More chess in West Covina and Nearby Areas

World War 2 Veteran Guilbert Martinez squares off against Kevin Ahumeda at the latest West Covina Chess tourney in West Covina, CA on March, 29, 2014

The West Covina Library held its monthly chess tournament on March 29. The library hosts tournament play for rated and unrated players on the last Saturday of each month.

Here is info on some of the local SCCF clubs which the blog will be reporting on in subsequent days to come. Some may or may not be still active, but most can be contacted in a fairly easy fashion.

Arcadia 

The Arcadia Chess Club meets at 6:30 p.m. Mondays in the Senior Citizens building, 405 S. Santa Anita Ave. Continuous rated tournaments, casual play. Contact: Mel Clark 626.447.9355

Pasadena  

The Pasadena Chess Club meets from 6:45 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Fridays in the Boys and Girls Club, 3230 E. Del Mar Blvd. Continuous tournaments at 7 p.m. Fridays. Contact: Neil Hultgren
818.243.3809

Cal Poly Pomona Chess (open to all students at the university, hosting other clubs by appointment or via events)

Ontario (while not technically in the SGV, it's close enough for SGV players to visit and frequent)

Donut Palace, 442 N. Mountain Ave., welcomes chessplayers for casual play, especially in the evenings. Open 24 hours.


source: Southern California Chess Federation

West Covina Tournament

Chess players enjoying the challenge in West Covina at the public library in Feb. 2014

It is way past time this blog got updated regularly again. The West Covina Library holds a monthly tournament for rated and unrated chess month every month. The tournaments are a little known secret in the SGV, but they have been occurring since late 2013.

They regularly happen on the last Saturday of every month and there are players from every strength, walk of life and age. Chess sets and clocks are provided but players are encouraged to bring their own if they have their own equipment. This tournament is not run by the USCF but this does not preclude strong players and rated players from participation.

These tournaments are run by members of the Whittier Chess Club. Contact:  Kele Perkins, email keleperkins at gmail dot com, phone 626-six six four-2484 (call or text) or get in touch with the west covina public library at (626) 962-3541.

Chess in Southern California

Karen Tapia for the OC Register photographed kids at the tournament Saturday.

Wow, I am thinking of reviving this blog because I really miss playing chess. I didn't realize how much until I attended the 40th Annual Morrison Scholastic Chess Tournament held last weekend at Ladera Vista Junior High School in Fullerton.

This is technically not San Gabriel Valley I know, and it was a tournament for little kids, but I volunteered to record games as a favor to a friend and participation rekindled my interest in both the game and in chess journalism as a whole. This experience has further cemented my commitment to the game I love in 2013.

Over the next year I hope to scour and hopefully play at some events in the area and keep everyone posted about some of the tournaments, news and events happening of note. 

In the meantime, please read this article written by my friend J.D. Velasco about a local chess prodigy!

Welcome to chess SGV style

For years I sought a local chess club where I could practice and play with fellow players in my area. This search consumed a good 10 years of my life.
Oh sure, I visited some local chess clubs in the area, notably the Pasadena Chess Club, the Arcadia Chess Club and the West Covina Chess Club, just to name a few.
The problem with these local clubs (as I saw it) was that most were sponsored by the USCF, or their members were rated players with USCF membership, with the possibly exception of the West Covina club which meets at the Senior Center and has as members older gentlemen or retired folks, though to be sure, players of all ages and/or strengths frequented the club.

Strength, there lies the crux of the matter: Chess is more enjoyable when you can play with players of similar strength or level as oneself. This makes sense, though we can all learn from our losses, it's not fun to lose most of the time and a lot of the players in the clubs I mentioned above were so advanced that it was often difficult to find a game where I could meet an opponent at my level.

This all changed about 3 years ago when I discovered the chess club at Citrus College in Glendora. I was taking a desktop publishing class and contributing to the school newspaper at the time, on my way to finishing my degree at Cal Poly Pomona, but while at Citrus I met the members of the club and have happily made new friends and played with them ever since.

With this blog, I hope to document some of my progress in my own game, as well as document my adventures in the chess world as a chess enthusiast and player. I also welcome those in the SGV area, whether you are a beginner, a youngster looking for tournaments, or other relevant information, or want to learn about the history of the game. This is the place for chess, the virtual home of chess in the SGV. Everyone is welcome! Here's some video of the chess action going on at Kelly's Coffee earlier this year.