Well, after three and a half years of deftly avoiding the infernal virus my wife and I tested positive for COVID Tuesday afternoon. Kim feels worse than I do and may have gotten it earlier (my symptoms are like a bad cold with body aches but will likely worsen). This clearly throws a wrench in the club championship which was supposed to begin Thursday but I’m hoping I’ll test negative well before October 12th and perhaps we can begin then (I’m reasonably certain I wasn’t contagious last Thursday). This again highlights the need for another tournament director in the club, when my absences would be a non-issue. I know a few members are interested in directing so perhaps we can make this happen early next year.
You are still welcome to stop by the club Thursday, of course, but you’ll need to bring your own equipment and set up the room for play (and return the tables to the center of the room before you leave). I’m very sorry for the delay but I’m certain everyone understands, and I hope to see many of you at the club next week! Regards,
We enjoyed another excellent turnout for our casual evening this past Thursday and 26 people played in our impromptu G/2+3 double-round blitz tournament (two games played against each opponent), with Andy Applebaum taking sole first with a perfect 8 points. One point behind in sole second was first-time club visitor Ramkumar Jeyaraman, while Cesar Tamondong claimed sole third with 6 points. Of particular note was the result of Hayden Brongersma at 5 points, a young player who seems to get stronger each week and, if memory serves, only took up the game seriously earlier this year. Full results for the tournament are given below and we’ll continue to offer these blitz events (with different formats and time controls) on casual nights given it’s clearly what club membership wishes to do.
The Menlo Park Chess Club will hold our second annual club championship beginning Thursday, October 26th, at 7pm, a five-round USCF-rated Swiss system event using the dual-rated G/60;d5 time control over five weeks . 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 past 9pm on a school night. Additionally, if your child has trouble sitting still or remaining quiet for an hour or two then we would humbly request that you consider registering him or her in one of our other rated events and forego the club championship (we love our junior players but there are a few who truly struggle to remain quiet during even the shorter time controls). Details follow:
Format: Five-round Swiss-system tournament in one section, one game per evening
Rounds: October 26th, November 2nd, 9th, 16th and 30th—games begin promptly at 7:00pm (there is no round on November 23rd, Thanksgiving)
Control: G/60;d5 (dual-rated game of 60 minutes for each player plus a 5-second delay per move)
Entry Fee: $15 (the entire entry fee will be returned in prizes)
Prizes:Â Four prize groups based upon ratings with roughly 8 players per prize group (Group 1: $100, $60, $40; Group 2: $80, $60, $40; Group 3: $60, $40, $20; Group 4: $60, $40, $20, with adjustments as needed based on group size)
Byes: One half-point bye is available for any round save the last
Boards, sets, clocks, score sheets and pens will be provided by the Menlo Park Chess Club (bring a clock if you own one)
The Menlo Park Chess Club will hold our second annual club championship beginning Thursday, October 26th, at 7pm, a five-round USCF-rated Swiss system event using the dual-rated G/60;d5 time control over five weeks . 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 past 9pm on a school night. Additionally, if your child has trouble sitting still or remaining quiet for an hour or two then we would humbly request that you consider registering him or her in one of our other rated events and forego the club championship (we love our junior players but there are a few who truly struggle to remain quiet during even the shorter time controls). Details follow:
Format: Five-round Swiss-system tournament in one section, one game per evening
Rounds: October 26th, November 2nd, 9th, 16th and 30th—games begin promptly at 7:00pm (there is no round on November 23rd, Thanksgiving)
Control: G/60;d5 (dual-rated game of 60 minutes for each player plus a 5-second delay per move)
Entry Fee: $15 (the entire entry fee will be returned in prizes)
Prizes:Â Four prize groups based upon ratings with roughly 8 players per prize group (Group 1: $100, $60, $40; Group 2: $80, $60, $40; Group 3: $60, $40, $20; Group 4: $60, $40, $20, with adjustments as needed based on group size)
Byes: One half-point bye is available for any round save the last
Boards, sets, clocks, score sheets and pens will be provided by the Menlo Park Chess Club (bring a clock if you own one)
The Menlo Park Chess Club will hold our second annual club championship beginning Thursday, October 26th, at 7pm, a five-round USCF-rated Swiss system event using the dual-rated G/60;d5 time control over five weeks . 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 past 9pm on a school night. Additionally, if your child has trouble sitting still or remaining quiet for an hour or two then we would humbly request that you consider registering him or her in one of our other rated events and forego the club championship (we love our junior players but there are a few who truly struggle to remain quiet during even the shorter time controls). Details follow:
Format: Five-round Swiss-system tournament in one section, one game per evening
Rounds: October 26th, November 2nd, 9th, 16th and 30th—games begin promptly at 7:00pm (there is no round on November 23rd, Thanksgiving)
Control: G/60;d5 (dual-rated game of 60 minutes for each player plus a 5-second delay per move)
Entry Fee: $15 (the entire entry fee will be returned in prizes)
Prizes:Â Four prize groups based upon ratings with roughly 8 players per prize group (Group 1: $100, $60, $40; Group 2: $80, $60, $40; Group 3: $60, $40, $20; Group 4: $60, $40, $20, with adjustments as needed based on group size)
Byes: One half-point bye is available for any round save the last
Boards, sets, clocks, score sheets and pens will be provided by the Menlo Park Chess Club (bring a clock if you own one)
The Menlo Park Chess Club will hold our second annual club championship beginning Thursday, October 26th, at 7pm, a five-round USCF-rated Swiss system event using the dual-rated G/60;d5 time control over five weeks . 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 past 9pm on a school night. Additionally, if your child has trouble sitting still or remaining quiet for an hour or two then we would humbly request that you consider registering him or her in one of our other rated events and forego the club championship (we love our junior players but there are a few who truly struggle to remain quiet during even the shorter time controls). Details follow:
Format: Five-round Swiss-system tournament in one section, one game per evening
Rounds: October 26th, November 2nd, 9th, 16th and 30th—games begin promptly at 7:00pm (there is no round on November 23rd, Thanksgiving)
Control: G/60;d5 (dual-rated game of 60 minutes for each player plus a 5-second delay per move)
Entry Fee: $15 (the entire entry fee will be returned in prizes)
Prizes:Â Four prize groups based upon ratings with roughly 8 players per prize group (Group 1: $100, $60, $40; Group 2: $80, $60, $40; Group 3: $60, $40, $20; Group 4: $60, $40, $20, with adjustments as needed based on group size)
Byes: One half-point bye is available for any round save the last
Boards, sets, clocks, score sheets and pens will be provided by the Menlo Park Chess Club (bring a clock if you own one)
The Menlo Park Chess Club will hold our second annual club championship beginning Thursday, October 26th, at 7pm, a five-round USCF-rated Swiss system event using the dual-rated G/60;d5 time control over five weeks . 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 past 9pm on a school night. Additionally, if your child has trouble sitting still or remaining quiet for an hour or two then we would humbly request that you consider registering him or her in one of our other rated events and forego the club championship (we love our junior players but there are a few who truly struggle to remain quiet during even the shorter time controls). Details follow:
Format: Five-round Swiss-system tournament in one section, one game per evening
Rounds: October 26th, November 2nd, 9th, 16th and 30th—games begin promptly at 7:00pm (there is no round November 23th, Thanksgiving)
Control: G/60;d5 (dual-rated game of 60 minutes for each player plus a 5-second delay per move)
Entry Fee: $15 (the entire entry fee will be returned in prizes)
Prizes:Â Four prize groups based upon ratings with roughly 8 players per prize group (Group 1: $100, $60, $40; Group 2: $80, $60, $40; Group 3: $60, $40, $20; Group 4: $60, $40, $20, with adjustments as needed based on group size)
Byes: One half-point bye is available for any round save the last
Register: Please sign up in advance using the ‘Register’ button, above
Boards, sets, clocks, score sheets and pens will be provided by the Menlo Park Chess Club (bring a clock if you own one)
We enjoyed another good turnout for our casual evening this past Thursday and 24 people played in our impromptu G/2+3 double-round blitz tournament (two games played against each opponent), with Andy, Pranav and Alaric sharing first place with 7 out of 8 points. The time control was a bit unusual and was chosen solely because we wished to try something different, something a little faster than normal. I don’t know that we’ll play G/2+3 again as it was not obviously better than G/3+2 or the like but it was perhaps worth trying. We’ll play another impromptu blitz tournament next week (September 28th) and our club championship will begin the following week, October 5th. Regards,
There was another good turnout for our casual evening this past Thursday and twenty people played in the 4-round G/5+0 blitz tournament, won (yet again) by Pranav Jindal with a perfect 4-0 score, followed by Kunal Modi, Nikita Grinkin, Satya Chitturi and yours truly at 3 points. At the conclusion of this tournament quite a few people wanted to play another 4-rounder but we simply didn’t have time–perhaps if we manage to start earlier we can hold two complete blitz tournaments in one evening. Regards,
Our casual/blitz/bughouse evening this past Thursday was more lightly attended than usual, perhaps due to the upcoming Labor Day Weekend and the fact that we completed our Quick-rated tournament the week before, but many club stalwarts and several first-time visitors played in a five-round impromptu blitz tournament, with Andy Applebaum taking sole first with a perfect 5-0 score (I gave Andy a run for him money in the final round). Satya Chitturi was second with 4 points and Jeff McGinnis third at 3.5. It was another fun event and we may do this every casual evening as there appears to be an appetite for it. Full results follow and note that our Surfeit of Blitz Redux event will likely occur over two weeks September 23rd and 30th. Regards,
