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: $20 (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 8 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: Please sign up in advance using the ‘Register’ button, above (you only need register for round one of this event, which covers all rounds)
- 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 regular weekly club meeting occurs Thursday evenings from 6:00-9:00pm in the Oak or Elm Room of the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center. Casual, blitz and ladder chess games as well as a lecture are in the offing and we will also play another free, unrated blitz tournament beginning round 7pm, given there appears to be a continuing appetite for same. Note that our free weekly lecture begins at 6:30pm and it remains one of the highlights of club attendance.
Our regular weekly club meeting occurs Thursday evenings from 6:00-9:00pm in the Oak or Elm Room of the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center. Casual, blitz and ladder chess games as well as a lecture are in the offing and we will also play another free, unrated blitz tournament beginning round 7pm, given there appears to be a continuing appetite for same. Note that our free weekly lecture begins at 6:30pm and it remains one of the highlights of club attendance.
Our regular weekly club meeting occurs Thursday evenings from 6:00-9:00pm in the Oak or Elm Room of the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center. Casual, blitz and ladder chess games as well as a lecture are in the offing and we will also play another free, unrated blitz tournament beginning round 7pm, given there appears to be a continuing appetite for same. Note that our free weekly lecture begins at 6:30pm and it remains one of the highlights of club attendance.
Our regular weekly club meeting occurs Thursday evenings from 6:00-9:00pm in the Oak or Elm Room of the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center. Casual, blitz and ladder chess games as well as a lecture are in the offing and we will also play another free, unrated blitz tournament beginning round 7pm, given there appears to be a continuing appetite for same. Note that our free weekly lecture begins at 6:30pm and it remains one of the highlights of club attendance.
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
Well, after Frisco’s excellent lecture last week we were supposed to hold a bughouse tournament, which may go some way to explaining the smaller turnout of 23 players seen Thursday, but our bughouse fanatics didn’t show so we opted instead for yet another impromptu blitz event with seven rounds of G/3+2 chess, the clear preference of those in attendance. After the conclusion of the dramatic seventh round, when no fewer than eight players had some chance of nabbing a possible tie for first, Lauren Goodkind claimed her first victory in this blitz series with 5.5 points, a half point ahead of Carlos Jerez, Hugo Pu and Jeff McGinnis (who also enjoyed his best finish to date). The three strong players tied for 5th place at 4.5 points give some idea how hard-fought this tournament was and make Lauren’s performance all the more impressive. Full results are in the attached wall chart, thank you to everyone who joined us for this fun, free event and I’ll update the club’s blitz points standings and club blitz ratings in another day or two.
Please note that the club will not meet this week per the listing on our Events page but we will begin our three-week Copa del Menlo rated tournament the following Thursday, September 10th. If you wish to play in that event please register asap via the following link (you only need register for the first round/week):
https://menloparkchess.club/event/copa-del-menlo-round-one/
As always, please let me know if you have any questions or comments and I hope to see many of you on September 10th. Regards,
Mark Drury
We enjoyed another good crowd for our Queen’s Gambit Thematic #1 last week, with forty people taking part in six rounds of 1. d4 d5 2. c4 action using the faster G/3+2 time control. After the final c-pawn was pushed some familiar names stood atop the wall chart, with Austin Chen, Pranav Jindal and Carlos Jerez sharing first place at 5.0 points. Sam Bekker and Yoyo He tied for 4th at 4.5, leaving a long list of strong players at 4.0 to wonder what might have been. This was a fun event and I think the majority of participants preferred the faster G/3+2 time control. Full results are in the attached image and thank you to everyone who joined us for this thematic tournament.
Note that this week Frisco Del Rosario, Brian Chen and Jeff McGinnis will be hosting the club in my absence and there will be a lecture followed by casual play, so bring your clock if you wish to play timed games. The following week we may hold a bughouse tournament for those interested and will offer casual play for those who are not—I hope to see many of you then. Regards,
Mark Drury
