Congratulations to John Whibley and Paul Frost, joint winners of the Freebird Trophy. Exciting 4 rounds of rapid chess was played and in the final round Paul Frost bet Alan Winfield to take four games from four and inch neck to neck with John Whibley, who lost to Alan Winfield in the previous round. Next Wednesday, we start Series 2 of the Club Champs. Also, Banana Leaf Rapid Social Chess Tournament in two weeks—12 September—more details Here.

The final round of Club Champs—Series A—was played and after a marathon 3 hour battle against Guy Burns, Alan Winfield prevailed to lead the Series. Lars Dobbertin-King’s draw against David Paul edges Alan into the lead, by half a point. Next Wednesday, we play 4 rounds in the final series of our Freedbird Trophy. 7 players are within one and half points from the lead, so, it will be an exciting night with the results determining the winner of this Trophy. Don’t forget the Banana Leaf Rapid Social Chess Tournament—12 September—more details Here.

Current Champion David Paul trounced Alan Winfield to draw even with Alan in the penultimate round of Series One, Club Championships.

On September 12 we will hold the 2015 Kapiti Rapid and it will have more of a social theme, being played out of a local Malaysian restaurant. Maybe not everyone’s cup of tea, or should I say plate of roti, but a fun, focused day of chess. The aim of the Tournament is of course chess, but, with more of a social flare than usual. 6 Rounds at 25 + 5. Lunch included in the $40 entry fee. Entry Form and further details are available Here.

Newbie—well for this year—Alan Winfield, continues to lead the field, but, current Kapiti Chess champion is sliding in his slipstream, only one point behind. Glyns Mills leads the B &C grades, and is closely followed by a keen pack. Look at our results for full details.

Club Champs are well under way and after 4 rounds Alan Winfield leads the field. It’s early days yet; with two more series to be played in this ultimate Kapiti Chess challenge. On another front, work is well under way revamping our website—there’s still more water to flow under this bridge and by the end of the year we should be all go—many thanks to Lars for his dedicated web-work.

Congratulations to Alistair McGowan, the new Leo Eichholtz Trophy Champion—he won both his games to finally end David Paul’s domination of this prize. Next week, we have a night of Blitz—3 minutes plus 2 second add-on and the following week begins Series One of the Kapiti Club Championship.
Don’t forget Upper Hutt’s annual Rapid Tournament this Saturday 27 June; be there by 9:45, Hapai Building, 879-881 Fergusson Drive, Upper Hutt.

One night of play to go in the Leo Eichholz Trophy and Alistair McGowan is challenging current champion David Paul for this Trophy. Half a point divide them and with David away next week, Alistair will grasp this perfect prize—if he wins both his games—watch this space.

2 games of the Leo Eichholz Trophy were played and Alan Winfield continues his meteoric rise with a fine win over David Paul—will it be enough to dethrone the current champion? — time will tell — we have 2 more nights play to go. Sean Doyle is showing improving form with 2 fine wins. Up for discussion is the idea of changing our Club night to Tuesday for 2016—any thoughts?

The third and final series of the Leo Eichholz Trophy has begun. Top Junior Johnny Hynes had a good win against Senior player Guy Burns. David Paul continues to comfortably lead the field by two points. Three more nights of play to go. 

Series 4, of the Freebird Trophy was played—4 games at 10 minutes plus 5 second add-on per game—and long-time-no-see dark horse Todd Stewart took the honours with 3.5 points, closely followed by Guy Burns and John Whibley on 3. John Whibley shares the lead for the Trophy with David Paul—8.5—closely followed by a menacing marauding pack—a lot can happen with one more night’s play to go. Next week we start the final series our Leo Eichholz Trophy—4 nights at 2 games per night, with a timeframe of 25 minutes, plus a 5 second add-on.

The John Kingston Memorial Trophy is over and we now have a new champion. Congratulations to Alan Winfield, who has broken David Paul’s 4 year grip on the trophy. Next Wednesday we play the 3rd series of our Freebird Trophy—four rounds at 10 minutes with a 5 second add-on.

Lars Dobbertin-King—now known as giant killer—had an upset win against current champion David Paul in the penultimate round of our John Kingston Memorial Trophy. His win places David half a point behind Alan Winfield, and as David is away next week, Alan is almost assured of toppling David from his 4 year winning streak—unless of course Alan loses his game next week—we will wait and see.

5 Rounds have now been played in the John Kingston Memorial Trophy and 3 players push ahead of the field, led by David Paul, then Alan Winfield and Andy Hicks. With 2 rounds to go it will be a close finish.

The John Kingston Memorial Trophy is now well underway. The 4th night of play saw a battle of the giants—David Paul and Alan Winfield—slugging it out in an epic game that went down to a few minutes on each clock. Neither was able to out-master the other, with the game ending in a draw. David Paul nudges the lead, half a point ahead of Alan Winfield and Andy Hicks. We’re back in the Library for next week’s play.

Two Rounds have now been played in the John Kingston Memorial Trophy—55 Minutes plus 5 second add-on. David Paul, Paul Frost and Alistair McGowan lead the field, closely followed by Alan Winfield and Mike O’Rorke. With 5 rounds to go it’s early days yet, with more water to flow under the bridge of fine chess.

The John Kingston Memorial Trophy has began. It’s early days yet, with plenty of water to flow under the bridge. This Trophy continues for the next 6 weeks.

Rapid chess was order of the day, or I should say night. It was fast, furious and fun—3 minutes on the clock and a 2 second add-on. After 7 rounds Guy Burns came on top with 6 points, closely followed by Lars Dobbertin-King on 5.5. Next Wednesday we start the John Kingston Memorial Trophy—7 rounds of chess, with one game played per night with the timeframe of 55 minutes on the clock and 5 seconds per move.

A smaller field turned up for the last 2 games of Series 2 of the Leo Eichholtz Trophy. Guy Burns threw away an offered draw—from David Paul—in his determination to win and lost on time. This win helped to propel David Paul well into the lead. Next week, we are back in the Library to play our first Blitz games of the year. The timeframe is 3 minutes plus a 2 second per move add on. The number of games will be determined by the number of players present—we will keep playing games until everyone has played each other.

Due to a KCDC room booking misunderstanding, the Leo Eichholtz Trophy was played in the Women’s Centre (just down from Paraparaumu Library). Please note we will also play there again next Wednesday—25 March. After rounds 3 & 4 of Series Two, David Paul nudges, only nudges into the lead, half a point ahead of Guy Burns, Alistair McGowan and Paul Frost—next week’s play will set out the men from the boys.