Russell Dive is Wellington Club Champion with 100%!

Russell Dive (L) and Nic Croad earlier this year

I've run out of superlatives for Russell Dive's recent performances, his results can speak for themselves. Mark Van der Hoorn was polished off almost before I'd finished my first cup of coffee!
Is there any precedent for Russell's astonishing club championship whitewash?

Other (fairly irrelevant) results were: Anthony Ker beat Michael Nyberg, Ross Jackson had his winning streak curtailed by Nic Croad, and I managed to hoist myself off the bottom of the table with a scrappy 97 move win against Brian Nijman which finished about 12:40 am.

Martin Hill finished in style to take the B grade title. He dispatched Hamish Shierlaw, leaving himself with 8.5/9. Congratulations to you Martin!

Full results:

A Grade
Ker 1 Nyberg 0
Dive 1 Van der Hoorn 0
Jackson 0 Croad 1
Sellen 1 Nijman 0

B grade
Rabina 0 Forster 1
Shierlaw 0 Hill 1
Stracy 1/2 Aldridge 1/2

C grade

Proctor 1/2 Pattekar 1/2



Matthew left a comment asking for games. Can anybody donate any? I am a bit reluctant to use my own, as they are so crap! Here is an example from the previous week:

White: Michael Nyberg
Black: Ian Sellen

In our defence, time trouble came into it.

Position after Black's 59th move:

Michael could have cleaned up now with 60. Nd6, which protects the d pawn from being rounded up by the Rook. Instead he played:

60. Kc5?

Now there is a reasonably simple win for me: 60. .......Rc1+ followed by Rd1 and Rxd7, when the 3 pawns must prevail against the lone Knight. Instead, the game ended:

60. ....... Rd1??

61. Nd6 Black resigns

Club Championship week 8

In the clash of the 100 percenters it was Brian Nijman who faltered. Congratulations to Russell Dive, who on 8/8 with one game to play is guaranteed at least first place in the Club Championship. I hear he also won the Kapiti Rapid on Sunday with 6/6. I only wish we in the Lower North Island could offer better practice for him in the light of the greater challenges he will face in Dresden playing for his country in November. Ross Jackson showed that beating Anthony Ker was not just a one off, with a victory over Daniel Baider. My game with Michael Nyberg followed the usual routine - Nyberg plays odd move / Sellen looks puzzled and gratefully accepts advantage / Nyberg sits looking like he knows what he is doing / Sellen starts to sweat and think for too long / Nyberg continues churning out odd but aggressive looking moves / Sellen has about 3 minutes left on the clock and starts to panic / Nyberg pulls out a few tactical finesses / Sellen blunders repeatedly and loses the game. You'd think I'd learn, really. In this case, Michael played an unusual gambit in the Sicilian, 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. b4, which is dubbed "dubious" by MCO. I got a great position, but blundered and lost in the endgame.
In the B grade Martin Hill continues to dominate, beating Andrew Brockway. Bill Forster killed his chances of B grade stardom by losing to Don Stracy. Alan Aldridge still has an outside chance of catching Martin.
In the C grade Blaise Drinkwater has now played all his games, beating Somesh Pattekar in his last game. Now he leads the group by a point, and just has to sit back and watch what Paul Bowden and Edmund Salem do.

Full results

A grade
Nijman 0 Dive 1
Croad 1/2 Ker 1/2
Van der Hoorn 1 Marner 0
Baider 0 Jackson 1
Nyberg 1 Sellen 0

B grade
Forster 0 Stracy 1
Hewson 0 Rabina 1
Hill 1 Brockway 0
Aldridge 1 Shierlaw 0

C grade
Drinkwater 1 Pattekar 0
Bowden 1 Foster 0
Proctor 0 Salem 1

Club Champs, weeks 6 & 7

Sorry for delay, I will now summarise the last 2 weeks:

In group A Russell Dive and Brian Nijman continue to win all their games. The only other player still with an outside chance of the title is Nic Croad. Anthony Ker drew with Daniel Baider, then lost horribly to Ross Jackson after blundering a minor piece. Russell seems unbeatable, with Michael Nyberg sleepwalking to defeat against him on Tuesday. Brian won in style, working up a fantastic position against Gavin Marner after sacrificing a pawn in the opening.

The B group sees Martin Hill still dominating proceedings, although Bill Foster will be giving him a run for his money in the weeks to come. Andrew Brockway fought valiantly against Alan Aldridge, but succumbed in the end, and now finds himself slipping down the table somewhat.


Blaise Drinkwater regains his lead in the C grade, as Paul Bowden slipped up against Matthew Proctor. Should be an interesting race to the finish in this group.

Results, week 6:

A group
Croad 0 Dive 1
Baider 1/2 Ker 1/2
Nijman 1 Van der Hoorn 0
Nyberg 0 Marner 1
Jackson 1/2 Sellen 1/2

B group
Forster 1 Brockway 0
Kay 0 Stracy 1
Hewson 1 Shierlaw 0
Aldridge 0 Hill 1

C group
Marney 1 Proctor 0
Krueger 0 Salem 1

Results, week 7

A group
Van der Hoorn 1 Baider 0
Marner 0 Nijman 1
Dive 1 Nyberg 0
Ker 0 Jackson 1

B group
Hill 1 Nicholls 0 (default)
Brockway 0 Aldridge 1
Shierlaw 0 Foster 1
Stracy 1 Hewson 0
Rabina 1/2 Kay 1/2

C group
Salem 0 Drinkwater 1
Foster 1 Krueger 0 (default)
Proctor 1 Bowden 0