Series B of the Club Championships has just begun. Congratulations to 13 year old Wellington chess player Layla Timergazi who has just earned her World Chess Federation women’s ‘Master’ title after winning six and drawing two of her 10 games at the World Chess Olympiad held in Tromso, Norway in early August— Click Here for more information. Round 2 of our Champs next Wednesday—see you there!

We played round 7 of the Freebird Trophy (15 – 15 minute timeframe) and competition is heating up. Paul Frost won all his games to streak ahead within 2 points of current champion David Paul with Mike O’Rorke in 3rd position on 19 points. In the Juniors, Spencer Viernes and Johnny Hynes share the lead. There is one more round to go (10 December) to decide this Trophy. Next Club night—10 September—we start series B of the Club Championships.

14 players turned up for the last round of series A of the Club Championships. Current Kapiti champion David Paul leads—but only by half a point from a determined Paul Frost. Spencer Viernes is tops the Juniors—one point ahead of nearest rival Zephyr Wills. Mad Mike O’Rorke played Dynamic David Paul with the game being won in the end game by David. Alistair wham McGowan battled it out with Paul Frost and lost—well done Paul. Ian Liddell drew against Glenys Mills and Rick Lowe dealt to Spencer Viernes with a fine win.
Lars Dobberton-King defeated Johnny Hynes and Rose Kingston beat the new guy and potential club member Devi. A great night was held by all. Next week we have another round of our 15 15 tournament.

12 players were in attendance for the 5th round of the Club Championships. The game to watch saw unbeaten Alistair Wham McGowan pitted against the incumbent A Grade Champion David Paul. The game was decided by a cunning tactic by David on move 34—resulting in David winning a piece—at this point Alistair threw in the towel. Mike O’Rorke played up and coming junior Spencer Viernes—at one point in the game Spencer had Mike on the ropes with a forced win (according to the keen eye of David Paul)—but Spencer misplayed and lost. Paul Frost managed to win against the promising Junior Zephyr Wills. Ian Liddell—recovering from his loss to Spencer last week—beat top A grade contender John Whibley dealing a serious blow to his chances to take the prestigious A grade Trophy. Rick and Rose battled out for a draw and Ex Olympiad player Glenys Mills started her comeback into the tournament with a win over Johnny Hynes. This leaves the points tables very interesting with 1 round to play in this series

10 players attended Club Champs. Mike O’Rorke did a manual draw as he had computer problems. Alistair Wham McGowan continued his golden unbeaten run like Rocky Marciano—delivering a knockout blow to John Whibley. Glenys Mills and Mike O’Rorke fought it out for a draw. Lars Dobbertin-King was beaten by Paul Frost. Top Junior Spencer Viernes dealt to dark horse Ian Liddell—great result Spencer. Rose Kingston and Johnny Hynes game ended up drawing. There will be some good battles next week with current Kapiti Champion David Paul returning after missing the night’s play.

The previous week, we played the third series in our Freebird 15 minute trophy. Paul Frost is leading the field for this Tournament, two points ahead of the current Trophy holder David Paul on 10 points. Johnny Hynes is leading the Juniors with 5 points, one point clear of Zepher Wills.

Another great night was held at the club 14 players attending. In that game to watch, Alistair Wham McGowan disposed of Mike ORorke and now leads the field. David Paul won a drawn out battle with Lars Dobbertin King. Paul Frost returned from a long absence and battled out for a draw with John Whibley. The upset of the night saw Spencer Viernes beating Glenys Mills. Dark horse Ian Liddell won another game; beating Rose Kingston. Zephyr Wills won against Johnny Hynes and Rick Lowe had a solid win against Sean Doyle.

Round 2 of the Club Championships resulted in some interesting results. Current A grade champion David Paul battled it out with John Whibley for 52 moves—eventually coming to a point where neither could make any progress—a toughly fought draw. Mike ORorke had the Black pieces against Lars Dobbertin-King and left his Knight for ‘free’, Lars took it then Mike played discovered check and whoops! Mike had pocketed Lars’ Queen—great win to Mike. Alistair McGowan snared a win over Glyns Mills.
Dark Horse Ian Liddell played lovely positional chess to deal a blow to chessmaster Rick Lowe. Sean Doyle ended up stalemating himself whilst seeking an elusive win over Johnny Hynes. And Rose was Tea lady for the night having the bye. Next week will see a top-of-the-table clash between the only two players on maximum points, when Alistair Wham McGowan plays Mighty Mike Tree O’Rorke—a game well worth watching.

A good nights start for our Club Championship with 12 players contesting our premium Trophy. This is the ultimate Kapiti Chess contest and the prestigious Trophy is currently held by David Paul and will be fiercely contested. After the first round, David Paul, Mike O’Rorke, John Whibley, Glyns Mills, Lars Dobbertin-King and Alastair McGowan all took away one point from Rose Kingston, Zepher Wills, Johnny Hynes, Ian Liddell, Sean Doyle and Rick Lowe. Second game next week.

11 players turned up for the Freebird Trophy. David Paul led the field with dp 3.5 points, closely followed by Lars Dobbertin-King, Alistair McGowan and Mike O’Rorke on 3 points. John Whibley, Ian Liddell won 2 points, Glyns Mills 1.5 and Rose Kingston, Johnny Hynes and Rick Lowe 1 point. Zephyr Wills did not score. Next weeks play is the ”holy grail” of the Kapiti Chess Club with the start of our Club Champs which will be 3 series of 6 games per series, using the Swiss Pairing system.