We are now mid-way through our Club Champs are things are starting to heat up.

In round 3 of the Junior Club Championship there were wins across the board for the players playing black! James squeezed out a win against Brock on Board 1, to remain the only unbeaten player in the Open division. On board 2, Roy got the better of Isaiah, and there was also wins for Jingwei and Devin. At the halfway stage, James leads with a perfect score of 3 points, closely followed by Roy on 2.5, with Jingwei and Daniel on 2.

In the Challengers section, Ronan maintained his perfect score with a win over Arol on board 1. Tautua miraculously held a draw in a losing endgame against Noah on board 2. There were also wins for Ryder, Orlando and Manahi, who are all in the mix. At the halfway stage Ronan heads the field with 3 points, followed by Tautua, Orlando and Ryder on 2.5.

Meanwhile, another night of long hard fought games running past 11pm in round 4 of the Senior Club Champs. This included possibly one of the deciding matches with front-runners Ross and Gordon, who battled a closed tight position with Gordon finally prevailing after 53 moves. In another key match-up, Guy and Mikhael also battled late into the evening, eventually agreeing a draw in an opposite-coloured bishop and pawn ending. Meanwhile, in contrast to the long games, David S managed an nice 11 move checkmate against John, although the subsequent casual game proved to be significantly more competitive and closer. Currently Gordon leads on 4, with David P on 3, and Guy, Mikhael and Ross all within reach on 2½. Current standings here.

Last night saw the commencement of the Junior Club Championship. The event is split into two divisions, the Open and the Challengers. In round one, the marquee game was Jingwei against James. James played a very controlled game, building up a dangerous kingside attach while limiting Jingwei’s counter play on the queenside. Ultimately James crashed through on the kingside and sealed the point against a dangerous opponent. In the Challenger’s section, Noah and Alex C played out a draw on top board, with the remaining matches going to form.

Meanwhile, after two rounds of the Senior Club Championship, Gordon and Guy remain unbeaten on 2 points, with wins over Lars and David S respectively. Other top contenders, Ross and David P fought out a draw to sit just behind on 1½, along with Ernest who had a win over Robert. With six weeks to go however, it’s still early days yet. Results are here.  

Last weekend the Club was proud to be a big part of the 2024 New Zealand interschools Chess final held in Wellington. Kāpiti Club President Gordon Lyall was the tournament organiser, and a did an amazing job organising and running one of the premier events on New Zealand’s chess calendar. It was a massive event with over 260 school students representing schools from across the country, across primary, intermediate and secondary age grades. With great support from the Wellington Chess Club, his wife Andrea, other Kāpiti Club members, plus extra equipment from Upper Hutt and Manawatu-Knights Clubs, it was a successful couple of days. A report on the event with all the results can be found on the NZCF site here.

Meanwhile at the Club, while the junior club is on school term break, the senior club finished their annual Spring Tournament last week. This had the twist that players must “play something different”. Congratulations to David S who come out top. This week was a 10+5 night with David P taking out the night unbeaten on 4, followed by Guy and Ross on 3. Results here.

The growing popularity of chess with kids in the region was really evident again last weekend. The fifth running of the Kāpiti Junior Open and Schools Championship saw another record turnout, with 86 kids and heaps of parents and caregivers from all around the Kāpiti, Horowhenua and Wellington region filling the playing venue at Paraparaumu College. It was fantastic atmosphere as kids competed individually and as part of their school over four divisions, and for the best Kāpiti-Horowhenua school.

Top seed and winner of the Kāpiti Open back in May, Cohen Young, headed into the sixth and final round unbeaten on 4½. Needing a draw to make it a Kāpiti double, he was denied by Abhinand Rajendran who played well. Down in material but with two connected passers in a better, but murky endgame, he was able to flag Cohen in the time scramble. This allowed Matthew Keith, who with a win over Luke Chang in the final round, was able to edge ahead and claim first place and the open championship on 5 points, with Cohen second, and Abhinand, Zachery and Thomas tied for third. Congratulations.

In the school age grade events, it was a three-way tie on points in the secondary age group section. But with tie-backs in place, Nathan Grace took out the gold medal ahead of Hoorad Farrokh for silver, and Cody Chen for bronze. In the intermediate section, gold went to Jin Tan edging out Justin Daoheng Wang on tie-break, with the bronze going to Carrig Murray. In the primary section, congratulations to Julian Estrada, the only player of the day to win all six games, with silver to Sreenand Rajendran on tie-break, and Jingwei Xu who gets the bronze.

It was great to see a record number of 30 schools represented, including a home school team. The School Trophy, awarded to the top performing Kāpiti or Horowhenua school, was won by hosts Paraparaumu College on 10 points, with runners-up Levin Intermediate, and Paraparaumu Beach School.  Congrats also to the top scoring school on the day, which was Hutt International Boys’ School.

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

Final standings: 

* Tie-breaks are used in the age group divisions.

Photos and videos from the day including all the prize-winners can be found here.

We’re looking forward to the fifth running of our annual Kāpiti Junior Open this Saturday at Paraparaumu College. Last year we got an record turnout of 80 players, and it looks like we’re on track to get the same or better this weekend. There will be the usual Championship event, plus three age group events, plus the best Kāpiti and Horowhenua school performance will win the Junior Championship Schools Cup. Hope you can make it. Full details here: https://newzealandchess.co.nz/…/kapiti-junior-chess…/

Plenty of action also in the senior section of the club. In our Blitz Cup event (played at 3m + 2s), David Paul showed again why he is a 12-time holder, comfortably taking out the second leg on 6 points ahead of new member Mikhael on 4. The last and deciding leg will be played in November. In the third and final leg of the Freebird trophy (played at 10m + 5s),  Lars had a good tournament taking out the leg on 6 points, ahead of David P on 5. Lars was unbeaten save for a Round 6 upset loss to John, who has had some great results this year.  Combined with his first placings in legs 1 and 2, David P was the overall and deserved winner of the Freebird Cup for 2024, with Guy runner up. Congratulations. Results here.

This week many of our juniors sat their NZCF badge test. This is a great NZCF resource, and always popular at Junior Club. It’s sat over four levels of difficulty from pawn level up to rook level. 

At Senior Club it was the fourth and final night of the second leg of the Winter Cup. Going into the final round, frontrunners Lars and Ross were paired against Guy and David S, who if they both won, would see a four-way tie for first. Lars played well to beat Guy, and in an exciting last game of the night, David S pushed Ross in a rooks and pawns endgame,  manoeuvring into a winning position, only to let it slip in time trouble. This to allowed Ross to share first place with Lars. When combined with results of the first leg played back in May, Ross also comes out on top, and takes away the Winter Cup for 2024. Congrats. Full results here.

Check out the Club website for more of our photos: https://kapitichess.club/photos/

Junior Club

The presentation for the T2 Rapid Swiss (A-Grade) was held on Tuesday. Isaiah picked up the bronze medal on tie-break ahead of James, with both on 3 points from 5 games. Roy was second on 3.5 points, while Daniel took first place and was unbeaten on a score of 4.5 points. Congratulations to all.

Photo (L/R): Roy, Daniel & Isaiah.

The latest National Chess Ratings were issued on 4th July by NZ Chess Federation, and we now have four juniors on the list; Brock (1471), Roy (1317), James (1237) and Daniel (1221). This is a great achievement and we expect these ratings to climb rapidly over the coming year!”

Senior Club

Congrats to Ross and Lars who took out our annual Fischer-Random tournament last week with 6 points, a half a point ahead of David P and Gordon. But special mention goes to (much lower-rated) John who took out both winners in the final two rounds to finish on 5 points, a great result! Final results here.

This week we began the second leg of the Winter Cup. After the first two rounds, Ernest, Ross and Gordon all share the lead on 2 points. While new member Ernest benefitted from the bye in Round 1, an upset win in Round 2 over past winner David P, who lost on time – saw him secure  maximum points for the night. Full results here. 

In term 2, the Junior Club ran a Rapid Swiss event to prepare students for the Wellington Interschool events. It ensured that our members were familiar with the rules and etiquette, particularly around the use of chess clocks. The tournament was split into a Senior and Junior sections. In the junior section, 22 players were registered for the five round event which was won by Ronan with a perfect 5 points from 5 games, in second place on tie-break, was Noah and third place Tautua both on 4 points (see photo). Congratulations to all.

This year Kāpiti Chess Club took over the running of the NZCF Wellington Region Interschool Championships. This involved running three separate tournaments to find the top school chess teams across three divisions, Primary, Intermediate and Secondary. The leading schools go on to represent Wellington Region in the National Finals, to be held later this year in Wellington.

The event attracted a record turn out, with a total of 68 teams competing across all grades, and more than 280 students participating. The increase in popularity was largely driven by the growth in junior chess here on the Kāpiti Coast. Two years ago there were no Kāpiti schools represented, this year 13 teams, including a home school team, competed. In total, 14 Kāpiti Chess Club junior members had the honour of representing their school at these events. Congratulations to all of them, and special mention to Orlando Liu (Raumati Beach School) who won the Board 4 prize in the Primary division, with 5.5 points from 6, a great performance.

The T2 B-Grade tournament continued this week in the junior club. There was a win on top board for Ronan playing black against Milo, while Riki prevailed on board 2 against Alec C. With only one round to go Ronan is the clear leader with 4 points from 4 games, Alex T is only half a point behind in second place, followed by Noah, Riki and Tautua on 3 points each. In the A-grade. Isaiah and Daniel agreed a draw on top board with Roy taking down James on board 2. Going into the last round, Daniel leads Isaiah by a half point, followed by Brock, a further half point behind.

Our juniors shone at the Kāpiti Rapid, the Club’s blue ribbon event of the year. In a predominately adult tournament, Brock, Roy and James scored 3 points each to share equal first, with Daniel only a half point behind. This was a great achievement by all in their first FIDE rated tournament.

Picture L/R – James, Roy