- Register: Registrations closed after the start of the first round
- Boards, sets, clocks, score sheets and pens will be provided by the Menlo Park Chess Club (bring a clock if you prefer your own)
- All tournament participants must be current US Chess members
- Our tournament chess rules summary is required reading if you’re new to tournament play
- For more information please send email to info@menloparkchess.club
- Join our Facebook group or Google Group to stay abreast of future club tournaments and events
The Menlo Park Chess Club will hold our fifth annual club championship beginning Thursday, November 5th, at 7pm, a five-round USCF-rated Swiss system event using the dual-rated G/45;d5 time control over five weeks (there will be no round on November 26th, Thanksgiving). Our championship is aimed at players with at least some tournament experience (one or two rated events, say) and may not be suitable for children under the age of 10, given games could last until almost 9pm on a school night. Details follow:
- Format: Five-round Swiss-system tournament in one section, one game per evening
- Rounds: November 5th, 12th, 19th and December 3rd and 10th (there is no round November 26th, Thanksgiving)—games begin promptly at 7:00pm
- Control: G/45;d5 (dual-rated game of 45 minutes for each player plus a 5-second delay per move)
- Entry Fee: $25 (the entire entry fee will be returned in prizes)
- Payment: PayPal: mark@drury.com; Venmo: @Mark-Drury-12, Zelle: 6504006393
- Prizes: Four prize groups based upon November US Chess regular ratings with roughly 7 players per prize group (Group 1: $120, $60, $40; Group 2: $100, $60, $40; Group 3: $80, $40, $20; Group 4: $80, $40, $20, with adjustments as needed based on tournament/group size)
- Byes: One half-point bye is available for any round save the last, but the bye must be requested at least two days in advance of the day of play
- Register: Registrations closed after the start of the first round
- Boards, sets, clocks, score sheets and pens will be provided by the Menlo Park Chess Club (bring a clock if you prefer your own)
- All tournament participants must be current US Chess members
- Our tournament chess rules summary is required reading if you’re new to tournament play
- For more information please send email to info@menloparkchess.club
- Join our Facebook group or Google Group to stay abreast of future club tournaments and events
The Menlo Park Chess Club will hold our fifth annual club championship beginning Thursday, November 5th, at 7pm, a five-round USCF-rated Swiss system event using the dual-rated G/45;d5 time control over five weeks (there will be no round on November 26th, Thanksgiving). Our championship is aimed at players with at least some tournament experience (one or two rated events, say) and may not be suitable for children under the age of 10, given games could last until almost 9pm on a school night. Details follow:
- Format: Five-round Swiss-system tournament in one section, one game per evening
- Rounds: November 5th, 12th, 19th and December 3rd and 10th (there is no round November 26th, Thanksgiving)—games begin promptly at 7:00pm
- Control: G/45;d5 (dual-rated game of 45 minutes for each player plus a 5-second delay per move)
- Entry Fee: $25 (the entire entry fee will be returned in prizes)
- Payment: PayPal: mark@drury.com; Venmo: @Mark-Drury-12, Zelle: 6504006393
- Prizes: Four prize groups based upon November US Chess regular ratings with roughly 7 players per prize group (Group 1: $120, $60, $40; Group 2: $100, $60, $40; Group 3: $80, $40, $20; Group 4: $80, $40, $20, with adjustments as needed based on tournament/group size)
- Byes: One half-point bye is available for any round save the last, but the bye must be requested at least two days in advance of the day of play
- Register: Registrations closed after the start of the first round
- Boards, sets, clocks, score sheets and pens will be provided by the Menlo Park Chess Club (bring a clock if you prefer your own)
- All tournament participants must be current US Chess members
- Our tournament chess rules summary is required reading if you’re new to tournament play
- For more information please send email to info@menloparkchess.club
- Join our Facebook group or Google Group to stay abreast of future club tournaments and events
Attached are the wall charts for our Impromptu Blitz tournaments of the past two weeks, with 22 and 28 players participating, respectively. #74 saw Pranav Jindal and Austin Chen tie for first with 6.0 points out of 7, while Sam Bekker and Carlos Jerez tied for third at 5.0 and, as ever, there followed a raft of strong players left gnashing their teeth at 4.0, still a respectable score in this crowd. #75 saw the return of Vedant Verma, a talented junior player who seems markedly stronger every time he visits the club. Vedant cruised to a 6.5-point first place finish, a full point ahead of second place finishers—you guessed it—Pranav Jindal, Austin Chen and Sam Bekker at 5.5, while visiting Chicagoan Max Newman managed sole fifth place at 5.0 (Max and I played an interesting game in round two which left me gnashing my teeth). Thank you to everyone who joined us for these tournaments, congratulations to our winners and we’ll do much the same next week, October 29th.
Registrations are now open for our annual club championship which begins November 5th. This is a five-round, dual-rated G/45;d5 event, one game per evening over five weeks, with a break for Thanksgiving November 26th. One bye is available for the event in any round save the last and we’ll be using Chess67 to run this tournament, so you’ll need to create an account thereon to register: https://chess67.com/club/menlo-park-chess-club/tournaments/fifth-menlo-park-chess-club-championship-20261105. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments and I hope to see you at the club soon. Regards,
Mark Drury
The Menlo Park Chess Club will hold our fifth annual club championship beginning Thursday, November 5th, at 7pm, a five-round USCF-rated Swiss system event using the dual-rated G/45;d5 time control over five weeks (there will be no round on November 26th, Thanksgiving). Our championship is aimed at players with at least some tournament experience (one or two rated events, say) and may not be suitable for children under the age of 10, given games could last until almost 9pm on a school night. Details follow:
- Format: Five-round Swiss-system tournament in one section, one game per evening
- Rounds: November 5th, 12th, 19th and December 3rd and 10th (there is no round November 26th, Thanksgiving)—games begin promptly at 7:00pm
- Control: G/45;d5 (dual-rated game of 45 minutes for each player plus a 5-second delay per move)
- Entry Fee: $25 (the entire entry fee will be returned in prizes)
- Payment: PayPal: mark@drury.com; Venmo: @Mark-Drury-12, Zelle: 6504006393
- Prizes: Four prize groups based upon November US Chess regular ratings with roughly 7 players per prize group (Group 1: $120, $60, $40; Group 2: $100, $60, $40; Group 3: $80, $40, $20; Group 4: $80, $40, $20, with adjustments as needed based on tournament/group size)
- Byes: One half-point bye is available for any round save the last, but the bye must be requested at least two days in advance of the day of play
- Register: We’re using Chess67 for event registrations and tournament management this year
- Boards, sets, clocks, score sheets and pens will be provided by the Menlo Park Chess Club (bring a clock if you prefer your own)
- All tournament participants must be current US Chess members
- Our tournament chess rules summary is required reading if you’re new to tournament play
- For more information please send email to info@menloparkchess.club
- Join our Facebook group or Google Group to stay abreast of future club tournaments and events
Our rated Copa del Menlo chess tournament wrapped up Thursday after a makeup round and I wanted to thank Hugo Pu once again for so ably directing this event for our club! Attached is the wall chart with final scores and prize distributions for each section and if I hear no concerns about errors or omissions by Sunday evening I will send the prize money to our individual and team winners.
Speaking of winners, congratulations to Neeraj, Ujjwal and Zayn for claiming sole first with perfect scores in each of their sections. Neeraj’s result is especially impressive given he was the lowest-rated player in the top section and faced some very tough opponents on his way to three full points. Aiden Huang and Austin Chen also had excellent results in that section, winning clear second and third respectively, a feat made all the more interesting when you consider that the average age of the top three finishers is likely less than ten years. Youth will be served, it seems!
The tournament has already been rated and may be viewed here: https://ratings.uschess.org/event/202609240083 (the dropdown list atop the table allows one to see different sections). Our next rated event will be the club championship beginning November 5th and I’ll share more information about that tournament soon. Regards,
Mark Drury
Just a quick reminder that we will play the third and final round of our Copa del Menlo this evening at the club, though we plan to have the skittles room open for casual play if anyone wishes to drop by for same (and/or to watch the tournament games). Next week Lauren Goodkind will give a talk from 7-8 followed by casual play until 9pm and we’ll hold more free, unrated blitz tournaments in October. Our rated club championship will begin in November — more to come about that event soon. Regards,
Mark Drury
After another of Frisco’s excellent lectures last week we played the first round of our Copa del Menlo dual-rated Swiss tournament, one which includes three sections of eight players each and an additional teams component. Attached are the first round results, second round pairings and team standings and we’ll play the second round tomorrow evening beginning promptly at 7pm. Note that we should have a skittles room open so those of you not playing in the tournament should feel free to visit and perhaps play some casual chess–several people did so last week.
On the scheduling front, we’ll play the third and final round of our Copa del Menlo September 24th and then on October 1st from 7-8pm Lauren Goodkind has offered to give a free lecture covering one or two of her recent tournament games, a lecture aimed at encouraging more women and girls to play chess and one suitable for beginners as well as more advanced players. Please plan to attend Lauren’s lecture in October and help spread the word, especially among your female friends who are or may be interested in getting more involved in the game we all share. More information may be found here.
Regards,
Mark Drury
