A record turnout of 80 kids from 18 schools across the Wellington, Kāpiti and Horowhenua regions competed in the fourth running of the Kāpiti Junior Championship on August 12, 2023. With heaps of parents and caregivers looking on, it was fantastic atmosphere as kids competed individually and as part of their school over four divisions, and for best Kapiti-Horowhenua school.

Top seed Ryan Winter made it two for two, taking out the Championship Open division for the second year in a row with an unbeaten 5½ from 6.  Along with Ryan, the Open division featured some top New Zealand juniors, including previous New Zealand junior champion Josh Langford who finished runner-up on 4½ with a single loss to Ryan in Round 2. Sharing third place was runner-up at this year’s NZ Juniors, Cohen Young, along with Kayden Loke, Levi Paxton and Alex Coates. 

In the school grade events, Luke Chang was an impressive winner in the Secondary grade, unbeaten with 5½ points from 6. Toby Shannon took the Silver, and Jacob Bayler the Bronze. In the Intermediate section, Timothy Wang and Samuel Coles both top-scored on 5 from 6, with Timothy narrowly edging out Samual on tie-break to take the Gold. Bronze was shared with Ushnishi Chakraborty, Alistair Brownie and Marcel Milson all on 4 points. In the primary section, Mark Wu and Leo Lawton both top scored on 5 points from 6, with Mark edging out Leo on tie-break for the Gold medal. Zachery He, Niranjana Sethuramlingam and Jingwei Xu all took away Bronze.

The School Trophy, awarded to the top performing Kāpiti or Horowhenua school, was won again by Levin Intermediate 13½ (aggregate score for top 4 players), with  Kāpiti College next on 11½. In third place was Ōpiki School. Congrats to Levin Intermediate winners for the third year running! Congrats also to the top scoring school on the day, which was Onslow College. 

Thanks to all the players and parents for a fantastic day of Chess, and to organiser and director Gordon Lyall, his wife Andrea and with others who helped out, to make the day run smoothly.

Final standings, 2023 Kāpiti Junior Chess Championship: Click on the links to see full results of that grade.

Photos and videos from the day including all the prize-winners can be found here.
Results from previous years can be found here.
Tournament poster

Kapiti Junior Chess Club members, Jingwei, Rueben, Daniel, Benjamin and Milo, competed for their school, Raumati Beach, in the Wellington Region Inter-school competition on 20th July. This is possibly the first time that a Kapiti Primary school has competed in the New Zealand Chess Federation’s national school competition. All five students claimed points with the team notching up two wins against Newlands B and Churton Park. Special mention to Jingwei on board 1. Playing the top players from all the other schools, he scored an impressive 4 from 6, and was just outside receiving the top board prize. Congratulations to all.

With Juniors on school term break, most of the Club action recently has been in the senior section. Congrats to Gordon who took out our annual Fischer-Random tourney, with Lars runner-up.  Final results for this are here. The first two rounds of a new Mid-Winter round robin event began this week. Gordon and Ross both completed the night unbeaten on 2 points, with most of the rest of the pack on 1 point. Current results for this event are here.

Meanwhile, the Club is looking forward to our return interclub away match with Upper Hutt which has now been confirmed for 14 August. This follows on from a very enjoyable inaugural home match when they visited us back in April.

The Junior T2 Blitz Tournament came to an exciting conclusion this week. The stand out performance came from Isaiah who scored a perfect 6 wins from six game. There were also strong performances from Roy & Tal who both scored 5 points from 6, and Jingwei, Brock, Yoav and William each on 4. The final standings:

Congratulations to all who competed.

Further NZCF Certificates and badges were awarded last night to (See photo in back row: Sam, Josh, Brock and in front row: Milo, Ronan & Oscar). Congratulations to all, particularly the Club’s youngest member, Oscar, who achieved Level 1 and received his pawn badge.

In the senior section, the final two rounds of the Winter cup were played. Congratulations to Gordon who takes out the comp this year, finishing on 6½ from 8, with Levi and Ross joint second on 5½. Final results here. Next week we start the first of two nights of Fischer-Random fun.

Twelve students from the junior section of Kāpiti Chess Club recently completed New Zealand Chess Federation level 1 Badge Scheme (Pawn), and four students completed level 2 (Knight). The students ranged in age from 5 to 18. The NZCF Badge Scheme provides a solid grounding in chess fundamentals, which enhances the enjoyment of the game as well as preparing each student for competitive chess, including inter-school competitions. Some of the students are pictured in the photo below. Congratulations to all.

In the senior section, after 6 rounds of the Winter Cup, Gordon leads 4½, scoring 2 wins this week against Lars, and David Paul. In second place is Keegan on 4, with Ross and Levi next on 3½. Final two rounds are next week with a good half the field potentially in the running for the Cup. Current results are here.

The 29th annual Kāpiti Rapid was held in Paraparaumu on Saturday 27th May. The tournament drew a record field of 50 players, including several titled players and former New Zealand champions.  The tournament was played over 6 rounds under a 25 m + 5s time format.

Congratulations to IM’s Anthony Ker and Russell Dive, joint open winners, both unbeaten on 5½ from 6. Between them they’ve won the event 14 times, but it was a closely fought battle between the “old hands” and the up-and-coming younger talent. Going into the final round, Russell Dive faced off against Ben Hague, both on 4½. A win or a draw for either would secure the tournament, while Anthony Ker also on 4½, faced fellow club mate Michael Nyberg on 4. The great Wellington IM duo prevailed to see them take a share of the top prize. But they were hard pressed by some great younger talent, with Ollie Archer and Cohen Young both finishing just ½ a point behind on 5, and Michael Sole and Thomas Van der Hoorn on 4½, along with Ben Hague.

In the B grade (1300 to 1750), Ali Katkodia and Zachary Thirkell took out first prize on 4 (and 8th= overall). Taking out the C grade (under 1350) was Lucas Qu also with 4, with Zac Li and Farqad Yuseif in second equal place.

The depth, performance and future promise of the juniors in the field was again evident.  Cohen Young and Ollie Archer had a great tournament finishing on 5 points, just ½ a point off the leaders. Cohen went through unbeaten, including a draw against Russell, while Ollie had a single loss against Ben. Both took home the over 12 age group prize (photo below). In the under 12 age group, Lucas Qu was top with 4, sharing 8th= place overall, and Abigail Rowe was second (photo below). 

The top scoring Kāpiti Club player, and taking home the Flora Paul Cup, was David Paul on 4.  

The day was well-organised and run by Club President Gordon Lyall, with the great help of his wife Andrea, and support from Club members. Thanks to all who attended.

All the profits from the event are being donated to the Maroroa Jones Family in remembrance of Sue Maroroa’s tragic recent death.

Final results can be found here:
Full crosstable
Standings by grade
Junior standings by age group

More photos from the day can be found here.

 The Junior Club is preparing for upcoming New Zealand Chess Federation Badge and Certificate tests. These are set at four levels of increasing knowledge and difficulty from  Pawn to Knight, Bishop and Rook. This year, we’ll have our first juniors sitting at Level 3, for the Bishop Badge. Good luck! 

Meanwhile in the Senior Club, the first leg of the annual Blitz Cup was held this week. Congratulations once again to Club Champ Levi, who went through 7 rounds unbeaten notching 6 wins and a solitary draw in the final round against many-time Club Blitz Cup Champ David Paul, who finished in second place. Results here. The final leg for the Cup will be played later in the year.

Our annual Kāpiti Open is on this Saturday. If you have not yet entered, there’s still time. See details here: https://www.newzealandchess.co.nz/downloads/2023/2023_kapiti_rapid.pdf. There’s over 40 entrants so far, with an increased prize fund over several grades. It promises to be a great day. Hope to see you there.

This final and deciding round of the Kingston Memorial was played this week. The two front-runners Levi and Lars battled it out on the top board, with Lars needing a draw to secure the trophy, and Levi needing to win. Which he managed to do, so takes his second tournament trophy for the year. Congratulations Levi! Meanwhile, Ross beat Andy to take a share of second place with Lars. Final standings here. Next week is Blitz night in the Senior Club.

Don’t forget our annual Kāpiti Rapid Open is on the 27th May. Details here.

Fantastic to see a record number of kids and parents at Junior club this week. This week, activities included some “hand and brain” chess where teams of two play against each other, one acting as “brain” saying the name of the piece to move, and the other acting as “hand” having to decide where the piece moves to, and if there is more than one piece with the same name, which of the pieces to move. 

In the Senior Club, the penultimate round of the Kingston Memorial tournament saw a new front-runner emerge as Lars took good advantage of Ross’s time pressure to claim the win. He heads into the final round next week on 4 points, ahead of Levi on 3½, who fought out a close draw with David Paul this week. Both David and Ross share third place on 3. Latest results and standings here: https://kapitichess.club/events-and-results/results-2023/ – kgm-2023

Our annual open Kāpiti Rapid tournament is not far away, on Saturday 27th May. This popular annual event and is open to all levels and ages, with prizes over several grades. This year’s event is both FIDE- and NZCF-rated. For details and entry form (including a contact if you have any question about the event) see: https://newzealandchess.co.nz/downloads/2023/2023_kapiti_rapid.pdf