Latest News

  • T2 Results & Presentation

    Presentation of medals for the Club’s second internal junior tournament of the year, the T2 Rapid, took place on Tuesday, 30 June 2026.

    In the Champions Division, Isaiah Heta claimed his second Rapid title of the year. Despite a loss in the final round, he held on to edge out James Patterson on tie-break. James finished with the silver medal, while Stanley Fitton secured bronze.

    In the Challengers Division, Ronan McGrath bounced back from a third-round loss and then remained unbeaten to win his second Rapid title of the year. Ryan Ge, after narrowly missing a medal with a fourth-place finish in Term 1, had an excellent tournament to claim the silver medal, only missing out on first place on tie-break. Carter Harris, competing in his first Rapid tournament, finished strongly by winning his final three games to earn the bronze medal.

    Medal Winners

    Champions Division

    • 🥇 Gold – Isaiah Heta
    • 🥈 Silver – James Patterson
    • 🥉 Bronze – Stanley Fitton

    Challengers Division

    • 🥇 Gold – Ronan McGrath
    • 🥈 Silver – Ryan Ge
    • 🥉 Bronze – Carter Harris

    Both divisions were highly competitive, with 15 players contesting the Champions Division and 26 competing in the Challengers Division.

    Congratulations to all players on an excellent tournament.

    Final Standings

    Champions

    Challengers

  • Upper Hutt Rapid

    The Upper Hutt Rapid will be held on Saturday, 18 July 2026, at Hutt International Boys’ School in Trentham.

    The event consists of two six-round Swiss tournaments played at a time control of 25 minutes plus a 5-second increment per move. Tournament A is aimed at NZCF-rated players with ratings of 1100 and above, while Tournament B is an unrated event designed for younger or newer players.

    Additional information including registration details can be found on the NZCF website here.

  • Interschool Report Card

    The NZCF Wellington Regional Chess Championship was held recently over three days.

    Primary Division
    The Primary Division attracted a record number of entries, increasing from 18 teams last year to 30 this year. To accommodate the 120 students playing simultaneously, the event was moved to the larger venue at Amesbury School.

    Kapiti schools were well represented by Raumati Beach School and Paraparaumu Beach School, both of which finished strongly with 6 match points, placing 13th and 14th respectively out of the 30 teams.

    There were several standout performances from Kapiti students. Jingwei Xu (Raumati Beach School), who shared the Board 1 prize last year—awarded to the highest-scoring player on board one—went one better this year, scoring a perfect 6 wins from 6 games to claim the prize outright.

    There were also impressive performances from Arlo Ruigrok (Raumati Beach School), who scored 4.5 points, Gursifat Singh (Paraparaumu Beach School) with 5 points, and Ryan Ge (Paraparaumu Beach School), who scored a solid 3 points on Board 1, along with a number of other encouraging performances from Kapiti player.

    The Division was won by last years champions, Amesbury School, who won all their 6 matches. Avalon came second with Kelson in third place. All three teams have booked their place in the National Final’s to be held in Auckland later this year.

    Primary – Team Standings
    Primary – Player Ranking
    Primary – Photos

    Intermediate Division
    The Intermediate Division was held at HIBS and attracted 22 teams. Kapiti schools performed strongly, with Raumati Beach School finishing in an impressive 5th place, winning three matches, drawing two, and losing only one.

    Paraparaumu Beach School entered two teams, which finished 9th and 11th respectively. This was an excellent result, particularly as it was the first major competition for many of the students.

    Orlando Liu (Raumati Beach School) had an outstanding tournament, winning the Board 3 prize with a perfect score of 6 wins from 6 games.

    There were also strong performances from a number of Kapiti players, including Eli Bell (Raumati Beach School) and Charlie Atmore (Paraparaumu Beach School) on Board 1; Aidan Robertson and Gryphon Corlett (both PBS) on Board 2; Casey Williams and Finn Little (both PBS) on Board 3; and Maxwell Zeng (PBS) on Board 4.

    The division was won by Thorndon School, with Hutt Intermediate taking the silver medal after edging out Whitby Collegiate on tie-break for second place. It is expected that all three teams will go on to represent Wellington at the National Finals.

    Intermediate – Team Standings
    Intermediate – Player Ranking
    Intermediate – Photos

    Secondary Division
    The Secondary Division was also held at HIBS and attracted 23 teams. Kapiti was represented by two teams from Paraparaumu College and a Kapiti Home School team.

    Paraparaumu College had a solid tournament, finishing in 6th place after winning three matches, drawing one, and losing two. The Kapiti Home School team finished 11th but lost only one match throughout the tournament—a fine performance from a very young team.

    Once again, there were some excellent individual performances. Isaiah Heta (Kapiti Home School) shared the Board 1 Prize after scoring 5.5 points from 6 games. Daniel Fay (Paraparaumu College) narrowly missed out on a prize but still recorded an impressive 4.5 points against strong opposition. On Board 2, James Patterson (PC) also scored 4.5 points. Alex Turchie (PC) scored a solid 4 points on Board 3, while Monty Parr (PC) matched that total on Board 4. Playing against older students, Ronan McGrath (Kapiti Home School) scored a very respectable 2.5 points.

    The biggest upset of the tournament came in the final round. The reigning national champions, Wellington College A, who had won the title for the previous two years, needed only a draw to retain the championship. However, they were defeated by Wellington College B, who overtook them to claim the trophy and gold medal. Onslow College finished third and, together with Wellington College team, will also represent Wellington at the National Finals.

    Secondary – Team Standings
    Secondary – Player Ranking
    Secondary – Photos

  • Freebird Trophy Series 1

    The Freebird Trophy Series 1 concluded with Sid and Gordon tied for first place on 6 points from 8 games.

    Sid produced a strong performance, recording impressive wins against Guy, Chris, and Ross.

    A further five players are close behind on 5 points, including Isaiah, who scored victories against the two highest-rated players in the field, Brendan and Gordon.

    The competition is shaping up for an exciting finish, with any of the top nine players still in contention for the title.

    Link to cross table and standings:

  • Upper Hutt Win

    One of the highlights of the club calendar is the annual match against Upper Hutt. This year’s encounter was hosted by Upper Hutt and featured a record number of players, with 13 representatives from each club taking part. Despite the increased numbers, there was still plenty of pizza to go around!

    Kapiti made a strong start, winning the first session 7–6. However, Upper Hutt fought back impressively in the second session, taking it 8–5 and securing the match overall by 14–12.

    Congratulations to Upper Hutt on their victory, and many thanks for their superb hospitality. It was a very enjoyable evening of good chess, friendly competition, and great camaraderie.

    PlayersColours (Kapiti)Results
    Bd No.Upper HuttRtgKapitiRtgR1R2R1R2Total
    1Ben Thomas1974Gordon Lyall1817BW1-01-02-0
    2Gerald Carter 1771Brendan Reedy1794WB0-10.5-0.50.5-1.5
    3Paul Frost1794Ross Jackson1759BW0-11-01-1
    4Finn O Brien1718David Paul1751WB1-00.5-0.51.5-0.5
    5Nick O’Kane1590Stanley Fitton1604BW1-01-02-0
    6Edison Yang1421Guy Burns1548WB1-01-02-0
    7James Hoskin1410Andy Hicks1427BW0-11-01-1
    8Maneesh Mathangi1403Brandon Holman1371WB1-01-02-0
    9Richard Catterall1284Chris Moses1357BW0-10-10-2
    10Glen Sullivan1203Jingwei Xu1243WB0-10-10-2
    11Geoff Osborne1103Daniel Fay1169BW0-10-10-2
    12Vrajesh Ravi 1195Duncan Turnbull1200WB0-11-01-1
    13Lachie Hollebone1050Tim Sharpe987BW1-00-11-1
    Total6-78-514-12

  • Leo Eichholtz Decided

    Gordon retained the Leo Eichholtz Board with a strong performance in Series 2, scoring a perfect 6/6 and finishing with 11/12 across both series. Ross, winner of Series 1, secured second place on 9 points, while Brendan finished third on 8.5 points.

    PlayerS1S2Total
    Gordon5611
    Ross5.53.59
    Brendan44.58.5
    Stanley448
    David3.53.57
    Brandon3.53.57
    Chris336
    Duncan336
    Millar325
    Matthieu325
    Andy2.524.5
    Guy134
    Tim224
    Oliver112

  • Upper Hutt v Kapiti

    The annual match against Upper Hutt is scheduled for 8 June at the Upper Hutt clubrooms at HIBS College in Trentham. While Kapiti claimed the bragging rights last year, Upper Hutt prevailed the previous year when they had home advantage.

    The number of boards has yet to be confirmed, but last year’s event saw each team field 12 players.

    This is a fantastic event and definitely one of the highlights of the calendar.

  • Xxavier Willoughby-Ansell races to victory at Kapiti Rapid

    Xxavier Willoughby-Ansell delivered a near-perfect performance, going unbeaten with 5.5/6 to win the Open Division of the Kapiti Rapid. He secured overall victory in the final round with an excellent draw with the Black pieces against pre-tournament favourite Anthony Kerr.

    Kapiti players also produced some outstanding performances. Brendan Reedy shared equal second place in the Open Division, while Guy Burns finished equal first in the B Grade. Brendan also captured the Flora Paul Trophy as the leading Kapiti player.

    Another notable performance came from Zachary He, who not only won the Junior 12 years and over category, but also shared equal second place in the Open Division with an impressive 5/6 score.

    Open Division / A-Grade (1600+):

    1st Xxavier Willoughby-Ansell (5.5/6)
    2nd= Anthony Ker(5/6)
    2nd= Michael Turner(5/6)
    2nd= Brendan Reedy(5/6)
    2nd= Zachary He (5/6)

    B-Grade (1200-1600)

    1st= Guy Burns (4/6)
    1st= Nenian Bakiyaraj (4/6)

    C-Grade (<1200)

    1st= Sahayne Vithanalage (3/6)
    1st= Kishore Panth (3/6)
    1st= Hanson Li (3/6)
    1st= Khoi Nguyen (3/6)

    Junior 12 years and over

    1st Zachary He (5/6)
    2nd Karthik Sethuramalingam (4.5/6)

    Junior Under 12 years

    1st= Sun, William (3/6)
    1st= Le, Long Minh (3/6)
    1st= Vithanalage, Sahayne (3/6)
    1st= Panth, Kishore (3/6)
    1st= Hanson Li (3/6)

    Flora Paul Memorial Trophy (Leading Kapiti Player)

    Winner – Brendan Reedy (5/6)

    Photos

    Vega

  • Kapiti College Player wins Mana Rapid

    Nathan Grace from Kapiti College had an excellent performance at the Mana Junior Rapid, held at Mana College on 9th May. He went unbeaten and won the Open Division with 5.5/6, ahead of . Finn O’Brien 5/6, and Lucas Qu was on 4.5/6.

    Kapiti players Fred and Alex medaled in the Senior Division.

    Fina standings:

    Open: 

    1st  Nathan Grace, 5.5/6
    2nd Finn O’Brien, 5/6
    3rd  Lucas Qu (4.5/6)

    Senior Division (13 years & over):

    1st Logan Hartley, 3.5/6 (tie-break)
    2nd Fred Hay 3.5/6
    3rd Alex Turchie, 2.5/6

    Intermediate Division (11-12 years):

    1st Shashank Gavini, 5/6
    2nd Rishi Konduri, 4.5/6
    3rd Jason Lam, 4/6 

    Junior Division (10 years & under): 

    1st Novak McPhee, 5/6
    2nd Nilan Karthikeyan, 4.5/6 (tie-break)
    3rd Daniel Jia, 4.5/6

    Link to photos here.

  • Leo Eichholtz Series 2 Gets Underway

    Series 2 of the Leo Eichholtz Trophy gets underway on Tuesday 12th May. Ross went unbeaten in Series 1 and leads with 5.5/6, with Gordon close behind on 5/6.

    Full results are available on the “Senior Club Events & Results” page.