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 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 weekly lecture begins at 6:30pm and it remains one of the highlights of club attendance.
May Dual-Rated G/45;d5 Swiss in Two Sections, Round One
The Menlo Park Chess Club will hold a US Chess dual-rated Swiss tournament in two sections beginning Thursday, May 8th, using the G/45;d5 time control and playing one game each evening over four successive weeks in May. Players will be grouped into two Swiss sections based upon rating to keep things as competitive as possible. This tournament 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 in two sections over four weeks, one game per evening
- Rounds: May 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th—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: $20 (PayPal: mark@drury.com; Venmo: @Mark-Drury-12); entire entry fee goes to the prize fund.
- Prizes: Each of the two sections will have two separate prize groups based upon rating, or four prize groups in total
- Byes: One bye is available for rounds 1-3 with at least one day advance notice—no byes are available for round 4.
- 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 digital clock if you own one)
- Membership: All tournament participants must be current US Chess members for the duration of the event
- 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, Lecture, 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 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 weekly lecture begins at 6:30pm and it remains one of the highlights of club attendance.
Recent Tournament Results & Upcoming Tournaments
Our February Small Swisses concluded March 13th with a couple make-up games and the full results with prize distributions are available on the following page:
https://menloparkchess.club/tournaments/february-small-swisses-final-results-prizes/
Congratulations to Pranav Jindal, Breakwell Loyalka, Amogh Rao and Evan Sobel for winning clear first in their respective sections, with a special shout out to Pranav for the perfect score in his group–well played, all of you! I should also point out that 8 out of 11 of our prize winners were junior players, proving once again the old maxim that “youth will be served!” The full US Chess rating report for this quick-rated event may be viewed here, and thank you to everyone who joined us for this tournament.
Speaking of youth served, the top four finishers in last week’s Impromptu Blitz #34 were all juniors, perhaps for the first time ever in our club but certainly not the last. Breakwell Loyalka secured first alone with 5 out of 6 points after a tough last-round win over Hugo Pu, who tied with Zelin Fang and Austin Chen for second at 4.5 points. Zelin ground me down in the final round and Austin did the same to newcomer (and another strong junior) Cameron Troy. Full results for #34 are in the attached image.
Interestingly, in my third-round game with Breakwell he played some offbeat b4 line as white against my Sicilian and quietly encouraged me to take the pawn, that it was “perfectly safe.” I accepted and soon found my uncastled king and uncoordinated pieces in a world of hurt. Not two rounds later I was seated next to Breakwell and Vinayak Vikram during their game when the same b4 position in the Sicilian arose, and I’m certain I heard the same, now hollow-sounding “perfectly safe” assurances emanating from the white side of the board during that game, as well (with the same result, it seems). Just a heads-up in case you find yourself playing Breakwell and he offers you similar “safety.”
Note that tomorrow evening Frisco will give his lecture from 6:30pm to 7pm and then we will hold another free, informal Freestyle Swiss tournament of 4 or 5 rounds, with a draft format and G/5;d3 time control. More information about the tournament is here and you can register at the club Thursday beginning round 6:30pm. The following week we’ll hold a blind draw bughouse tournament and on April 3rd we’ll begin a four-week, four-round rated Swiss in two sections with a G/45;d5 time control. I’ll send more information about both tournaments in a day or two. As always, I hope to see many of you at the club soon! Regards,
Mark Drury
Freestyle Chess (Chess960) Draft Tournament
A number of people have requested that we revisit Chess960 or, as it’s now styled, Freestyle Chess in another casual tournament so that’s exactly what we’ll do in this event, again using a piece placement draft with the following format and rules:
- There will likely be 4 or 5 Swiss rounds at G/5;d3 in one or two sections
- Registration will occur onsite–please try to arrive by 6:45pm
- The games will be played with the normal Freestyle/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 third 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 Freestyle/Chess960
- More information about castling may be found in chess.com tutorials here and here
- 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
February Small Swisses Rounds 3 & 4 Results
Below are the results from rounds 3 and 4 of our February Small Swisses event along with the tentative pairings for final rounds 5 and 6, to occur on March 6th. The prizes for each section are as follows:
Sections One & Four : $80, $50, $30
Section Two: $60, $40, $20
Section Three: $50, $30
Section One
| # | Name/Rating/ID | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Rd 6 | Total | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pranav Jindal | B 6 | W 6 | W 3 | B 3 | W 4 | B 4 | ||
| 1965p 30628884 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | $80 | |
| 2 | Zelin Fang | W 5 | B 5 | B 8 | W 8 | W 7 | B 7 | ||
| 1851 17083043 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | $50 | |
| 3 | Chase Wang | B 7 | W 7 | B 1 | W 1 | W 5 | B 5 | ||
| 1788 15015852 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 | $30 | |
| 4 | Vedant Verma | W 8 | B 8 | B 5 | W 5 | B 1 | W 1 | ||
| 1733 16994832 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 5 | Jialin Wu | B 2 | W 2 | W 4 | B 4 | B 3 | W 3 | ||
| 1707 30410290 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 2.5 | ||
| 6 | Yash Shah | W 1 | B 1 | W 7 | B 7 | B 8 | W 8 | ||
| 1717 30652191 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 7 | Cesar Tamondong | W 3 | B 3 | B 6 | W 6 | B 2 | W 2 | ||
| 1688 12439091 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 8 | Josen Kalra | B 4 | W 4 | W 2 | B 2 | W 6 | B 6 | ||
| 1639 12615210 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Section Two
| # | Name/Rating/ID | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Rd 6 | Total | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Breakwell Loyalka | B 5 | W 5 | W 3 | B 3 | W 4 | B 4 | ||
| 1526 31569521 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | $60 | |
| 2 | Hayden Brongersma | W 3 | B 3 | B 6 | W 6 | W 5 | B 5 | ||
| 1562 31240441 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | $30 | |
| 3 | Venugopal Mani | B 2 | W 2 | B 1 | W 1 | W 6 | B 6 | ||
| 1500 16419753 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | $30 | |
| 4 | Yaniv Vinish | W 6 | B 6 | W 5 | B 5 | B 1 | W 1 | ||
| 1516p 32105653 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 5 | Hugo Pu | W 1 | B 1 | B 4 | W 4 | B 2 | W 2 | ||
| 1439 31093860 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | ||
| 6 | Justin Dong | B 4 | W 4 | W 2 | B 2 | B 3 | W 3 | ||
| 1598p 17212253 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Section Three
| # | Name/Rating/ID | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Rd 6 | Total | Prize | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amogh Rao | B 3 | W 3 | W 2 | B 2 | B 4 | W 4 | |||
| 1295p 30949341 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | $50 | ||
| 2 | Austin Chen | B 4 | W 4 | B 1 | W 1 | B 3 | W 3 | |||
| 1373 31293249 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | $30 | ||
| 3 | Jeffrey Ungar | W 1 | B 1 | W 4 | B 4 | W 2 | B 2 | |||
| 1202p 16396743 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 2.5 | |||
| 4 | Michael Sherrard | W 2 | B 2 | B 3 | W 3 | W 1 | B 1 | |||
| 1300 12447368 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Section Four
| # | Name/Rating/ID | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Rd 6 | Total | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evan Sobel | B 7 | W 7 | W 5 | B 5 | W 2 | B 2 | ||
| 839p 31860044 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.5 | 4.5 | $80 | |
| 2 | Zelan Fang | W 8 | B 8 | W 6 | B 6 | B 1 | W 1 | ||
| 882 30629764 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 | $50 | |
| 3 | Lua Loyalka | W 5 | B 5 | W 7 | B 7 | B 6 | W 6 | ||
| 813 31569531 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 | $30 | |
| 4 | Lucian Liu | B 6 | W 6 | W 8 | B 8 | W 7 | B 7 | ||
| unr. 32275327 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 5 | Alon Doitel | B 3 | W 3 | B 1 | W 1 | B 8 | W 8 | ||
| unr. 32252326 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 6 | Daniel Jost | W 4 | B 4 | B 2 | W 2 | W 3 | B 3 | ||
| unr. 32292327 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 7 | Tyler Middleton | W 1 | B 1 | B 3 | W 3 | B 4 | W 4 | ||
| unr. 32301163 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 8 | Alfred Davis | B 2 | W 2 | B 4 | W 4 | W 5 | B 5 | ||
| unr. 31939241 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
Casual, Blitz, Lecture, 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 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 weekly lecture begins at 6:30pm and it remains one of the highlights of club attendance.
February Small Swisses Round 1 & 2 Results
Below are the results from rounds 1 and 2 of our February Small Swisses event along with the tentative pairings for rounds 3 and 4, to occur on February 27th. The prizes for each section are as follows:
Sections One & Four : $80, $50, $30
Section Two: $60, $40, $20
Section Three: $50, $30
Section One
| # | Name/Rating/ID | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pranav Jindal | B 7 | W 7 | W 2 | B 2 | |
| 1965p 30628884 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | |||
| 2 | Chase Wang | B 8 | W 8 | B 1 | W 1 | |
| 1788 15015852 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | |||
| 3 | Jialin Wu | B 6 | W 6 | W 4 | B 4 | |
| 1707 30410290 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | |||
| 4 | Vedant Verma | W 5 | B 5 | B 3 | W 3 | |
| 1733 16994832 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | |||
| 5 | Josen Kalra | B 4 | W 4 | W 6 | B 6 | |
| 1639 12615210 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | |||
| 6 | Zelin Fang | W 3 | B 3 | B 5 | W 5 | |
| 1851 17083043 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |||
| 7 | Yash Shah | W 1 | B 1 | W 8 | B 8 | |
| 1717 30652191 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |||
| 8 | Cesar Tamondong | W 2 | B 2 | B 7 | W 7 | |
| 1688 12439091 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Section Two
| # | Name/Rating/ID | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Venugopal Mani | B 6 | W 6 | B 2 | W 2 | |
| 1500 16419753 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | |||
| 2 | Breakwell Loyalka | B 5 | W 5 | W 1 | B 1 | |
| 1526 31569521 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | |||
| 3 | Yaniv Vinish | W 4 | B 4 | W 5 | B 5 | |
| 1516p 32105653 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | |||
| 4 | Justin Dong | B 3 | W 3 | W 6 | B 6 | |
| 1598p 17212253 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | |||
| 5 | Hugo Pu | W 2 | B 2 | B 3 | W 3 | |
| 1439 31093860 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | |||
| 6 | Hayden Brongersma | W 1 | B 1 | B 4 | W 4 | |
| 1562 31240441 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Section Three
| # | Name/Rating/ID | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Rd 6 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Austin Chen | B 2 | W 2 | B 3 | W 3 | B 2 | W 2 | |
| 1373 31293249 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | |||||
| 2 | Michael Sherrard | W 1 | B 1 | B 4 | W 4 | W 1 | B 1 | |
| 1300 12447368 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |||||
| 3 | Amogh Rao | B 4 | W 4 | W 1 | B 1 | B 4 | W 4 | |
| 1295 30949341 | 0.0 | |||||||
| 4 | Jeffrey Ungar | W 3 | B 3 | W 2 | B 2 | W 3 | B 3 | |
| 1202 16396743 | 0.0 |
Section Four
| # | Name/Rating/ID | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zelan Fang | W 8 | B 8 | W 2 | B 2 | |||
| 882 30629764 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | |||||
| 2 | Daniel Jost | W 7 | B 7 | B 1 | W 1 | |||
| unr. 32292327 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | |||||
| 3 | Evan Sobel | B 5 | W 5 | W 6 | B 6 | |||
| 839p 31860044 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | |||||
| 4 | Lua Loyalka | W 6 | B 6 | W 5 | B 5 | |||
| 813 31569531 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | |||||
| 5 | Tyler Middleton | W 3 | B 3 | B 4 | W 4 | |||
| unr. 32301163 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | |||||
| 6 | Alon Doitel | B 4 | W 4 | B 3 | W 3 | |||
| unr. 32252326 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | |||||
| 7 | Lucian Liu | B 2 | W 2 | W 8 | B 8 | |||
| unr. 32275327 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |||||
| 8 | Alfred Davis | B 1 | W 1 | B 7 | W 7 | |||
| unr. 31939241 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
February Small Swisses Round 1 & 2 Pairings
Below are the tentative round 1 and 2 pairings for our February double-round, quick-rated small Swisses in three sections (by rating). These pairings (or even groups) could change before the start of play Thursday, February 13th, but will be updated here if that is the case.
Section One
Section Two
Section Three
Impromptu Blitz #32 Results
We enjoyed another full house at the club last Thursday, with 30 people participating in our free, unrated G/3+2 blitz tournament and with several first-time visitors to boot. Yash Shah proved his blitz mettle once again with 6.5 points out of 7 for clear first, followed a half point behind by Zelin Fang in sole second, while three others tied for third with five points: Alex Chin, Pranav Jindal and Venugopal Mani. Full results are in the attached image, congratulations to our winners and thank you to everyone who joined us for this event!
Regarding our rated quads which begin this week, many people let me know that there is no school in some local districts the week of February 17-21, with many players (parents and/or kids) being out of town on the 20th, so I have rescheduled the quads to occur on February 13th, February 27th and March 6th, with the week of the 20th being another casual night with a lecture and informal blitz tournament. If you wish to play in our quads please register asap on the website: https://menloparkchess.club/event/february-double-round-quick-rated-quads-round-one/.
