Tag: swiss

April Petite Swiss, Round 1

The Menlo Park Chess Club will hold 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. No byes will be available for this event so if you are unable to play all three weeks (April 4th, 11th, 25th) please do not register for the tournament. This event is suitable for experienced players as well as newer US Chess members seeking to establish an over-the-board rating. Details follow:

  • Format: Swiss-system tournament over three weeks, one game per evening
  • Rounds: April 4th, 11th, 25th—games begin promptly at 7:00pm
  • Control: G/45;d5 (Dual-rated game of 45 minutes per player plus a 5-second delay per move)
  • Entry Fee: $10 (PayPal: mark@drury.com; Venmo: @Mark-Drury-12); entire entry fee goes to the prize fund
  • Prizes: Dependent upon group size but for 8 players first receives $40, second $25 and third $15.
  • Byes: No byes are available for this event
  • Register: Please sign up in advance using the ‘Register’ button, above
  • Equipment: Boards, sets, clocks, score sheets and pens will be provided by the Menlo Park Chess Club (bring a clock if you own one)
  • Membership: All tournament participants must be current US Chess members
  • Rules: Our tournament chess rules summary is mandatory reading if you’re new to tournament play
  • Info: For more information please send email to info@menloparkchess.club
  • Social: Join our Facebook group or email list to stay abreast of future club tournaments and events

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.

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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/IDRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Total
1Pranav JindalbyeW 5B 11W 12B 3
0.51.52.53.54.54.5
2Gabe SanchezB 8W 13B 6W 3B 9
1.02.03.03.04.04.0
3Ramkumar JeyaramanB 19W 10B 4B 2W 1
1.02.03.04.04.04.0
4Liam LiuB 16W 12W 3B 7B 6
1.02.02.03.04.04.0
5Kornel CsernaibyeB 1W 21W 13B 12
0.50.51.52.53.53.5
6Lauren GoodkindW 9B 7W 2B 15W 4
1.02.02.03.03.03.0
7Hayden BrongersmaB 20W 6B 19W 4B 16
1.01.02.02.03.03.0
8David ZhaoW 2B 18W 9B 19W 15
0.01.01.02.03.03.0
9Austin ChenB 6W 20B 8W 11W 2
0.01.02.03.03.03.0
10Mark Drury—-B 3byebyebye
X1.01.01.52.02.52.5
11Rohan KaprebyeW 21W 1B 9B 17
0.51.51.51.52.52.5
12Andy ApplebaumW 15B 4W 14B 1W 5
1.01.02.02.02.02.0
13Evan SobelW 17B 2W 15B 5W 19
1.01.01.01.02.02.0
14Renzo FrigatobyebyeB 12W 16B 20
0.51.01.01.02.02.0
15Arnav BhavsarB 12W 16B 13W 6B 8
0.01.02.02.02.02.0
16George PurtellW 4B 15W 18B 14W 7
0.00.01.02.02.02.0
17Brian ChenB 13W 19B 20W 18W 11
0.00.01.02.02.02.0
18Bud WollbyeW 8B 16B 17W 21
0.50.50.50.51.51.5
19Beata Ang-DuttaW 3B 17W 7W 8B 13
0.01.01.01.01.01.0
20Jerome OrielW 7B 9W 17B 21W 14
0.00.00.01.01.01.0
21Gautam DuttabyeB 11B 5W 20B 18
0.50.50.50.50.50.5

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.

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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

#PlayerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Total
1Pranav JindalW 9B 11W 7B 5
1.02.03.04.04.0
2Gabriel SanchezW 3B 8W 5B 7
1.02.02.53.53.5
3David ZhaoB 2W 16B 17W 9
0.01.02.03.03.0
4Josen KalraW 6B 7W 12B 11
1.01.02.03.03.0
5Alaric SteinB 10W 14B 2W 1
1.02.02.52.52.5
6Kunal ModiB 4W 17B 9W 10
0.01.01.02.02.0
7Wentao WuB 16W 4B 1W 2
1.02.02.02.02.0
8Alex WuW 12W 2B 10W 17
1.01.01.02.02.0
9Michael ByunB 1W 18W 6B 3
0.01.02.02.02.0
10Hayden BrongersmaW 5B 15W 8B 6
0.01.02.02.02.0
11Austin ChenB 13W 1B 14W 4
1.01.02.02.02.0
12Hugo PuB 8W 13B 4B 15
0.01.01.02.02.0
13Richard WangW 11B 12W 16B 14
0.00.01.01.51.5
14Renzo FrigatoW 18B 5W 11W 13
1.01.01.01.51.5
15Jeremy ArthurB 17W 10B 18W 12
0.00.01.01.01.0
16Mark DruryW 7B 3B 13W 18
0.00.00.01.01.0
17Aditya DhamdhereW 15B 6W 3B 8
1.01.01.01.01.0
18Carlos FuertesB 14B 9W 15B 16
0.00.00.00.00.0

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
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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

#PlayerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Total
1Kunal ModiB 8W 5B 3
1.02.03.03.0
2Pranav JindalW 7B 3W 6
1.01.52.52.5
3Gabriel SanchezB 4W 2W 1
1.01.51.51.5
4Karim SeadaW 3B 7B 5
0.01.01.51.5
5Wentao WuB 6B 1W 4
1.01.01.51.5
6Alaric SteinW 5B 8B 2
0.01.01.01.0
7Josen KalraB 2W 4W 8
0.00.01.01.0
8Renzo FrigatoW 1W 6B 7
0.00.00.00.0

Group Two

#PlayerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Total
1David ZhaoW 6B 4B 2
1.02.03.03.0
2Paul TanenbaumW 8B 5W 1
1.02.02.02.0
3Pablo JadzinskyB 4W 6B 7
0.01.02.02.0
4Michael ByunW 3W 1B 5
1.01.02.02.0
5Samuel AgdamagB 7W 2W 4
1.01.01.01.0
6Amogh RaoB 1B 3W 8
0.00.01.01.0
7Charles MayvilleW 5B 8W 3
0.01.01.01.0
8Evan SobelB 2W 7B 6
0.00.00.00.0

Group Three

#PlayerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Total
1Hayden BrongersmaW 10B 8B 3
1.02.03.03.0
2Austin ChenW 7B 4W 6
1.02.03.03.0
3Atul DhingraW 9B 5W 1
1.02.02.02.0
4Fadi ArodakiB 12W 2W 8
1.01.02.02.0
5Hugo PuW 11W 3B 7
1.01.02.02.0
6George PurtellB 8W 10B 2
0.01.01.01.0
7Kumaravel MohamkumarB 2W 12W 5
0.01.01.01.0
8Aditya DhamdhereW 6W 1B 4
1.01.01.01.0
9Will KesselmanB 3W 11—-
0.01.0U1.01.0
10Shlok ChowdhuryB 1B 6W 12
0.00.01.01.0
11Victor ChenB 5B 9bye
0.00.00.50.5
12Bud WollW 4B 7B 10
0.00.00.00.0

A4c Variant Tournament

“A4c” or “The Clock (Almost) Never Stops” Variant

Background: One of the strongest blitz players in our club came up with this variant and, after hearing it described, we couldn’t resist holding an informal tournament to give it a try. It involves a good deal of fast chess plus a game within a game (a metagame) centered around how best to manage one’s fixed time allotment over several games.
Concept: Players will play best of 3 games against the same opponent in each round with 10 minutes on their clocks, with no increment or delay. When a game ends, players pause the clock but do not reset the time. They reset the pieces then restart the clock for the next game with the times remaining from the prior game(s). If a player runs out of time they lose the match. If a player wins the majority of the points possible in the 3 games, they win the match (so if a player wins two games and still has time remaining on their clock they win the match). One player gets two games with the white pieces (first and third games) and the other gets preferred clock side for all games.
Oddities: Clock location does not change so one player always keeps it on their preferred side. Typically the players start the game by drawing for colors then whomever wins the draw chooses White or Clockside, but given we’ll be holding a Swiss system tournament the player assigned White in any round gets two whites and the player assigned Black gets to choose clockside. (We could also allow the player who is assigned White by the pairing software to choose color preference or clockside to further complicate the metagame).
Comments: I like the metagame aspect of this format because it incentivizes players to manage their clock across multiple games with tactical decisions (whether it is burning down an opponent’s time when they are ahead on time or resigning quickly to preserve more time for subsequent games). It also allows a stronger slower player to manage their time differently and take more time to win the majority of games (though this is risky if they go into a third game after budgeting time poorly).
Format: As mentioned above, we will play 3 games at Gs/10 over three or possibly four rounds, depending upon when we get started, and we may split players into groups of 8-12 by rating if the tournament doesn’t start very near 7pm (leaving time for just three rounds), so please arrive a little earlier if at all possible.
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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.

#PlayerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Total
1Munci InonuB 16W 9B 7W 13W 2
1.02.02.03.04.04.0
2Pranav JindalW 17B 4W 15W 7B 1
1.02.03.04.04.04.0
3Josen KalraB 12W 18B 16W 6B 7
0.01.02.03.04.04.0
4David ZhaoW 21W 2B 11B 8W 9
1.01.02.03.04.04.0
5Renzo FrigatobyeW 25B 6B 12W 13
0.51.51.52.53.53.5
6Wyatt MorganbyebyeW 5B 3B 16
0.51.02.02.03.03.0
7Olivia SmithB 11W 10W 1B 2W 3
1.02.03.03.03.03.0
8Pablo JadzinskyB 18W 12B 10W 4B 17
1.01.02.02.03.03.0
9Alex WuW 24B 1W 17B 15B 4
1.01.02.03.03.03.0
10Evan SobelW 22B 7W 8B 20W 19
1.01.01.02.03.03.0
11Michael ByunW 7B 22W 4B 24W 15
0.01.01.02.03.03.0
12Austin ChenW 3B 8B 13W 5W 20
1.02.02.02.03.03.0
13Alex SubyeB 20W 12B 1B 5
0.51.52.52.52.52.5
14Mark DruryW 23B 15byebyebye
1.01.01.52.02.52.5
15Jeff McGinnisB 19W 14B 2W 9B 11
1.02.02.02.02.02.0
16Samuel AgdamagW 1B 24W 3B 23W 6
0.01.01.02.02.02.0
17Charles MayvilleB 2W 21B 9B 18W 8
0.01.01.02.02.02.0
18Hayden BrongersmaW 8B 3B 21W 17W 23
0.00.01.01.02.02.0
19Serena ShinaultW 15B 23W 20B 25B 10
0.01.01.02.02.02.0
20Hugo PubyeW 13B 19W 10B 12
0.50.51.51.51.51.5
21Aditya DhamdhereB 4B 17W 18W 22B 24
0.00.00.00.51.51.5
22Shlok ChowdhuryB 10W 11W 24B 21W 25
0.00.00.00.51.51.5
23Brian ChenB 14W 19B 25W 16B 18
0.00.01.01.01.01.0
24Jeff UngarB 9W 16B 22W 11W 21
0.00.01.01.01.01.0
25Carlos FuertesbyeB 5W 23W 19B 22
0.50.50.50.50.50.5