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  • Senior club end of year prizegiving and social night

    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.

  • Senior Club Champs decided

    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.

  • Senior Club Champs – still wide open with one round to go

    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.

  • Junior Club Champs – Everything to Play For in the Final Round

    The penultimate round of the Junior Club Champs delivered some mighty battles across the boards.

    Champions Division:

    On board one, Isaiah – playing Black against Stanley – resourcefully defended an inferior endgame and ultimately claimed the full point in a tense time scramble. On board two, James (White) faced George in another closely fought endgame, with James successfully converting his pawn advantage. There were also strong wins for Jingwei, Ronan, and Josh.

    Heading into the final round, the race could not be tighter: Jingwei and Isaiah lead on 4.5/6, with James and Stanley close behind on 4/6.

    Challengers Division:

    Remarkably, every player with the Black pieces won their game this round! On the top boards, the leader Oscar M and Elia both secured important victories. Lachlan bounced back from last week’s loss with a solid win against the in-form Maxwell. There were also good wins for Noah and Ryder.

    With one round to go, Oscar M and Elia share the lead on 5/6, each having lost only once. Lachlan keeps his title hopes alive, sitting just behind on 4.5/6. In the chasing pack, Maxwell, Charlie, Ryan, Noah, and Ryder are all on 3 points.

    With everything still to play for, the final standings won’t be decided until the very last game is complete!


    Top to bottom: Stanley v Isaiah, George v James

  • First-ever Bledisloe Cup Match

    Kapiti Chess Club took part in their first-ever Bledisloe Cup match yesterday, facing off against Canterbury. The Bledisloe Cup, originally presented by the Governor-General in 1933, was traditionally contested by the major metropolitan clubs. Today, the event has embraced modern technology and now uses a hybrid format, leveraging online chess servers to make inter-regional matches possible.

    Despite a narrow loss for Kapiti, the match was a resounding success and thoroughly enjoyed by all involved. It marks an exciting milestone for the club and sets the stage for more inter-regional encounters in the future.

    The match result:

    Board B/W Kapiti Result Canterbury B/W
    1.1 ⚪ Gordon Lyall 0-1 Antony L Carpinter ⚫
    1.2 ⚫ Brendan Reedy 0-1 Richard J Dare ⚪
    1.3 ⚪ David Paul 0-1 Sriram Muthukumaran ⚫
    1.4 ⚫ Ross Jackson 1/2-1/2 Craig Hall ⚪
    1.5 ⚪ Chris Moses 1-0 Steven Hartwell ⚫
    1.6 ⚫
    Stanley Fitton
    		 1-0 Matt Alp ⚪
     
    Final score: Kapiti CC 2.5 – 3.5 Canterbury CC

    Many thanks to NZCF’s Richie Christie and Craig Hall for organising such an awesome event.

    We are already looking forward to our next Bledisloe Cup match, which we hope to announced soon.

  • Junior Club Champs set for an exciting finish

    With five rounds now complete in the Junior Club Championship, everything is set for an exciting finish over the final two rounds.

    Champions Division

    The big surprise of the night came on board one, where Stanley was unable to convert his initiative against Jingwei. After defending accurately for much of the game, Jingwei reached a balanced endgame – but a rare slip from Stanley allowed him to seize the opposition and convert the position for the only Black win of the evening.

    There were also impressive victories from Tal, Josh, and Orlando, the latter making a strong return in his first appearance since coming back from overseas.

    After five rounds, Stanley still leads on 4/5, but he is now closely pursued by Jingwei, George, and Isaiah, all on 3.5/5.

    Challengers Division

    On the top board, Elia edged out tournament leader Lachlan in a tense encounter. Oscar M, Ryan, and Charlie also recorded important wins to tighten the standings even further.

    With two rounds to go, the race could not be closer: Oscar M and Elia share the lead on 4/5, with Lachlan just behind on 3.5/5, and Maxwell, Charlie, and Ryan in the chasing pack on 3/5.

    Both divisions are poised for a thrilling conclusion—everything is still to play for!


    Stanley v Jinwei

  • Club Champs – Round 5

    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

  • Blitz Cup decided

    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: 

  • Club Champs – halfway stage

    Well, it’s the halfway stage of our Club Champs and after four rounds just 1 point separates the top 7 places! Definitely a closely fought comp so far and it will be interesting to see how it’s going to  shake down in the second half.
     
    In last week’s top-board battle – Ross developed a good advantage and a menacing kingside attack over Gordon, who defended well managing to equalize and then gain the upper hand and win. He now leads the comp outright by half a point. Similarly, Brendan was unable to convert a strong advantage against Chris who took advantage of a late lapse to steal the win. David S let his queen get trapped early and was never able to recover against an on-form Stanley, who is now second= overall and leads the B-grade. On Board 3, Tim fought valiantly but was ultimately outclassed by the seasoned David P, but he still retains his lead of the C-grade at this half-way stage. Results are here.
     

    This week we take a break to play the third and final leg of our Blitz Cup.

  • Club Champs underway

    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