unrated Archives - Page 12 of 14 - Menlo Park Chess Club

September 9, 2023September 9, 2023

Impromptu G/5+0 Blitz Tournament #4

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,

Mark Drury

#	Player	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Total
1	Pranav Jindal	B 15	W 5	B 4	W 2
		1.0	2.0	3.0	4.0	4.0
2	Kunal Modi	W 16	B 9	W 3	B 1
		1.0	2.0	3.0	3.0	3.0
3	Nikita Grinkin	B 12	W 11	B 2	W 6
		1.0	2.0	2.0	3.0	3.0
4	Satya Chitturi	W 17	B 13	W 1	B 10
		1.0	2.0	2.0	3.0	3.0
5	Mark Drury	B 18	B 1	W 14	W 11
		1.0	1.0	2.0	3.0	3.0
6	David Zhao	W 14	B 8	W 9	B 3
		0.5	1.5	2.5	2.5	2.5
7	Hugo Pu	bye	bye	B 12	W 14
		0.5	1.0	2.0	2.5	2.5
8	Josen Kalra	W 13	W 6	B 19	B 17
		0.0	0.0	1.0	2.0	2.0
9	Cesar Tamondong	B 20	W 2	B 6	W 18
		1.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	2.0
10	Rohan Kapre	bye	bye	B 18	W 4
		0.5	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
11	Arnav Bhavsar	B 19	B 3	W 13	B 5
		1.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
12	Eddie Zhao	W 3	B 20	W 7	B 19
		0.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	2.0
13	Hayden Brongersma	B 8	W 4	B 11	W 16
		1.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	2.0
14	Aditya Dhamdhere	B 6	W 15	B 5	B 7
		0.5	1.5	1.5	2.0	2.0
15	Ashwin Ganesh	W 1	B 14	W 17	B 20
		0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	1.0
16	Kornel Csernai	B 2	W 18	W 20	B 13
		0.0	0.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
17	Michael Darr	B 4	W 19	B 15	W 8
		0.0	0.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
18	Jeff Ungar	W 5	B 16	W 10	B 9
		0.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
19	Kyan Agdassi	W 11	B 17	W 8	W 12
		0.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
20	Paul Hartel	W 9	W 12	B 16	W 15
		0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

September 2, 2023September 2, 2023

Impromptu G/3+2 Blitz Tournament #3

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,

Mark Drury

#	Player	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Total
1	Andy Applebaum	B 8	W 4	B 2	W 9	B 7
		1.0	2.0	3.0	4.0	5.0	5.0
2	Satya Chitturi	W 10	B 9	W 1	B 6	W 4
		1.0	2.0	2.0	3.0	4.0	4.0
3	Jeff McGinnis	bye	bye	bye	B 11	B 9
		0.5	1.0	1.5	2.5	3.5	3.5
4	Deep Bardhan	W 11	B 1	W 7	B 10	B 2
		1.0	1.0	2.0	3.0	3.0	3.0
5	Aranya Kundu	W 12	W 14	B 6	B 15	W 10
		0.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	3.0	3.0
6	Chase Wang	W 7	B 16	W 5	W 2	B 12
		0.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	3.0	3.0
7	Mark Drury	B 6	W 12	B 4	bye	W 1
		1.0	2.0	2.0	2.5	2.5	2.5
8	Hayden Brongersma	W 1	B 11	W 16	B 13	—-
		0.0	0.5	1.5	2.5	U2.5	2.5
9	Ashwin Ganesh	B 17	W 2	B 12	B 1	W 3
		1.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
10	Arnav Bhavsar	B 2	W 17	B 14	W 4	B 5
		0.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
11	Hugo Pu	B 4	W 8	B 17	W 3	W 13
		0.0	0.5	1.5	1.5	2.0	2.0
12	Esther Mendoza	B 5	B 7	W 9	W 14	W 6
		1.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0
13	Colin Taylor	bye	bye	bye	W 8	B 11
		0.5	1.0	1.5	1.5	2.0	2.0
14	Aditya Dhamdhere	W 16	B 5	W 10	B 12	B 17
		1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	2.0
15	Abhik Chatterjee	bye	bye	bye	W 5	B 16
		0.5	1.0	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5
16	Michael Darr	B 14	W 6	B 8	W 17	W 15
		0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	1.0
17	Paul Hartel	W 9	B 10	W 11	B 16	W 14
		0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

August 8, 2023September 2, 2023

Impromptu G/3+2 Blitz Tournament #2

We had another good showing at our casual night this past Thursday and threw together a second impromptu G/3+2 blitz tournament, which Pranav won with a perfect 4-0 score. Full results are below for the curious. We’re overdue to host our second Surfeit of Blitz marathon so that may happen in September or October, at the latest.

Our August Quick-Rated Double-Round Quads begin this Thursday and I’ll send the groups and round-by-round pairings later today or tomorrow. Note that we have one extra spot in the larger Swiss section for someone rated 750 or below—please contact me if you or someone you know may wish to play some quick-rated games over the coming three weeks. Regards,

Mark Drury

June 2, 2023June 2, 2023

Isles of Blood and Spices Blitz Results

We enjoyed an excellent turnout for our 5-round G/5 Isles of Blood and Spices Blitz tournament last night, with 28 players vying in one Open section for modest cash prizes in three ratings groups. Congratulations to Pranav and Adam S. for shared first overall, to Lasha and Nicholas for shared first 1000-1499 (and their excellent 4.0 result) and to young Siddharth for yet another strong showing in taking first alone in the U1000 group, with Hayden, Marc and Trinton tying for second a point behind. The common lament heard during this event was that “I was n moves away from mate or a draw but lost on time!” so we may revisit an increment or delay during our next blitz tournament. The full results may be seen in the attached image—I’ll follow up with prize winners about payment and, as always, please let me know if you have questions or if a correction is needed.

Our next tournament will be a 3-round, dual-rated G/30;d5 Swiss over three weeks beginning June 15th, and we’ll again offer 2, 3 or 4 sections to keep the ratings within groups as close as possible. The entry fee is $5, all of which will be returned in cash prizes. More information and a registration button may be found here: https://menloparkchess.club/event/june-dual-rated-short-swiss-round-1/. Note that you only need register for round 1 of this event and you’re good for all three rounds.

As mentioned at the club last night, I may be out of town next Thursday, June 8th, but I’ll try to find someone to bring the chess equipment to the club in my stead. If that turns out to be impracticable we may still open for casual/blitz/bughouse/ladder play but you’ll need to bring your own equipment, is all. I’ll send another note once I know more. Regards,

Mark Drury

Isles of Blood and Spices Blitz

In a final homage to Mervyn Peake—for now—the Menlo Park Chess Club will hold an unrated 5-round tournament with a G/5 time control (no increment or delay) in one section over one evening Thursday, June 1st, our Isles of Blood and Spices Blitz. The entry fee is $5, all of which will be returned in prize money, the distribution of which will be based on ratings groupings and number of entries. Games played during this event which meet our blitz ladder criteria will also impact ladder standings. Entries are limited to 32 players so please register early using the button, above, and provide a US Chess ID or Lichess.org/Chess.com handle to give some idea of your blitz strength. The first round begins promptly at 7pm—please check in at the club no later than 6:45pm!

May 18, 2023May 18, 2023

MPCC Ladders

This evening we’ll host casual, blitz and bughouse play at the club but will also open up our Blitz and Quick ladders a little early for those seeking to climb either. The idea remains to run each ladder for three months and award points for ladder games as one would an ordinary Swiss, where a win is one point, a draw half a point and a loss zero points, and we may also incorporate a bonus for the person or persons who climb the most rungs during each three-month period.

As mentioned during the Quick Swiss last week, Chess.com is sponsoring some nice prizes, including 1-month Diamond memberships for three club members every month, which we will award to ladder participants based on monthly results, with some additional prizes awarded for one’s three-month performance. If you’ve read this far, you deserve a little prize already—please use the following link to get Chessable Pro free for one month, another benefit Chess.com is passing along to affiliate clubs such as ours: http://chessable.com/MenloParkChessClub.

More information about our ladders, along with rules and initial standings based upon our two most recent tournaments, may be found here: https://menloparkchess.club/ladders/ (if you wish to be added to either ladder just let me know). Questions? Send a message to info@menloparkchess.club or see me at the club tonight. Regards,

Mark Drury

May 4, 2023May 9, 2023

Raphael Yelluas Memorial Blitz

The Raphael Yelluas Memorial Blitz event held last night at the Kolty Chess Club was a great success, with a very large turnout split into two sections, 1600+ and U1600. The Menlo Park club was well represented and saw excellent results from the likes of Cesar, Adam, Kunal, Marshall, Nicholas, Samuel, Ashwin, Alex Chin, Shahin Aghevli, Josen Kalra, Michael Ho and certainly others I’m forgetting at present.

I don’t have the official results but I believe IM Grisha Kotlyar and CM Badamkhand Norovsambuu tied for first in the 1600+ section, while Menlo Park Chess Club stalwarts Nicholas Tan and Samuel Agdamag shared first in the U1600 section, after an exciting final-round draw between the two (both undefeated to that point!).

The photos below are from the first round, with Cesar and Badamkhand squaring off on board two while I had the pleasure of playing Grisha on board one. We began an interesting Dutch game of a dozen or so moves until I may have been on the verge of losing a pawn or some positional concession but instead opted to boldly hang my queen, from which auspicious start I never left the bottom boards for the rest of the night. Grisha was gracious in victory, however, and may visit our club at some point to play blitz with members and/or give a lecture of some kind.

A big thank you to Wolfgang Behm, George Jeffers, Carl Lumma, Grisha Kotlyar and all the other Kolty Chess Club Players who made this happen—it was a great event!

IM Grisha Kotlyar and Mark Drury before their round one game

Cesar Tamondong and CM Badamkhand Norovsambuu before their round one game

April 28, 2023May 3, 2023

Mad Hatter Ladder Blitz Swiss Results

We enjoyed another full house Thursday night, April 27th, for our Mad Hatter Ladder Blitz Swiss, with perhaps eight people playing in their first over-the-board event. I didn’t do justice to the name of this tournament, given I had five different Mad Hatter-worthy variations prepared for each of the five rounds, but in reading the room we went with straight-up chess and I think that was the right call (we may partake of those variations later this year).

Kunal enjoyed another perfect result with his 5-0 score, one point ahead of second-place finishers Alex, Pranav, Adam, Amós and Kornél (who is likely the world’s strongest Class D player). The tournament started just a few minutes after 7pm and finished round 8:30, so a huge thank you to everyone for checking in early, as requested, and for joining us last night!

As a reminder, the club will soon host ladders for blitz and slower games and last night’s event was the seed tournament for our blitz ladder. I’ll create a page on the website for the ladder and will include the rules on that page, but the thinking is we’ll offer some nice prizes for those who are most active (or some similar criteria) on the ladder over the remainder of the year. More details about that will follow soon.

Mad Hatter Ladder Blitz Swiss

The Menlo Park Chess Club will hold a free, unrated 5-round blitz tournament with a G/5+0 time control in one section over one evening, April 27th, and the outcome of this event will determine the initial positions on the club’s blitz ladder (more details about the ladder and possible prizes associated with it over the course of the year will be shared soon). The first round begins promptly at 7pm, please check in at the club no later than 6:45pm!

April 7, 2023April 13, 2023

“Tower of Flints” Bughouse Swiss Results

Fourteen club stalwarts and six new visitors played in our first Bughouse Swiss tournament this past Thursday and the fact that Robert’s team claimed first prize with a perfect 4-0 was a surprise to no one, given his strength in this format. Robert’s teammate, John Vitlacil, and I go way back to the Burlingame Chess Club circa the late 1980s, where we played a number of tournament games against one another, so it was great to see him again after so many decades. We also had four or five first-time visitors who played casual and blitz chess Thursday, opting not to play in the tournament, which is always an option if you’re not a fan of any specific format or variant.

Congratulations are also due to teams Amogh / Pranav and newcomers Nirvan / Rachel for their second-place tie at 3 points, ahead of four teams with 2 points. For my part, I weighed poor Andres down with moves like 2. f4 in my game against Kornél, when his teammate, Jerome, extracted a pawn to drop on my f2 square with check, leading to a very quick, instructional and most embarrassing forced mate several moves later. I have no future in bughouse but I’ll continue playing it for the humor value, alone.

As much fun as this bughouse tournament was, I think we’ll forego the second such event scheduled for April 13th, given the format (chiefly the makeup of the teams) still needs some thought to make it appealing to a larger swath of our regular players. Please let me know if you have any feedback, good or bad, thanks to all of you who played in this event and we’ll most likely try the format again in the near future.