Mount Wilson Open
05/09/23 – 06/06/23
NO ROUND ON MAY 30th
A four round event in 3 sections: Premier/1800+, Reserve/1200-1800, and Booster/Under 1200. We will not have a round on May 30 due to the Annie Wang Simultaneous Exhibition.
Register here. Standings here.
Fun Fact! SGVCC member Tim Thompson is an Astronomy & Science speaker at Mount Wilson Observatory.
San Gabriel Valley Chess Club is a non-profit corporation under IRC Section 501(c)(7). As such, all monies collected or any donations received are used for the benefit of our members. All Board members serve as volunteers without compensation. Please contact us if you would like to donate to SGVCC!
We are pleased to announce our first Club Championship, a seven round event in one Open Section starting March 21, 2023. The winner will have their name engraved on our new Perpetual Trophy, a large Loving Cup style trophy that will show the winners for many years to come. We will also have engraved plaques for top Expert, Class A-E, Unrated, and Under 1000. Each plaque will have the SGVCC Logo and the winners name. We encourage you to register early as we will likely have to cap entries at 70. You can sign up at the link on our Calendar page. For further information contact me at wright.john82@yahoo.com.
Tentative pairings and standings here: https://caissachess.net/live/2502
John Wright, SGVCC President
On March 1, 2023, the San Gabriel Valley Chess Club Board of Directors presented a Certificate of Appreciation to Laura K. Nystrom, who served as Secretary of the Club and was a founding member of the Board of Directors. Laura’s vision of “chess for all” was embodied in the Club Website that she designed and maintained. The Website not only helped to boost the Club’s membership but also served as a resource for the larger chess community. There you could find everything from chess classes for kids to the doings of the burgeoning “LA Chess Social” scene.
Laura also provided much needed guidance in 2020 when the Club had to close down in Sierra Madre due to COVID after we had only been open four weeks. Her background as a Public Information Officer was essential in helping to establish best practices and the eventual re-launch of the Club in October of 2021 in Altadena. She is stepping down from the Board to focus on her very busy work life and return to graduate school and we wish her all the best. Her many contributions will live on.
IM Robert Shlyakhtenko showed he’s a tough guy to beat at his Simultaneous Exhibition on November 29, 2022. Facing 23 adversaries ready to make their mark he went 22-1, giving up only one loss against Expert Leo Wang. Despite our collective thumping everyone was appreciative that Robert visited the Club. The Simul was preceded by a very instructive lecture where Robert went over one of his many impressive wins. Special thanks to Senior TD Phil Chase for arranging Robert’s visit.
Hello SGVCC Members – We’ll start the New Year Open, a six round tournament, on January 3, 2023. There will be three sections and the last round ends on February 7th. A registration link with more details is below. The Club is closed on December 20 and 27. On behalf of your SGVCC Board, thanks to our players, parents, and volunteers for a great year. Membership is open to all chess enthusiasts and we hope to see a lot of new faces in 2023!
The SGVCC Open drew 40 players and concluded on June 14, 2022. NM Karl Tolentino was the winner, but it took a last round win over front runner Alam LaCombe to seal the deal. The early story was the outstanding performances of Leo Wang (1849) and Manu Prasad (1590), who both upset higher-rated players and found themselves leading the field with perfect 3-0 scores. Leo Wang is the younger brother of local legend IM Annie Wang and had upset Tolentino while Prasad took down two strong 1900 players. Their Round 4 battle (Photo 1) ended in a draw, leaving them in a three-way tie with LaCombe at 3.5.
But never count out the top players! Round 5 saw LaCombe beat Wang and Tolentino stop Prasad, setting up a last round game between them. Fittingly, it was the last game of the night and hard fought (see photo).
So it was Tolentino clear first at 5, LaCombe, Wang and Craig Vierregg tied for second at 4.5. Vierreg continues to turn in good results and improve his rating, having risen to 1764 since first coming to SGVCC last October with an old 1517 rating. Other notable results were Rohan Daftuar, best U1400 with 4 and new members Neel Deshpande and Omkar Kanse winning best U1000 with 2 points each.
Our latest event, Summer Fun, is currently underway and attracted a new record 51 players. Check out the standings at https://caissachess.net/live/1625.
Top rated Karl Tolentino won the Echo Mountain Open, a five round event that concluded on February 1, 2022. He went an undefeated 5-0 but had to fend off a last round challenge that made things interesting. It’s the National Master’s second clear first in just three events. Expert (and 5 time NM) Randall Hough was clear second at 4-1, only losing to Tolentino. Thirty-one players participated.
If you follow the results for our events you’ll notice that “fighting chess” is a hallmark of SGVCC and there are usually very few draws. With an ever increasing number of talented youngsters and under-rated adults, the top players get no rest. This event was no exception when in Round 1 twelve year old Benjamin Teng (1689) took down Will Webster (2165), who barely got a chance to savor the fruits of his recent Holiday Open Championship. Always the realist about his play, Will took it in stride and almost managed to climb back into contention but for needing a second round bye (check out Will’s blog on this game and others at this site).
As usual there were a number of good storylines. David Faulkner continued his good play from our last event and was 2.5 in his first three rounds, having defeated a player 300 points above his own rating and also drawing one 500 points higher. This landed him on Board 1 in Round 4 against Tolentino. Did we say Karl was undefeated?! Also, ten year old Ashley Lin (1303) put together a three game winning streak in Rounds 2 through 4, setting her up for a last round showdown with Hough where she put up a tough fight.
As has been the case, we continue to pick up new members and appreciate the continued support of all who have been playing. The Millard Falls Open is currently underway and you can track the results at this website. Our next event will start March 15th, so stay tuned for details!
Artem Aleksenko went an undefeated 5-0 to win the Euwe Open, our most recent Friday night online event. He finished in style with a nice game against NM John Wright where he delivered a knockout blow after Black snatched a pawn with Qxd4.
NM Larry Stevens took second with 3.5, his only loss also by Artem. Special kudos to Russel Keating who won his last 3 games, including a win over the always tough Arturo Armagnac.
A new Friday online event starts October 29, sign up here
Round 1 combatants gave no quarter to their fellow SGVCC members—all five matches were decisive and three ended in checkmate. Newcomer Jason Nicholson had a strong debut, Larry played a nice endgame, and Artem and Arturo showed off their tactics. Your humble author got s break from Russel, who had the better game. Check out the games and comments below.
