Kapiti Chess Club prize giving was held on our last night of the year—18 Dec—a great time was had. Gordon Lyall is now supreme Kapiti Champion (pictured below) and he ended up with the ordeal of playing all the members at the end of the evening. For further photos; including prize giving, click Here.

Club Championships are now over!
The Winners are:

As our year draws to a close, remember we have prizegiving coming up next Tuesday to celebrate the year gone by. Remember to bring a plate of food and invite all your family / friends to come along.

A new photo gallery has been put up with photos from 2018 club nights – click here to see it.

Also, here is a short video where Valera explains how he sacrificed much of his material to checkmate Rick Lowe:

See you all at the prizegiving!

We start off with a hearty CONGRATULATIONS to new member Brandon Holman, who after his win over Geoffrey Gunawan, secured the C Grade Championships with 8.5 pts. After a grueling 3 months we are finally down to the last round and though, along with Brandon, Gordon Lyall has taken out the A Grade and outright “Club Champion”, there are three players still in contention for the B Grade Championship. See our Results Page for more details.

Last photo of Rose Kingston, who sadly passed away today. Hardworking and loyal, Rose will be missed. RIP

Another four rounds of the Freebird (10+5) championship were held, to finish series one. Hamish brought along his pal, Jay, who is visiting from overseas. After emerging undefeated, Wellington player Ross Jackson seized first place by half a point despite some late arrivals. Since there are no byes in the second and third series, other contenders have a strong chance of catching up, such as Alan Winfield and Alistair McGowan, each only half a point behind. Among the juniors, Mark Summers caught up to Valera to claim first equal. Next week play begins on the second series, where the competition will only get fiercer! As always, full results are here.

Further discussion was also held on our plans for the club championships – one compromise option could be to use a form of accelerated pairing. Club captain Lars Dobbertin-King will show the club what that would look like next week.

A successful chess variants night was held, where many in the club enjoyed discovering new variations of our beloved game. Alan Winfield and Ross Jackson had an epic showdown to determine who was the best at Fischer random, with perennial tournament winner Alan Winfield taking the prestigious prize. Valera discovered a new passion for Stratego Chess, Hamish dared to play Lars in Kung Fu chess, and everyone had fun.

The first four rounds of the first series of our Freebird (10+5) tournament were held. This six-night, 24 round extravaganza is the longest tournament in the club in terms of number of rounds, but capturing an early lead is still a good advantage. Alan Winfield, Gordon Lyall and Ross Jackson top the standings, with Guy Burns and Lars Dobbertin-King chasing just half a point behind. Valera leads the juniors by a slim margin. Full results here. Play continues with the next four rounds scheduled for next week.

The committee discussed whether we want to hold a Swiss-format club championship or one with a round-robin among the top “A grade” players and something else for the rest of the club. This will be decided in a future committee meeting and many issues on both sides of the argument were discussed. Members with opinions on the topic are strongly encouraged to contact one of the committee members, either on a club night, or using the contact details on the governance page.

Leo Eichholtz Tournament Concluded

The final rounds of the tournament had few surprises, with Gordon taking a bye assuring him of third place, and Alan having already won the tournament. Alistair McGowan pushed through some strong opposition to claim second. Mark Summers managed to win the juniors with a late victory in the fifth round.

Blitz Tournament Continues

Alan Winfield now leads the tournament outright, as David Paul drops to join Lars Dobbertin-King in second place. Both players are well ahead of Guy Burns, who played an excellent night of chess to get to third. Hamish Lester still leads the juniors, and Mark Summers made up for his previous poor performances in Blitz to achieve top junior performance of the night. He also checkmated Alan Winfield.

As always, full results available here.

Ratings List Updated

The latest ratings have been sent off to NZCF for their verification. They are based on the John Kingston and Leo Eichholtz tournaments.

Upper Hutt Open Played

Some of our club members traveled to Upper Hutt to compete in their open tournament. All of our club members played really well, particularly Alan Winfield, who scored 2.5 in the “A” grade, and Lars Dobbertin-King, who scored 3 in the “B” grade. Well done also to David Scott, Valera and Mark Summers for their performances in a difficult and highly competitive tournament. Eventually, the ratings from this tournament will be added on as well.

Next Week

Since we are about half-way through our year in chess, we’ll be playing a short Fischer Random tournament next week. We’ll also “have a go” at other chess variants like Suicide Chess, Transfer Chess, and this author’s favorite, Stratego Chess. It’ll be a blast!

Following that, we’re back to our action-packed tournaments, with our Freebird (15 minute) tournament poised to produce more exciting rapid chess action.

The latest results have been added to the results page.

Some highlights include Club President Alan Winfield winning the tournament outright with a near-perfect score, and no less than 7 (yes, seven) players within half a point of second place. Mark Summers and Valera are tied among the juniors. It seems that the prizegiving will have plenty of shared prizes this year – we’ll need to print some extra certificates. The last two rounds will be crucial for many players who are still very close together. Every move will count!

Next weekend is the Upper Hutt Rapid tournament. We have a bunch of players entered so we’re looking forward to an entertaining series of games there, too.

Play continued on the Leo Eichholtz Memorial competition, played at a 25+5 time control. Thanks to prospective new members Conor, Dylan, Luca and returning member Geoffrey, we had an excellent turnout tonight. Coupled with the beginning of a new series, this led to some very fun match-ups. Guy Burns, Alistair McGowan, Gordon Lyall and Alan Winfield all top the standings for the second series, with Alan retaining the overall lead and Gordon pulling ahead of the other contenders for second place. Three more club nights and six more games stand between these greats and final victory, with numerous other contenders still in striking distance. Among the juniors, Valera captured the lead tonight, and Hamish won his first regular competition game in the club with an impressive win over Rick. Full results here.

This play followed on from another successful ladder night, where Mark Summers retained his position at the top of the ladder. Both Lars Dobbertin-King and Gordon Lyall made significant moves up the ladder, however, and thus the current champion will have many threats in the weeks ahead. Full standings and rules here.

This post details recent news from around the chess club; we’re hoping to go back to a more regular schedule of updates on the website from this week onwards.

Kapiti 2000 Results Available!

The Kapiti 2000 was held – a full breakdown of how everyone did is available here.  Overall the event was a success, and the committee are already looking at how we can make the event even bigger and better in future years! Well done to all the winners, especially Jeremy Knowles from Upper Hutt who took out the top prize.

John Kingston Memorial 3-way tie

The John Kingston Memorial 55+5 tournament ended in a 3-way tie between Alistair McGowan, Alan Winfield and David Paul. Well done also to Ross Jackson, Gordon Lyall, and Guy Burns who were not far behind. This is the second time in the history of the tournament that the trophy will be won by three competitors, and the fourth time the winner will be shared – find more trivia in our hall of fame. This represents excellent and consistent performances by all three players throughout a long and toughly contested tournament – see full results here.

Blitz Tournament Continues

The second round of our 2+3 competition saw a number of changes on the table. David Paul has pulled up ahead, tying Alan Winfield for the top position, while Lars Dobbertin-King drops back to second place. Alistair McGowan showed an impressive improvement over his first round performance, tying Ross Jackson for third. Newcomer to the tournament Hamish Lester currently leads the juniors, although the best-performing junior on the night was Savannah Edwards, and Valera is still not too far behind. Full results here.

Leo Eichholtz Memorial 25+5 First Series Played

Our 25+5 tournament has begun with an exciting first series of 6 games, which will soon be followed by a second series to determine the overall winner. Over-achiever of the year Alan Winfield currently heads the pack with a series of impressive performances, but only by half a point. He is chased by a trio of wolves in David Paul, Gordon Lyall and David Scott, who each have won some very impressive games so far already. With six more rounds to play, plenty of contenders are still vying for the title, making it anyone’s game. Mark Summers and Valera currently share the lead among the juniors. Full results here.

Our next club night sees another round of play in our ladder tournament, which is a new 25+5 tournament we’re holding this year. Following that we will return to play the second series of the Leo Eichholtz Memorial 25+5.

A successful 2018 Kāpiti Rapid was run today. Jeremy Knowles took top prize, closely followed by the strong Junior player Ryan Winter. Current Kāpiti Champion Alan Winfield scored a respectable 3^rd place.

The Kāpiti 2000 was a new chess tournament, open to all chess players with a rapid Elo rating under 2000. The Tournament was held on Sunday 27 May 2018 at the Kāpiti Chess Club Rooms in the Paraparaumu District Library at 9 Ivor Trask Place, Paraparaumu.

Overall the event was a success, with 19 players turning up from throughout the Wellington area. There was plenty of excitement and top quality games, as well as some valuable lessons learned for the club going forward. We hope to repeat the tournament in future years and make it even bigger and better!

The final standings were as follows:

Prize winners were:

• 1st place = Jeremy Knowles
• 2nd place = Ryan Winter
• 3rd equal = Alan Winfield, Ian Sellen, Fabian Day
• Top Junior = Nicholas Winsley
• Top Novice (shared) = David Scott, Joshua Knowles, Nicholas O’Kane, Arand Lancer

The top player from Kāpiti, Alan Winfield, wins the Flora Paul Memorial Trophy.

Photos from the day can be found here.

Thank you to everyone who participated and we hope to see you again next year!

The final round of the John Kingston Memorial 55+5 competition is coming up this week, and the final round looks to be a clincher, with three very strong competitors sharing top position – Alistair McGowan, Alan Winfield, and David Paul. Assuming all three win their game, we might end up with a three-way tie for the top spot! Among the juniors, Valera holds a slim half-point advantage over his nearest rival, Mark. After this week’s final, we’ll have a week of Blitz 3+2 action, before beginning our 25+5 rapid tournament! There have been no ladder games played in this time. See full results here.

Don’t forget about our Kapiti 2000 tournament coming up soon!

Our new-format rapid tournament is almost here, and we’re ready to start taking registrations! Click here to find our more about this exciting new tournament and keep checking this site for updates.

Two further rounds in the John Kingston Memorial 55+5 competition have seen some dramatic shifts in the leaderboard as we head towards the final few rounds. David Paul won a tenacious endgame against Guy Burns and an interesting game against Lars Dobbertin-King to rise to the top of the leaderboard – but only by half a point. Trailing him are Alan Winfield, Alistair McGowan and Gordon Lyall, with Ross Jackson and Lars Dobbertin-King each only one point behind. With three rounds to play before a winner is declared, David may be the favorite but his position at the top is far from assured with so many strong players still in contention! Among the juniors, Mark Summers has risen to the top after a win over Rose Kingston. Full results here.

Entry forms were also handed out for the Upper Hutt Chess Open tournament, which received a good response. 

After play, a committee meeting was held. We discussed accounts and funding, but also changes to our calendar for the year. As a result, we have updated the calendar for 2018. The 25+5 tournament has been shortened, the ladder is longer, and a new “chess variants” night has been added which should be a lot of fun! In addition, we discussed our new Kapiti 2000 tournament, details of which will be posted here over the next day.

The first ladder night ever held by the Kapiti Chess Club went well. Despite a few absences, a lot of highly competitive games were played, seeing some big changes on the standings in our Ladder Tournament. Mark Summers has taken the overall lead, and several others have seen some big movements. Club president Alan Winfield also organised a few tactical challenges for players to try as training, where team A thoroughly trounced team B thanks to the sharp minds of Savannah Edwards, Mark Woodward, and Gordon Lyall. Everyone enjoyed themselves.

There will be several more ladder nights throughout the year to look forward to; however next week, play resumes in our exciting John Kingston Memorial 55+5 tournament. With the tournament only half-way finished, and a large field of strong contenders for the title, one thing is clear: there’s still plenty of action to come.

This week’s round of the 55+5 John Kingston Memorial Trophy saw the playing field become extremely close. Gordon Lyall returned to form after his loss last week, topping the table by defeating Alan Winfield. He is joined at the top of the standings by dark horse Alistair McGowan, who defeated David Paul. Alan Winfield, David Paul and Lars Dobbertin-King are all just half a point behind the tournament leaders, and many other strong players are not too far behind, so the tournament is still anyone’s game. Check the results page for the full standings.

Next week we will have our first full ladder night. Also keep an eye out for our Kapiti 2000 event happening soon! More details to follow.

Game played 20/3/18 at a 55+5 time control. Both players agreed to a draw as David Scott was in time trouble, although the final position looks promising for black.

A close game played at a 55+5 time control on 13/3/18. Unfortunately Ross ran out of time on the clock. Result 1-0.