The final night of the 2019 Freebird Trophy last week saw Ross Jackson impressively clean the board with four wins from four, to follow his four wins from four the previous week. Congratulations Ross! Runner-up was Gordon Lyall with 7 from 8, followed by David Paul on 6. Full results here.

Junior coaching continues to be popular and well-attended. A little under half the club membership are now juniors, adding a lot to a good club atmosphere, and promising well for the future.

This week saw a change to the published calendar with a great night of casual chess. Next week will be a Blitz night, which have been very popular this year. All welcome.

This week, the Club shifted into a different gear with the start of the 2019 Freebird Trophy, four rounds a night of rapid 10m + 5s games.

Ross Jackson, in good form, led the night with four wins from four, ahead of David Paul, Gordon Lyall, David Scott and Geoffrey Gunawan on 3. See here for full results from the night. The competition continues next week with Rounds 5-8.

The sixth and final round of the inaugural 2019 Winter Cup this week saw David Paul convincingly take it out, sealing the deal with a win against incumbent Club Champion Gordon Lyall, in a great game (see here). David [pictured below] scored 5.5 out of 6, a clear 1.5 points ahead of Ross Jackson, Guy Burns, and David Scott on 4. The top Juniors were Geoffrey Gunawan and Mark Summers on 2.5 points. Full results can be found here. 

The Winter Cup is one of four Club competitions  that count towards the Glenys Mills Memorial Trophy – A ‘Grand Prix’ style award for the consistently best performing club player over the year. At this stage, it is Ross Jackson who is leading this, just a whisker ahead of David Paul.

Next week sees the start of the Freebird Trophy, eight rounds of 10 minute rapid play games, played over 2 weeks. This promises to be a fun couple of weeks ahead of the Club Championships. 

You can click on these links if you’d like to find out more information on the club’s tournaments and trophies, and past winners.

Round 5 of the Winter Cup was played this week, and with one round to go, there was plenty to play for with several players in the running still for the top prize.

Gordon Lyall secured a hard-fought half-point from Ross Jackson (see photo below), while Guy Burns had a win against Savannah Edwards. Along with so far undefeated front runner David Paul, all three are in the running to win the cup in the final round next week. Good luck! Amongst the juniors, Geoffrey Gunawan grabbed a win from Mark Summers to grab the leading juniors spot heading into the final round. See latest results here.

Check out also a great game here  from last week’s Round 4 between Guy Burns and David Paul.

What a crazy night this week, as we took a break from the long play format of the Winter Cup for something a bit different…. handicap blitz.

All games were 10 minutes – with no time added on. The club’s top players had just 1 minute against the club’s bottom players (anyone 600+ rating points lower), while moderately better players had 3 minutes against their opponent’s 7 minutes (anyone 250+ rating points below). Everyone else had 5 minutes each. Rounds followed continuously until not enough players were left or the pairings was exhausted.

Congratulations to Guy Burns (pictured below against Liam Parkes), who emerged victorious after 8 rounds, with David Paul, Gordon Lyall and Neels Du Plessis second equal on 5 points. See the full results here.

The night was a bit of fun, plus a chance for players to taste victory against people they’ve never beaten, or don’t normally beat, and there certainly were some giant slayings during the evening. Geoffrey topped the juniors with 4.5 from 8 rounds, but considering that most juniors aren’t able to stay the full night, it was great to see many securing good scores for the rounds they played, and the odd prize scalp or two along the way.

 “The truth is, blitz chess is not only insanely fun but extremely good training to develop intuition for slow chess.” [unnamed online source ]   or……

“It’s just not real chess, is it…” [unnamed Club member]

Round three of the Winter Cup was played this week. All results went to the higher rated player, and full results can be found here.  David Scott tried hard to upset this pattern against higher-rated Ross, and although he never had any winning chances, he did have opportunities to draw. You can see this game here, along with the game between Alistair McGowan and Geoffrey Gunawan here. After three rounds, David Paul and Guy Burns lead with the maximum 3 points.

Next week the Club takes a short break from the long format of the Winter Cup, with a one-off handicap rapid/blitz night. This promises to be a lot of fun, with a time handicap aimed to even things out a little. Players will play either 1 v 9, 3 v  7, or  5 v 5 minute games depending on the difference in rating between them and their opponents.

Kapiti Chess Club members, Geoffrey Gunawan, David Paul and Gordon Lyall attended an elite chess coaching seminar on Saturday 13th July. The coaching seminar was given by Chess Grandmaster Dejan Bojkov, a FIDE Senior Trainer and coach to the New Zealand Olympiad team.

Dejan is a Bulgarian grandmaster, who has a background in sport science and many years of experience as a professional chess player. For a number of years he has worked with top juniors in Europe, U.S.A., and Asia, as well as former Women’s World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova, and various national teams, plus league teams in Europe. He is part of the FIDE elite FST (FIDE Senior Trainer) panel and produces training material for a number of online chess platforms. He is also the author of several books.

Photo: GM Dejan Bojkov (left) gives some coaching to KCC members David Paul (centre) and Geoffrey Gunawan (right)

The event was hosted by Wellington Chess Club and was attended by a number of talented junior players as well as the regions top senior players, including  14 time New Zealand Champion, International Master Anthony Ker. The event was thoroughly enjoyed by all and provided great insight into elite level chess.

 Some of the concepts and advice from GM Bojkov will be presented at local coaching sessions for juniors, held at Kapiti Chess Club every Tuesday at 7 pm.

Chess Trivia—Part Two:   Chess grandmaster admits to cheating

The Kapiti Chess Club is now in its 35th year since its beginnings back in 1984, so we thought it might be interesting to look back to some of its earlier days.

It is also an opportunity to recognize our longest standing member, John Whibley, who has been a regular Club member for over 30 of those years. Exactly how many he can’t quite be sure, but a pretty impressive record. Here is a photo from 25 years ago – the 1994 Club prize giving at Kapiti College, where the Club met at the time. Although John admits he can “hardly recognize the handsome young man in the white shirt”, it shows  him as co-winner of the Leo Eichholtz rapid trophy that year, along with A-grade champions,  Earl Roberts (holding the Tom Powell cup) and Alvaro Lacunza. Also shown is Bert Leggett, winner of that year’s Gufeld Trophy for winner of the C grade.

This week saw a good turnout along for Round 2 of the Winter Cup, boosted also by a few past and prospective members. Top boards saw last week’s winners square off. John Whibley was not able to repeat his underdog win from last week, dropping a piece to David Paul, while a typically close struggle between Guy Burns and David Scott saw the latter miscalculating a queen-exchange tactic to double his pawns and struggle into an endgame which he could not salvage the draw from. Top seeds Ross and Gordon also had wins closing up the standings for minor places after two weeks.  Full results here.

Photo: In the juniors, Savannah has a nice win over newest member Jerry to go with her bye from last week…making her 2 from 2 and current joint leader with David and Guy, and could expect a tough game next week!

This week saw the start of a new club tournament the Winter Cup, being played over six weeks with a 75+30 time control. Round one saw underdogs prevail against their higher-rated opponents on the top two boards. Both Guy and John managed nice wins over the top two seeds, Gordon and Ross respectively. Ross comments “John and I exchanged bad moves but mine was blundering a piece…he missed it at first, but then having seen it, I moved to a different square that still left the tactic on!…that was the decider.” Full results from the night can be found here.

In the photo, Guy playing black, goes on from this position to win against top seed Gordon in Round one of the Winter Cup played this week. The full game can be found here, along with David Paul’s game against Brandon Holman.

Some interesting chess trivia news:  Ancient Lewis chess piece sold

Some great chess match-ups this week in the return North versus South night. This to decide who are the better chess players, those from North Kapiti or those from South. After the trouncing of the South a few weeks ago, there was a bit of a comeback this week, with the South edging out the night with 5.5 to 4.5, likely helped by a little blurring of the sides in order to balance out the numbers.

Ross and Gordon fought an even battle to share a win each, while Alistair and John also proved an even match, splitting two draws each. Geoffrey played well against David to reach dominant positions out of the openings, but faltered in the middle game in both games. In the juniors, Valera had a nice win over Hamish (see game here), while Savannah played well to reach a rook and king versus king ending against Liam, but then unluckily giving away a stalemate. See full results here.

Overall, after both nights, North were comfortable winners 14.5 to 9.5. Next week sees the start of a new club tournament, the Winter Cup.

This week saw the second night in Club’s popular Blitz Cup series. Each player has 3 minutes for the game, and plays as many rounds as possible, making for an exciting and fun change from longer format  chess. Series 2 saw Gordon Lyall and David Paul take top spot with 6 points, with Neels du Plessis and Ross Jackson next on 5 points. Geoffrey Gunawan was the top junior on 4 points, with Valera Bonyushkin second on 3. Cumulative results after two series see Neels and David P leading, with Ross and Gordon following 1 point behind. Full results here. The third and final night will be played later in the year.

Last weekend three Club members, Geoffrey Gunawan, David Scott, Ross Jackson, and one past member, Lars Dobbertin-King, participated in the popular and longest running rapid tournament on the national chess calendar, the Upper Hutt Rapid. Congratulations to Geoffrey who took out third place in the C-grade, and to Lars who placed second in the B-grade. See results from the tournament  here.

Photo: Geoffrey Gunawan, third place in the Upper Hutt Rapid, C grade, 15 June 2019. 

The important question of whether KCC players in North Kapiti are better than those in South Kapiti was tested in a fun new event this week at the Kapiti Chess Club. With Kapiti Road as the demarcation line, the club was split into two teams, paired off in roughly equal strength, to play two 25 + 5 games. The North took out the night fairly comprehensively 10 points to 4. (See results here, and a couple of games from the night here). However, this was only the first of two nights, so no bragging rights can be claimed yet, and some appeals may still be pending from the South. But overall, this was a fun, new addition to the club calendar, credit to Club Captain, David Paul. Don’t miss next match up on June 25.

Another important happening at the club this week was the awarding of the first set of NZCF badges to our junior members. This is a great NZCF initiative which seems to have gone down well. Congratulations, and now it’s on to the knight badge!

Photo: Mark Summers receives the NZCF pawn badge from Club President Gordon Lyall. Also awarded were Hamish Lester, Valera Bonyushkin, Geoffrey Gunawan and Savannah Edwards.

The 2019 winner of the Club’s Leo Eichholtz Board for best rapid player was decided this week.

This tournament this year was played as a series of two 8 round tournaments in a 25+5 rapid format. The series 2 winner was Ross Jackson with an unbeaten 7 from 8, followed by Gordon Lyall on 6.5 and David Paul on 6. But when combined with Series 1 results, the overall winner of the 2019 Leo Eichholtz board was Gordon Lyall on 13.5 from 16, with David Paul second on 13, and Ross Jackson third on 12.5. Congratulations.

Well done also to all the juniors that played, in particular to Geoffrey Gunawan who took out best-placed junior, and to Mark Summers who came in second.

Full results here.

And who is Leo Eichholtz? He was a founding club member when the club was established in 1984, and who donated this distinctive shaped chessboard trophy to the club for the best rapid player. It’s been played for since 1990. See previous winners  here.

 Chess in Kapiti received a big boost in the weekend with the successful running of two annual competitions.

The 2019 annual Kapiti Rapid attracted 33 competitors, one of the biggest fields in recent years for this tournament, which first started 20 years ago. It was a relatively stronger field too this year, with an average rating over 1700, and seven players rated over 2000, including current New Zealand champions, IM’s Russell Dive and Anthony Ker, plus a former NZ champion, FM Scott Wastney.

But arguably the bigger feature of the day was the successful running of the inaugural Kapiti Chess Club’s Schools Championship. This tournament is aimed at promoting and supporting Junior Chess on the Kapiti Coast and surrounding regions, and developing our players for the future. The format provides a great opportunity for school kids to compete against other juniors, on a more even and fun basis than what might happen in the main event. It’s also a chance for local schools to claim some bragging rights. This year saw 19 juniors competing from 11 schools, including a team from Levin Intermediate.

While the two tournaments were separate, they were run side by side in the same room, making for a great atmosphere and a packed hall of 52 players, plus spectators – the biggest attendance for a Chess event on the Kapiti Coast in over a decade.

The tournaments were played over six rounds in a traditional rapid format of 25 minutes with 5 seconds added per move. While the Kapiti Rapid was played as a single tournament, prizes were awarded in three grades, Open, under 2000, and under 1600.

The two tournaments featured 11 Kapiti Club players, including 4 juniors playing the school tournament, and 7 playing the Kapiti Rapid. Big congratulations to club member Hamish Lester who took out the college division individual prize in the School tournament with an impressive 5 from 6. Congratulations also to Mark Summers who took out the bronze medal in the 11-12 age group. In the main event, congratulations too to club members Brandon Holman and Neels Du Plessis who took out a share of first place in the under 1600 grade.

Special thanks to chief tournament organiser and Club President Gordon Lyall for managing the planning and running of the day, and for directing the play for the School event. A special mention also to Club Captain David Paul for directing play for the main Rapid event, while also managing to play in it. Also to Lars Dobbertin-King for bringing a team down from Levin and helping look after the school competition.

Congratulations to the prize winners below, in particular to Kapiti College for taking out the School Championship.

To see photos of the day, click here.
To see some of the games played, click here.

FM Scott Wastney, Winner of the 2019 Kapiti Rapid with Club President Gordon Lyall, and Club Captain David Paul alongside.

Kapiti College, winner of the inaugural Kapiti Chess Club School Tournament: Tim Pringle, Noah Corbett, Blake Toloa Hewitt, Elliot Rennison with Jacob Wirangi (Teacher) holding the cup.

From left to right: Hamish Lester, winner of the college division; Zac Li and Ben Guo, winners of the 11-12 division;  Sravya Moparthi, winner of the under 11 division.

2019 Kapiti Rapid winners

2019 Kapiti Chess Club School Championship winners

Individual Results

School Team Results

We welcomed three new faces at the club this week, Josh and Liam to our Juniors ranks, and one-time former member Gordon Anderson also coming along for some chess. Welcome!

This made for some great action for the night’s play, as the second half of the Club’s annual Rapid tournament continued into Rounds 3 and 4.  Round 3 match-ups all went to the higher-rated player, except David Paul pipped Club Champion Gordon Lyall, giving him his first loss of the tournament. Round 4 saw some close match-ups, with Ross Jackson over David Paul and Neels Du Plessis over Guy Burns.   Brandon Holman v David Scott saw Brandon handed the exchange and a better position early on, only to hand back a piece later on, and gradually get squeezed into a losing position, but eventually winning as David exhausted his time. See latest results here.

Photo: Club juniors (from left to right) Savannah, Mark, Hamish, Geoffrey, and newcomers Josh and Liam chilling in the analysis room between rounds.

Plenty of chess action this week as Series 2 of the Leo Eichholtz Rapid kicked off. The competition was boosted by the return of two travellers, Guy Burns and Brandon Holman from some weeks overseas,  both getting a point from the night, and Brandon almost securing a valuable second point against top-rated Ross Jackson. With a pawn on the 7th,  and some material gains forced, Brandon unluckily dropped his queen, to allow Ross to snaffle a late win. See latest results here.

Above: Junior coaching continues, with Club President Gordon this week covering some opening theory. Below: Brandon Holman v Ross Jackson (14/5/2019)

The annual Kapiti Rapid tournament and the inaugural Kapiti School Region Tournament are in a few weeks time. The Kapiti Rapid is now established as an annual grand prix 3 graded rapid tournament, with a competition format that will suit all grades. The Kapiti School Region tournament is a new tournament being run concurrently with the Rapid, and designed to promote chess for young people and schools in the region. Suitable for absolute beginners to already rated players. Prizes for both the best individuals and a cup to the best school.  The day promises to be a festival event, packed with chess,  including a food and drink stall. Come and support chess in Kapiti. Entry form and details for the Kapiti Rapid here, and entry and details for the Kapiti School Region tournament here.

The first series in the annual Leo Eichholtz 25+5 rapid wrapped up with Rounds 7 and 8 this week. Gordon Lyall and David Paul hold the honours with an impressive 7 from 8. Ross Jackson in third. Geoffrey Gunawan is leading the juniors and in 6th overall, with Valera Bonyushkin the current second placed junior. Results and standings here.