Tag: unrated

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Chess960 Draft Tournament

Our club dabbled in yet another interesting chess variant Thursday with the Chess960 Draft Tournament and, poorly as I did this time around, I think I speak for everyone in stating that the event was a lot of fun, with unusual positions seen in every round. In one of my games I made the cardinal mistake of failing to take stock of immediate threats on my first move and, as a result, lost a pawn and the exchange to a marauding bishop on move 2 or 3, which was mildly embarrassing. The timed draft aspect of this variant really adds something new and different to the game, especially with a relatively short time control like G/7;d3, but players got the hang of it quickly and there were few if any illegal setups that I’m aware of.

Eighteen participants turned out to be perfect for the four rounds we were able to play and congratulations are once again due to Pranav Jindal for another perfect score, his 4-0 result half a point better than Gabe Sanchez’s 3.5 for sole second. David Zhao and Josen Kalra enjoyed another excellent showing with their shared third place finish at 3 points, ahead of some very strong expert-level competition. Thank you to everyone who played in this event, please let me know if you have any feedback and we’ll give it another go later this year. Regards,

Mark Drury

#PlayerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Total
1Pranav JindalW 9B 11W 7B 5
1.02.03.04.04.0
2Gabriel SanchezW 3B 8W 5B 7
1.02.02.53.53.5
3David ZhaoB 2W 16B 17W 9
0.01.02.03.03.0
4Josen KalraW 6B 7W 12B 11
1.01.02.03.03.0
5Alaric SteinB 10W 14B 2W 1
1.02.02.52.52.5
6Kunal ModiB 4W 17B 9W 10
0.01.01.02.02.0
7Wentao WuB 16W 4B 1W 2
1.02.02.02.02.0
8Alex WuW 12W 2B 10W 17
1.01.01.02.02.0
9Michael ByunB 1W 18W 6B 3
0.01.02.02.02.0
10Hayden BrongersmaW 5B 15W 8B 6
0.01.02.02.02.0
11Austin ChenB 13W 1B 14W 4
1.01.02.02.02.0
12Hugo PuB 8W 13B 4B 15
0.01.01.02.02.0
13Richard WangW 11B 12W 16B 14
0.00.01.01.51.5
14Renzo FrigatoW 18B 5W 11W 13
1.01.01.01.51.5
15Jeremy ArthurB 17W 10B 18W 12
0.00.01.01.01.0
16Mark DruryW 7B 3B 13W 18
0.00.00.01.01.0
17Aditya DhamdhereW 15B 6W 3B 8
1.01.01.01.01.0
18Carlos FuertesB 14B 9W 15B 16
0.00.00.00.00.0

Casual, Blitz, Bughouse, 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 are in the offing and we will also play another impromptu blitz tournament (free, no prizes), given there appears to be an appetite for same.

Chess960 Draft Tournament

On the heels of our very successful A4c Variant Tournament, we’ll hold another Chess960 variant tournament, this time using a piece placement draft with the following format and rules:

  • There will likely be 4 or 5 Swiss rounds at G/7;d3 in one or two sections
  • The games will be played with the normal 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 second 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 Chess960
  • 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
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A4c Variant Tournament

We enjoyed an excellent turnout this past Thursday for our first foray into A4c Chess, as we’re styling it (though the variant’s creator may yet object). As a reminder, this variant is best-of-three games against each opponent with ten total minutes on one’s clock, so time management across the two or three games in each match is critical. Indeed, we saw a number of matches in each round where time was used, how shall we say, less than optimally, which led to severe time crunches in the third game and to much clock slapping (sometimes in a vain attempt to stave off the inevitable loss on time)—it definitely made for interesting spectacle and was fun to watch. More information about the variant and the tournament details may be found here.

Twenty-eight people participated in three sections, which worked well for the three rounds we were able to squeeze in during the evening. Below are the results for each section and congratulations are due to winners Kunal (group one), David (group two) and Hayden and Austin (group three). Thank you to everyone who played in this event and the feedback was universally positive, even with the late start, so we’ll definitely play A4c Chess again soon.

Group One

#PlayerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Total
1Kunal ModiB 8W 5B 3
1.02.03.03.0
2Pranav JindalW 7B 3W 6
1.01.52.52.5
3Gabriel SanchezB 4W 2W 1
1.01.51.51.5
4Karim SeadaW 3B 7B 5
0.01.01.51.5
5Wentao WuB 6B 1W 4
1.01.01.51.5
6Alaric SteinW 5B 8B 2
0.01.01.01.0
7Josen KalraB 2W 4W 8
0.00.01.01.0
8Renzo FrigatoW 1W 6B 7
0.00.00.00.0

Group Two

#PlayerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Total
1David ZhaoW 6B 4B 2
1.02.03.03.0
2Paul TanenbaumW 8B 5W 1
1.02.02.02.0
3Pablo JadzinskyB 4W 6B 7
0.01.02.02.0
4Michael ByunW 3W 1B 5
1.01.02.02.0
5Samuel AgdamagB 7W 2W 4
1.01.01.01.0
6Amogh RaoB 1B 3W 8
0.00.01.01.0
7Charles MayvilleW 5B 8W 3
0.01.01.01.0
8Evan SobelB 2W 7B 6
0.00.00.00.0

Group Three

#PlayerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Total
1Hayden BrongersmaW 10B 8B 3
1.02.03.03.0
2Austin ChenW 7B 4W 6
1.02.03.03.0
3Atul DhingraW 9B 5W 1
1.02.02.02.0
4Fadi ArodakiB 12W 2W 8
1.01.02.02.0
5Hugo PuW 11W 3B 7
1.01.02.02.0
6George PurtellB 8W 10B 2
0.01.01.01.0
7Kumaravel MohamkumarB 2W 12W 5
0.01.01.01.0
8Aditya DhamdhereW 6W 1B 4
1.01.01.01.0
9Will KesselmanB 3W 11—-
0.01.0U1.01.0
10Shlok ChowdhuryB 1B 6W 12
0.00.01.01.0
11Victor ChenB 5B 9bye
0.00.00.50.5
12Bud WollW 4B 7B 10
0.00.00.00.0

A4c Variant Tournament

“A4c” or “The Clock (Almost) Never Stops” Variant

Background: One of the strongest blitz players in our club came up with this variant and, after hearing it described, we couldn’t resist holding an informal tournament to give it a try. It involves a good deal of fast chess plus a game within a game (a metagame) centered around how best to manage one’s fixed time allotment over several games.
Concept: Players will play best of 3 games against the same opponent in each round with 10 minutes on their clocks, with no increment or delay. When a game ends, players pause the clock but do not reset the time. They reset the pieces then restart the clock for the next game with the times remaining from the prior game(s). If a player runs out of time they lose the match. If a player wins the majority of the points possible in the 3 games, they win the match (so if a player wins two games and still has time remaining on their clock they win the match). One player gets two games with the white pieces (first and third games) and the other gets preferred clock side for all games.
Oddities: Clock location does not change so one player always keeps it on their preferred side. Typically the players start the game by drawing for colors then whomever wins the draw chooses White or Clockside, but given we’ll be holding a Swiss system tournament the player assigned White in any round gets two whites and the player assigned Black gets to choose clockside. (We could also allow the player who is assigned White by the pairing software to choose color preference or clockside to further complicate the metagame).
Comments: I like the metagame aspect of this format because it incentivizes players to manage their clock across multiple games with tactical decisions (whether it is burning down an opponent’s time when they are ahead on time or resigning quickly to preserve more time for subsequent games). It also allows a stronger slower player to manage their time differently and take more time to win the majority of games (though this is risky if they go into a third game after budgeting time poorly).
Format: As mentioned above, we will play 3 games at Gs/10 over three or possibly four rounds, depending upon when we get started, and we may split players into groups of 8-12 by rating if the tournament doesn’t start very near 7pm (leaving time for just three rounds), so please arrive a little earlier if at all possible.
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Impromptu Blitz #10 Results

We had an excellent turnout for our impromptu blitz tournament last night, with 25 people participating, including a number of first- or second-time visitors—welcome to Munci Inonu, Wyatt Morgan, Pablo Jadzinsky, Evan Sobel, Serena Shinault and Carlos Fuertes and thank you for joining us! Renzo Frigato was able to join us again after a prolonged absence and it was great to see him, as well! This event saw a somewhat unusual 4-way tie for first with four points out of five—congratulations to Munci Inonu, Pranav Jindal, Josen Kalra and David Zhao on their excellent play! The full results for the tournament follow and next week we will play another free, fun-focused tournament using the A4c variant—more details will be on our Events page later today.

#PlayerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Total
1Munci InonuB 16W 9B 7W 13W 2
1.02.02.03.04.04.0
2Pranav JindalW 17B 4W 15W 7B 1
1.02.03.04.04.04.0
3Josen KalraB 12W 18B 16W 6B 7
0.01.02.03.04.04.0
4David ZhaoW 21W 2B 11B 8W 9
1.01.02.03.04.04.0
5Renzo FrigatobyeW 25B 6B 12W 13
0.51.51.52.53.53.5
6Wyatt MorganbyebyeW 5B 3B 16
0.51.02.02.03.03.0
7Olivia SmithB 11W 10W 1B 2W 3
1.02.03.03.03.03.0
8Pablo JadzinskyB 18W 12B 10W 4B 17
1.01.02.02.03.03.0
9Alex WuW 24B 1W 17B 15B 4
1.01.02.03.03.03.0
10Evan SobelW 22B 7W 8B 20W 19
1.01.01.02.03.03.0
11Michael ByunW 7B 22W 4B 24W 15
0.01.01.02.03.03.0
12Austin ChenW 3B 8B 13W 5W 20
1.02.02.02.03.03.0
13Alex SubyeB 20W 12B 1B 5
0.51.52.52.52.52.5
14Mark DruryW 23B 15byebyebye
1.01.01.52.02.52.5
15Jeff McGinnisB 19W 14B 2W 9B 11
1.02.02.02.02.02.0
16Samuel AgdamagW 1B 24W 3B 23W 6
0.01.01.02.02.02.0
17Charles MayvilleB 2W 21B 9B 18W 8
0.01.01.02.02.02.0
18Hayden BrongersmaW 8B 3B 21W 17W 23
0.00.01.01.02.02.0
19Serena ShinaultW 15B 23W 20B 25B 10
0.01.01.02.02.02.0
20Hugo PubyeW 13B 19W 10B 12
0.50.51.51.51.51.5
21Aditya DhamdhereB 4B 17W 18W 22B 24
0.00.00.00.51.51.5
22Shlok ChowdhuryB 10W 11W 24B 21W 25
0.00.00.00.51.51.5
23Brian ChenB 14W 19B 25W 16B 18
0.00.01.01.01.01.0
24Jeff UngarB 9W 16B 22W 11W 21
0.00.01.01.01.01.0
25Carlos FuertesbyeB 5W 23W 19B 22
0.50.50.50.50.50.5
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Impromptu Blitz #9 Results

Due to the miscommunication between rec. center staff and yours truly we postponed the start of our January quads one week, to January 18th, leaving the evening of the 11th free for yet another impromptu blitz tournament. Last night’s affair was a free 5-round G/5+0 affair, one which included 22 players, three of them new visitors to the club (welcome, Anaida, Sandhya and Venugopal!) and saw Pranav emerge victorious, as is often the case. Below are the full results for this event and we will likely hold another impromptu blitz tournament on February 8th—check our Events page for more details when available. Regards,

Mark Drury

#PlayerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Total
1Pranav JindalB 10W 5B 3W 2B 8
1.02.03.04.05.05.0
2Cesar TamondongB 15W 7B 6B 1W 5
1.02.03.03.04.04.0
3Josen KalraB 16W 9W 1B 8W 10
1.02.02.03.04.04.0
4Chris MurphyW 14B 6W 8B 12B 9
1.01.01.02.03.03.0
5Charles MayvilleW 20B 1W 14B 13B 2
1.01.02.03.03.03.0
6David ZhaoB 21W 4W 2B 10W 14
1.02.02.02.03.03.0
7Kornel CsernaiW 12B 2W 11B 16W 15
1.01.01.02.03.03.0
8Venugopal ManiB 17W 19B 4W 3W 1
1.02.03.03.03.03.0
9Nicholas TanW 18B 3W 16B 11W 4
1.01.02.03.03.03.0
10Hayden BrongersmaW 1B 13B 19W 6B 3
0.01.02.03.03.03.0
11Austin ChenB 19W 17B 7W 9W 13
0.01.02.02.03.03.0
12Shlok ChowdhuryB 7W 15B 21W 4B 19
0.01.02.02.03.03.0
13Ashwin GaneshB 22W 10B 20W 5B 11
1.01.02.02.02.02.0
14Michael DarrB 4W 21B 5W 20B 6
0.01.01.02.02.02.0
15Aditya DhamdhereW 2B 12W 18W 19B 7
0.00.01.02.02.02.0
16Joey LoW 3B 18B 9W 7B 21
0.01.01.01.02.02.0
17Brian ChenW 8B 11W 22B 18W 20
0.00.01.01.02.02.0
18Alan ChenB 9W 16B 15W 17B 22
0.00.00.01.02.02.0
19Mark / EstherW 11B 8W 10B 15W 12
1.01.01.01.01.01.0
20Bud WollB 5W 22W 13B 14B 17
0.01.01.01.01.01.0
21Sandhya CW 6B 14W 12B 22W 16
0.00.00.01.01.01.0
22Anaida StepanyanW 13B 20B 17W 21W 18
0.00.00.00.00.00.0
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Schedule Update, Kolty Blitz, Impromptu Blitz #8 Results

I have an important schedule update which I hope everyone receives before next Thursday, December 21st: there will be no chess that evening. I was informed late last Thursday, after most people had left the club for the night, that the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center will close for the holidays Wednesday, December 20th. Our next meeting will be January 11th, then, and I’ll send more details soon about the 3-week quick-rated tournament which begins on that date.

If you still need a chess fix this coming week fret not, as the Kolty Chess Club will hold a 7-round G/3+2 blitz tournament Wednesday, December 20th, one I hope to attend and I’m also hoping our Menlo Park club has another good showing at a Kolty blitz event. Details follow (from the Kolty CC Facebook group):

Remember to make room in your holiday schedule for the Eric Steger Appreciation Blitz Tournament next Wednesday, December 20th. This will be a 7 round Swiss, G3/2, USCF rated event so USCF membership is required. Entry fee is $15/$20 and will be in one open section.

Please preregister by emailing Wolfgang at the KoltyChessClub@gmail.com address.

If you plan to come play please bring a digital clock since the club has very few.

We had 20 club stalwarts play in our impromptu G/5+0 blitz tournament this past Thursday, with relative newcomer Ramkumar Jeyaraman taking sole first with a perfect 5-0 score, followed closely by Gabriel Sanchez and Cesar Tamondong at 4-1, with Cesar once again beating me in the final round on the black side of another Bird. Full results for this event are available in the table below.

Lastly, this past Thursday was Paul Hartel’s final visit to the club, given he returns to Germany soon, and we will miss him a great deal. Paul has been a helpful member of the club for some time now, showing up early to help set up and participating in many of our tournaments this year. His game has improved a great deal during his time here, culminating in an even score in our recently-concluded club championship, we wish him every success in chess and in life and hope to meet him over the board again soon!

#PlayerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Total
1Ram JeyaramanB 13W 4B 3W 2B 5
1.02.03.04.05.05.0
2Gabe SanchezW 18B 10W 5B 1W 6
1.02.03.03.04.04.0
3Cesar TamondongB 19W 7W 1B 12B 9
1.02.02.03.04.04.0
4Charlie MayvilleW 17B 1W 11B 13W 10
1.01.01.52.53.53.5
5Thomas GerberW 8B 12B 2W 7W 1
1.02.02.03.03.03.0
6David ZhaobyeB 18W 9W 16B 2
0.51.52.03.03.03.0
7Josen KalraW 15B 3W 8B 5W 11
1.01.02.02.03.03.0
8Austin ChenB 5W 14B 7W 17W 12
0.01.01.02.03.03.0
9Mark DrurybyeW 11B 6B 10W 3
0.51.52.02.52.52.5
10Rohan KapreB 14W 2B 13W 9B 4
1.01.02.02.52.52.5
11Paul HartelW 20B 9B 4W 19B 7
1.01.01.52.52.52.5
12Hayden BrongersmaB 16W 5B 19W 3B 8
1.01.02.02.02.02.0
13Aditya DhamdhereW 1B 15W 10W 4B 16
0.01.01.01.02.02.0
14Jefferson MateoW 10B 8W 20B 18B 19
0.00.01.01.02.02.0
15Beata Ang-DuttaB 7W 13W 17B 20W 18
0.00.00.01.02.02.0
16Shlok ChowdhuryW 12B 17W 18B 6W 13
0.01.02.02.02.02.0
17Gagan PrakashB 4W 16B 15B 8W 20
0.00.01.01.01.51.5
18Joey LoB 2W 6B 16W 14B 15
0.00.00.01.01.01.0
19Jeff UngarW 3B 20W 12B 11W 14
0.01.01.01.01.01.0
20Maxime GerberB 11W 19B 14W 15B 17
0.00.00.00.00.50.5

Casual, Blitz, Bughouse, Ladder Chess Evening

Our regular weekly club meeting occurs Thursday evenings from 6:00-9:45pm in the Oak Room of the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center. Casual, blitz, bughouse and ladder chess games are in the offing and we may also play another impromptu blitz tournament (free, no prizes), given there appears to be an appetite for same.

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Impromptu Blitz #7 Results, Schedule Updates

We enjoyed a record 31 participants in our Impromptu Blitz #7 last night, a 5-round G/3+2 affair which included no less than nine first-time visitors to the club. As is often the case, Pranav Jindal and Alaric Stein sat atop the wall chart when all was said and done, Pranav taking first this time with a perfect 5-0 while Alaric shared joint second at 4-1 with Cesar Tamondong, who nicked me in the final round with his accursed From’s Gambit (between he and Kornél I’m considering a temporary ban at the club on that particular response to my beloved Bird). Full results for the tournament may be viewed in the attached image.

I’ll update the club’s schedule of events this weekend (https://menloparkchess.club/events/) but we’ll meet December 14th and 21st for casual, blitz or variant tournaments then there will be no meetings December 28th and January 4th, due to the Holidays. Beginning January 11th we’ll hold a 2- or 3-week quick-rated event of some kind, likely G/15, perhaps double-round quads again. As always, let me know your preferences and/or dislikes and I hope to see many of you next week.

#PlayerRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Total
1Pranav JindalB 21W 7B 4W 2W 6
1.02.03.04.05.05.0
2Alaric SteinW 12B 19W 8B 1W 10
1.02.03.03.04.04.0
3Cesar TamondongB 22W 4B 26W 13B 9
1.01.02.03.04.04.0
4Ramkumar JeyaramanW 26B 3W 1B 16B 11
1.02.02.02.53.53.5
5Richard WangB 13W 17B 10W 23W 16
1.01.51.52.53.53.5
6Kornel CsernaibyeW 29B 14W 10B 1
0.51.52.53.53.53.5
7David ZhaoW 31B 1W 18B 14W 15
1.01.01.52.53.53.5
8Gabriel SanchezB 29W 16B 2W 11W 18
1.02.02.02.03.03.0
9Mark DrurybyeW 15B 17byeW 3
0.51.52.53.03.03.0
10Charlie MayvilleW 18B 11W 5B 6B 2
1.02.03.03.03.03.0
11Hayden BrongersmaB 27W 10B 22B 8W 4
1.01.02.03.03.03.0
12Joey LoB 2W 27B 16– 26W 20
0.01.01.0X2.03.03.0
13Paul HartelW 5B 31W 19B 3B 21
0.01.02.02.03.03.0
14Kanav MaheshwaribyeB 20W 6W 7B 23
0.51.51.51.52.52.5
15Rohan KaprebyeB 9W 29W 17B 7
0.50.51.52.52.52.5
16Josen KalraW 23B 8W 12W 4B 5
1.01.02.02.52.52.5
17Taewoo KimW 28B 5W 9B 15B 25
1.01.51.51.52.52.5
18Aditya DhamdhereB 10W 24B 7W 19B 8
0.01.01.52.52.52.5
19Gagan PrakashB 30W 2B 13B 18W 27
1.01.01.01.02.02.0
20Hugo PuB 24W 14B 23W 22B 12
1.01.01.02.02.02.0
21Beata Ang-DuttaW 1B 23W 27B 28W 13
0.00.01.02.02.02.0
22Ugo MadaguW 3B 28W 11B 20W 30
0.01.01.01.02.02.0
23Austin ChenB 16W 21W 20B 5W 14
0.01.02.02.02.02.0
24Taein KimW 20B 18– 31W 25B 28
0.00.0X1.01.02.02.0
25Shlok Chowdhurybye—-—-B 24W 17
0.5U0.5U0.51.51.51.5
26Arjun GoelB 4W 30W 3– 12—-
0.01.01.0F1.0U1.01.0
27Maybeline HinloW 11B 12B 21W 30B 19
0.00.00.01.01.01.0
28Minsoo KimB 17W 22B 30W 21W 24
0.00.01.01.01.01.0
29Amogh RaoW 8B 6B 15—-—-
0.00.00.0U0.0U0.00.0
30Bud WollW 19B 26W 28B 27B 22
0.00.00.00.00.00.0
31Jimmy ChenB 7W 13– 24—-—-
0.00.0F0.0U0.0U0.00.0