Junior Club News

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

In the Champions Division, Stanley had a strong showing, scoring 7 points from 8 games and dropping only one game to James in Round 4. The battle for the minor placings was extremely close, with three players finishing on 6 points. On tie-break, Jingwei claimed second place, while Isaiah secured third.

Oscar M delivered a tremendous performance in the Challengers Division, effectively wrapping up the tournament with two rounds to spare. He finished on 7 points, losing only his final game to Ryder. Elia impressed with 6 points and just one loss, taking second place. Ryder had a strong second-half surge, winning his last four games to claim third.

It’s clear the standard is improving across the board—everyone is competitive and scoring wins. We’re excited to see what unfolds at the Junior Club Championship in Term 4!

With two rounds remaining in the Champions division, Stanley and James share the lead on 5/6, closely followed by Jingwei and Isaiah on 4 points. It’s shaping up to be a tight finish.

In the Challengers division, Oscar M leads with a perfect 6/6 and a commanding two-point margin. Elia follows on 4 points, with Riki, Cassius, Oscar L, Ryder, Jordan, and Noah all on 3.5, battling for the minor placings.

The New Zealand Chess Federation (NZCF) runs a badge scheme which takes students through the fundamentals of the game in level 1, through to advanced topics in level 4. Junior coaching at the Club is based on the NZCF curriculum, and since the junior Club was established, more than 100 certificates have been issued. In term two we had great pleasure in awarding further certificates which highlights the progress the members are making. Four students achieved NZCF Leve1 certificates and badges (Pawn), nine achieved Level 2 (Knight) and a further two achieved Level 3 (Bishop). Fantastic effort and great progress, congratulations to all.

A number of junior members recently had the honour of representing their school at the recent NZCF Wellington Region Interschool Championship. The Kapiti Horowhenua region sent 9 teams to the event, and 14 of our junior members represented their school. Notable performances included 3rd place for Levin in the Intermediate division which was the most competitive section with 23 teams competing. Individually, Jingwei Xu representing Raumati Beach School, had a great tournament in the Primary division, where he shared the board 1 prize with 5 points from 6. Congratulations to all.

In the final junior club meeting of term 1, medals were presented to the winners of both the Open & Challengers division of the T1 Rapid event. In the Open division, James and Stanley both scored  4.5/6, however James edged Stanley on tie-break to take the silver medal, with Stanley collecting bronze. Isaiah with an unbeaten performance of 5.5/6 deservedly took the gold. This was an excellent individual performance and Isaiah only dropped a 1/2 point when he received a bye in round 6.

In the Challengers Division, Oscar M and Charlotte won tough matches in the final round to put them on 4 points and elevate them to a share of third place and the bronze medal, while Orlando won an impressive 5 games to take silver. Gold went to Alex T who had a great tournament and was unbeaten on 5.5/6 to the take the top spot by a slim 1/2 point margin.

There was also a fun blitz team event, and after 3 rounds of frantic chess, the team of James, Josh, Elia, Ryan & Juneau took home the prizes.

Isaiah remains the only player on full points after four rounds with his win with the white pieces against the ever improving Tautua. There were also good wins for James and Stanley who remain a point behind the leader with two rounds to go. In the Challengers Division, Alex T took down the tournament leader Orlando on top board. There were good wins for Riki, Ryan, Lachlan and Oscar M. With two rounds to go Alex T leads by a half point from William, Orlando and Riki.

Photo: James v Devin

The junior T1 Rapid competition reached the halfway mark with 3 rounds completed. In the Open Division, Isaiah continued his winning form with a good win with the black pieces on board 1. Tautua and Devin, on board 2, were unable to create any imbalance and a draw was a fair result. There were good wins for James, Stanley, Josh and Maximus. Isaiah remains the only player on maximum points but there are 6 players in the chasing pack only one point behind.

In the Challengers Division, Orlando had a good win on top board, and he remains the only unbeaten player with 3 points. He is closely followed by Alex T and William, who are only 1/2 point behind, with a further 6 players on 2 points. There is still lots to play for!

The first tournament for the juniors got underway last Tuesday. The event is a 6 round Swiss format with two divisions, the Open section with 15 registered players and the Challengers division with 20 registered players. Both divisions have a 10+5 time format. In the Open section, Junior Club champ  James squandered a good position against Isaiah who scrambled well under time pressure. Devin with the white pieces had a good win against Jingwei, and there were wins for new members Stanley and Lachie.  In the Challengers section, there were good wins for Charlotte, Alex C, Alex T and Orlando. It’s early days so still everything to play for!

The second night of junior chess was a fun night with the highlight, a simultaneous match with 11 juniors playing the current senior Club Champion (Gordon). Despite some challenging and complex games, Gordon managed to hold his own against all players. There were some strong performances by Tautua, James, Stanley, Isaiah and Tal who held out the longest.