Club Rapid 5 & 6 - Ker and Dive lead

Just when it seemed Russell Dive was planning to repeat his Autumn Cup whitewash, Anthony Ker scored a win against him to join him at the top on 5/6. Nic Croad and I are half a point behind. Marany Meyer continued on her happy way by scoring a win against co-club champion Brian Nijman, and joining the chasing pack on 4 points. Roy Seabrook played well to defeat Michael Nyburg, who is not having his most successful tournament ever.

Round 5
Dive 1 Marner 0
Croad 1/2 Ker 1/2
Meyer 0 Wastney 1
Sellen 1 Du Plessis N 0
Du Plessis M 0 Aldridge 1
Rabina 0 Nijman 1
Jackson 1 Farrington 0
Hewson 0 Nyberg 1
Kay 1 Bowden 0
Seabrook 1 Drinkwater 0
Proctor 1 Shierlaw 0
Pattekar 0 Krueger 1 (default)
Brockway, Forster 1/2 point byes

Round 6
Dive 0 Ker 1
Marner 1/2 Sellen 1/2
Meyer 1 Nijman 0
Du Plessis N 0 Croad 1
Farrington 1 Du Plessis M 0
Rabina 0 Wastney 1
Kay 0 Aldridge 1
Seabrook 1 Nyberg 0
Jackson 1 Shierlaw 0
Proctor 1 Hewson 0
Bowden 1 Pattekar 0 (default)
Krueger 0 Drinkwater 1
Brockway, Forster 1/2 point byes

Standings:

5 points
Russell Dive, Anthony Ker

4.5 points
Nic Croad, Ian Sellen

4 points
Alan Aldridge, Bill Forster, Gavin Marner, Marany Meyer, Brian Nijman, Roy Seabrook, Scott Wastney

3.5 points
Lawrence Farrington, Ross Jackson

3 points
Bruce Kay, Matthew Proctor

2.5 points
Andrew Brockway, Megan Du Plessis, Neels Du Plessis, Michael Nyberg

2 points
Paul Bowden, Blaise Drinkwater, Romeo Rabina

1.5 points
Hamish Shierlaw

1 point
Michael Hewson, Sebastian Krueger

0 points
Somesh Pattekar

Russell Dive on 100% - again

Russell Dive is sole leader of the club rapid after 4 rounds, with his customary rival Anthony Ker dropping half a point to Gavin Marner in round 4. Scott Wastney is some way down the table - he slaughtered me in round 3, but must have got over-confident in his bunny-bashing, as Bill Forster scored a good win against him in the following round. Both our female players are doing well (yes, we have two now!) with Marany Meyer on 3 and Megan Du Plessis on 2 1/2 after a "grandmaster draw" against her Dad.
In other news, Wellington players took top 3 places in the Gordon Hoskyn memorial, Russell Dive scooping 1st place and Scott Wastney and Michael Nyberg sharing second. Great results also for Megan du Plessis and David Capper - check out the tournament report on the website http://www.newzealandchess.co.nz/, and the mammoth picture report on http://www.nzchessevents.myphotoalbum.com/

Also, New Zealand Chess magazine has been revived by Alan Aldridge and Bill Forster. I personally think they have done a fantastic job - even sceptical family members have been picking it up and chuckling over it. Make sure you get your copy if you have not done so already!

Coming up next week - the gamesfest at the Central Wellington library. Wellington Chess Club will have a stall and I and others will be taking on all comers. Ross Jackson has details.

Round 3:
Wastney 1 Sellen 0
Farrington 1 Hewson 0
Du Plessis M 1 Pattekar 0
Du Plessis N 1 Seabrook 0
Drinkwater 0 Dive 1
Marner 1 Kay 0
Shierlaw 1/2 Brockway 1/2
Ker 1 Jackson 0
Krueger 0 Rabina 1
Bowden 1 Proctor 0
Aldridge 0 Forster 1
Nijman 0 Croad 1
Byes: Meyer 1, Nyberg 1/2

Round 4
Ker 1/2 Marner 1/2
Shierlaw 1 Krueger 0
Meyer 1 Drinkwater 0
Pattekar 0 Farrington 1
Croad 0 Dive 1
Forster 1 Wastney 0
Brockway 1 Bowden 0
Sellen 1 Aldridge 0
Seabrook 1 Rabina 0
Nijman 1 Jackson 0
Hewson 0 Kay 1
Byes: Proctor 1, Nyberg 1/2

Standings:

4 points:
Russell Dive

3.5 points
Anthony Ker, Gavin Marner

3 points:
Nic Croad, Bill Forster, Marany Meyer, Brian Nijman, Ian Sellen

2.5 points
Megan Du Plessis, Neels Du Plessis, Lawrence Farrington

2 points
Alan Aldridge, Bruce Kay, Romeo Rabina, Roy Seabrook, Scott Wastney

1.5 points
Andrew Brockway, Ross Jackson, Michael Nyberg, Hamish Shierlaw

1 point
Paul Bowden, Blaise Drinkwater, Michael Hewson, Matthew Proctor

0 points
Sebastian Krueger, Somesh Pattekar

Club Rapid Rounds 1 and 2

Club Rapid started on 10-Jun-08 and runs for 5 weeks, 2 rounds per evening.

Round 1:
Rabina 0 Ker 1
Sellen 1 Bowden 0
Proctor 0 Drinkwater 1
Brockway 0 Du Plessis N 1
Meyer 0 Dive 1
Pattekar 0 Aldridge 1
Forster 1 Farrington 0
Croad 1 Krueger 0
Shierlaw 0 Kay 1
Hewson 0 Wastney 1
Nyberg 0 Marner 1
Du Plessis M 0 Nijman 1

Round 2
Marner 1 Pattekar 0
Krueger 0 Hewson 1
Wastney 0 Croad 1
Aldridge 1 Brockway 0
Bowden 0 Du Plessis M 1
Drinkwater 0 Rabina 1
Farrington 1/2 Nyberg 1/2
Ker 1 Shierlaw 0
Kay 0 Sellen 1
Nijman 1 Forster 0
Seabrook 1/2 Jackson 1/2
Dive 1 Proctor 0
Du Plessis N 0 Meyer 1

Standings:

2 points
Alan Aldridge, Nic Croad, Russell Dive, Anthony Ker, Gavin Marner, Brian Nijman, Ian Sellen,

1 point
Blaise Drinkwater, Megan Du Plessis, Neels du Plessis, Bill Forster, Michael Hewson, Ross Jackson, Bruce Kay, Marany Meyer, Romeo Rabina, Roy Seabrook, Scott Wastney

0.5 points
Lawrence Farrington, Michael Nyberg

0 points
Paul Bowden, Andrew Brockway, Sebastian Krueger, Somesh Pattekar, Matthew Proctor, Hamish Shierlaw

Autumn Cup ends - Dive cleans up

No disputing the winner of the A grade of the Wellington Chess Club Autumn Cup - Russell Dive with a clean 100%, 5 out of 5, displayed convincingly why he has been chosen to represent New Zealand in the upcoming Chess Olympiad in Dresden. Anthony Ker also shone, only losing to Russell, and winning his other games.


In the final game of the B grade Ross Jackson beat Alan Aldridge, which meant that there was a 4 way tie for 2nd (behind Michael Nyberg). Look at the cross table here - it is rather curious!


I did not realise last week, but the D grade got to play an extra round, by virtue of it being a Swiss rather than a round robin. This does not affect the final result, though, as the leaders both won their games to stay joint first. So congratulations to Michael Hewson and Alistair Nicholls, and special good wishes to Alistair as he takes a break from chess to indulge in a spot of nappy-changing.

Full results:



A Grade
Marner 0 Ker 1
Croad 1 Van der Hoorn 0
Baider 0 Dive 1



B grade
Aldridge 0 Jackson 1

C grade
Capper 1/2 Brockway 1/2



D grade
Pattekar 0 Shierlaw 1
Proctor 0 Drinkwater 1
Nicholls 1 Krueger 0
Bowden 0 Hewson 1
Bye: Salem

There is one game left in the C grade, but it will not affect the final result.



Check out the Olympiad story on the website http://www.newzealandchess.co.nz/.
Murray Chandler, for so long a mainstay of the England team, is to be board one for his native New Zealand. And with Puchen Wang and our own Russell Dive supporting, New Zealand could make a serious impression this year. I can't wait!

Back in Wellington, club rapid championships start this week - Be there!

Autumn Cup round 5 - Dive wins again

Russell Dive is assured of at least shared first place in the A grade by grinding out a win against Gavin Marner. He and Anthony Ker have outclassed the rest of the field in this tournament.

B grade champion is Michael Nyberg. Congratulations Michael (grrr!). I was White against him in the last round and we reached the following position:

Michael had just played the dubious and highly provocative 11....Nh5?, after which I spent 40 minutes looking at the position after 12. Bxf7 ch Kxf7 13. Nxe5 dbl ch Kg8 14. Qxh5 dxe5, and wasn't really sure if I had enough for the sacrificed piece. Actually, the computer comes up with the much better 14. Ng6 with numerous tactical possibilities and a winning position for White. In the end I played 12. Qf2, got myself into time trouble, and lost.

One game left in the B group, which is Aldridge against Jackson.

Don Stracy won the C group with 4/5, as Romeo Rabina could only draw against Andrew Brockway. There are still 2 games to play in that group.

In group D Michael Hewson had his winning run broken by Alistair Nicholls who thus gets to share first place with 4/5. Congratulations to both of you!

Full results:

A group
Ker 1 Croad 0
Van der Hoorn 1 Baider 0
Dive 1 Marner 0

B group
Forster 0 Aldridge 1
Jackson 0 Pomeroy 1
Sellen 0 Nyberg 1

C group
Brockway 1/2 Rabina 1/2
Kay 1 Farrington 0
Stracy 1 Capper 0

D group
Hewson 0 Nicholls 1
Salem 1 Pattekar 0
Bowden 1 Drinkwater 0
Bye: Proctor

Click to enlarge placings: