Category: Chess Club News

New Site – New Night!

We are very pleased to announce that we will hold “The Altadena Open,” a five round Swiss starting Tuesday, October 19, 2021, at the Altadena Community Church located at 943 East Altadena Drive in Altadena, CA 91001, our new meeting site. All existing Club memberships will be honored and reset anew. You may register in advance here:
https://caissachess.net/online-registration/index/1214

It has been 17 months since our last event at the Sierra Madre YMCA, a site we truly loved but unable to reopen for our needs since the pandemic.  We also know that Friday night chess has a long tradition in our area, but it is not a night where we can find an available site.  So, like the Arcadia Chess Club–which met on a work/school night for years with great success–we will do the same. 

Play will take place at the Church’s Heicher Hall, a large building that can seat 200 people with a stage, kitchen and private parking lot. Heicher Hall sits to the back and the right of the Church building. 

The Church has two parking lots. The closest to the playing site entrance is the upper lot that you access by the driveway on the right. PLEASE DO NOT PARK IN ANY NUMBERED SPACE AS THEY ARE RESERVED FOR TENANTS. There is also a lower level lot off the street and street parking is available.

src=”https://sgvchess.club/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/SGVCC-Parking-Lot-A-2-rotated.jpeg” alt=””> src=”https://sgvchess.club/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/SGVCC-Parking-Lot-B-rotated.jpeg” alt=”Alta Dena Church Parking”>

Doors will open at 6:30 pm. and will close by 10:00pm.  As a result, we will have a single time control game each round like Game/85 with 5-second delay.  Games will start around 6:50.  Again, we understand this is not the time control some are used to, but we we either adapt to the situation or remain closed—something we have endured far too long. Register for the tournament here: https://caissachess.net/online-registration/index/1214

In Los Angeles County, everyone must still wear a mask in all indoor public settings, venues, gatherings, public and private businesses and at outdoor Mega Events, regardless of their vaccination status. When people wear a mask correctly, they protect others as well as themselves. Don’t make us ask, wear a mask.

So this is a new chapter in San Gabriel Valley Chess Club’s young story and one we hope you will share with us. 

Who could have known when we had our grand opening in March of 2020 what was forthcoming. Nor can anyone predict what is still in store. But as chess players, we do best in our games when we can adapt and respond to the unexpected. And so it is here.  We have found an opportunity to meet and play again in person during a most challenging time and that says a lot.

We are pleased to announce that SGVCC will once again participate in Club match play on the Chess.com site. This is your chance to show your club pride and share in the thrill of team match play.

Each match consist of two segments: a Rapid game at 15 plus 2 second increment followed by a Blitz game at  3/2. All games count the same and you can play in both segments or just one if you prefer.

The event will consist of seven matches played over  seven Saturdays starting June 12 thru July 31. July 10 is set aside for a makeup day if necessary. The match starts at 10:00 a.m. PST and generally ends by 11:30. Registration is open 1 hour before the start time and you can play as few or many matches as you like. We are asked to let the other team know how many players we expect each week and you can send that message to Team Administrator John Wright at JRWright on the Chess.com site. Again, it is fine if you can’t play at the last minute and this is just a way to let the team captains organize things so everyone hopefully gets a game.

Our first two seasons in Club League have been great fun and it is one of Chess.com’s most popular events. We have played clubs from all across the U.S., Mexico and South America. We hope to see many of you there!

With the Steinitz Open concluded we have two Fridays left before the holiday break.

We will hold two 2h G3+2 events. The person with the highest score (not cumulative) wins $50. Registration is free. However, if you feel the need for a donation you are welcome to do so:

paypal.me/sgvchessclub

You can register for the two blitz arenas here:

https://lichess.org/tournament/deYrR0nj

and here:

https://lichess.org/tournament/LF4cxem3

The password for both is:

sgv

There won’t be any tournaments on Dec. 25 and Jan. 1 but I’m happy to arrange something if there is demand.

On 01/08/2021 we will have the second edition of our Sierra Madre Open. Which will also mark the first anniversary of the San Gabriel Valley Chess Club. The tournament will be a 5 round Swiss held on Lichess with G60+10 games. As with our previous tournaments ties will be broken in a 2h G6+1 blitz arena which will take place on 02/120/2021.

You can register for the Sierra Madre open here:

https://caissachess.net/online-registration/index/910

Online registration requires a USCF ID. Your membership does not need to be active for this. If you don’t have a membership ID please contact me and I can sign you up.

Current standings of San Gabriel Valley Chess Club on Chess.com’s International Clubs League:

Some nice game reports from this match include The ‘Chess Cuisinart’ of Daily Play and The Secrets Of Chess

Players castling on opposite sides presents imbalances that usually result in attacks at both kings simultaneously. Each move or tempo is crucially important in which side succeeds first. However, one of the Secrets of Chess is that as Black you must first equalize your position before you attack, otherwise your attack will “run out of steam” fast.

In the game below our Dr. Nimzo (aka Chis Stychinsky) decides that his attack is better than Black’s in the Daily Match with the Badgers Brook Chess Club of Broxburn Scotland. Watch how the Doctor writes a prescription for an attack on Black’s king:

The move 12. Ng5 starts an all-in approach toward the attack of Black’s king, while 12…Qa5?! commits Black to an attack on White’s king, but at the cost of separating the Queen from the defense of his own kingside.

In retrospect 12.… Bxa2 is an improvement. With White’s 15. g4 he plans to shove the pawn down black’s throat with g5-g6. 16.…Nd7? is an error; better is 16. cxd3. White’s 20. Bh6? is dubious at best, but it does have the aspect of being a strong psychological move (Secret #2!) that must have been a shock to Black. This type of move is much more suited to shorter time limit games. Black is now focused on the defense of his monarch and wants to remove pieces with the regrettable 22.…de4??. However the calm 21.…Qc7!-Qf4 solves Black’s problems. White proceeds with a surgically precise combination with 22. Rhg1! and the stunning Rxd7 from which there is no way out for Black. Way to go Chris!