It was a very enjoyable finish to the senior club year this week when a full contingent of club members, partners and friends met at a local pub to celebrate a successful 2025 club year. Trophies were handed out to all our tournament winners, as well as cash prizes to best games of the club champs. A great evening of food, drink, and chat followed.
That’s it for the Club for 2025. See you all again in 2026.
Congrats to David Paul who takes out the Kāpiti Chess Club Champion title for 2025.
Going into the final round there were two key match ups, David S v David P and Gordon v Brendan. David P, on 5.5, needed half a point for at least a share of the title, while Gordon on 5, needed a win, or for David P to lose, to retain his title from last year. When the David’s eventually battled to a draw, it was down to Gordon now to beat Brendan. However, Brendan wasn’t about to go down lightly – and after getting a pawn ahead, then the exchange, he eventually worked a nice mating attack with rook and knights. This dashed Gordon’s chances of a sixth Club Champion title, and secured David P his 10th Club Champion title. In the B grade, congratulations to Stanley who has had a great year, securing the Ab Borren trophy with a win over Brandon. Congratulations also go to Tim who won the C grade with a win over Oliver in another closely fought game. Final results and standings here.
That’s the end of play for the year. Next week is prizegiving, and some end of year food, drink and fun.
Going into this week’s penultimate round 7 there was just one point between the top 8 players, so a lot to play for this week.
There was a nice 14 move cameo checkmate from Tim over Brandon, one short draw between Ross and Brendan, and one very long draw between Gordon and David S. Frontrunner Gordon developed a typical strong positional advantage, eventually converting to two pawns up, but somehow David S manage to hold on and grind out a long hard fought draw going very late into the evening. On board 1, the other two front runners, Mikhael and David P, also played late into the evening – more or less equal until David’s endgame expertise told the difference in the end.
So with one round to go – David P leads now outright on 5.5, with Gordon on 5 and Mikhael and Stanley next on 4.5. These are now the only remaining contenders for the A Grade Cup. One or more of Mikhael, Stanley and Chris remain contenders for the B grade. And congrats to Tim – with his cameo checkmate game last night – securing him the C grade trophy with one round to spare.
Results and standings here.
Some key match-ups this week in Round 5 of our Club Champs. Both Mikhael and David S had wins on Boards 3 and 4 to push them up to second equal place, along with David P who shared the point with Ross in their critical clash on Board 2. On Board 1 up and coming Stanley pushed frontrunner Gordon hard and late into the evening, in a great game that brought out some of Gordon’s best positional class play to see him eventually prevail and cement his lead after 5 rounds. Results and standings here.
This weekend we take on Canterbury Chess Club as part of the new NZCF Bledisloe Cup interclub comp. Should be fun!
Round 5 clash Stanley v Gordon
Last week we took a break from our Club Champs to play the third and final leg of our Blitz Cup. Congrats to Gordon who won the night with 8 out of 10, followed by Brendan on 7.5 and Stanley on 7. When last night’s results are combined with the first two legs played earlier in the year, Gordon remains on top and wins the Blitz Cup for 2025 with 24 from 27, ahead of runner-up Brendan on 22.5, and David P in third on 18. Congrats. Final results here:
This week we take a break to play the third and final leg of our Blitz Cup.
After 2 rounds in the 2025 Senior Club Champs, just Ross and David S remain unbeaten on 2, with a big chasing pack David P, Chris, Gordon and Stanley just half a point behind. There’s still 6 rounds to go, but it’s already shaping to be a close comp with few easy games. Round 1 saw Mikhael hold current Club Champ Gordon to a draw, while Brendan and Stanley’s draw showed how exciting endgame play can get. This week’s games ran mostly to form, but with David pipping Brendan with well-worked positional pressure on the kingside. Current results and standings here
The sixth running of the Kāpiti Junior Open and Schools Championship saw another great turnout, with 83 players along with parents and caregivers from all around the Kāpiti, Horowhenua and Wellington region filling the playing venue at Paraparaumu College. It was fantastic atmosphere as kids competed individually and as part of their school over four divisions, and for the best Kāpiti-Horowhenua school.
Congratulations to Thomas van der Hoorn and Luke Chang this year’s joint open Junior Championship winners. In the school age grade events, congratulations to Jack Gregory took out the Senior grade, Isaiah Heta the intermediate grade, and Miriyala Sreenikesh the Primary grade. This year’s School Trophy, awarded to the top performing Kāpiti or Horowhenua school, was won by Kāpiti College narrowly ahead of the Kāpiti home school team.
Full results and standings can be found by clicking on the vega links on the tournament page here. Photos from the day, including all prize-winners, can be found here.
The Kāpiti College team – 2025 Kāpiti junior championship school champions
Our annual Freestyle (aka Chess 960 or Fischer Random) tournament wrapped up this week. Congrats to Gordon who took out the event with 6½ from 8 ahead of Ross in second place on 6½. Final results here.
In Freestyle chess the starting positions of back rank pieces are randomised. There are 960 different possibilities of starting positions. This variant of chess aims to remove memorisation of opening theory, where players have to rely on their other skills from move 1. It has grown rapidly in popularity and significance, with now recognised world events involving the best players in the world. It is great fun, and can and does trip even experienced higher rated players. As well illustrated in this game from Round 3. Oliver (rated several hundred points lower than his opponent) shows how it’s done in just 5 moves.
1 .b4 b5
2 Bb2 Bb7
3. Nb3 Nc6
4. e4 Nxb4
5. 0-0-0 Nxa3 #
The final leg of the Club’s annual 10+5 Freebird Cup tournament was decided this week. This tournament is played over three separate legs each of 8 rounds of 10m+5s games.
Congratulations to Gordon who cleaned up the third leg with an impressive unbeaten 8 from 8, followed by Lars on 6 and Stanley on 5.5.
When results from all three legs are combined, David P takes out the Freebird Cup again with 16.5 points, ahead of Gordon and Stanley on 15. He retains the Cup from last year, and has now held it eight times since it was first played for in 2011. Congratulations.
Finals results and standings here.
Next week we start our annual Freestyle (Fischer-Random) tourney.
Congrats to Gordon and David P who take out the first leg of this year’s Winter Cup, with 4½ from 6. Stanley and Brendan were next on 4. Final standings are here.
There were few easy games this tournament, and the frontrunners were made to work hard at times, with a number of great close games with the rest of the pack that left the outcome up for grabs right up to the end.
Next week, we have a change of pace with a Blitz night, before heading back to series 2 for the Winter Cup.
Round 5: Stanley v Brett – Tim looks on
Series 2 of our annual Leo Eichholtz tournament wrapped up recently. Congratulations to Gordon who takes out the distinctive chess board trophy for the fourth time in seven years. However, it took until the penultimate round (round 11 of 12 over the combined two series) before the result was decided in the key match up between the top 2, Gordon and David P. A close battle only getting decided with some nice endgame play in the time scramble. Guy also played solidly throughout both series joining David P for a share of second place. Final standings here.
This week we enjoyed a fun variant night of hand and brain – and a nice change to play as a pair rather than solo. Congrats to Stanley and David who managed to go undefeated, however not without some trouble in Round 3 as hand Stanley took brain David out of his book on move 1 with 1. e4! Results here.
The 2025 Kāpiti Rapid Open was held last weekend at Paraparaumu College. The tournament drew a field of 64 players, the largest in its 31-year history. The honours were shared between former NZ champion Anthony Ker – who played in the first running of this tournament back in 1991, and who wins it for the sixth time, and up and coming former NZ junior champion Ollie Archer. Final results were:
| Open |
| 1st = IM Anthony Ker (5½/6) |
| 1st = FM Ollie Archer (5½/6) |
| Under 1700 |
| 1st= Lucas Qu (4/6) |
| 1st= Afique Nazeer (4/6) |
| 1st= Raghava Kumar (4/6) |
| Under 1300 |
| 1st= Stanley Fitton (4/6) |
| 1st= Finn O’Brien (4/6) |
| 1st= Ian Shannon (4/6) |
| Junior Grade Over 14 years |
| 1st Ollie Archer (5½/6) |
| 2nd Luke Chang (5/6) |
| Junior Grade 12 – 14 years |
| 1st Lucas Qu (4/6) |
| 2nd= Aadhav Dhamodharan (3/6) |
| 2nd= Jin Tan (3/6) |
| 2nd= Zachary He (3/6) |
| Junior Grade Under 12 |
| 1st William Sun (3/6) |
| 2nd= Sreenikesh Miriyala (2½/6) |
| 2nd= Sahayne Vithanalage (2½/6) |
| Flora Paul Memorial Trophy (for leading Kāpiti player) |
| 1st= Stanley Fitton (4/6) |
| 1st= David Paul (4/6) |
| 1st= Ross Jackson (4/6) |
Full standings and results from each round can be found here.
Games from the top 8 boards can be found here.
And photos from the day can be found here.
This week we hosted the Upper Hutt Club in a friendly interclub match. This is the third year of these interclub friendlies, which are proving to be a real hit with members. This year we had a record field, with 24 players doing battle. As per the format last year, players from each team played two rounds of 25m+5s games against the same opposing club player, one as white, one as black, with a mid-match break for some pizza and socialising. It was a great night of friendly competition, played in great spirit. We warmly thank Tony and the Upper Hutt Club team for helping make the night a success. Thanks also to Gordon who set things up so we could play the top 8 pairs on NZCF electronic boards. These games can be found here. For the record, Kāpiti took out the honours winning 15½ to 8½. Results can be found here. Some photos from the night are here.
The week before saw the conclusion of the first leg of the Leo Eichholtz tournament. It was a battle between the top guns, Gordon, Ross, David P, and Lars in the final rounds, and once the dust settled, it was Gordon, Ross, David P who ended on the same points for an equal share of first place. Congrats. Results here.
The final night of Junior Chess was a fun night which started with a chess themed quiz. The quiz was tough but the En Croissant team of James, Alex T, Charlie, Devin, Oscar M, William and Oscar L, took home the prizes after a tense tie breaker! The highlight of the evening was the prize giving. NZCF Badges and Certificates were awarded to James, Lucian, Maxilus, Tal and Josh. The presentation to the new junior Club champions followed. In the Challengers division, Manahi received the bronze, Tautua the Silver, and Ronan received the gold medal and the Challengers Cup. In the Open division, Roy took the bronze and Isaiah the silver. James took gold and received the Junior Club Championship trophy for 2024. The Most Improved Player was awarded to Oscar M, who showed a big improvement in his results from the beginning of the year. He finished the year strongly with an impressive 5th place in the Challengers Championship. The Player of the Year award was a tough decision, which could have gone to several players. Ultimately it was awarded to Isaiah, who was on the podium in all 3 internal competitions this year, and who won the Intermediate section at the Chess Power Horowhenua regionals earlier in the year. Congratulations to all. However, no one went home empty handed as all members received Christmas goodie bags… happy holidays.
Photo: Congrats to James, the Kāpiti Junior Club Champion for 2024. More photos of the evening quiz and prizegiving for both juniors can be found here.
In the seniors we also held our annual prizegiving for the year – Ten trophies for events played over the year were awarded. Congrats to Gordon who took out the Club Champion trophy, and to Ross who takes out the Glenys Mills Grand Prix trophy for best overall performance over the year. All the winners and runners-up can be can be found here. After prizegiving everyone adjourned to a nearby local for some very enjoyable drinks and pizza (photo). More photos can be found here.
That’s it for the 2024 year. It’s been an enjoyable, active and successful year. Thanks to everyone who supported the Club during the year. See you in 2025.
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.
From left to right: Manahi, Noah, Jordan, Charlie, Ryan, Lachlan, Chester, Isaac.
Photo: Lars and Ernest
We are now mid-way through our Club Champs are things are starting to heat up.
In round 3 of the Junior Club Championship there were wins across the board for the players playing black! James squeezed out a win against Brock on Board 1, to remain the only unbeaten player in the Open division. On board 2, Roy got the better of Isaiah, and there was also wins for Jingwei and Devin. At the halfway stage, James leads with a perfect score of 3 points, closely followed by Roy on 2.5, with Jingwei and Daniel on 2.
In the Challengers section, Ronan maintained his perfect score with a win over Arol on board 1. Tautua miraculously held a draw in a losing endgame against Noah on board 2. There were also wins for Ryder, Orlando and Manahi, who are all in the mix. At the halfway stage Ronan heads the field with 3 points, followed by Tautua, Orlando and Ryder on 2.5.
Meanwhile, another night of long hard fought games running past 11pm in round 4 of the Senior Club Champs. This included possibly one of the deciding matches with front-runners Ross and Gordon, who battled a closed tight position with Gordon finally prevailing after 53 moves. In another key match-up, Guy and Mikhael also battled late into the evening, eventually agreeing a draw in an opposite-coloured bishop and pawn ending. Meanwhile, in contrast to the long games, David S managed an nice 11 move checkmate against John, although the subsequent casual game proved to be significantly more competitive and closer. Currently Gordon leads on 4, with David P on 3, and Guy, Mikhael and Ross all within reach on 2½. Current standings here.
