This is a five round event in three sections. It starts November 12 and ends December 10. Two half-point byes are available. Either the November Supplement or a players most recent “live” regular rating will be used at the TD’s discretion. There is one round each Tuesday night and games start at 6:45 pm. The Club opens at 6:00 pm. Time control is Game/90 minutes with a five second delay. The entry fee is $35 and should be paid online. Total prize fund to be determined based on entries. Advance registration is required. If you have trouble registering online contact us and we can register you. Advance registration closes at 5:00 pm on November 12. All players must be SGVCC members and have current USCF memberships. You can join our renew your SGVCC dues online at our website or in person. You can join after the first round has started but you must contact the TD per below. You can renew or join the USCF at our registration link. We meet at Altadena Community Church in Heicher Hall, located at 943 East Altadena Drive, Altadena, CA 91101. For more information contact TD John Wright at 626/864-5744 or at wright.john82@yahoo.com.
USCF rated blitz! Eight to nine rounds depending on turnout. For more information contact TD John Wright at 626/864-5744 or at wright.john82@yahoo.com.
Chess 960 (a.k.a. Fischer Random Chess) Tournament (unrated) 12/17/24
A SGVCC First! In this chess variant, the starting arrangement of the pieces on the back rank is randomized before the start of the game. For more information on the rules of chess 960, see here . There will also be a brief review of the rules prior to revealing the starting position of round 1.
Tournament Format: Players will be divided by skill level into round-robin groups of 4 or 5 or 6 people (TBD, depending on the number of entrants). Groups of 4 will play their games with a time control of G/20 d5. Groups of 5 or 6 will play their games with a time control of G/12 d5. A registration fee of $10 will fund prize pools to be distributed to the first and second place finishers of each group.
The Mount Wilson Challenge concluded June 4, 2024, with tough competition in both sections. Rohan Daftuar and Axel Muller tied for first place with 4-1 in the over 1400 section. Five players tied for third place, including Mladen Kolar, Forest Sherwood, Kevin Ludwig, Kaiwin Yu and Haig Amloyan. Renton Chandler was clear first in the under 1400 section with a score of 4.5 out of 5. Haoxuan Huang took second at 4-1. And, just like in the top section, another five-way tie for third place with Andrew Chang, Leya Daftuar, Annie Liu, Lawrence Preciado and Daylen Riggs sharing the honors. Congrats to all!
We start Summer Fun 3, a six round tournament, on June 11. See our Calendar for a registration link.
This is a four round event in three sections. It starts October 8 and ends October 29. Total prize fund to be determined based on entries. One half-point bye is available and any additional byes will be 0 point byes. Either the September Supplement or a player’s most recent “live” regular rating will be used at the TD’s discretion. There is one round each Tuesday night and games start at 6:45 pm. The Club opens at 6:00 pm. Time control is Game/90 minutes with a five second delay. The entry fee is $30 and should be paid online. Advance registration is required. If you have trouble registering online contact us and we can register you. Advance registration closes at 5:00 pm on October 8. All players must be SGVCC members and have current USCF memberships. You can join our renew your SGVCC dues online at our website or in person. You can join after the first round has started but you must contact the TD per below. You can renew or join the USCF at our registration link. We meet at Altadena Community Church in Heicher Hall, located at 943 East Altadena Drive, Altadena, CA 91101. For more information contact TD John Wright at 626/864-5744 or at wright.john82@yahoo.com.
With a surprise visit from Professor Dumbledore (Tim Thompson), the Hogwarts Swiss saw magic and good competition by all 67 participating wizards. The six round event in three sections with a $900 prize fund concluded on August 27, 2024. In Harry’s Over 1600, Ethan Hsiao and Warren Zhang shared first place with scores of 4.5-1.5. It all came down to the last round, with the outcome depending on the results of the top three boards. Zhang and top rated Axel Muller had a hard fought draw on Board 1. This gave Hsiao, who had lost to Zhang in Round 5, a chance to share first with his win over the always tough Amin Zoghlami. Muller, Mladin Kolar, and Andersen Yang shared third place at 4-2.
The Hermione Under 1600 section saw some impressive rating gains by the top finishers. Renton Chandler took clear first with an impressive 5.5-0.5 score and raised his rating from 1266 to 1533. Roberto Argueta and Ryan Lu shared second at 4.5-1.5. Roberto raised his rating from 1030 to 1324 and Ryan went from 1322 to 1455. That’s nearly 700 rating points among the three of them and quite a magical potion we’d all love to discover! In the Ron Under 1000 section, Aron Rivin scored an outstanding 5.5-.5, especially considering this was his first USCF rated event. Alejandro Lopez and Dave Best shared second place with scores of 4-2.
Axel Muller with Professor DumbledoreThe Professor was everywhere!Warren ZhangRenton ChandlerAron RivinKolar and Yang go over their gameEthan HsiaoDumbledore watches Board 1
We start the Mount Lowe Swiss on September 10. Sign up by going to our Calendar.
Cast a spell on your opponents! A six-round event in three Wizarding sections. It starts July 23 and ends August 27 with two half point byes available. There is one round each Tuesday night and games start at 6:45 pm. The Club opens at 6:00 pm. Time control is Game/90 min. with 5 second delay. The entry fee is $40 and should be paid online. Total prize fund to be determined based on entries. Advance registration is strongly advised. If you have trouble registering online contact us and we can register you. Registration closes at 6:30 pm. All players must be SGVCC members and have current USCF memberships. You can join or renew your SGVCC dues online at our website or in person. You can renew or join the USCF here. We meet at Altadena Community Church in Heicher Hall, located at 943 East Altadena Drive, Altadena, CA 91101 For more information contact John Wright at (626) 864-5744 or at wright.john82@yahoo.com
Expert Leo Wang went 6-1 to become the 2024 SGVCC Champion. The annual seven round event concluded April 30 and drew 62 players. It all came down to Round 7, when Wang faced top seeded Axel Muller (2141). They were both tied at 5 points and a draw would have resulted in a four way tie. It was a worthy final game and both players showed their competitive spirit. Muller played the Dubov Gambit with White, a sharp line in the Giuoco Piano. Leo’s response was not to be found in the opening books but he’s shown a tenacity for defending tough positions. As the clock became a factor for both players Wang found his way through the complications and earned a hard fought victory.
Leo is now our second Club Champ and has his name engraved on the Club’s Perpetual Trophy, just below last year’s winner NM Karl Tolentino. Second place was shared by Expert Mladen Kolar and Craig Vieregg, who also won the Best Class A plaque. Other Best in Class winners were Gary Tao (Class B), Michael Colangelo (Class C), Garik Yegoryan (Class D), Haoxuan Huang (Class E) and Ethan Kinoshita (Best under 1000).
In addition to the trophy and plaques there was also a $605 cash prize fund, courtesy of the Arcadia Chess Club. Arcadia Chess Club ran rated events for over 40 years, meeting on Monday nights at the Senior Center in Santa Anita Park. Additional cash prize winners were Amin Zoghlami, Davit Bakhtaryan, Leya Daftuar and Lawrence Preciado.
As often occurs with a one Open Section event, upsets are bound to happen and we included an upset prize for best single game rating difference. Veteran players will tell you that lower rated players are much stronger than in the “good old days,” when you just waited for a blunder. And this event proved the point. In Round 1 alone Briana L (1387) beat a 1900 player, Aaron Bosch (780) beat a 1557 player and Paul Longstaffe (837) bested a 1614 opponent. And as if that wasn’t enough, Round 2 saw young Albert Bao (866) beat a 1900 player, a difference of 1034 points! It was widely thought he had the upset prize in the bag. But it didn’t last long as Thomas Pehlivanos (365) beat a player 1249 points higher the very next round and secured the upset prize. Now we know why our higher rated players are relieved when we have a two section event, these lower rated players have no fear!
This year’s Club Championship was certainly a success but it takes a team of people to make that happen. So thanks go to Senior TD Phil Chase, Club VP Axel Muller, Board Member and NTD Randall Hough, Facilities Manager Gary Schenk, Club Webmaster Chris Roberts and Vina Awards of San Gabriel. Thanks as well to all of our players and parents who help each week with set up and take down of all the tables and chairs. It really takes a collective effort and is truly one o the great things about SGVCC.
Leo WangMlalden KolarCraig ViereggGarik Yegoryan with President John WrightEthan KinoshitaMichael ColangeloThomas PehlivanosHaoxuan HuangRound 7 Showdown
Andersen Yang shared third place at 4-2.
