The Pasadena Chess Club

• Pairings: Swiss System. All pairings are final at 3PM on game day. If you cannot be there, you must notify the T.D. by 3PM.
• Official Start Time: 7:15 PM.
• 1^st Time control: 40 moves in 90 minutes with 10-second delay.
• 2^nd Time control: Game in 30 minutes with 10-second delay.
• Entry Fees: $20 ($25 or $30 for 7 or 8-round tournaments) and club membership required.
• Prizes: Each prize category must have at least 1 entry. Prize fund depends on entries.
• Byes: As many as two half-point-byes may count towards your score for prize purposes, 3 or 4 in longer tournaments, at the discretion of the TD. If a half-point-bye in the last round is to count towards prizes, the TD must be informed before the beginning of the 2nd round.
  
• Forfeits: Any player who forfeits by not showing up within 1 hour of game time will be dropped from the tournament and not paired in subsequent rounds. To avoid this fate, contact chief TD Scott Hunt before the round at 818-298-5255 and let him know you are not coming. If you do forfeit, and you want to be paired in subsequent rounds, call TD Scott Hunt and explain that you expect to show up next time.
  
• Clocks: Digital clocks with time delay are standard. In the event of questions or disputes regarding clocks, the tournament director will decide.
  
• Chief TD: Scott Hunt. In all cases the Chief TD is the final authority on interpretation of the rules of play & conduct.
  
• USCF rated: USCF membership required (you can join when you enter). All tournaments are USCF rated.
• Club membership is also required for all tournament play. Dues $25 for adults, $15 for juniors (under 18).
  
• All USCF members from any chess club, including all members of the Pasadena Chess Club, or if just visiting the Pasadena area, may enter any tournament in progress, in any round at the Pasadena Chess Club. Simply contact the Chief TD Scott C Hunt at 818-298-5255, or email schkjv at yahoo.com for more information.

Big News!!
Fifteen year old WIM Annie Wang, Champion of the Pasadena Chess Club for 2016 & 2017, won the 2017 World Youth Chess Championship for Girls Under 16, with a relentless score of 10½/11 a full 2½ points ahead of the 2nd place finisher.

Annie also came in 2nd place in the 2018 U.S. Women's Chess Championship. Annie & Nazi Paikidze tied at 8½/11 in the regular tournament, and split their two rapid playoff games, before Paikidze finally won the armageddon blitz game to take the title.

Congratulations to our high-achieving Club Champion! As of the May 2018 USCF rating list, Annie is the 3rd highest rated girl (under 21) in the country. As of the October 2018 FIDE rating list, Annie is the 6th highest rated girl (under 16) in the world.

2017 Youth Championship final standings
2018 U.S. Chess Championship
Annie's FIDE profile
Annie's USCF profile

The Pasadena Chess Club meets in the Elmer and Teen Slavik Memorial Building at the Boys and Girls Club, 3230 East Del Mar, Pasadena 91107 (between Rosemead Blvd and San Gabriel Blvd). It's on the south side of Del Mar. Use the west driveway to enter and the east driveway to exit. There is a large parking lot we can use, but occasional events in other buildings on Friday nights might not leave enough parking for everybody, but there is no time limit & no charge for parking on the streets after 6:00 PM, including Del Mar in front of the Boys & Girls Club.

The club will meet from 7:00 to roughly 11:15 PM. Anticipate that start time for all games will move to 7:15 PM sharp, so we can get out by about 11:15 PM with the same time control we use now (40/90, SD/30). But always expect delays on the night of 1st round due to registration.

As a result of a generous donation the Pasadena Chess Club now has available a substantial library of chess books that can be borrowed by members in good standing. To borrow books, contact one of the club officers before or after their tournament game (borrowing library books is an insufficient emergency to justify interrupting a tournament game).

When? Friday nights opening at 7:00 PM, tournament games start promptly at 7:15 PM. Check the schedule below to make sure we are not closed.

Where? Boys and Girls Club, 3230 East Del Mar, Pasadena 91107 (between Rosemead Blvd and San Gabriel Blvd). See description at the top of this page.

The Pasadena Chess Club is one of the older chess clubs still extant in Southern California. During the 1930's the club successfully hosted a number of international competitions, which included the participation of Alexander Alekhine, then world chess champion. Past events include successful simultaneous exhibitions by SM Levon Altunian and IM Jack Peters (chess columnist for the Los Angeles Times), and the Tim Pellant Memorial Masters Open.

• Annual Membership Dues are $25.00 for adults, $15 for juniors under 18. Dues are prorated as the year goes by; club membership is required for all multi-week tournament play and for all regular visitors.

• Tournament Entry Fees are $20 ($25 or $30 for 7 or 8 round tournaments), plus required club membership dues for non-members. Membership in the United States Chess Federation is required as well, for rated tournament play.

  Note that annual dues & tournament entry fees have risen slightly, to offset increased costs

The Champions of the Pasadena Chess Club
A list of champions of the Pasadena Chess Club follows. We don't know who was champion prior to 1967. There was no champion in 1994 because the championship tournament was unexpectedly interrupted when we lost our meeting venue and it was never completed.

1967 Donald Cotton
1968 Andrew Vinock
1969 Alan Carpenter
1970 Don Bicknell
1971 Al Larsen
1972 Greg Francis
1973 Al Larsen
1974 Greg Francis
1975 Jerome Hanken
1976 Neilen Hultgren
1977 Don Bicknell
1978 Rob Salgado
1979 Rob Salgado
1980 Charles Novitski
1981 William Pennucci
1982 William Pennucci
1983 Tim Pellant
1984 Bobby Avila
1985 Don Bicknell
1986 Don Bicknell
1987 Francisco Alonso
1988 Don Bicknell
1989 Don Bicknell
1990 Mel Tyner
1991 Michael Zachary
1992 Matthew Beelby
1993 Andy Sacks
1994 no champion
1995 Matthew Beelby
1996 William Longren
1997 Levon Altounian
1998 Levon Altounian & Mark Saylor
1999 Matthew Beelby
2000 Randy Hough
2001 Levon Altounian
2002 Tonci Korsano Saavedra
2003 William Longren
2004 Mike Zaloznyy
2005 Randy Hough
2006 Chris Lee
2007 Dave Matson
2008 Tianyi He
2009 Konstantin Kavutskiy
2010 Jesse Victoria
2011 Yusheng Xia
2012 Yusheng Xia
2013 IM Tim Taylor
2014 Alexander Xie
2015 Albert Lu
2016 WIM Annie Wang
2017 WIM Annie Wang
2018 Anthony Ge