What a crazy night this week, as we took a break from the long play format of the Winter Cup for something a bit different…. handicap blitz.

All games were 10 minutes – with no time added on. The club’s top players had just 1 minute against the club’s bottom players (anyone 600+ rating points lower), while moderately better players had 3 minutes against their opponent’s 7 minutes (anyone 250+ rating points below). Everyone else had 5 minutes each. Rounds followed continuously until not enough players were left or the pairings was exhausted.

Congratulations to Guy Burns (pictured below against Liam Parkes), who emerged victorious after 8 rounds, with David Paul, Gordon Lyall and Neels Du Plessis second equal on 5 points. See the full results here.

The night was a bit of fun, plus a chance for players to taste victory against people they’ve never beaten, or don’t normally beat, and there certainly were some giant slayings during the evening. Geoffrey topped the juniors with 4.5 from 8 rounds, but considering that most juniors aren’t able to stay the full night, it was great to see many securing good scores for the rounds they played, and the odd prize scalp or two along the way.

 “The truth is, blitz chess is not only insanely fun but extremely good training to develop intuition for slow chess.” [unnamed online source ]   or……

“It’s just not real chess, is it…” [unnamed Club member]

Round three of the Winter Cup was played this week. All results went to the higher rated player, and full results can be found here.  David Scott tried hard to upset this pattern against higher-rated Ross, and although he never had any winning chances, he did have opportunities to draw. You can see this game here, along with the game between Alistair McGowan and Geoffrey Gunawan here. After three rounds, David Paul and Guy Burns lead with the maximum 3 points.

Next week the Club takes a short break from the long format of the Winter Cup, with a one-off handicap rapid/blitz night. This promises to be a lot of fun, with a time handicap aimed to even things out a little. Players will play either 1 v 9, 3 v  7, or  5 v 5 minute games depending on the difference in rating between them and their opponents.

This game is from Round three of the 2019 Winter cup, played on 16 July 2019, under a 75 + 30 time format.

This game is from Round 3 of the 2019 Winter Cup. The time format was 75 + 30.

Black enjoyed the edge for most of the game, and even missed a win at move 36, with Qd2. But his move 36 …g6 allowed White to double Black’s passed central pawns, to be back to near equality according to the engine. David’s 39. Re5 was a mistake (Rd1 is best), and put Black back into a winning position. But he manages to hang on, and Black’s 48…Ng2 gives back equality, at least for a few moves until White finally cracks on move 50, blundering his knight and resigning next move.

Kapiti Chess Club members, Geoffrey Gunawan, David Paul and Gordon Lyall attended an elite chess coaching seminar on Saturday 13th July. The coaching seminar was given by Chess Grandmaster Dejan Bojkov, a FIDE Senior Trainer and coach to the New Zealand Olympiad team.

Dejan is a Bulgarian grandmaster, who has a background in sport science and many years of experience as a professional chess player. For a number of years he has worked with top juniors in Europe, U.S.A., and Asia, as well as former Women’s World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova, and various national teams, plus league teams in Europe. He is part of the FIDE elite FST (FIDE Senior Trainer) panel and produces training material for a number of online chess platforms. He is also the author of several books.

Photo: GM Dejan Bojkov (left) gives some coaching to KCC members David Paul (centre) and Geoffrey Gunawan (right)

The event was hosted by Wellington Chess Club and was attended by a number of talented junior players as well as the regions top senior players, including  14 time New Zealand Champion, International Master Anthony Ker. The event was thoroughly enjoyed by all and provided great insight into elite level chess.

 Some of the concepts and advice from GM Bojkov will be presented at local coaching sessions for juniors, held at Kapiti Chess Club every Tuesday at 7 pm.

Chess Trivia—Part Two:   Chess grandmaster admits to cheating

The Kapiti Chess Club is now in its 35th year since its beginnings back in 1984, so we thought it might be interesting to look back to some of its earlier days.

It is also an opportunity to recognize our longest standing member, John Whibley, who has been a regular Club member for over 30 of those years. Exactly how many he can’t quite be sure, but a pretty impressive record. Here is a photo from 25 years ago – the 1994 Club prize giving at Kapiti College, where the Club met at the time. Although John admits he can “hardly recognize the handsome young man in the white shirt”, it shows  him as co-winner of the Leo Eichholtz rapid trophy that year, along with A-grade champions,  Earl Roberts (holding the Tom Powell cup) and Alvaro Lacunza. Also shown is Bert Leggett, winner of that year’s Gufeld Trophy for winner of the C grade.

Here are three games from round 2 of the Winter Cup played on 9 July 2019. The time format is 75 + 30.

The first features a game from our junior members, Hamish Lester playing white against Mark Summers. Mark tries a modern defense 1… with g6, then Bg7, and comes away with the advantage after the opening phase. While Hamish tries some nice counter play with his rook and knight honing in on the king, he is still in a pretty lost position around move 17. However, Mark lets him off the hook with 17… Rab8, leaving his bishop to be taken for free. Ten moves later, it is Hamish who is a completely winning position, but fails to find the killing blow (29. h4! and if 29 …Rxc2 then it’s Rg7 mate), and  then drops his knight, allowing Mark to pounce back and eventually promote his d pawn and trap Hamish’s king on move 37.

The second game features another tight battle between Guy Burns and David Scott. Guy played his standard d4 and the game played tight and uneventfully  until David mishandled a queen-exchange tactic, doubling his pawns on move 23, instead of leaving the pawn on f6 and moving g5. He struggled into an endgame, which was the most interesting part of the game, in terms whether a draw could be salvaged or not. However  some further inaccuracies with allowing the trade of rooks, in particular  32…Rg5, and with Guy not making any errors, eventually saw Guy take it out.

The third game features an interesting game from top club players Gordon Lyall (playing white) against Alistair McGowan.

With 5.Nxd4 White is playing to exchange the knight for Black’s dark-squared bishop. 7…Qxd4? is a mistake, Black should play Nc6 when he has nothing to worry about. After 8.Bb2 White is clearly better, when Black has dark-square weaknesses on the kingside and a lack of development. 17.Bf3 threatens to win with Nc5. White opens up the game with the sacrifice 23.Nxf6±, however 23.c5 is more deadly, strongly threatening d6+. After a series of exchanges White emerges with a two pawn advantage and winning endgame.

This week saw a good turnout along for Round 2 of the Winter Cup, boosted also by a few past and prospective members. Top boards saw last week’s winners square off. John Whibley was not able to repeat his underdog win from last week, dropping a piece to David Paul, while a typically close struggle between Guy Burns and David Scott saw the latter miscalculating a queen-exchange tactic to double his pawns and struggle into an endgame which he could not salvage the draw from. Top seeds Ross and Gordon also had wins closing up the standings for minor places after two weeks.  Full results here.

Photo: In the juniors, Savannah has a nice win over newest member Jerry to go with her bye from last week…making her 2 from 2 and current joint leader with David and Guy, and could expect a tough game next week!

This is the first of two games from Round 1 of the 2019 Winter Cup. Guy Burns, playing black against Gordon Lyall goes for a Sicilian, with Gordon opting for the Grand Prix attack, 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3, Nc6, 3. f4.

White is slightly better after 8.Qe2! however, he should follow up with e6 on move 10 or 11.  Black quickly equalises with 11…Bxf3! when White should recapture with the queen 12.Qxf3= Nxe5 13.Qg3.  Black continues to defend accurately and his pieces are more active after 17….Ne5. Black seizes the initiative with 18…f5 when his pieces are starting to co-ordinate better. Once the Black king slips to f7 on move 19, connecting the rooks, Black has a clear initiative.
White has not been able to create any play on the open g-file, and the pawns on f3 and h5 will be a liability in the endgame.
White follows the correct strategy and forces the exchange of major pieces with 23…c4, and avoids the capture on f3 which is inferior (23…Qxf3 24.Rde1=). After the rooks are exchanged on d-file after 29…Bxd8, Black has a won endgame which he converts well.

This is the second of two games is from Round 1 of the Winter Cup played on July 2, 2019. Brandon Holman is white against David Paul. Brandon opts for a King’s Gambit.

David Comments, “Having Brandon talk about the Cunningham version of the King’s Gambit,  I decided to decline and enter into one of Mark Noble’s lines, the Falkbeer Counter Gambit. 6. Bc4.   Usual for white here is Qe2 here or Bxd7. My move 6… a6 is a waiting move seeing what white’s plan is. After 8. …Bb4.  I considered exd4 ep but did not want to give the white knight an olive branch on the f3 square.  12. …Bb5   Time to get rid of the white bishop and get my pawn back. 16. …Nxd5    Qxb7 is full of nasty surprises after Rb6. Nxd5 gets my pawn back plus position.  17. Ne2   Nc6    Finally white moves his knight, I think I will do the same. Now Qxb7 loses straight away to Rb6, with a trapped queen.  18. g5    Bd2 would have been better for white, oh well lets go for the jugular.  18 …Qa8, threatens mate in one”

This week saw the start of a new club tournament the Winter Cup, being played over six weeks with a 75+30 time control. Round one saw underdogs prevail against their higher-rated opponents on the top two boards. Both Guy and John managed nice wins over the top two seeds, Gordon and Ross respectively. Ross comments “John and I exchanged bad moves but mine was blundering a piece…he missed it at first, but then having seen it, I moved to a different square that still left the tactic on!…that was the decider.” Full results from the night can be found here.

In the photo, Guy playing black, goes on from this position to win against top seed Gordon in Round one of the Winter Cup played this week. The full game can be found here, along with David Paul’s game against Brandon Holman.

Some interesting chess trivia news:  Ancient Lewis chess piece sold

Some great chess match-ups this week in the return North versus South night. This to decide who are the better chess players, those from North Kapiti or those from South. After the trouncing of the South a few weeks ago, there was a bit of a comeback this week, with the South edging out the night with 5.5 to 4.5, likely helped by a little blurring of the sides in order to balance out the numbers.

Ross and Gordon fought an even battle to share a win each, while Alistair and John also proved an even match, splitting two draws each. Geoffrey played well against David to reach dominant positions out of the openings, but faltered in the middle game in both games. In the juniors, Valera had a nice win over Hamish (see game here), while Savannah played well to reach a rook and king versus king ending against Liam, but then unluckily giving away a stalemate. See full results here.

Overall, after both nights, North were comfortable winners 14.5 to 9.5. Next week sees the start of a new club tournament, the Winter Cup.

This game features two of the Club’s Junior members, Hamish Lester and Valera Bonyuskin matching up during the second night of the North v South match. Played under 25 + 5 time control, Hamish is white, and opens with the Ruy Lopez, all going well for the first 10 or so moves, until he overlooks his hanging knight. However, Valera then plays well to mobilise his forces activating his bishop and getting both rooks into play along open files and ranks, to eventually convert his minor piece advantage to a rook and outside passed pawn (soon to be queen) advantage. Game over.

This week saw the second night in Club’s popular Blitz Cup series. Each player has 3 minutes for the game, and plays as many rounds as possible, making for an exciting and fun change from longer format  chess. Series 2 saw Gordon Lyall and David Paul take top spot with 6 points, with Neels du Plessis and Ross Jackson next on 5 points. Geoffrey Gunawan was the top junior on 4 points, with Valera Bonyushkin second on 3. Cumulative results after two series see Neels and David P leading, with Ross and Gordon following 1 point behind. Full results here. The third and final night will be played later in the year.

Last weekend three Club members, Geoffrey Gunawan, David Scott, Ross Jackson, and one past member, Lars Dobbertin-King, participated in the popular and longest running rapid tournament on the national chess calendar, the Upper Hutt Rapid. Congratulations to Geoffrey who took out third place in the C-grade, and to Lars who placed second in the B-grade. See results from the tournament  here.

Photo: Geoffrey Gunawan, third place in the Upper Hutt Rapid, C grade, 15 June 2019. 

The first KCC North versus South night saw pairs from each team play each other twice in two 25 + 5 minute games.

In one of the more even match-ups, John Whibley (North) squared off against David Scott (South), first as white, then as black. The games saw neither wanting to give too much away, but equally not able to find any decisive blows. In Game two, David gets a thematic kingside attack going from the London opening, sacking his bishop on g6, but without seeing clear options for  advantage opts for a perpetual. Result: two draws. Full results for the other games here.

The important question of whether KCC players in North Kapiti are better than those in South Kapiti was tested in a fun new event this week at the Kapiti Chess Club. With Kapiti Road as the demarcation line, the club was split into two teams, paired off in roughly equal strength, to play two 25 + 5 games. The North took out the night fairly comprehensively 10 points to 4. (See results here, and a couple of games from the night here). However, this was only the first of two nights, so no bragging rights can be claimed yet, and some appeals may still be pending from the South. But overall, this was a fun, new addition to the club calendar, credit to Club Captain, David Paul. Don’t miss next match up on June 25.

Another important happening at the club this week was the awarding of the first set of NZCF badges to our junior members. This is a great NZCF initiative which seems to have gone down well. Congratulations, and now it’s on to the knight badge!

Photo: Mark Summers receives the NZCF pawn badge from Club President Gordon Lyall. Also awarded were Hamish Lester, Valera Bonyushkin, Geoffrey Gunawan and Savannah Edwards.

The 2019 winner of the Club’s Leo Eichholtz Board for best rapid player was decided this week.

This tournament this year was played as a series of two 8 round tournaments in a 25+5 rapid format. The series 2 winner was Ross Jackson with an unbeaten 7 from 8, followed by Gordon Lyall on 6.5 and David Paul on 6. But when combined with Series 1 results, the overall winner of the 2019 Leo Eichholtz board was Gordon Lyall on 13.5 from 16, with David Paul second on 13, and Ross Jackson third on 12.5. Congratulations.

Well done also to all the juniors that played, in particular to Geoffrey Gunawan who took out best-placed junior, and to Mark Summers who came in second.

Full results here.

And who is Leo Eichholtz? He was a founding club member when the club was established in 1984, and who donated this distinctive shaped chessboard trophy to the club for the best rapid player. It’s been played for since 1990. See previous winners  here.

Here are three games from this year’s Kapiti Rapid played in Paraparaumu on the 25th May 2019.

The first game is from eventual tournament winner Scott Wastney (rating 2346), playing white in Round 2 against Edward Tanoi (rating 1920).

Against the Sicilian, it is fairly equal into the first 20 moves, but Scott gets his rook and two knights working actively together  to advance into enemy lines and secure a positional and material advantage which eventually converts into a runaway passed b pawn.

The second game from the final round is the decisive game that wins the tournament for Scott. Played against the current New Zealand champion and Wellington clubmate Anthony Ker (Rating 2374).

Another Sicilian, but in this game, harry is allowed to march and tear open the black king’s defence, allowing white’s forces to then penetrate with deadly effect.

The third game from round 3 was nearly a case of David v Goliath with second place-getter Romie Guerra (rating 2014) up against promising junior William Ackroyd, rated some 600 rating points lower. With post-analysis-vision it might have felt like a roller-coaster, with both players having overwhelming winning positions twice, but not quite finding the winning continuations.

By move 15, black seems to be easily winning but mis-steps with Nxc6, instead of maybe exf4. William comes back very creditably and is given a chance when allowed to play Qa4+ on move 22, and again after 25. …Bd3 a few moves later…with himself now with a winning advantage… given the open lanes for his queenside pawns. However, a few moves later he mis-steps with f3 to allow black’s rook to enter the attack with material losses unavoidable.