Monday, September 26, 2022

CHESS at Starbucks this Wednesday Sept. 28th at Starbucks!


Hi Everyone!

We meet every Sunday and Wednesday afternoon from 3:00 p.m. on through closing time at our usual Starbucks venue, and we welcome players of all ages and skill levels. Early arrivals have a chance to be the first to solve a chess puzzle on the first try to win a free tall Starbucks drink of choice! Our next session is this Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022, and we often welcome new players at each session!

Our session this past Sunday was no exception, with more than a dozen players coming by to enjoy the game of chess, as we welcomed two more players to the club: Nelson and Charles are our new club players, and Kwaku stopped in for the first time in about 3 years! There to welcome them were Mike T., Daniel, Yancy, Sam, Eric M., Matthew, Setsal, Kevin, Ron, and last but not least, Tony, who solved the chess puzzle!

Our next club tournament schedule has now been returned to the weekend of October 22-23, 2022 to accommodate more players, and to possibly allow another set to be scheduled for early December 2022. If club players who are members of the US Chess Federation would like to have rated Quad matches before then, they should let me know.

In the meantime, see you soon!

-- Mike T.
Contra Costa Chess Club
US Chess Federation
Affiliate Club ID #A6024746

Saturday, September 24, 2022

CHESS this Sunday September 25th at Starbucks!


Hi Everyone!

Once again we welcomed new players to our chess club, as more than a dozen players came by to enjoy an afternoon of chess over the boards at our usual venue, Starbucks, located at 1536 Kirker Pass Rd., in the Clayton Shopping Center, just up from the corner of Clayton Rd. & Ygnacio Valley Rd. in Concord!

Young Donovan was there with Andrienne, along with another new player by name of Mike, all welcomed by Sam, Mike T., Yancy, Tony, John B., Matthew, Connor Rdl., Bert, Eric Z., and Eric M. (Did I miss anyone?)

We meet again this Sunday, September 25, 2022, from 3:00 p.m. on through closing time.

We meet at the same time every Sunday and Wednesday afternoon. Come and go anytime, there are no dues, and there is no purchase required (but it would be nice). Early arrivals usually have a chance to be the first to solve a chess puzzle on the first try to win a free tall Starbucks drink of choice!

Our next relatively large USCF-rated club tournament will be moved to the first weekend in November (Sat. 11/04 - Sun.11/05/2022). More details to follow soon. In the meantime, players can sign up to play in either 4-player Quads or 6-player Round Robin matches (EF=$20; G/45;d10) to record more rated matches and/or to start getting ready for larger club tournaments, especially for the Golden State Open slated for January 2023 (that announcement just came out)!

If you have questions or need more info, let me know, see you soon!

-- Mike T.
Contra Costa Chess Club
US Chess Federation
Affiliate Club ID #A6024746

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

CHESS this Wednesday, September 21, 2022 at Starbucks!


Hi Everyone!

Our next club tournament will be on Saturday October 22 - Sunday October 23, 2022. Starting time for each day will be no later than 10:30 a.m. Time Control = G/45;d10. More details to follow regarding location, format(s), divisions, and higher prize funds. Entry fees are slated to be $35. Current USCF membership required, as usual. Stay tuned!

More than a dozen players enjoyed a much cooler afternoon of chess over the boards at our usual Starbucks venue this past Sunday: Myles (with Ly and Mila), Chris B., Tony T., Ranen, Kevin, Ron, Yancy, Meredith, Jeremiah (long time no see!), Diego, Mike T., and -- welcome to two players new to the club, Alex C., and Daniel! Did I miss anyone?

We welcome players of all ages and skill levels, from beginners to masters! We meet every Sunday and Wednesday afternoons, from 3:00 p.m. on through closing time. Come and go anytime, there are no dues, no purchase required either (but it would be nice). There usually is a chess puzzle to solve, and the first player to solve it on the first try wins a free tall Starbucks drink of choice!

Our next session is this Wednesday Sept. 21st. Come on by to play and make new friends and/or renew old friendships!

-- Mike T.
Contra Costa Chess Club
US Chess Federation
Affiliate Club ID #A6024746

Saturday, September 17, 2022

CHESS this Sunday, September 18, 2022!


Hi Everyone!

At least a dozen players were at our usual Starbucks venue for fun, challenging chess over the boards last Wednesday: Sam, John E., Irakli, Bert, Tony, Yancy, Mike T., Matthew, Diego, Maria, Ernie, and Rich K. -- and as usual, several stayed through to closing time! One of the most interesting matches featured Matthew playing Rich, a chess master, in a tight contest all the way to an ending with just kings, a few pawns, and one rook each, with Rich managing to eke out a win!

We meet every Sunday and Wednesday, from 3:00pm through to closing time. Players of all ages and skill levels are welcome. There are no dues, and there is no purchase required (but it would be nice). We meet again this coming Sunday, September 18, 2022, and I should be able to join everyone there later in the day.

Our next club tournament will be October 22 - 23, 2022, more details to follow, stay tuned!

-- Mike T.
Contra Costa Chess Club
US Chess Federation
Affiliate Club ID #A6024746

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

CHESS this Wednesday, September 14 at Starbucks!


Hi Everyone!

At least seven players enjoyed a late afternoon of chess over the boards this past Sunday. Meredith, one of our newer players, was there with Kevin, Sam, Tony, Irakli, Mike T., and -- very long time no see! -- Haseeb! The turnout was unusually low, perhaps due to the anniversary of 09/11, the heat that still prevailed, along with the season's opening NFL weekend. Sam once again solved the day's chess puzzle on the first try to win a free tall Starbucks drink of choice!

We meet every Sunday and Wednesday afternoon, from 3:00 p.m. on through closing time, at our usual Starbucks venue, located at 1536 Kirker Pass Rd., in the Clayton Shopping Center, which is just up from the corner of Ygnacio Valley Rd. and Clayton Rd. in Concord. We welcome players of all ages and skill levels; players can come and go anytime; there are no dues; and, there is no purchase required (but it would be nice). Early arrivals usually have a chance to be the first to solve a chess puzzle on the first try to win a tall Starbucks drink!

As mentioned in our previous email, results of our club's USCF-rated tournaments held the previous weekend will be reported after Sept. 14th due to maintenance work being done on the ratings server. Updated ratings for players who participated should be available well before the end of the month. Our next USCF-rated club competition will be the weekend of October 22-23, 2022. Stay tuned for the details!

See you soon,

-- Mike T.
Contra Costa Chess Club
US Chess Federation
Affiliate Club ID #A6024746

Saturday, September 10, 2022

CHESS this Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022 at Starbucks!


Hi Everyone!

There's been a heat wave out there, but as many as 17 players came by this past Wednesday to enjoy chess over the boards at our usual cool Starbucks venue! Two new players, John B. and Raphael, dropped in for a few games and to check out our club, and were welcomed by Sam, Setsal, Matthew, John E., John S., Mike T., Tony T., Yancy, Bert, Ron, Maria (been a while, Maria!), and Paige and her kids Ian, Jojo, and Kaden! Did I miss anyone?

Sam quickly solved the first of two chess puzzles on his first try to win a Starbucks drink! A rare second puzzle took a while to be solved, and Matthew figured it out before anyone else did, although he got it on his second try. (Players arriving early have a chance to be the first to solve a chess puzzle on the first try to win a free tall Starbucks drink of choice!)

We meet every Sunday and Wednesday afternoon, starting from 3:00p.m. on through to closing time. Players can come and go anytime; there are no dues, and there is no purchase required (but it would be nice). We welcome players of all ages and skill levels, from beginners to masters and all in between. We're at 1546 Kirker Pass Rd, in the Clayton Shopping Center, just up from the corner of Ygnacio Valley Rd. and Clayton Rd. in Concord.

[Note for last weekend's club tournament players: Results of our recent club tournament will be turned in to the US Chess Federation very soon, as the USCF is taking a server down to conduct its Ratings System Maintenance, and that server should be back up and running by September 15, 2022. I'd rather submit the results after the maintenance, to avoid our results getting lost or gummed up. Your new ratings will be available well before the end of the month.]

See you soon! Do join us to not just play chess, but also to make new friends, and/or renew old friendships if you haven't been by in a while!

--Mike T.
Contra Costa Chess Club
US Chess Federation
Affiliate Club ID #A6024746

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

CHESS this Wednesday Back at Starbucks!


Hi Everyone!

Cool off during this heat wave and play chess over the boards at our usual Starbucks venue this Wednesday, September 7, 2022. Players there early have a chance to be the first to solve a chess puzzle to win a free tall Starbucks drink of choice!

We meet every Sunday and Wednesday afternoon, from 3:00 p.m. on through closing time, at the Starbucks located at 1536 Kirker Pass Rd., in the Clayton Shopping Center, just up from the corner of Ygnacio Valley Rd. and Clayton Rd. in Concord. We welcome players of all ages and skill levels, from beginners to masters and all in between. There are no dues and there is no purchase required (but it would be nice).

Club Tournament (USCF-rated) Results:

Our club tournament was held at Carl's Jr. Restaurant, across the parking lot from Starbucks, this past Saturday and Sunday. In the Quad section, Yancy came through undefeated with 3 wins for 1st Place, with Ron winning two matches for 2nd Place! In the round-robin section with 5 players, Sam came out best, undefeated in his 4 matches to take 1st Place, as Matthew came in 2nd with three wins and Setsal 3rd with two wins! We all want to thank Ohm, Ethan, Tony, and Irakli for participating in the challenging tournament and for helping make it a success! Results will be reported to the USCF this week, and players should see their new ratings posted within a week's time.

We also had Mark M. and Chris N. as observers this past Sunday, and we thank Chris N. for donating the chess encyclopedic book "Modern Chess Openings" for reference use of club players during our Sunday and Wednesday chess sessions. We also met Meredith and Mathis, two high school seniors who are interested in starting up a chess club at their high school.

Our next club tournament will be a much larger one, same time control, higher entry fees, and will be scheduled for Sat. & Sun. October 22 - 23, 2022 at either the Carl's Jr. venue or elsewhere nearby. We can always have smaller rated tournaments, e.g., Quads. Stay tuned, and let me know in advance that you're interested, and if you have any questions or need more info.

See you soon,

-- Mike T.
Contra Costa Chess Club
US Chess Federation
Affiliate Club ID #A6024746

Friday, September 2, 2022

CHESS this Saturday & Sunday Sept. 3-4 at Carl's Jr.!


Hi Everyone !

Our session last Wednesday saw at least 10 players enjoying chess over the boards: Tony, Mike T., Chris N., Eric Z. (very long time no see, Mr. Z!), Matthew, Setsal, Irakli, Yancy, Bert, and John S.

Club Tournament this weekend Sat. Sept. 3 & Sun. Sept. 4 at Carl's. Jr.

Chess players are welcome to play chess over the boards starting at 2:00 p.m. each day this Saturday and Sunday, September 3 & 4, 2022, at our Carl's Jr. Restaurant venue, which is just across the side parking lot from our usual Starbucks venue in the Clayton Shopping Center. Players who are not entered in our club tournament those two days may still play chess among themselves, and may also observe (but not offer suggestions to) players in tournament games in progress. Players who are just now or on Saturday entering the tournament must pay an entry fee of $25 and be a current member of the US Chess Federation. 85%-90% of all entry fees are returned in cash prizes.

For this weekend's club tournament players:

Start Time: 2:00 p.m. both days are scheduled.

The Time Control has been adjusted to Game/45.d10 now instead of G/45.d5 (the additional delay of 5 more seconds is consistent with our past club tournaments, giving players a few more seconds to write down or otherwise record the chess moves).

[Players with paid entries to date are: Yancy, Irakli, Tony, Ron, Setsal, Sam, Matthew, Ohm, and Ethan, with at least 3 or 4 possibly to join based on their stated interest. The Tournament Director (TD) may join a group, if necessary, to even out a group or make a group similar to others in format for pairing purposes.]

Format: Quads = 4 players, three rounds with two on Saturday and the final round on Sunday --- or on another day within a week agreed upon by the players and the Tournament Director (TD). Round Robin or Swiss = 5 or more players in group, four rounds, with two on Saturday and the balance on Sunday --- or on another day within a week agreed upon by the players and the TD. Groups will be formed in a manner that ensures there are no inappropriate mismatches.

Cash prizes go to 1st Place ($41) & 2nd Place ($31) in Quads. In groups of 5 or more players, cash prizes will go to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Places, with amounts to be determined based on number of entries. As mentioned above, 85%-90% of entry fees are returned as cash prizes. The balance goes towards USCF fees for ratings adjustments, etc., with maybe, just maybe, enough left over for a sandwich, or part of one, for the TD. 🙂

Need more info or have questions? Let me know, and see you this weekend!

-- Mike T.
Contra Costa Chess Club
US Chess Federation
Affiliate Club ID #A6024746