Half-time in the Kapiti Chess Club Champs

We’re half-way through the 2019 Kapiti Chess Championship. 

There’s been some great match-ups and after six rounds, Ross Jackson is currently leading the A grade with 5 points, ahead of 2018 Champion Gordon Lyall on 4.5. Guy Burns is currently third on 3.5, including an early round upset over past champion David Paul. Geoffrey Gunawan, on 3 points,  is currently ahead of Brandon Holman for B grade prize. 

There’s much interest and action in the C Grade tournament which this year has been separated from the A and B grades in an attempt to reduce  mismatches and make it more enjoyable for  members. After 6 weeks, Mark Summers and Hamish Lester are joint leaders on 4.5, followed by Liam Parkes on 3.5. However, with an encouraging growth in new junior members and visitors in recent weeks, the front runners will need to be on their toes for the final half of the champs.

Latest results can be found here.

The club has a short break next week with the third and final round of the Blitz Cup. The second half of the Club Champs with the final 6 rounds will follow this.

There was a great Round 6 match between Brandon and Gordon. Brandon showed some great competitiveness against the much higher-rated Gordon, taking him to the last game of the night to finish. In the end, there was excitement and elation as he announced mate, only to be followed by dismay when he realised  he was already in check, and in fact heading to a lost position a few moves later. See this game here.