The final junior chess club night of the year was well attended, with 22 kids participating. Here is a link to photos from the night. https://photos.app.goo.gl/SFRttSTM7LYcVavK8.

The season ending team competition was a close affair and could have gone either way. Ultimately, Team Magnus prevailed (in photo 3 in the link above, from left to right: Devin, Yoav, Orlando & Tomas), edging out Team Giri by a single point. Each of the winning team members received a chess set. It was also award night for those who recently took the NZCF Badge Scheme test.

Congratulations to those who completed Level 1 (in photo 4 in the link above, from left to right: – Ronan, Thomas, Yoav & Yonatan), and Level 2 (in photo 5 in the link above, from left to right: Daniel, Jingwei, Benjamin, Elane & Rueben). Special mention to Yoav, who scored a perfect 100% on the test, which has not been achieved since June 2021!

The final awards of the night were for Most Improved Player and Player of the Year (Photo 1 in the above link). Most Improved went to Elane who took down some of the top players in both the Club’s internal blitz tournaments and achieved both NZCF Level 1 & 2 this year. The Player of the Year went to Devin, who had an outstanding season, winning both T2 & T3 Blitz tournaments, taking a bronze at the Kapiti Junior Chess Championship, as well as captaining team Magnus who won the team event. It was a great finish to the season and everyone took home a Xmas goody bag.

It was also a final get together for Senior Club members last weekend with a very enjoyable BBQ hosted by Club President Gordon and wife Andrea, followed by prizegiving. Special mention goes to Year 12 student Levi Paxton, a new member this year, who carried away many of this year’s Club’s trophies, including co-Club champion and the overall Glenys Mills Memorial Grand Prix Rook. Photos from that day can also be found at the link above.

Best wishes to all over the holiday period and remember, chess is cool.

The final junior competition of the year is a team event, with 4 players on each side. The format simulates an inter-school match and gives the juniors experience in this format, as they look forward to representing their respective schools in the new year. There is also the added pressure of playing with chess clocks! After 2 rounds Team Magnus and Team Giri are joint first place with 5.5 points each, followed by Team Naka (3) and Team Beth (2). It promises to be a close and exciting conclusion to the tournament next week, on the last club night of 2022. 

Meanwhile, senior club played its final night of the year this week, but not its final event – with a BBQ get together and prizegiving scheduled for this Sunday.

How is my team doing? Juniors check to see results. More Club photos here.

It was test time at the Junior Chess Club, with 7 students sitting their NZ Chess Federation Level 1 Badge (Pawn) and 5 students sitting Level 2 (Knight). Level 1 covers chess fundamentals, basic checkmates and etiquette. Level 2 introduces the special moves in chess, checkmate & stalemate patterns, as well as pawn promotion. Good luck to all…

Another school, Paraparaumu Beach, has signed up for the “Chess in Schools” program. PBS plan to start their school chess club after the holidays. They already have a strong core of good players, with 3 of their students, members of the Kapiti Junior Chess Club. This takes the number of schools who have committed to the Chess in Schools program to a total of seven!

Next week is the final night of the year for the Senior Club, with the final night for the Junior Club on the 13th.

We have a new Club Champion for 2022, or more accurately two Champions! Congratulations to Levi Paxton and Ross Jackson, joint winners of the A grade and the Tom Powell Memorial Trophy. Both scored 6 points from 7, with 5 wins and two draws each. The Ab Borren trophy for B grade Champion is also shared this year, with Andrew Brockway and Andy Hicks joint winners on 4 points. Final results and standings can be found here. 

The penultimate round of the 2022 Club Championship was played this week. Round 6 saw Levi win against Andrew, Ross win against David, and Andy win against Geoffrey. With one round to go next week, it’s pretty much now just a two-horse race between Levi and Ross, both on 5 points going into Round 7 next week. See current standings here.

The game of the week was Andy against Geoffrey. Andy playing white continuing some good form of late with a nice win over the higher-rated Geoffrey. See the annotated game here. This puts him in third place going into the final round next week, and with an outside chance of sharing the Championship should both front-runners lose next week. 

Meanwhile, in the Junior Club we had our biggest turnout ever, with 19 kids playing, with some very keen ones playing well beyond their normal finishing time!

Here is a game from Round 6 of the 2022 Kāpiti Chess Club Championship played between Andy Hicks (rated 1621) versus Geoffrey Gunawan (rated 1812). Annotations by Gordon Lyall.

Kāpiti Chess Club has just launched its Chess in Schools initiative to encourage local schools in the Kāpiti Horowhenua region to start up their own chess clubs. As part of the initiative, Kāpiti Chess Club will provide free chess sets to get the school clubs started. Te Rā School, Paraparaumu College and Horowhenua College have already benefited from this program. Interested parents or teachers should contact Kāpiti Chess Club for more details.

The race for the Club Champs is heating up with Round 5 played this week. Levi won over Andy to catch front-runner Ross. Both now lead on 4 points. Andrew also won over Geoffrey to catch Andy for a share of third place on 3 points.  With two rounds to go, the winner will almost certainly be one of these four. Latest results here.

The game of the night however, was Ross v John which played late into the evening. John some 300 rating points lower, played well to hold Ross to a draw, with John’s two knights more than a match for Ross’s two bishops in a tight endgame. Post-mortem analysis even suggesting that John had the winning position.

Junior Chess term 4 started with a strong turnout, for a night of fun chess including “hand & brain”. This term the students will be tackling the next level NZCF Badge challenge, with some students going for Level 3 (Bishop badge). This will be the highest NZ Chess Federation level achieved to date by any Kāpiti Junior Chess club members!

Round 4 of Club Champs was played this week in the Senior Club. Front-runners Ross and Levi fought out a tough draw, while Andy continued his great form of late, with a win over David. Ross still leads the field after 4 rounds on 3½, with Andy and Levi in second spot on 3 points, and a pack following close behind. There are three more to go, so still too close to call yet. Current results and standings here.

In this week’s photo, Geoffrey takes on a keen group of juniors as Term 4 begins.

The annual Club Championship had its third round this week. Just Ross remains undefeated after 3 games, with a win over Andy this week. Levi is second on 2½ with a win over Geoffrey this week, and Andy makes up the leader group in third place on 2 points. Full results and standings can be found here.

Special mention to Andrew and Levi who travelled down to Invercargill last week to play in the South Island Championship. Both held their own against a strong field putting in solid 50%+ performances. Tournament results here.

A reminder too, that Term 4 in the Junior club starts next week at the usual time of 6:30.

This week’s photo shows long-time Life member John Whibley in action in Round 3. John joined the club in 1988 and has been a loyal member every one of the 35 years since then.  In the longest game of the night this week, John showed he is still more than competitive playing flawless defence against a strong London kingside attack from David, and then gradually playing himself into a winning position. But in Chess it sometimes only takes one mistake, and it was David who came away with a lucky win. For more club pics see here.

Junior T3 Blitz Championship wraps up

There was an exciting climax to the Junior T3 Blitz comp. In the penultimate round, two of the main contenders had challenging games, with Lucas losing to Elane and Ewan drawing with Charlotte. Elane continued her good form with a draw in the final round against Jingewei, but the draw deprived both of them a podium place. In the last round Ewan managed to convert his endgame against Ronan, and this secured third place with 5½ from 9. Despite a draw in the final round against Orlando, Lucas managed to hold onto second on tie-break. The clear winner was Devin, who maintained his consistency to score an impressive 7 points from 9 games. Special mention to Jingwei who narrowly missed out on third place on tie-break. Strong performances also from Elane (5) and Amy (5). Photo below shows medal winners Ewan, Devin and Lucas. 

Success for Levi at Manawatū School Pupil Chess Championship

Big congratulations to Club member Levi Paxton who won this year’s Manawatū School Pupil Chess Championship held in Palmerston North on 29 September. Levi was unbeaten scoring 6 wins from 6 games. Well done. Photo below.

Club Championships begin

Meanwhile in the senior club this week, Round 1 of the 2022 Club Champs kicked off. Ross, Levi, Geoffrey and Andy all scored the full point over Andrew, David, Lars and John respectively.   Results can be found here. There are six more rounds to play.

With only two rounds to go in the Junior T3 Competition, things are tight at the top with Devin, Lucas and Amy sharing first with 5 points from 7 games. They are closely followed by Ewan and Jingwei on 4 points with Elane on 3.5. This sets up for an exciting finale to the tournament, with only two rounds to go.

In the Senior Club, the usual fun and madness prevailed in the second and deciding leg of the 2022 Blitz Cup.  Congrats to Geoffrey who was unbeaten on the night, with Levi and Lars coming in second. When combined with results from the first leg played back in May, the overall winner is Gordon, who retains the Blitz Cup for another year. Second equal overall were Lars and Geoffrey. Final results here.

The Club Championship tournament starts next week.

The second week of the Term 3 Junior rapid chess competition was played this week. After 5 rounds, Devin remains in first place, unbeaten on 5 points. In second place is Jingwei on 4 points, followed by Amy, Lucas and Ewan, who all have 3 points. Some 21 players representing 8 local Kapiti schools are competing, and the tournament will run till the end of the current term. 

In the Senior Club – in a break from normal Chess – recently qualified FIDE instructor, Gordon gave an informative training session on the importance and benefits of analysing your games, taking us though his analysis of one of his recent games. A great session for those us trying to improve our game. Next week is the final leg of the Blitz Cup.

Junior members commenced the Term 3 rapid chess competition last night. Devin and Lucas are the only players with a perfect 3 points from the first three rounds. Yonatan is a half point behind, followed by Amy, Charlotte, Jingwei, Orlando, Ronan and Jed, who all have 2 points. The field consists of 21 players representing 8 local Kapiti schools. The tournament will run till the end of the current term, with a further 6 rounds to be played. 

Meanwhile in the Senior Club, we ran a Gambit night last week (results here). A gambit is where one player will deliberately offer up some material, usually a pawn, in the opening moves of a game in order to try and get some other kind of compensation, such as a positional advantage in the centre, or sometimes just to throw their opponent off from their opening knowledge. There are hundreds of known chess gambits (see a list here), including one of the most common or well-known – the Queen’s Gambit. 1.d4 d5. 2.c4.

Coming up soon will be the final leg of the Blitz Cup, with the Club Championships starting in early October.

The final rounds of the second leg of Club’s annual 10m+5s tournament for the Freebird Trophy were decided this week. Gordon Lyall and David Scott were both unbeaten this week to take first equal in the second leg on 4½ from 7.  Combining points from this leg with those of the first leg played back in February, congratulations go to Gordon Lyall who takes out the Freebird Trophy for this year on 9½, followed by Ross Jackson on 8½. Final results here.

There was a strong field for this year’s Kāpiti Junior Open Championship played on 13 August 2022. This included both the current as well as last year’s NZ junior champions, and an average rating well over 1700. The tournament was won by top seed Ryan Winter from the Wellington Club.

Here is a game from Round 4 between Thomas van der Hoorn (rated 1897) and Leo Malcolm (rated  1797). Annotations by Gordon Lyall.

A field of 44 players from 16 schools across Wellington to Levin competed in the third running of the annual Kāpiti Junior Chess Championship played on Saturday 13th August at Raumati Beach School in Paraparaumu. This was a record turnout for this event. 

Congratulations to top seed Ryan Winter who took out the Championship Open division with an impressive unbeaten 6 wins from 6.  Along with Ryan, the Open division featured a strong field this year – including current NZ junior champion Ollie Archer, last year’s NZ junior champion Josh Langford, and previous Kāpiti Junior Open winner Kayden Loke. All three traded a win and a loss against each other, to go with a loss to Ryan and wins in their other rounds, to finish second equal on 4 points. But after tie-breaks, Kayden took out the silver medal, and Josh the bronze.

In the Schools event, Joy Ulm (Aotea College) was an impressive winner in the Secondary grade, unbeaten with 6 points from 6, ahead of Kushal Chatla (HIBS) and Ethan Hill (Tawa College). In the Intermediate section, Eashan Maveram (Johnsonville School) had just one loss to take out the gold medal, with Roy Mackay (Levin Intermediate) taking out the silver on tie-break ahead of Zachary He (Waterloo School). In the primary section, Lucas Qu (Churton Park) repeated his win from 2020 to take out another the gold medal, with silver going to Alex Chen (Waterloo School) and bronze to Kāpiti Junior Club member Devin Direen (Paraparaumu Beach School).

The Kāpiti Chess Club School Trophy, awarded to the top performing Kāpiti or Horowhenua school, was retained for a second year by Levin Intermediate narrowly edging out Te Ra School, 13 points to 12½. In third place was Waterloo School. 

Thanks to all the players and parents for a fantastic day of Chess, and to organiser and director Gordon Lyall, along with others who helped out, to make the day run smoothly.

Final standings, 2022 Kāpiti Junior Chess Championship:

Full results from the day can be found here:

2022 Kāpiti Junior Chess Championship – Open
2022 Kāpiti Junior Chess Championship – Schools tournament (Individual results by age grade)
2022 Kāpiti Junior Chess Championship – Schools tournament  (School results)

Photos and videos from the day including all the prize-winners can be found here.

Round 4 Open game Van der Hoorn v Malcolm  

Tournament poster and entry form

The final rounds of the (new in 2022) Mid-year Rapid tournament were played this week. Going into Round 6, Geoffrey Gunawan needed a win against Andrew Brockway, which he managed – but also needed recent newcomer to the Club, Michael Sole, to prevail against  Levi Paxton to deny Levi of the tournament win, and to secure tournament victory for himself. Congratulations Geoffrey!  Final tournament results here.

This Saturday is the premier Junior event on our Club’s calendar – The Kāpiti Junior Open and Schools Championship. It’s just $20 for a great day of fun and competition. Interest has been great so far, and there is still time to enter.  See details here. 

Club Captain, Geoffrey Gunawan gave a simul last week at the junior club. He played 9 of the juniors, and a prize was awarded to Devin, who held out the longest. The night was a great success with the juniors enjoying the challenge. More photos from the night can be found here.

Armageddon Chess is variant of rapid chess where if there is a draw, Black wins. As compensation, White gets a little more time on their clock, for example, 5 minutes versus 4 minutes with no increment  is typical. It’s often used as a tie-breaker in tournaments. The Club held its first ever Armageddon night this week, which was great fun. After a double round robin Geoffrey and Gordon came out as joint winners. Results here.

Congratulations also this week to Oscar, Charlotte & Orlando Liu  (front row in photo) and Jed Le Boutillier  (back row) who were awarded their NZCF Level 2 (Knight) certificates and badges.

Congratulations also to Gordon Lyall who has successfully completed training to become an internationally certified Chess trainer. The FIDE Instructor or FI title is awarded based on rating, student performance, experience or special achievements,  trainer & related professional skill, and a written exam. The title will be officially awarded at the FIDE Council Meeting on 4 August 2022. Great news for our Junior Club which he and his wife Andrea run each week.