It was test time at the Junior Chess Club, with 7 students sitting their NZ Chess Federation Level 1 Badge (Pawn) and 5 students sitting Level 2 (Knight). Level 1 covers chess fundamentals, basic checkmates and etiquette. Level 2 introduces the special moves in chess, checkmate & stalemate patterns, as well as pawn promotion. Good luck to all…

Another school, Paraparaumu Beach, has signed up for the “Chess in Schools” program. PBS plan to start their school chess club after the holidays. They already have a strong core of good players, with 3 of their students, members of the Kapiti Junior Chess Club. This takes the number of schools who have committed to the Chess in Schools program to a total of seven!

Next week is the final night of the year for the Senior Club, with the final night for the Junior Club on the 13th.

We have a new Club Champion for 2022, or more accurately two Champions! Congratulations to Levi Paxton and Ross Jackson, joint winners of the A grade and the Tom Powell Memorial Trophy. Both scored 6 points from 7, with 5 wins and two draws each. The Ab Borren trophy for B grade Champion is also shared this year, with Andrew Brockway and Andy Hicks joint winners on 4 points. Final results and standings can be found here. 

The penultimate round of the 2022 Club Championship was played this week. Round 6 saw Levi win against Andrew, Ross win against David, and Andy win against Geoffrey. With one round to go next week, it’s pretty much now just a two-horse race between Levi and Ross, both on 5 points going into Round 7 next week. See current standings here.

The game of the week was Andy against Geoffrey. Andy playing white continuing some good form of late with a nice win over the higher-rated Geoffrey. See the annotated game here. This puts him in third place going into the final round next week, and with an outside chance of sharing the Championship should both front-runners lose next week. 

Meanwhile, in the Junior Club we had our biggest turnout ever, with 19 kids playing, with some very keen ones playing well beyond their normal finishing time!

Kāpiti Chess Club has just launched its Chess in Schools initiative to encourage local schools in the Kāpiti Horowhenua region to start up their own chess clubs. As part of the initiative, Kāpiti Chess Club will provide free chess sets to get the school clubs started. Te Rā School, Paraparaumu College and Horowhenua College have already benefited from this program. Interested parents or teachers should contact Kāpiti Chess Club for more details.

The race for the Club Champs is heating up with Round 5 played this week. Levi won over Andy to catch front-runner Ross. Both now lead on 4 points. Andrew also won over Geoffrey to catch Andy for a share of third place on 3 points.  With two rounds to go, the winner will almost certainly be one of these four. Latest results here.

The game of the night however, was Ross v John which played late into the evening. John some 300 rating points lower, played well to hold Ross to a draw, with John’s two knights more than a match for Ross’s two bishops in a tight endgame. Post-mortem analysis even suggesting that John had the winning position.

Junior Chess term 4 started with a strong turnout, for a night of fun chess including “hand & brain”. This term the students will be tackling the next level NZCF Badge challenge, with some students going for Level 3 (Bishop badge). This will be the highest NZ Chess Federation level achieved to date by any Kāpiti Junior Chess club members!

Round 4 of Club Champs was played this week in the Senior Club. Front-runners Ross and Levi fought out a tough draw, while Andy continued his great form of late, with a win over David. Ross still leads the field after 4 rounds on 3½, with Andy and Levi in second spot on 3 points, and a pack following close behind. There are three more to go, so still too close to call yet. Current results and standings here.

In this week’s photo, Geoffrey takes on a keen group of juniors as Term 4 begins.

The annual Club Championship had its third round this week. Just Ross remains undefeated after 3 games, with a win over Andy this week. Levi is second on 2½ with a win over Geoffrey this week, and Andy makes up the leader group in third place on 2 points. Full results and standings can be found here.

Special mention to Andrew and Levi who travelled down to Invercargill last week to play in the South Island Championship. Both held their own against a strong field putting in solid 50%+ performances. Tournament results here.

A reminder too, that Term 4 in the Junior club starts next week at the usual time of 6:30.

This week’s photo shows long-time Life member John Whibley in action in Round 3. John joined the club in 1988 and has been a loyal member every one of the 35 years since then.  In the longest game of the night this week, John showed he is still more than competitive playing flawless defence against a strong London kingside attack from David, and then gradually playing himself into a winning position. But in Chess it sometimes only takes one mistake, and it was David who came away with a lucky win. For more club pics see here.

Junior T3 Blitz Championship wraps up

There was an exciting climax to the Junior T3 Blitz comp. In the penultimate round, two of the main contenders had challenging games, with Lucas losing to Elane and Ewan drawing with Charlotte. Elane continued her good form with a draw in the final round against Jingewei, but the draw deprived both of them a podium place. In the last round Ewan managed to convert his endgame against Ronan, and this secured third place with 5½ from 9. Despite a draw in the final round against Orlando, Lucas managed to hold onto second on tie-break. The clear winner was Devin, who maintained his consistency to score an impressive 7 points from 9 games. Special mention to Jingwei who narrowly missed out on third place on tie-break. Strong performances also from Elane (5) and Amy (5). Photo below shows medal winners Ewan, Devin and Lucas. 

Success for Levi at Manawatū School Pupil Chess Championship

Big congratulations to Club member Levi Paxton who won this year’s Manawatū School Pupil Chess Championship held in Palmerston North on 29 September. Levi was unbeaten scoring 6 wins from 6 games. Well done. Photo below.

Club Championships begin

Meanwhile in the senior club this week, Round 1 of the 2022 Club Champs kicked off. Ross, Levi, Geoffrey and Andy all scored the full point over Andrew, David, Lars and John respectively.   Results can be found here. There are six more rounds to play.

With only two rounds to go in the Junior T3 Competition, things are tight at the top with Devin, Lucas and Amy sharing first with 5 points from 7 games. They are closely followed by Ewan and Jingwei on 4 points with Elane on 3.5. This sets up for an exciting finale to the tournament, with only two rounds to go.

In the Senior Club, the usual fun and madness prevailed in the second and deciding leg of the 2022 Blitz Cup.  Congrats to Geoffrey who was unbeaten on the night, with Levi and Lars coming in second. When combined with results from the first leg played back in May, the overall winner is Gordon, who retains the Blitz Cup for another year. Second equal overall were Lars and Geoffrey. Final results here.

The Club Championship tournament starts next week.

The second week of the Term 3 Junior rapid chess competition was played this week. After 5 rounds, Devin remains in first place, unbeaten on 5 points. In second place is Jingwei on 4 points, followed by Amy, Lucas and Ewan, who all have 3 points. Some 21 players representing 8 local Kapiti schools are competing, and the tournament will run till the end of the current term. 

In the Senior Club – in a break from normal Chess – recently qualified FIDE instructor, Gordon gave an informative training session on the importance and benefits of analysing your games, taking us though his analysis of one of his recent games. A great session for those us trying to improve our game. Next week is the final leg of the Blitz Cup.