The Menlo Park Chess Club will hold two consecutive team blitz tournaments March 9th and 16th, part of a long-promised experiment to see if this format works for our membership. The first event on March 9th will offer free entry and will include either eight teams of 4 players (32), six teams of six players (36) or ten teams of four players (40), depending upon the number of registrations, with a bias for the middle option. The second event on March 16th may include a $5 entry fee, all of which will be returned to the top two or three teams as prizes. If there are six or eight teams the tournament format will be round robin (five or seven rounds, respectively). If there are ten teams the format will be a five-round Swiss. The time control is tentatively G/5 d/2 and may be slightly shorter if there are seven rounds (G/4 d/2).
Sign up individually using the Register button, above, and teams will be crafted using a patent-pending, proprietary algorithm known only to ChatGPT, with the avowed goal of making the event as equitable as possible where rating and/or skill level are concerned. Given the fixed team nature of this event there is little flexibility where the number of participants is concerned, so if you wish to play please sign up early. That said, please do not sign up if you are on the fence about playing next Thursday, as nothing causes more swirl in a team event than late withdrawals or, worse, no-shows.
Shortly after registrations close team rosters and pairings will be shared with all participants. If you need to withdraw for any reason please let the tournament director know as soon as possible, so that a replacement player may be found and the teams rebalanced, as necessary. The first round will begin promptly at 7:00pm so please arrive by 6:45 Thursday to check in. The US Chess Rules of Blitz Chess will be followed for both events with the lone exception that we will observe clock move rather than touch move (the distinction will be shared before the start of the first round). Please send any questions or comments to info@menloparkchess.club and we look forward to seeing you at one or both of these events!
The Menlo Park Chess Club will hold the first of perhaps two consecutive team blitz tournaments, one the week of March 9th and another on March 16th, something of an experiment to see if the format works for our membership. Depending upon the number of entries, we’ll have eight teams of four players (32), six teams of six players (36) or ten teams of four players (40). If there are six or eight teams the format will be round robin, with each team playing every other team; if ten teams we will likely hold a Swiss system tournament of five rounds. The time control will be G/5 d/2 if there are six or ten teams (five rounds), G/4 d/2 if eight teams (seven rounds).
Entry is free for this first tournament, in case there are things which don’t go quite right, with a $5 entry fee planned for the second event (March 16th), one that will make for a reasonable prize fund for the winning team. Everyone will enter individually via the button above and Mark Drury will create the teams based upon a patent-pending, proprietary algorithm known only to him and to ChatGPT. Teams will be announced a day or two before the event and it is hoped that players will notify the tournament director as soon as possible if they need withdraw for any reason, so that teams may be rebalanced as necessary. The tournament will begin promptly at 7pm so please arrive by 6:45 to check in.
Note that, given the team nature of this event, we can only register a certain number of players, so if you try to enter late you may find registrations are closed. That said, please do not register if you are on the fence about playing in the event–late withdrawals or, worse, no-shows are a serious pain in team tournaments such as this. We will follow the US Chess Rules for Blitz Chess for this event, with the lone exception that we’ll be using clock instead of touch move (we’ll explain the distinction before the tournament starts).
Please direct any questions or comments to info@menloparkchess.club and we hope to see you on March 9th and 16th!
We held our first blitz tournament of the year last night with 28 players participating in two sections. Section A, an 8-player round robin, was won by FM Shawnak Shivakumar with the statement score of 6.5 out of 7 points. Adithya Karavadi took second with 5 points and Alaric Stein rounded out the top three of this hard-fought group with 4.5 points.
Newcomer Samuel Agdamag won Section B, a 5-round Swiss event, with a score of 4.5 points, while Jörg Lamprecht, Kornél Csernaiand youthful Sahil Shivakumar tied for second with 4 points each. Congratulations to our winners—Shawnak and Samuel took home $25 Kepler’s Books gift certificates for their efforts—and thank you to everyone who joined us last night (including our five first-time visitors)!
I’ll send information later today or tomorrow about the USCF-rated tournament which begins next Thursday, a 4-round Swiss event in one section with a G/45 d/5 time control, and I hope many of you will be able to join us then. Regards,
We’ll hold our first blitz tournament of 2023, a free 4- or 5-round G/3+2 unrated event in two sections, assuming there are sufficient entries. Clock move (as opposed to touch move) and all other US Chess blitz rules apply. First place in each section wins a $25 Kepler’s gift certificate; ties will be settled with a G/3+0 playoff. The first round will begin promptly at 7:15–please register ahead of time via the button, above, or arrive no later than 7:00 to register on-site. Entries are limited to 32 players so register early if you plan to play.
Last night we held another single-section Swiss-system blitz tournament, a G/3+2 affair with 24 players and, as with last week, Kunal Modi mowed through the field for another perfect 5 of 5 result. Adam Stevens and Aaron Cho tied for second with 4 points and all three received $25 Kepler’s Books gift certificates for their exertions. Congratulations to our winners and thank you to everyone who participated in this event, our last of the year!
It’s hard to believe the club will observe its one year anniversary when we next meet January 5th and it has been far more successful than I would have imagined in January or February of this year. For my part, the greatest reward is meeting so many of you fine people, both at the club and online. Thank you for your participation and support over the course of the year, have a great Holiday season and a safe New Year and here’s hoping next year will be even better! Regards,
Our final meeting and tournament of 2022, we’ll play 5 or 6 rounds of G/3+2 blitz in a single Swiss section or, depending upon turnout, we may hold 4- or 6-person round robins based on rating (or some estimation thereof). We’ll begin promptly at 7:15pm so please register ahead of time via the button on this page or arrive no later than 7:00pm Wednesday if you plan to play in this event. Registration is free, the tournament will be limited to 36 players and prizes include Kepler’s Books gift certificates.
Twenty people joined us last night for a Swiss G/3+2 blitz tournament of five rounds, including several first-time visitors, among them first-place finisher Kunal Modi, who was a perfect 5 for 5 even though he faced stiff competition in Shahin Aghevli (2nd), Karim Seada (3rd) and a host of strong players tied for 4th at 3 points. Congratulations to Kunal, Shahin and Karim and thank you to everyone who played in this event!
We’ll hold another blitz event next week to close out the year (the club won’t meet December 21st or 28th), either another single-section Swiss tourney or 4- or 6-player round robins, depending upon turnout, with Kepler’s Books gift certificates serving as prizes. I’ll send an event invite for that tournament later today. Regards,
We’ll hold a casual 5-round G/3+2 blitz tournament as something of a warmup for our club’s blitz championship, to occur the following Wednesday, December 14th. Tomorrow’s event will either be one single Swiss section or, depending upon turnout, we may hold 6-person round robins based on rating (or some estimation thereof). We’ll begin “promptly” at 7:15pm so please show up no later than 7:00 if you plan to play in this event. There should also be people on hand for informal or other non-tournament games.
Yesterday evening we held a four-round double blitz G/3+2 tournament and twenty-nine people participated. In this particular event two games were contested in each round, one as white and one as black with the same opponent, which is relatively uncommon in Swiss system tournaments.
After three rounds no less than nine players had a reasonable chance at a prize, but after the dramatic fourth round concluded WFM Olivia Smith claimed sole first place with seven out of eight points and took home the $30 Kepler’s Books gift certificate.
The tie for second between blitz mavens Pranav Jindal, Alaric Stein and Andy Shih, each with 6.5 points, resulted in not one but two G/3+0 round robin playoffs for the remaining prizes, given the first ended in yet another three-way tie. Would that we had recorded these games as there was some very interesting chess, no matter the time control, including wild swings of fortune in a single game. Pranav proved victorious in the second playoff and collected the $20 gift certificate while Alaric pocketed $10 (Andy received a firm consolation handshake).
Blitz tournaments clearly bring the crowds to our club so we’ll continue holding at least one of these each month as our schedule and interest allow. As always, please let me know if you have suggestions for other chess activities and I hope to see you at the club soon!
Eighteen brave souls took part in our four-round Fischer Random/Chess960 tournament this past Wednesday, with Alaric Stein cooly claiming yet another first place in club events and taking the $20 Feldman’s Books gift certificate with a perfect score. Pranav Jindal, Adam Stevens, Alexander Su and Adithya Karavadi tied for second with three points apiece and, after a tense G/3+0 blitz playoff, Adam won the $15 second prize gift certificate and Adithya the $10 third.
Everyone appeared to enjoy this event, even with pieces hanging left and right, so we may try the variant again soon if people wish to do so. The starting positions for each round are listed in the image, below, please let me know if you have any questions about this tournament and a hearty “thank you!” to everyone who participated.
