Zkid, Students Dominate Birthday Blitz

Steven Zierk at age 12.

Grandmaster Steven Zierk won the first eight rounds en route to victory in the Fpawn Birthday Blitz Bash on Chess.com. For the second straight Sunday, Zkid dominated Northern California's best at blitz, scoring a combined 19.5 out of 22. This week, after overcoming difficult positions in rounds 3 and 4, the GM asserted himself with the white pieces in the English opening. This game would determine the top medals, as IM Yian Liou became the lone competitor to finish within shouting distance of the region's 800 lb gorilla.

Saratoga HS and Redwood MS
teams in 2007.

This evening of socially distanced blitz doubled as the birthday party for Coach Fpawn. Nearly half of the 36 participants were either current (5) or former (12) private students. Here's a big shout out to four members of the Saratoga High School team that captured six consecutive state titles from 2005 to 2010: Brian, Charles, David and Evan! Kudos to school captain David Chock for a strong performance a dozen years after his last USCF rated chess tournament. Other past students who joined the virtual party were Alex, Andrew, Dan, Eric, Gabe, Josh, Steven and Yian.

Perhaps it comes as small surprise that the top six places were occupied by five former students and one current mentee. The domination was complete; only one unaffiliated player scored more than 5 out of 10! Thanks guys for making your coach proud even after so many years.

Final Standings of the Fpawn Birthday Blitz Bash (full results here)

1. GM Zkid (Steven Zierk) 9.0 out of 10
2. IM RolyPolySword (Yian Liou) 8.5
3. NM 2Bf41-0 (Kirk Ghazarian) 7.5
4. IM cheese111 (Gabe Bick) 7.0
5. NM DSchwarz (Dan Schwarz) 7.0
6. chockbored (David Chock) 6.0
7. chessforme17 (Advay Bansal) 6.0
8. Ten tied at 5.0: mzhong21, fpawn, ericlgame, agrossman, mykehawke, championps, EM-TheChessShark, vish1080, knvsback and Mangonel

Mechanics' Institute
in San Francisco

Unfortunately, yours truly failed to play up to his usual standards. The frustration ran deep, e.g. flagging up a pawn with two extra minutes on the clock or moving a knight into capture in an easily winning position. Then came the inexcusable 21 move loss against the hippo. Next time!

Thanks to everyone who joined! It felt great watching some of you push pawns after so many years. Also thanks to Judit Sztaray of the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club for promoting the evening and hosting the virtual Meet & Greet on Zoom before the first round.