Club to host top NZ Chess Masters

On Tuesday, 9th April, the club is privileged to host two top New Zealand players, current joint New Zealand chess champions and FIDE International Chess Masters, Russell Dive and Anthony Ker.

This is an exciting opportunity to listen and learn from the best. They will be sharing some of their games and experiences from the recent World Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia. They are brilliant communicators with a gift of explaining the complex simply and logically, showing both the art and science of chess. Their visit and coaching session last year was one of the highlights of the chess calendar.

The event is open and free to anyone interested. All are welcome. It starts at 7:30pm at the Salvation Army Hall at 41 Bluegum Rd.

Russell and Anthony are the current joint New Zealand chess champions. Anthony has been New Zealand Champion 14 times and Russell 6 times.  Russell first won in 1986, Anthony in 1988. Only Ortvin Sarapu who died in 1999 with 20 wins has won it more often. Recently when blindfold, world record holder Grandmaster Timur Garayev played 12 games blindfold simultaneously at Wellington Chess Club, they played him to a draw. They were also unsighted, with advantage of only being able to mentally visualise onto an empty board and record the moves.