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Junior Rapid Decided
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!
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Freebird decided
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.
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T3 Junior Rapid heats up
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.
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Winter Cup Decided
Ross won Series 2 of the Winter Cup unbeaten with 5/6, but David Paul secured the overall title by half a point ahead of Ross and Brendan. The event was decided in the final round, where Brendan, the leader going in, lost a complicated game. Congratulations to David on his strong performance. Final standings are available here.
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Winter Cup Series 1 decided
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
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NZCF Certificates & Badges Awarded
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.
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Junior members compete at NZCF Interschool championship
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.
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Leo Eichholtz decided and hand and brain
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.
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2025 Kāpiti Rapid Open
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. -
Interclub Match with Upper Hutt (6/5/25)
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.
