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
| # | Player | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pranav Jindal | W 9 | B 11 | W 7 | B 5 | |
| 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | ||
| 2 | Gabriel Sanchez | W 3 | B 8 | W 5 | B 7 | |
| 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | ||
| 3 | David Zhao | B 2 | W 16 | B 17 | W 9 | |
| 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 4 | Josen Kalra | W 6 | B 7 | W 12 | B 11 | |
| 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | ||
| 5 | Alaric Stein | B 10 | W 14 | B 2 | W 1 | |
| 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | ||
| 6 | Kunal Modi | B 4 | W 17 | B 9 | W 10 | |
| 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 7 | Wentao Wu | B 16 | W 4 | B 1 | W 2 | |
| 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 8 | Alex Wu | W 12 | W 2 | B 10 | W 17 | |
| 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 9 | Michael Byun | B 1 | W 18 | W 6 | B 3 | |
| 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 10 | Hayden Brongersma | W 5 | B 15 | W 8 | B 6 | |
| 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 11 | Austin Chen | B 13 | W 1 | B 14 | W 4 | |
| 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 12 | Hugo Pu | B 8 | W 13 | B 4 | B 15 | |
| 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | ||
| 13 | Richard Wang | W 11 | B 12 | W 16 | B 14 | |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | ||
| 14 | Renzo Frigato | W 18 | B 5 | W 11 | W 13 | |
| 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 1.5 | ||
| 15 | Jeremy Arthur | B 17 | W 10 | B 18 | W 12 | |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
| 16 | Mark Drury | W 7 | B 3 | B 13 | W 18 | |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
| 17 | Aditya Dhamdhere | W 15 | B 6 | W 3 | B 8 | |
| 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | ||
| 18 | Carlos Fuertes | B 14 | B 9 | W 15 | B 16 | |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |