Fischer Random rounds 1 and 2

Rounds 1 and 2 played on 7-Apr-09
Round 1 position

Round 2 position
Fischer Random is not quite random. First of all the bishops have to be on opposite coloured squares. Secondly, the King must sit between the 2 Rooks so that he can castle on either side. Nic Croad wrote a program last year to generate positions which conform to these 2 rules.
Fischer Random is not to everyone's taste. It certainly takes you out of your comfort zone, and you cannot rattle off 20 moves of theory before you have to think. From that point of view, it is probably very good brain therapy for those of us worried about the onset of Alzheimer's disease!
People like me, who find it all a bit weird, attempt to get the position to look as normal as possible as quickly as possible. An additional difficulty is the rather fast 25/5 time limit.

Generally, though, the people who are good at standard chess are also good at the Fischer Random kind. After 2 rounds, the players on 100% scores were all very familiar - Anthony Ker, who won the inaugural event last year, Russell Dive, Nic Croad, Mark van der Hoorn and Brian Nijman. I did spectacularly badly in this event last year, and also started badly this year losing on time to Brian Nijman after enjoying a distinctly favourable position earlier on.

Full results:

Round 1
Ker 1 Jackson 0
Farrington 0 Croad 1
Dive 1 Brockway 0
Sellen 0 Nijman 1
Palmer 0 Drinkwater 1
Theodosiou 0 Hill 1
Aldridge 1 Grkow 0
Forster 1 Jhurani 0
Van der Hoorn 1 Nyberg 0

Round 2
Hill 0 Ker 1
Croad 1 Aldridge 0
Nijman 1 Forster 0
Drinkwater 0 Dive 1
Grkow 0 Sellen 1
Van der Hoorn 1 Jackson 0
Brockway 1 Palmer 0
Jhurani 1 Theodosiou 0
Nyberg 1 Farrington 0

The Future Face of New Zealand Chess?

The big story of the North Island Championships held over the Easter weekend was not the return to form of Russell Dive and his comfortable 7/8 victory (including an 8 move draw in the last round), or indeed the haphazard timekeeping skills of genial D.O.P. Mark van der Hoorn - rather it was the exploits of the boy who ended up sharing the C grade prize, Alan Ansell, pictured above. The 4.5/8 final tally belies the real drama of what took place. All his opponents except one were rated over 2000, and the average rating of his opponents was in the region of 2158. His own rating is a ludicrously unrealistic 1568. In comparison, his fellow C grade winner, Viv Smith, had opponents averaging 1822 in rating, and even had a 1 point bye in round 6 for being near the foot of the table.

His victories were scored over Daniel Baider (2188), Brian Nijman (2141), Chris Burns (2099) and Gavin Marner (2004). His greatest achievement may be his draw against Olympiad team member Stephen Lukey, graded 2270.

12-year-old Alan may look a bit like that cute child actor in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but over the board he is a totally ferocious attacking player, happiest in positions were he is marauding all over his opponent's King. I witnessed him ripping apart Gavin Marner's Queen side castled position, definitely an X-rated viewing experience!

One of the most astonishing things about Alan is his location. A search on New Plymouth players in the national rating lists reveals only two, and they are both surnamed Ansell. If, as Nigel Short undiplomatically opined, New Zealand is a chess backwater, New Plymouth must occupy a uniquely stagnant place in chess geography. Alan has no worthy human opponents to play locally, so at home he plays against the Rybka program on his computer.
If Alan had been born in a proper chess-playing nation, he would no doubt have already been whisked off to some hothouse chess academy to be converted into a grandmaster, but here in New Zealand we have to rely on more random processes. We just have to hope he doesn't get diverted on his way to mega chess stardom. All the best to you, Alan!

Ker is Summer Champion after Dive Loses Twice

When was the last time Russell Dive lost twice in a row at the chess club? Losing to Nic Croad is fair enough, but he will have lost a lot of rating points by losing to me!
Russell's round 7 loss meant he was caught by traditional rival Anthony Ker. Losing in the 8th and final round meant that Nic Croad overtook him to take 2nd place, and Mark van der Hoorn joined him in 3rd place. No doubt the invincibility will return, but let's make the most of it until it does!
Other noteworthy performances? My vote goes to young newcomer Henry Wylde who defeated Ross Jackson in round 1 ( a trifle cheekily) and Andrew Brockway in round 8 (final tally 4/8). Also Romeo Rabina who finished strongly, winning against Don Stracy in round 7 and drawing with Michael Nyberg in round 8 (final tally 4.5/8).

You can see 2 games from round 7 on the official website, Sellen vs Dive and Ker vs Hill. As you can see, Anthony was a bit lucky to win that game!

Final standings:

1. Anthony Ker 6.5 points
2. Nic Croad 6 points
3-4 Mark van der Hoorn, Russell Dive 5.5 points
5-8 Brian Nijman, Daniel Baider, Gavin Marner, Ian Sellen 5 points
9-13 Alan Aldridge, Martin Hill, Michael Nyberg, Romeo Rabina, Ross Jackson 4.5 points
14-19 Anil Jhurani, Bill Forster, Hamish Shierlaw, Henry Wylde, Jen Sun Hong, Michael Hewson 4 points
20-21 Blaise Drinkwater, Don Stracy 3.5 points
22-27 Andrew Grkow, Andrew Brockway, Jefferey Wu, Jen Nung Hong, Melvin Tung, Zak Sun 3 points
28-30 Andreas Theodosiou, Lingzhou Wu, Somesh Pattekar 2.5 points
31-32 John Marney, Paul Bowden 2 points
33 Luke Palmer 0.5 points

Results:

Round 7
Sellen 1 Dive 0
Ker 1 Hill 0
Croad 1 Forster 0
Nijman 1/2 Baider 1/2
Aldridge 0 Van der Hoorn 1
Jackson 0 Marner 1
Nyberg 1 Wylde 0
Shierlaw 1/2 Jhurani 1/2
Grkow 0 Hewson 1
Wu J 0 Drinkwater 1
Hong 1 Palmer 0
Theodosiou 0 Brockway 1
Rabina 1 Stracy 0
Hong 1 Wu L 0

Round 8
Dive 0 Croad 1
Ker 1 Sellen 0
Marner 1/2 Baider 1/2
Van der Hoorn 1 Hill 0
Nyberg 1/2 Rabina 1/2
Forster 0 Jackson 1
Drinkwater 0 Aldridge 1
Jhurani 1/2 Hewson 1/2
Brockway 0 Wylde 1
Shierlaw 1 Hong 0
Wu L 0 Hong 1
Pattekar 1/2 Wu J 1/2
Theodosiou 1 Palmer 0

Summer Cup Round 6 Dive leads by 1 point

With 2 rounds to go Russell Dive beat Anthony Ker to open up a 1 point gap at the top. Russell is on 5 1/2 with Anthony being joined in second place on by Martin Hill who beat me in his favourite 1. f4 opening - I really must learn what to do against that one.
There are five players on 4 points, myself, Brian Nijman (who beat Mark van der Hoorn), Nic Croad, Bill Forster, and Daniel Baider.
CHECK OUT THE NEW WELLINGTON CHESS SITE!
It's really good!

Round 6 results:
Dive 1 Ker 0
Hill 1 Sellen 0
Nijman 1 Van der Hoorn 0
Stracy 0 Croad 1
Rabina 0 Forster 1
Marner 1/2 Aldridge 1/2
Grkow 0 Nyberg 1
Jen Nung Hong 1/2 Shierlaw 1/2
Jhurani 1 Brockway 0
Wylde 1 L Wu 0
J Wu 1 Theodosiou 0
Hewson 0 Jackson 1
Jen Sun Hong 1 Palmer 0

Standings after 6 rounds:

1 Russell Dive 5.5
2-3 Anthony Ker, Martin Hill 4.5
4-8 Bill Forster, Brian Nijman, Daniel Baider, Ian Sellen, Nic Croad 4
9-12 Alan Aldridge, Gavin Marner, Mark van der Hoorn, Ross Jackson 3.5
13-19 Anil Jhurani, Don Stracy, Henry Wylde, Melvin Tung, Michael Nyberg, Romeo Rabina, Zak Sun 3
20-25 Andrew Grkow, Blaise Drinkwater, Hamish Shierlaw, Jefferey Wu, Jen Sun Hong, Michael Hewson 2.5
26-30 Andrew Brockway, John Marney, LingZhou Wu, Paul Bowden, Somesh Pattekar 2
31-2 Andreas Theodosiou, Jen Nung Hong 1.5
33 Luke Palmer 0.5

Summer Cup Round 5 - Dive and Ker Lead

Anthony Ker beat Nic Croad, and Russell Dive beat Daniel Baider, which means that they are joint leading on 4.5 points after 5 rounds of the Summer Cup. Both players opted for a half point bye in the first round, then won their following 4 games. I did not get much of a chance to look at their games, but Nic Croad looked annoyed with himself as the game ended. Russell was a pawn up against Daniel in a Rook and pawn ending when I looked over near the end of the game.
I am 3rd on 4 points after beating a preoccupied Brian Nijman (his car had just been broken into), with Mark van der Hoorn, Daniel Baider and Martin Hill half a point behind on 3.5.

Looks like we are due for the traditional Ker vs Dive fixture tonight.

Full results:

Croad 0 Ker 1
Baider 0 Dive 1
Van der Hoorn 1 Marner 0
Sellen 1 Nijman 0
Hewson 1 Wylde 0
Brockway 0 Grkow 1
Palmer 0 Drinkwater 1
Aldridge 1 Shierlaw 0
Jackson 1 J Wu 0
Jen Sun Hong 0 Theodosiou 1
Stracy 1 Jhurani 0
Hill 1 Nyberg 0
L. Wu 0 Rabina 1

Standings:

4.5 points
1-2 Anthony Ker, Russell Dive

4 points
3 Ian Sellen

3.5 points
4-6 Daniel Baider, Mark van der Hoorn, Martin Hill

3 points
7-13 Alan Aldridge, Bill Forster, Brian Nijman, Don Stracy, Gavin Marner, Nic Croad, Romeo Rabina

2.5 points
14-18 Andrew Grkow, Melvin Tung, Michael Hewson, Ross Jackson, Zak Sun

2 points
19-27 Andrew Brockway, Anil Jhurani, Blaise Drinkwater, Hamish Shierlaw, Henry Wylde, John Marney, LingZhou Wu, Michael Nyberg, Paul Bowden

1.5 points
28-30 Andreas Theodosiou, Jefferey Wu, Jen Nung Hong

1 point
31-32 Jen Sun Hong, Somesh Pattekar

0.5 points
33 Luke Palmer

AGM pics

Back row l-r: Michael Hewson, Alistair Nicholls(totally obscured) Mark Wilkins, Andrew Brockway, Nic Croad
Front row l-r Someone I don't know, Ian Sellen, Romeo Rabina, and Edmund Salem joking with Lawrence Farrington
Foreground, obscured: Anil Jhurani


Edmund Salem, one of 3 joint winners of Club Championship C grade, but the only one there on the night.
An unseemly brawl developing between new club Secretary Martin Hill and club treasurer Bill Forster, concerning who actually deserved to win the B grade Championship. Martin Hill won. Fortunately, no hospital treatment was required.
Mark's report as club captain, entertaining as usual.
Left to right: Bill Forster, Ross Jackson, Mark van der Hoorn.

Alistair Nicholls is to take over the stewardship of the club website. He has some exciting plans, so please help him with content as much as possible. Thanks to Mark Wilkins who has been looking after the site despite great demands on his time.
Also, a big thankyou to Alan Aldridge for all his work as club secretary. He is getting a well earned break, although he will still be looking after the official New Zealand chess magazine, as well as, of course, looking after his art business on Cuba Street. Please take time to visit his shop, or browse his excellent website, www.kiwiarthouse.co.nz

Summer Cup Round 4 - Baider Defeats Croad, Shares Lead.

Daniel Baider showed excellent technique winning his 4th round encounter against leader Nic Croad. When I first looked at the position Daniel had a passed pawn deep in Nic's position on d6 supported by a pawn on e5. The position was wildly complicated, and I was glad it was not I trying to play either side. His victory puts him in first place with 3.5/4 along with perennial conquerors Russell Dive and Anthony Ker, both of whom won their games, against Martin Hill and Mark van der Hoorn respectively. Martin seemed to be holding against Russell's English opening, but no doubt Russell had it all worked out. Mark got lumbered with weak pawns in a Rook and pawn endgame, and got ground down.
Michael Nyberg against Gavin Marner was interesting, with mutual violence against the opposing Kings leading to Gavin being a piece up in the endgame. Gavin had Knight plus Bishop plus pawn versus Michael's Knight - If Michael could take the pawn for the Knight Gavin would have had to try to win the difficult King + Bishop + Knight versus King endgame, which would have been a challenge. Fortunately for him he was able to shepherd his pawn to promotion, at which point Michael resigned.

I am not sure of the result of Palmer vs Jeffrey Wu, I am guessing the result from the relative sizes of their smiles after the game. Please let me know if I got it wrong.

Round 4 full results:

Baider 1 Croad 0
Ker 1 Van der Hoorn 0
Dive 1 Hill 0
Nyberg 0 Marner 1
Nijman 1 Brockway 0
Sun 0 Sellen 1
Forster 1 Stracy 0
Grkow 1/2 Jackson 1/2
Rabina 1 Hewson 0
Wylde 1 J Hong 0
Drinkwater 1 Pattekar 0
Shierlaw 1/2 L Wu 1/2
J Hong 0 Aldridge 1
Theodosiou 0 Tung 1
Palmer 0 J Wu 1


Standings:

3.5 points
Daniel Baider, Russell Dive, Anthony Ker

3 points
Brian Nijman, Gavin Marner, Ian Sellen, Nic Croad

2.5 points
Bill Forster, Mark van der Hoorn, Martin Hill

2 points
Alan Aldridge, Andrew Brockway, Anil Jhurani, Don Stracy, Hamish Shierlaw, Henry Wylde, John Marney, LingZhou Wu, Melvin Tung, Michael Nyberg, Romeo Rabina, Zak Sun

1.5 points
Andrew Grkow, Jeffrey Wu, Michael Hewson, Paul Bowden, Ross Jackson

1 point
Blaise Drinkwater, Jen Nung Hong, Jen Sun Hong

0.5 points
Andreas Theodosiou, Luke Palmer, Somesh Pattekar

AGM is this Tuesday. If you have anything to say about how the club is run, please make sure you are there to make your voice heard!
Should be time for a bit of blitz fun afterwards...