A marathon 92 move game played in Round 2 game of the 2020 Club Championships. Two constants with Guy v David – 1.  being evenly matched players, the games always tend to be close battles – and 2. it will be a Slav. In this match, a largely even endgame is reached after move 26, before the two engage in some tense rook and endgame practice for a further 65 moves!

A reminder that the annual Kāpiti Rapid is on 21 November. It is is open to everyone and promises to be a great day. See here for details.

Ross Jackson leads the Kāpiti Chess Club Champs after the second round with a win this week over Hamish Lester. Geoffrey Gunawan also did well to secure to a draw against  2019 Champion Gordon Lyall, and both now share second place on 1.5 points. Full standings after round 2 can be seen here.

Above: Move 6 in a marathon 92 move battle between Guy Burns and David Scott. The game had plenty of rook and pawn endgame practice, after having reached a largely even endgame by move 26. Guy unluckily mis-stepping near the end to allow David in for the late win.  See game here.

The 2020 Kāpiti Chess Club Championship got underway this week. Round 1 results went mostly the way of the higher rated player, with the exception of Geoffrey Gunawan winning a nice game against Guy Burns (see here).  On full points after one round are Ross Jackson, Gordon Lyall, David Paul, Geoffrey Gunawan, and Hamish Lester (bye). See results here. 

First round game from the 2020 Club Championships, played 28 October 2020. Geoffrey Gunawan is White, Guy Burns is Black.

The annual Kāpiti Rapid tournament has been set for Saturday November 21. It is an NZCF rated tournament over 6 rounds, open to players of all levels, with prizes in different grades. It promises to be a great day of chess. Come and support chess in Kāpiti. Entry form and details here.     

The Kāpiti Rapid was first run in 1991, and has been supported by players from beginner level to New Zealand champions. For a history of past tournaments, including winners, tournament reports and photos click here.

The second and final leg of the 2020 KCC Blitz Cup was played this week. Gordon Lyall maintained his good form of late with another picket fence 7 from 7. Second equal were Geoffrey Gunawan and David Scott on 5, with Geoffrey in good form picking up David Paul’s scalp, and very unlucky against David Scott.  Combining second leg scores with those from the first series played back in August, sees David Paul come out overall winner, and he retains the Blitz Cup for another year. Congratulations! Brandon Holman comes in second.  Final results can be found here.

Next week sees the first week of the Club Championships. There’s prizes in three grades, so players of all  levels welcome.

2019 Club Champion, Gordon Lyall was unstoppable again this week with another 2 wins from 2 to make it a picket fence 8 from 8, and worthy winner of this year’s Leo Eichholtz Rapid trophy. One of our newest members, Pavlo Chudinov was a worthy second on 6, with a large bunch behind on 4. See final results here. 

Dual Kāpiti and Wellington club member, Ross Jackson headed down to Dunedin last week to compete in the 2020 South Island Champs, held 3-9 October. Ross scored a creditable 4 from 7,  even in the running for a placing going into the last round… “The South Island Chess Championship was a wonderful occasion… Dunedin is a beautiful city…” Click  here for the rest of Ross’s report, including photos and one of his games. For the record Matthew McNabb, from the Canterbury Club took out the champs. See the NZCF website for results.

Blitz fun returns next week for the second and final leg of the Club’s Blitz Cup. The week after that, the Club will head into its Club Championships. 

Finally, for light interest, an interesting article on this year’s global boom on online chess, and some of its associated challenges. 

Dual Kāpiti and Wellington member, Ross Jackson travelled down to Dunedin to compete in the 2020 South Island Champs, held 3-9 October. Here is his report, plus one of his  games from Round 6.

“The South Island Chess Championship was a wonderful occasion. Dunedin is a beautiful city and we had rented a house at Warrington beach about 20 mins drive north of the city. There was only one round a day so plenty of time to explore. The Otago Chess Club building is owned by the club and both outside and inside is decorated in chess-theme style. Can you identify all the champions in the mural on their clubrooms wall? On left is club President Bob Clarkson who painted the paler portraits to update the mural. 

These days I play for fun without any particular expectation of success. I have done no chess preparation for years and predictably made countless mistakes in all my games, including in this, my solitary win against a higher rated opponent, my friend Quentin Johnson. We both missed countless opportunities. The message from this is that 2000 rated players are very beatable to lower rated opponents. Particularly if you prepare.”

Week 3, and rounds 5 and 6 of the Leo Eichholtz 25+5 rapid tournament played this week at the Kāpiti Chess Club. Gordon Lyall continued his unbeaten run winning both games, against David Paul, and Brandon Holman. He now has an unbeatable lead with two rounds to go and is guaranteed at a least a share of the Trophy. Congratulations Gordon! Mike O’Rorke also had a good night winning against Lars Dobbertin-King and Guy Burns. Standings after six weeks: Gordon Lyall, 6 from 6;  Pavlo Chudinov and David Scott on 4, followed by a large bunch on 3. See full results here.

Some great match ups this week as the Club moved into Rounds 3 and 4 of its annual 25 + 5 rapid competition for the Leo Eichholtz Board. Gordon Lyall made it 2 from 2 again with wins over Geoffrey Gunawan and Pavlo Chudinov, and leads on 4 points at this halfway stage. David Scott also took 2 from 2 against John Whibley and Brandon Holman to be a point behind on 3. Both his games had a element of luck, with John, under great time pressure, missing a likely draw, while Brandon gave David a lesson in how not to play his favoured London – with a super advantage after just 6 or 7 moves (see game here). A large pack, comprising most of the rest of the players, are sitting third on 2 points, testament to the close strength of the competition. See full standings here.

Photo: Down to the final seconds of an exciting last game of Round 3. Geoffrey Gunawan pushes Club Champion Gordon Lyall, but Gordon prevails. For more Club photos, click here.