Junior Club News

🏆 Kāpiti Homeschoolers Shine at 2026 Kāpiti Junior Chess Championship!

The 2026 Kāpiti Junior Chess Championship was held on 29 August at Paraparaumu College, bringing together some of the region’s strongest junior players from across Kāpiti, Horowhenua and the wider Wellington region.

It was a particularly successful day for Kāpiti players, with excellent results across several divisions — and a fantastic team performance from Kāpiti Home School, who took out the Kāpiti Schools Cup, finishing ahead of Kāpiti College. 🏆👏

♟️ Strong Results for Kāpiti Players

⭐ Millar Wakefield — 3rd= in the Open Division, scoring 4/6

⭐ Isaiah Heta — 2nd in the Senior Division, scoring 4/6 and missing out on the title on tiebreak

⭐ Ronan McGrath — 3rd in the Junior Division, scoring an excellent 4.5/6

These were outstanding performances in a competitive tournament, with Kāpiti players featuring prominently across the divisions.

🏆 Overall Division Results

Open Division
🥇 Toby Shanon — 6/6
🥈 Luke Chang — 5/6
🥉= Nathan Grace, Ian Chen & Millar Wakefield — 4/6

Senior Division – 13 years & over
🥇 Vishwanath Muthu — 4/6 (tiebreak)
🥈 Isaiah Heta — 4/6
🥉 George Moore — 3/6 (tiebreak)

Intermediate Division – 11–12 years
🥇 Shashank Gavini — 5/6 (tiebreak)
🥈 Jason Lam — 5/6
🥉 Julian Estrada — 4.5/6 (tiebreak)

Junior Division – 10 years & under
🥇 Levon Benson — 6/6
🥈 Novak McPhee — 5/6
🥉 Ronan McGrath — 4.5/6 (tiebreak)

🏆 Kāpiti Schools Cup

🥇 Kāpiti Home School
🥈 Kāpiti College

A huge congratulations to Kāpiti Home School on winning the Schools Cup, and to all the Kāpiti players for their excellent performances.

👏 Well played everyone! ♟️🏆

📊 Full Results

Open Division Results

Senior & Intermediate Results

Junior Division Results

Tournament Photos

Several Kapiti players travelled to Hutt International Boys’ School recently to compete in the Upper Hutt Rapid, joining a strong field from across the Wellington region.

Our juniors produced some excellent performances, gaining valuable tournament experience and continuing to improve against quality opposition. Isaiah Heta and Stanley Fitton both scored 4 wins from 6 games in the A-grade, only losing to much higher rated players.

A special congratulations to Carter Harris, who won outright the B grade in his first Junior Tournament. He was presented with a chess board painted by a local artist.

The A-grade was won by CM Thomas van der Hoorn on 5.5/6, ahead of IM Anthony Ker, Fiso Kainen, and Kayden Loke all on 5/6.

It’s fantastic to see so many Kapiti juniors competing regularly in tournaments and developing their chess skills. We look forward to seeing many of them in action again at the Kapiti Junior Chess Championship on 29 August at Paraparaumu College.

Well done to all our players! ♟️

Links to results, games (Chess.com) and photographs:
Results
Games
Photos

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

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

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.

With a $10,000 total prize fund, this year’s Wellington Open attracted a very strong field.

Despite facing higher-rated opposition in five of his six games, James performed admirably to finish equal third in the Under 1450 category. His excellent victory in round 5 against a 1600+ rated opponent set up a tense final-round clash against another 1600+ player.

The last game was fiercely contested, swinging back and forth, but ultimately went his opponent’s way. Despite the final-round loss, it was a strong overall performance in a highly competitive tournament.

The Open Division was won by Candidate Master William Rui Liu from Auckland, who went unbeaten.

Final Standings

Open

1st: CM William Rui Liu

2nd =: FM Nicolas Croad, CM Cohen Young

3rd = : CM Justin Zhide Wang, CM David Cilia Vincenti, Matthew Keith, Philli Park-Tamati, Patrick Cordue, Hugo Lawrence

Best Junior: CM Justin Zhide Wang, Matthew Keith

Best Veteran: Patrick Cordue

Best Senior: IM Anthony Ker

Best Female: WCM Luna Yuexiu Xu

U1450

1st =: Zachary He, Muhammad Mangera

3rd=: Shashank Gavini, John Hao, James Patterson, Vrajesh Ravi

U1650

1st =: Hugo Lawrence

2nd =: Elena Moshakova, Hugh Masters, Afique Nazeer, Plaso Kusay

U1850

1st=: Daniel Winsley, Karthik Sethuramalingam

3rd=: Edgar Benitez, Wei Kai Chen, Robert Hurndell, Finn O’Brien, Jarrod O’Brien, Aristotle Santos, Toby Shannon, Gregory Familton

It was a raucous final night of Term 1 at the junior club, finishing with a fun and competitive team event. Six teams of five players battled it out over three rounds in a fast-paced competition.

When the dust settled, Team Alekhine, captained by Isaiah, claimed first place with a perfect score of three wins. Team Capablanca finished second with two wins, rounding out a strong performance.

Winners: Team Alekhine

1. Isaiah
2. Lachlan
3. Ronan
4. Alex C
5. Hunter

2nd Place: Team Capablanca

1. Millar
2. Josh
3. Orlando
4. Charlie
5. Leon (Reserve: Tautua)

Presentation of medals for the first internal junior tournament of the year, the T1 Rapid, took place at the Club on Tuesday, 24th March 2026.

Champions Division:
1st Gold medal – Isaiah Heta
2nd Silver Medal – Stanley Fitton
3rd Bronze Medal – Millar Wakefield

Challengers Division:
1st Gold medal – Ronan McGrath
2nd Silver Medal – Ryder Henderson
3rd Bronze Medal – Orlando Liu

Both events were very competitive, with 21 players registered in the Challengers Division and 14 players competing in the Champions grade.

Congratulations to all.

In the Champions Division, Isaiah won his final four games to secure first place with 7/9. Stanley edged out Millar on tie-break to claim second, with both finishing on 6/9.

In the Challengers Division, Ronan remained unbeaten across nine rounds to take first place with 7.5/9, ahead of Ryder in second on 6 points. It required a tie-break to decide third place, which went to Orlando ahead of Ryan, with both scoring 5.5.

Congratulations to all players in what was a highly competitive event.

Final standings:
Champions
Challengers