Tag: uscf

February “Mud Month” Mini-Marathon, Round 1

The Menlo Park Chess Club will hold our first rated tournament of 2023 beginning Thursday, February 2nd, at 7pm, a four round USCF-rated Swiss-system event over four weeks using the dual-rated G/45 d/5 time control. This tournament is suitable for experienced players as well as newer US Chess members seeking to establish an over-the-board rating. (“Mud Month” comes from the Old English “Solmonath,” another name for February—it may also signify “Hearthcake Month” if you prefer Bede, though the former is more apropos to the Bay Area at present.) Details follow:

  • Format: Four round Swiss-system tournament in one section, one game per evening
  • Rounds: February 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd—games begin promptly at 7:00pm
  • Control: G/45 d/5 (dual-rated game of 45 minutes for each player plus a 5-second delay per move)
  • Entry Fee: $5 (PayPal: mark@drury.com; Venmo: @Mark-Drury-12), entire entry fee goes to the prize fund.
  • Prizes: Players will be divided into 3 or more groups based on rating and number of participants; the top scorer in each group wins the group’s share of the prize fund (any ties will split the cash prize).
  • Byes: Half-point byes are available for any round except the last
  • Register: Please sign up in advance using the ‘Register’ button above
  • Boards, sets and clocks will be provided by the Menlo Park Chess Club (bring a clock if you own one)
  • All tournament participants must be current US Chess members
  • Our tournament chess rules summary is worth perusing if you’re new to tournament play
  • For more information please send email to info@menloparkchess.club or tweet @MenloParkChess
  • Join our Facebook group to stay abreast of future club tournaments and events
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Club Championship Playoff Results

Our club championship blitz playoff for the 2nd-3rd overall, Under-1500 and Under-1000 prizes took place this past Wednesday in our skittles room and, after all the flags fell, Pranav Jindal took 2nd with 2.5/3 points, Andy Shih secured 3rd with 1.5 points and Cesar Tamondong and Aaron Cho tied for 4th-5th with 1 point apiece (Pranav and Andy are pictured together, below).

The U1500 group was all tied after the first round robin with each player securing the needed 1 point, but Peter Roumeliotis prevailed in the second go-round, winning the first two games against Roshan Mahanth and Anton Bobkov. Oisin Harrington wasn’t able to join us for the U1000 playoff so Banks Bennion and Benjamin Sergeant played a best-of-three blitz match, one wherein Banks’ savvy use of the clock and excellent play got the better of Benjamin over two games (Peter and Banks are also pictured below with their winnings).

Congratulations to all of our playoff contestants and winners and, again, thank you to everyone who played in this event–please let me know if you have any feedback, good or bad, which will help make future tournaments better. Regards,

Mark Drury

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Club Championship Final Standings

Wednesday’s final round of our club championship offered up yet more exciting chess and a number of time scrambles which impacted the standings, and when all was said and done unrated Adithya Karavadi (pictured below on the left) stood alone atop the wall chart with 4.5 out of 5 points. Adithya’s first provisional rating will likely be Expert level when this event is rated, which should occur no later than Monday or Tuesday. Five people tied for second place with 4 points: Pranav Jindal, Aaron Cho, Andy Shih, Daniel Francis and Cesar Tamondong. Well done, all of you!

Roshan Mahanth, Anton Bobkov and Peter Roumeliotis tied for the Under-1500 prize with 3 points apiece, while the Under-1000 prize also saw a 3-way tie between Oisin Harrington, Benjamin Sergeant and Banks Bennion, all at 2 points. The ties will be settled over the board next week with some friendly G/5+0 blitz to determine who takes home the remaining premium club set and board prizes, a spectacle which may alone merit attendance this coming Wednesday.

Congratulations to Adithya and a huge thank you to everyone who played in or stopped by to spectate our first club championship–hopefully we’ll hold the same event same time next year! Regards,

Mark Drury

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Club Championship Round 4 Results

We again had some very exciting games come down to the final seconds of the time control in round 4 of our club championship–improbable draws were salvaged and tough-fought seeming wins lost in the proceedings and it was a great deal of fun to be a spectator rather than a player in many cases.

Below are the round 5 pairings for tomorrow night (final round of the tournament) as well as the championship standings thus far. As a reminder, if we have ties for the 1st-3rd (2nd-3rd is really the only possibility), U1500 or U1000 prizes we’ll hold a blitz chess playoff the following week (G/5+0, number of games determined by number of players). Please let me know if you have any questions and I look forward to more exciting games during the final round on November 9th! Regards,

Mark Drury

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Club Championship Round 3 Results

We had an excellent round 3 with a number of very exciting games! As we get deeper into the tournament the pairings are evening out somewhat and many of Wednesday’s games again came down to the final few minutes of the time control. More than a few of the games merit review by everyone in the club and I’ll share those after I get everything added to our Lichess study.

I’ve included two attachments with this post: one showing the round 3 results and the tentative round 4 pairings and another showing ratings changes based on the USCF formula as calculated by the SwissSys software. I have not validated this ratings report but I’m guessing it’s reasonably or wholly correct, given US Chess endorses SwissSys. I decided to share the parings early (on Facebook) because they offer so many good matchups that I’m hoping we get no additional bye requests for the round. Given a few people asked last night, I’d also like to remind everyone that this is a 5-round event, so this Wednesday is not the final round.

Please let me know if you have any questions and thank you again to everyone who is playing in this tournament–it’s been a great deal of fun thus far! Regards,

Mark Drury

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Club Championship Round 1 Results

No fewer than 40 aspirants to the mantle “Menlo Park Chess Club Champion” took part in round one of our tournament Wednesday evening and, despite it being the first round of a single-section Swiss event, when contests are typically more lopsided, there were a good many close games which came down to the final minutes or seconds of the G/60 d/5 time control.

Truth be told, we had more people who wished to play in this event than we were able to accommodate, given we had access to just the Cypress and skittles rooms for tournament play—the Oak Room, into which we typically overflow, was occupied by another group early in the evening. Yet another reason to register online early for our more popular events.

I have the pairings for round 2 and will share those no later than Monday, and will also complete the Lichess study with round 1 games over the weekend, perhaps as early as Friday. Thank you again to everyone who joined us for round one of this event!

— Mark Drury

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June Mini-Marathon Rating Reports

The US Chess rating reports for our June Mini-Marathon and now available via the following links:

Main Tournament
Extra Rated Games

Note that Pranav Jindal ended with a provisional 2255 rating based on the three games he played (all wins), so it will be interesting to see where his rating goes from there (he joked at the club Wednesday that he may retire from rated tournament play, undefeated, or some such).

We’d like to thank Jim Eade again for his excellent lecture and game review this past Wednesday. It is a sincere privilege to have someone with his experience, expertise and clear love for the game help foster our club in the way that he has and we appreciate all that you do for the broader chess community, Jim!

We’ve had quite a few people register for our free G/5+3 blitz tournament next week. If you haven’t already done so and wish to play in this event please sign up asap, as we may limit participation to ~32 players this time around (you can withdraw at any time if your plans change).

Please let us know if you have any questions about the tournament rating reports or the blitz tournament (info@menloparkchess.club) and we hope to see all of you at the club soon!

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June Mini-Marathon Final Standings

Our rated June Mini-Marathon wrapped up this past Wednesday with some very exciting games and a clear first place: Mikhail ended up with 3.5 points after a tough win over Shahin, while Ritam, Cesar and Pranav tied for second with 3.0 out of 4. Pranav was slated to play Mikhail in the final round but came down with the flu and was unable to join us, regrettably, though as some consolation his first provisional Regular rating is 2255 (based on 3 games).

Daniel and Ragav were our top juniors at 2.5 and Daniel had an excellent chance to join Mikhail with 3.5 points, but succumbed in time trouble in a wild game with Ritam. I’ll share all the games as Lichess studies soon (thank you again to those who sent me your digital scores), have submitted both the tournament and extra games for rating and would like to offer a hearty thanks to all of you who participated!

MPCC June Mini-Marathon, Round 1

The Menlo Park Chess Club will hold another rated mini-marathon beginning Wednesday, June 1st, at 6:30pm, a four-round Swiss system event of G/45 d/5 over four weeks and one suitable for experienced players as well as new or newer US Chess members seeking to establish an over-the-board rating. Details follow:

  • Format: Four-round Swiss-system tournament in one section, one game per evening
  • Rounds: June 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd — games begin round 6:30pm
  • Control: G/45 d/5 (Game in 45 minutes for each player plus a 5-second delay per move)
  • Entry Fee: $0 (the MPCC will pay for prizes and the US Chess rating fees for this event)
  • Prizes: Bookstore gift certificates and/or mousepad chessboards to the top three finishers, top three under 17 years of age
  • Byes: Half-point byes are available for any round save the last
  • Boards, sets and clocks will be provided by the Menlo Park Chess Club (bring a clock if you own one)
  • All tournament participants must be current US Chess members
  • Sign up for the tournament by clicking the “Register” button directly above
  • Our tournament chess rules summary is worth perusing if you’re new to tournament play
  • For more information please send email to info@menloparkchess.club
  • Join our Facebook group to stay abreast of future club tournaments and events