Author: Gordon Lyall

Two further rounds in the John Kingston Memorial 55+5 competition have seen some dramatic shifts in the leaderboard as we head towards the final few rounds. David Paul won a tenacious endgame against Guy Burns and an interesting game against Lars Dobbertin-King to rise to the top of the leaderboard – but only by half a point. Trailing him are Alan Winfield, Alistair McGowan and Gordon Lyall, with Ross Jackson and Lars Dobbertin-King each only one point behind. With three rounds to play before a winner is declared, David may be the favorite but his position at the top is far from assured with so many strong players still in contention! Among the juniors, Mark Summers has risen to the top after a win over Rose Kingston. Full results here.

Entry forms were also handed out for the Upper Hutt Chess Open tournament, which received a good response. 

After play, a committee meeting was held. We discussed accounts and funding, but also changes to our calendar for the year. As a result, we have updated the calendar for 2018. The 25+5 tournament has been shortened, the ladder is longer, and a new “chess variants” night has been added which should be a lot of fun! In addition, we discussed our new Kapiti 2000 tournament, details of which will be posted here over the next day.

The first ladder night ever held by the Kapiti Chess Club went well. Despite a few absences, a lot of highly competitive games were played, seeing some big changes on the standings in our Ladder Tournament. Mark Summers has taken the overall lead, and several others have seen some big movements. Club president Alan Winfield also organised a few tactical challenges for players to try as training, where team A thoroughly trounced team B thanks to the sharp minds of Savannah Edwards, Mark Woodward, and Gordon Lyall. Everyone enjoyed themselves.

There will be several more ladder nights throughout the year to look forward to; however next week, play resumes in our exciting John Kingston Memorial 55+5 tournament. With the tournament only half-way finished, and a large field of strong contenders for the title, one thing is clear: there’s still plenty of action to come.

This week’s round of the 55+5 John Kingston Memorial Trophy saw the playing field become extremely close. Gordon Lyall returned to form after his loss last week, topping the table by defeating Alan Winfield. He is joined at the top of the standings by dark horse Alistair McGowan, who defeated David Paul. Alan Winfield, David Paul and Lars Dobbertin-King are all just half a point behind the tournament leaders, and many other strong players are not too far behind, so the tournament is still anyone’s game. Check the results page for the full standings.

Next week we will have our first full ladder night. Also keep an eye out for our Kapiti 2000 event happening soon! More details to follow.

Our 55+5 tournament rolls on with only two more rounds left in this series. Previous tournament leader Gordon Lyall was knocked off his perch by newlywed David Paul in an interesting game that will soon be posted on our Games page. Club president Alan Winfield defeated the top-rated player of the club, Ross Jackson, to join David at the top of the standings. Nobody won with the black pieces tonight, although Lars Dobbertin-King managed to hold Guy Burns to a draw. Other notable results included Valera defeating Mark to climb to the top of the juniors, Alistair McGowan defeating Mark Woodward to become a serious contender for the championship, and David Scott winning his first regular club competition game, defeating Rose Kingston. There were no games played on the ladder tonight. Click here for full results.

David Paul; finally mated

Another good round of the John Kingston Memorial 55+5 Tournament saw Gordon Lyall pulling out in front of the pack, beating Ross Jackson to claim the top spot on the table. Alan Winfield and David Paul drew in a very competitive game, each just half a point behind Gordon. You can see their game here. Another interesting game was between relative club newcomer David Scott and club captain Lars Dobbertin-King, which you can see here. Click here for full results.

There was no change on the ladder tonight; Mark Summers beat Rose Kingston, but because of the ladder rules it could not be counted.

Play continued in the John Kingston Memorial 55+5 tournament, with our first standard rated night of the year. Again, the round yielded no surprises, with higher-rated players continuing to win across the board. The next round should see several more interesting match-ups at all levels, as similarly-rated players are beginning to be grouped together in the brackets. Ross Jackson, Alan Winfield, David Paul and Gordon Lyall currently share the top position. Full results here. In addition, Paul Frost beat junior player Valera to climb higher on the ladder. 

See also this clash between Guy Burns and Alan Winfield.

The first night of the 2018 John Kingston Memorial Trophy, which is played at a 55+5 time control, was another success. You can see Alan Winfield’s excellent win over Mark Woodward here. The first round had no major surprises, with Ross, Alan, David P, Gordon, Guy, Lars and Alistair all coming away with good wins. Unfortunately, owing to an error, the round cannot be rated with the NZCF. However, the next round of the tournament (which takes place next Tuesday) will be rated as usual. Full results here.

We also saw our first game of the ladder tournament, with Paul Frost defeating Rose Kingston. Ladder challenges can be played on any night after a player’s regular game, so it is good to see this getting underway. See here for more details about the ladder and the current standings.

The first night of the Blitz tournament, and the first night of play for the Kapiti Chess Club in 2018, was a success, with Paul Frost emerging as the front-runner. His near-perfect score of 7.5/8 outmatched many contenders, including second-equal Alan Winfield and Lars Dobbertin-King who only achieved a score of 5.5. Top junior was Valera, who scored 3.

Full results table here. This was the first of four series in the Blitz tournament. The next night of Blitz action will be May 8. Next week we begin the John Kingston Memorial trophy, played at a 55+5 time control.