The Menlo Park Chess Club will hold dual-rated quads beginning Thursday, March 5th, using the G/45;d5 time control and playing one game each evening over three successive weeks, with a possible makeup week March 26th. Players will be grouped into quads based upon current US Chess Regular ratings 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: Quads (groups of four players) or perhaps small Swiss sections of 6-8 players over three weeks, one game per evening
- Rounds: March 5th, 12th and 19th with a possible makeup round March 26th — 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 quad will offer a $50 first and $30 second prize with ties splitting the money while any Swiss section prizes will depend upon the number of players therein
- Byes: No byes are available for this event
- Register: Registration is now closed for this event
- Equipment: Boards, sets, clocks, score sheets and pens will be provided by the Menlo Park Chess Club (bring a digital clock if you prefer your own)
- 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, Google group or email list to stay abreast of club news, tournaments and events
The Menlo Park Chess Club will hold dual-rated quads beginning Thursday, March 5th, using the G/45;d5 time control and playing one game each evening over three successive weeks, with a possible makeup week March 26th. Players will be grouped into quads based upon current US Chess Regular ratings 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: Quads (groups of four players) or perhaps small Swiss sections of 6-8 players over three weeks, one game per evening
- Rounds: March 5th, 12th and 19th with a possible makeup round March 26th — 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 quad will offer a $50 first and $30 second prize with ties splitting the money while any Swiss section prizes will depend upon the number of players therein
- 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 digital clock if you prefer your own)
- 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, Google group or email list to stay abreast of club news, tournaments and events
Another twenty-eight players took part in our impromptu blitz tournament Thursday and Pranav Jindal showed once again why he is a perennial threat in these events, cruising to a perfect 7 points in this seven-round G/4;d2 affair. Yoyo He had another strong showing in sole second place with 5.5 points, Breakwell Loyalka was alone in third with 5.0 points and there followed a large number of the usual claimants to the throne at 4.5 and 4.0 points. Full results are in the accompanying table and thank you to everyone who played in this tournament.
I’m also sharing the latest standings in our club blitz ratings ladder/experiment/what have you as well as the point totals for the past three weeks. I’m still pondering exactly where this is headed but a number of ideas are rattling around in the ol’ noggin — please let me know if you have any suggestions, as always.
We have about 30 responses to the club tournament survey I sent a week or so ago and a couple clear preferences are emerging but there’s still time to voice your opinion if you are interested in our next rated or unrated event: https://menloparkchess.club/surveys/survey-three/. I also plan to contact the Kolty Chess Club once again about the possibility of a friendly match with their club, given there were a few requests for that in the survey — more to come soon on that front. Regards,
Mark Drury
I have a request of those of you who may wish to play in our next longer format tournament of some kind, likely to occur in late February and early March. I cobbled together a short survey in an attempt to capture the sort of event which most interests club members at present and it should require but a few seconds to complete — thank you in advance for your participation!
https://menloparkchess.club/surveys/survey-three/
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 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 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 free weekly lecture begins at 6:30pm and it remains one of the highlights of club attendance.
Continuing last week’s free, unrated blitz tournament with a focus on establishing relative club member ratings, we held six rounds of the slightly slower G4;d4 this week and Hayden Brongersma prevailed over 24 other players with 5 points out of six, followed by three very strong players in a tie for second: Pranav Jindal, Breakwell Loyalka and Lauren Goodkind. Full results for the tournament and the updated club ratings follow in the attached images.
We’re still contemplating what we plan to do with this ratings experiment and perhaps that will become more clear as the weeks progress though, again, if you have any bright ideas about what we should be doing please let me know. Regards,
Mark Drury
We tried something a little different beginning with this week’s free, unrated blitz tournament — we gave all thirty players the same beginning rating with the thought that, over the course of 4-5 such blitz events, we’d come to better understand the relative strengths of club members’ blitz play. That, and there’s still some vague idea floating around that we’ll create a ladder, tournament and/or related prize structure based on ratings accrual and other factors over that time. More information will be shared as the idea crystalizes and please let me know if you have any opinions or ideas, of course.
Triet Vo had an excellent result in this large first event with a perfect 7 out of 7 score, while Hayden Brongersma sat alone in second a point behind. Pranav Jindal and Caleb Leong shared third with 5 points, Austin Chen was sole fifth at 4.5 and a swarm of strong players settled for T6 honors at 4 points. Full results are in the attached image and the SwissSys ratings report is also attached (it includes a couple anomalies that I’ll need to investigate). We will continue the blitz ratings folly in the coming weeks and hopefully it will be modestly entertaining as we figure out what we’re actually doing with this experiment. Regards,
Mark Drury
We had a smaller turnout for last week’s lecture and blitz tournament but there was no lack of appetite for the usual seven rounds of G/4;d2 chess. There were quite a few upsets over those seven rounds but Pranav Jindal still prevailed with 5.5 points and sole first place. Jason Wright and young Austin Chen tied for second with 5.0 out of 7 while Hayden Brongersma was alone in fourth with 4.5 points. Full results are in the attached image, congratulations to our winners and thanks to everyone who played in this free, unrated event.
Tonight will be much the same as last week, with a lecture beginning at 6:30pm followed by another free, unrated blitz tournament round 7pm, this time with a G/3+2 time control. I hope to see many of you then! Regards,
Mark Drury
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 free weekly lecture begins at 6:30pm and it remains one of the highlights of club attendance.
