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.
2018 Kapiti 2000 Rapid
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 3rd 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:
| Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Round 6 | Total | |
| Jeremy Knowles | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 | 1 | 5.5 |
| Ryan Winter | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1 | 5 |
| Alan Winfield | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Ian Sellen | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 4 |
| Fabian Day | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Guy Burns | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 3.5 |
| David Paul | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 | 1 | 1 | 3.5 |
| Nicholas Winsley | 0.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3.5 |
| Brett Mullan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| David Scott | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Joshua Knowles | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Nicholas O’Kane | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Arand Lancer | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Bob List | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 1 | 0 | 2.5 |
| Lars Dobbertin-King | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2.5 |
| Anton Reid | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Alistair McGowan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Mark Summers | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Samantha Sarif | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
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!
Kapiti 2000 Registrations Open!
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.
Guy Burns v David Scott (20-3-2018)
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.
Alan Winfield v Ross Jackson (13-3-2018)
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.