Kapiti Chess Club’s David Paul made Kapiti chess history by winning all seven major trophies in 2011. At the Club’s 14 December prize giving, Mr Paul was awarded the trophies, which included A Grade Champion, Grand Prix trophy and several rapid play titles.Mr Paul learnt to play at age 10 and was inspired by Bobby Fischer when Fischer became the first non-Russian to win the world championship in 1972. “He heavily influenced the way I play my chess and has been a lifetime inspiration on how exciting and dynamic chess is executed on the 64 squares of the board” declared Mr Paul.

Congratulations to David Paul; first-time winner of the Mike O’Rorke donated, Freebird 15-15 Trophy—but, it was a close call!—a magnificent win by Glenys Mills—in magnificent form this year—against Zoe Kingston, put the brakes on Zoe’s attempt to steamroll David’s grasp on the new Trophy. Johnny Hynes and Josh Bunker took out top Junior positions. Don[t forget Prize Giving:  7:00pm at Paraparaumu Library, Wednesday 14 December.

The penultimate round of the Freebird Trophy was played  tonight and David Paul and Zoe Kingston are neck and neck on 8 points each, closely followed by Alistair McGowan. Pressure is on David Paul to take this trophy and achieve the rare feat of single-handedly  taking all Kapiti Chess Club major trophies in one year.

Congratulations to David Paul, winner of the Club Champs—very closely followed by Itay Ben-Dom, who also takes the top Junior title. David also wins the important Grand Prix trophy, based on points allocated for every game played in the Club year. A great result for David who, if he wins the current Freebird 15-15 trophy, will, single-handedly,  take all the major titles in one year—a feat only ever achieved by Earl Roberts in 2001 and Andrew Stanton 1996 & 1997.

David Paul faced Itay Ben-Dom over the board tonight—a key game threatening David Paul’s lead in the Club Champs, a loss would have catapulted Itay into shared first place—but, alas, a draw was the result and almost ensures David his goal of securing all the major trophies for 2011. Mighty Mike O’Rorke scored a notable win against strongly rated Alastair McGowan and he now shares 3^rd place with Gordon Anderson. Two more rounds remain in the Champs.

Please support Wellington Chess Club Rapid tournament, to be held at Turnbull House on Sunday 20 November.

There are 3 more rounds of the Club Champs to go and David Paul still leads the pack, followed closely by Itay Ben Dom. Next week—26 October—we have a fun night, where we play some casual games; perhaps Club Captain David Paul will organise a casual blitz tournament.

There has been some enquiries about the best free chess software for Club players to analyse and play games. After active research Kapiti Chess Club recommends Fritz 5.32. This programme cost over 100 US dollars when it first came out in 1998 and still packs a very powerful chess engine.

NORTHERN HEMISPHERE DARK-HORSE WINS 2011 KAPITI RAPID CHESS TOURNAMENT

A northern hemisphere dark-horse scooped the top-prize at the 2011 Kapiti Rapid Chess Tournament held 8 October in Paraparaumu.
40 players player attended this important regional chess tournament. A new format was used this year with 6 rounds within 3 separate tournaments within the Rapid, players reported this switch to be a great success.

FIDE Master (FM) Ben Hague pipped NZ Champion International Master (IM) Anthony Ker and Grand Master (correspondence) Mark Noble by a clear point. Pundits expected the Ker versus Noble game to be the Tournament’s decider, but Hague was unbeaten on the day with 5 wins— however, he was held to respectable draw by FM Scott Wastney. 

Palmerston North and Kapiti players played exceptionally well. Twins Michael and Daniel Yuan (Palmerston North) won the B Grade. Kapiti’s local chess champion David Paul and talented junior player, Itay Ben-Dom, along with Palmerston North’s Jack James (current under NZ under 14 Rapid champion) came runners-up, followed by Kapiti’s Alastair McGowan and Club President Guy Burns.

The C Grade was also won by junior players, a reflection of how strong and popular NZ junior chess has become. Henry Li and Layla Timergaze wining this section. Kapiti players; Mighty Mike O’Rorke and Joe Tyler followed closely, on 3 points.

A large range of photos are found here

A GRADE RESULTS

C GRADE RESULTS

The Kapiti Rapid Tournament starts soon. Saturday October 8—just over a week away—players from the Wellington region and beyond assemble at Paraparaumu to play exciting competition chess. Kapiti players have free entry to the Tournament—cost normally $40—but must arrive at the community hall at 8am to help set the hall up. Please support Kapiti Chess and turn up on the day for an exciting 6 round tournament against new and interesting opponents—also, there will be plenty of prizes!

Section B of the Club Champs has resumed and 7 players are within 1 point of taking home the trophy. The next eight rounds will be closely fought and incumbent Kapiti Chess Club Champion, David Paul, will be gathering all the mojo he can muster to keep this trophy in his current war chest.

The fifth and final Blitz Tournament of the year is now over and Paul Frost dominated the evening finishing with a respectable 5.5 points, closely followed by Alastair McGowan on 5. Josh Bunker was the top scoring Junior with 2 points.

With all results now in and tallied, David Paul is the Kapiti Chess Club 2011 Blitz Trophy winner—congratulations! Alastair McGowan and Mighty Mike O’Rorke follow closely. Johnny Hynes takes the Junior section, followed closely by Josh Bunker.