In the final round of the Junior Club Championship, Devin and Josh played an interesting game, in which Josh won with a clever mating trap. On board 2, title challenger Isaiah fought off an aggressive early attack by Jingwei to take the full point. However this was not enough to catch tournament leader James, who won with the white pieces, despite a valiant effort by his opponent Lucian. By the narrowest margin, James held on to be the Junior Club Champion for 2024, edging out Isaiah by only 1/2 a point, with Roy picking up third place.
In the Challengers Division, things came to a head in the last round with the two front runners meeting on board 1. Tautua playing black needed a win while Ronan, playing white, needed only a draw to secure the title. Ronan who has been in great form throughout this tournament, maintained his high level of play and held off a strong challenge from Tautua to win the Challengers Division. Tautua held on for second place, while Manahi took a deserved third place. There were also good performances from Orlando, Oscar M and Alex T, all on 4 points from 6, just outside the medals.
There was also NZCF Level 2 awards for William, Tautua, Oscar M, Milo, Riki, Elia, Alex T & Lachlan (photo).
Senior Club
It was an exciting finish to the Senior Club Champs this week. Most games were long and close fought battles – despite the difference in ratings between some of the players. David S pushed Gordon hard and even had a good advantage in the endgame, but unable to see a way to make progress, and offered the draw which was enough for Gordon to secure first place outright and get his name of the Tom Powell Cup for Club Champion for the sixth time. Congrats. David P was also made to work hard for his win against Brandon, where again much of the game was fairly even. He finishes runner-up. Other chasers, Guy and Ross fought out another close game, again with both halving the point., but enough for Ross to finish third. In the B-grade (for players under a 1600 NZCF rating), our newest member, Mikhael faced our longest-serving member John in another close contest, eventually prevailing to secure the Ab Borren trophy for the B grade champion. Congrats. Final results and standings here.
Nest week is our final night of the year, quiz and prizegiving for the Juniors, and prizegiving and social night for the seniors. See you there.
