wellingtonchess

Fischer Random rounds 1 and 2

2009-04-17T02:45:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-04-15T02:51:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-13T02:17:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-09T01:23:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-02-28T01:08:00.000-08:00

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...

Summer Cup Round 3 - Croad Leads

2009-02-18T01:51:00.000-08:00

Gavin Marner and John Marney joined the Summer Cup on Tuesday, bringing the total to 33 players. The club room was looking quite full as, unusually, everyone turned up!
Surprise result of the round must have been young Ling Zhou Wu's draw with club stalwart Alan Aldridge. Alan had been a whole piece up.
At the top of the table defending Summer Cup holder Nic Croad is in sole lead with 3/3 as Mark van der Hoorn and Daniel Baider drew, and previously undefeated Michael Nyberg lost to Anthony Ker. The chasing group on 2 1/2 is comprised of Anthony, Russell Dive, Mark van der Hoorn, Daniel Baider and Martin Hill.

Round 3 full results:

Ker 1 Nyberg 0
Croad 1 Nijman 0
Jackson 0 Dive 1
Van der Hoorn 1/2 Baider 1/2
Hill 1 Forster 0
Sellen 1 Grkow 0
Marner 1 Rabina 0
Stracy 1 Tung 0
Andrew Brockway 1 J Hong (sr) 0
Pattekar 0 Bowden 1
Drinkwater 0 J Hong (jr) 1
Hewson 1 Palmer 0
Aldridge 1/2 LZ Wu 1/2
Theodosiou 0 Sun 1
Jefferey Wu 1/2 Shierlaw 1/2
Marney 1 Wylde 0
Bye: Jhurani

Standings after 3 rounds:

3 points
Nic Croad

2.5 points
Anthony Ker, Daniel Baider, Mark van der Hoorn, Martin Hill, Russell Dive

2 points
Andrew Brockway, Brian Nijman, Don Stracy, Gavin Marner, Ian Sellen, John Marney, Michael Nyberg, Z. Sun

1.5 points
Bill Forster, Hamish Shierlaw, Ling Zhou Wu, Michael Hewson

1 point
Alan Aldridge, Andrew Grkow, Anil Jhurani, Henry Wylde, J Hong jr, J Hong sr, Melvin Tung, Paul Bowden, Romeo Rabina, Ross Jackson

0.5 points
Andreas Theodosiou, Jefferey Wu, Luke Palmer, Somesh Pattekar

0 points
Blaise Drinkwater

Summer cup round 2

2009-02-12T02:19:00.000-08:00

First of all thanks to Alistair Nicholls who, despite being on "paternity leave" from chess, acts as my blog conscience, making sure I don't slack in my updates, chiding me when I do - and has now assisted in clearing up an identity error in last week's posting. The player who was up against Michael Nyberg was named as L Zhon but should actually be LingZhou Wu. "Zhon" came about by my not being able to read Mark van der Hoorn's writing. Apologies to all concerned. Incidentally, LingZhou Wu is not to be confused with Jefferey Wu who was playing Andrew Grkow, and, as far as I am aware, the two are unrelated.

Please let me know of any other inaccuracies.

Round 2 saw the return of the heavyweights, New Zealand champion Anthony Ker, and New Zealand Board 2 Russell Dive. Both duly won their games. 5 players remain on 2/2 - Nic Croad, Daniel Baider, Mark van der Hoorn, Michael Nyberg and Brian Nijman. Don Stracy made Brian work hard for his full point, and that game was the last to finish. Daniel Baider gave me the thrashing I truly deserved, given how I played the opening.
It is noteworthy that there has not been a single draw agreed in the first 2 rounds!

A warm welcome to two more newcomers on Tuesday, Andreas Theodosiou and Luke Palmer.

Round 2 full results:

Wylde 0 Croad 1
Baider 1 Sellen 0
Grkow 0 Van der Hoorn 1
Nyberg 1 Brockway 0
Nijman 1 Stracy 0
Dive 1 Aldridge 0
Jhurani 0 Ker 1
Forster 1 Pattekar 0
Palmer 0 Hill 1
Shierlaw 1 Theodosiou 0
J. Hong jr 0 Jackson 1
J Hong sr 1 Bowden 0
Rabina 1 Jefferey Wu 0
LingZhou Wu 1 Sun 0
Tung 1 Drinkwater 0

Leading scores after 2 rounds:

2 points
Nic Croad, Daniel Baider, Mark van der Hoorn, Brian Nijman, Michael Nyberg

1.5 points
Russell Dive, Anthony Ker, Martin Hill, Bill Forster

Welcome back!

2009-02-09T02:51:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Anthony Ker who not only took his 10th New Zealand Champion title in Queenstown, but also took the rapid and blitz titles as well! Very greedy.
Anthony and Russell Dive were missing from the starting line-up for the Summer Cup on Tuesday, but present were Nic Croad, Mark Van der Hoorn and Daniel Baider. Lots of new faces at the club, too. Big upset of the first round was Ross Jackson losing to Henry Wylde after blundering into a fork the exchange up. The other seed to lose was Romeo Rabina. Mark played his famous-in-New-Zealand Vandaliser system (f3 followed by Kf2) and ground out a win against Hamish Shierlaw. I won somewhat unconvincingly against newcomer Melvin Tung.

Round 1 full results:
Croad 1 Hewson 0
Bowden 0 Baider 1
Van der Hoorn 1 Shierlaw 0
Drinkwater 0 Nijman 1
Jackson 0 Wylde 1
Zhon 0 Nyberg 1
Sellen 1 Tung 0
Wu 0 Grkow 1
Stracy 1 J Hong (sr) 0
Sun 1 Rabina 0
Brockway 1 J Hong (jr) 0
Byes: Aldridge, Forster plus (no doubt) others

Anthony Ker wins Julian Mazur Memorial

2008-12-15T02:03:00.000-08:00

Anthony Ker took the Julian Mazur Memorial title, defeating Mark van der Hoorn in 9 moves (with the Black pieces!) on Tuesday. Nic Croad came 2nd, losing to Anthony but defeating everyone else. Brian Nijman defeated me to come 3rd, 1.5 points behind on 5.5. Noteworthy performances by newcomers Andrew Grkow, who finished on 4.5, and Anil Jhurani, who finished on 4.

Full results:

Round 7
Ker 1 Baider 0
Croad 1 Forster 0
Sellen 0 Nyberg 1
Nijman 1/2 Marner 1/2
Jackson 0 Van der Hoorn 1
Salem 0 Grkow 1
Rabina 0 Kay 1
Drinkwater 1 Proctor 0
Shierlaw 0 Jhurani 1

Round 8
Van der Hoorn 0 Ker 1
Croad 1 Nyberg 0 (default)
Sellen 0 Nijman 1
Marner 1 Brockway 0
Jackson 1 Shierlaw 0
Drinkwater 0 Farrington 1
Kay 0 Forster 1
Jhurani 0 Grkow 1
Bardiya 1 Salem 0 (default)
Bowden 0 Rabina 1 (default);

Final placings:
1st Anthony Ker (8)
2nd Nic Croad (7)
3rd Brian Nijman (5.5)
4-6 Bill Forster, Gavin Marner, Michael Nyberg (5)
7-8 Andrew Grkow, Mark Van der Hoorn (4.5)
9-14 Anil Jhurani, Bruce Kay, Daniel Baider, Ian Sellen, Romeo Rabina, Ross Jackson (4)
15 Andrew Brockway (3.5)
16-17 Ridhesh Bardiya, Lawrence Farrington (3)
18 Edmund Salem (2.5)
19-23 Alex Manouilenko, Blaise Drinkwater, Hamish Shierlaw, Matthew Proctor, Sebastian Krueger (2)
24 Paul Bowden, Somesh Pattekar (1.5)

That was the last tournament of the year, apart from the transfer chess scheduled for tomorrow. Summary of 2008 results as follows:

Summer Cup
1 Nic Croad
2-4 Daniel Baider, Russell Dive, Anthony Ker

Fischer Random
1 Anthony Ker
2 Nic Croad
3-5 Michael Nyberg, Russell Dive Scott Wastney

Autumn Cup Round Robin
A grade Russell Dive
B grade Michael Nyberg
C grade Don Stracy
D grade Michael Hewson and Alistair Nicholls

Club Rapid
1 Russell Dive
2-3 Anthony Ker, Nic Croad

Club Championship
A grade Russell Dive
B Grade Martin Hill
C grade Blaise Drinkwater, Edmund Salem, Paul Bowden

Julian Mazur Memorial
1 Anthony Ker
2 Nic Croad
3 Brian Nijman

Julian Mazur Memorial - Anthony Ker continues to dominate

2008-12-01T02:07:00.001-08:00

Anthony Ker seems to be heading for a clean sweep in the Julian Mazur Memorial. After 6 rounds he has 100%, with Nic Croad 1 point behind on 5. The chasing pack is another full point behind that.
Nic coolly defended against a typical wild, entertaining attack from Mark van der Hoorn, when all of a sudden the attack disappeared and Mark was left with a serious material deficit. They were still analysing where it went wrong when I left. Daniel Baider was back from school studies to notch up a convincing win against Ross Jackson. If anyone can dent Anthony's score, it must be this talented young man.

Full round 6 results:

Forster 0 Ker 1
Van der Hoorn 0 Croad 1
Baider 1 Jackson 0
Brockway 0 Nijman 1
Sellen 1 Shierlaw 0
Rabina 1/2 Jhurani 1/2
Grkow 1 Bowden 0
Kay 0 Marner 1
Salem 1 Drinkwater 0
Bardiya 0 Proctor 1

Standings after 6 rounds:

1. Anthony Ker (6 points)
2. Nic Croad (5)
3-8 Bill Forster, Brian Nijman, Daniel Baider, Ian Sellen, Michael Nyberg, Romeo Rabina (4)
9-10 Gavin Marner, Mark van der Hoorn (3.5)
11-14 Andrew Brockway, Anil Jhurani, Bruce Kay, Ross Jackson (3)
15-16 Andrew Grkow, Edmund Salem (2.5)
17-20 Ridhesh Bardiya, Alexei Manouilenko, Hamish Shierlaw, Sebastian Krueger (2)
21-23 Lawrence Farrington, Matthew Proctor, Paul Bowden (1.5)
24-25 Blaise Drinkwater, Somesh Pattekar (1)

Chess Olympiad disappointment for NZ

2008-12-01T01:30:00.000-08:00

The Dresden Olympiad finished with New Zealand, seeded 71st in the open section, ending in 97th place, a disappointing performance. They had a bad first round loss against Trinidad and Tobago, but then seemed to stage a recovery, culminating in a victory against 29th seed Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 7th round. After this New Zealand were unfortunately pitted against the big guys, the incredibly strong Ukrainian team (0-4), then Georgia (0-4), Turkey (0.5-3.5), and Brazil (1-3). I think they can consider themselves unlucky to continue to have had such strong opposition. Individual performances were not that great, apart from Roger Nokes' astonishing start with 5/5, a rating performance of 2723. This was followed by a draw and 4 losses, but still, he was the only player who managed to perform above his rating. Russell Dive, so invincible at our own club, scored 2/8, but the worst performance was Bob Smith with 0.5/8, and a rating performance of 1790.
On the plus side, the women's team, led by Helen Milligan, outperformed their seeding, finishing in 62nd place, with Australia 1 place below. Helen and Judy Gao both improved their ratings in the process.

Julian Mazur Memorial Round 5

2008-11-24T01:53:00.000-08:00

Anthony Ker leads the Julian Mazur Memorial tournament with 5/5 (3 rounds to go). He beat his nearest rival, Michael Nyberg, and now leads the field by a full point. Upset of round 4 was Bill Forster (rating 1904), who beat Brian Nijman (rating 2141) with the black pieces. Bill thus joins Nic Croad in the chasing pack on 4/5. Romeo Rabina has been playing very attractive chess, and comes in half a point behind, along with Michael Nyberg and Mark van der Hoorn.

Full results:
Ker 1 Nyberg 0
Croad 1 Sellen 0
Nijman 0 Forster 1
Marner 1 Grkow 0
Jhurani 0 van der Hoorn 1
Kay 1 Bardiya 0
Krueger 0 Rabina 1
Proctor 0 Salem 1
Bowden 0 Brockway 1
Farrington 0 Jackson 1

Some players have only played 1 or 2 games - I have followed the convention of scoring the first 2 absences as half point byes, and any further absences as defaults. This does not affect the top placings.

1. Anthony Ker (5)
2-3 Bill Forster, Nic Croad (4)
4-6 Mar van der Hoorn, Michael Nyberg, Romeo Rabina (3.5)
7-12 Andrew Brockway, Brian Nijman, Bruce Kay, Daniel Baider, Ian Sellen, Ross Jackson (3)
13-14 Gavin Marner, Anil Jhurani (2.5)
15-16 Hamish Shierlaw, Ridhesh Bardiya (2)
17-21 Alexei Manouilenko, Andrew Grkow, Edmund Salem, Paul Bowden, Sebastian Krueger (1.5)
22-24 Blaise Drinkwater, Lawrence Farrington, Somesh Pattekar (1)
25 Matthew Proctor (0.5)

The inaugural WELLINGTON RAPID took place on Saturday 15th November, and was won by Nic Croad on 5.5 points (5 wins, plus a draw with Anthony Ker). Anthony was 2nd on 5, and visitor Edwin Lee 3rd on 4.5 points. 27 players took part. Thanks to Alan, Ross and Mark for organising the event, and to Scott Wastney for bring along a fair size contingent of his juniors. Maybe some of them will come along to regular chess club meetings in the near future.

Julian Mazur Rounds 3 & 4 - Ker leads

2008-11-13T01:05:00.000-08:00

After 4 rounds of the Julian Mazur Memorial there is one player left on 4 points. Anthony Ker beat the main opposition, Nic Croad, this week, after seeing off Brian Nijman in the previous round. Brian had the compensation of winning sensationally in round 4 in 13 moves on the BLACK side of a French Defence against Mark Van der Hoorn! Michael Nyberg defeated promising newcomer Anil Jhurani to set himself up with a game against Anthony Ker next week.

This Saturday 15th November there is a rapid tournament at the club, open to all. Please contact Alan Aldridge if you are interested in taking part. Should be fun.

Round 3
Nijman 0 Ker 1
Croad 1 Baider 0
Marner 0 Nyberg 1
Sellen 1 Brockway 0
Rabina 1/2 Farrington 1/2
Forster 1 Krueger 0
Salem 0 Kay 1
Manouilenko 0 Jackson 1
Bowden 1/2 Drinkwater 1/2
Grkow 0 Van der Hoorn 1
Jhurani 1 Procter 0

Round 4
Ker 1 Croad 0
Van der Hoorn 0 Nijman 1
Grkow 0 Forster 1
Farrington 1/2 Marner 1/2
Jackson 0 Sellen 1
Drinkwater 0 Rabina 1
Pattekar 0 Kay 1
Proctor 0 Bowden 1
Brockway 1 Manouilenko 0
Nyberg 1 Jhurani 0

Placings after 4 rounds:

1. Anthony Ker (4)
2. Michael Nyberg (3.5)
3-6 Bill Forster, Brian Nijman, Ian Sellen, Nic Croad (3)
7-10 Anil Jhurani, Daniel Baider, Mark Van der Hoorn, Romeo Rabina (2.5)
11-14 Andrew Brockway, Bruce Kay, Hamish Shierlaw, Ross Jackson (2)
15-18 Andrew Grkow, Gavin Marner, Paul Bowden, Sebastian Krueger (1.5)
19-21 Alexei Manouilenko, Lawrence Farrington, Somesh Pattekar (1)
22-23 Blaise Drinkwater, Matthew Proctor (0.5)

Julian Mazur Memorial, rounds 1 & 2

2008-11-02T02:27:00.000-08:00

The Julian Mazur Memorial has been running for 2 weeks and 4 players are left on 100%. Good to see a few new names on the list, and I apologise for any mis-spellings. Please feel free to send amendments.

Round 1
Farrington 0 Ker 1
Croad 1 Brockway 0
Bowden 0 Baider 1
Nijman 1 Shierlaw 0
Salem 0 Marner 1
Sellen 1 Krueger 0
Proctor 0 Jackson 1
Forster 1 Drinkwater 0
Manouilenko 1 Kay 0
Riddhesh 1 Siddarth 0
Byes Van der Hoorn, Nyberg, Jhurani, Grkov, Pattekar

Round 2
Ker 1 Sellen 0
Marner 0 Croad 1
Baider 1 Forster 0
Jackson 0 Nijman 1
Nyberg 1 Pattekar 0
Shierlaw 1 Farrington 0
Krueger 1 Bowden 0
Kay 0 Jhurani 1
Brockway 1 Salem 0
Van der Hoorn 1 Manouilenko 0
Drinkwater 0 Grkow 1
Byes: Riddhesh, Proctor, Siddarth

Standings:
2 points
Anthony Ker, Brian Nijman, Daniel Baider, Nic Croad

1.5 points
Andrew Grkow, Anil Jhurani, Mark Van der Hoorn, Michael Nyberg, Riddhesh

1 point
Alexi Manouilenko, Andrew Brockway, Bill Forster, Gavin Marner, Hamish Shierlaw, Ian Sellen, Ross Jackson, Sebastian Krueger

0.5 points
Matthew Proctor, Siddarth, Somesh Pattekar

0 points
Blaise Drinkwater, Bruce Kay, Edmund Salem, Lawrence Farrington, Paul Bowden.

Below are the final crosstables for the Club Championship. The last game played was Mark Van der Hoorn against Michael Nyberg, which Mark won.

Club Championship - more catch-up games

2008-10-15T03:27:00.000-07:00

Results from the last 2 weeks as follows:

A grade

Nijman 0 Ker 1

Croad 1/2 Van der Hoorn 1/2

Baider 1 Sellen 0

Ker 1 Van der Hoorn 0

Marner 0 Baider 1

Nijman 0 Croad 1

B grade

Rabina 1/2 Shierlaw 1/2

Stracy 1 Rabina 0

C grade

Pattekar 1 Marney 0

Salem 1 Foster 0

These leave the final positions much clearer. Nic Croad gets the runner-up position in the A grade with 6.5 points, 2.5 points behind Russell Dive. Martin Hill won the B grade convincingly 1.5 points ahead of Bill Foster. In the C grade there was a 3 way tie between Paul Bowden, Blaise Drinkwater and Edmund Salem.

There is only one game left to play, and that is Mark van der Hoorn against Michael Nyberg in the A grade. Meanwhile, the Julian Mazur Memorial tournament starts next week on 21st October, which is an 8 round Swiss open to all. See you there!

Club Championship - catch-up games

2008-10-06T03:40:00.000-07:00

Due to absences, no catch-up games in the A grade - Daniel Baider and Nic Croad were up in Auckland for the George Trundle event last week. Both players were a credit to our club - Nic got the prize for the highest placed New Zealander, and Daniel performed outstandingly against the visitors, with draws against GM Darryl Johansen and IM Andras Toth, and a win against IM Stephen Solomon. Solomon and Johansen tied for 1st place overall. For more details, please refer to Helen Milligan's excellent website at http://www.newzealandchess.co.nz/.

3 catch-up games in the B grade and 1 in the C grade. In the latter grade, Edmund Salem could only draw against Somesh Pattekar, so Blaise Drinkwater is guaranteed at least shared 1st place.

Full results:

B grade

Shierlaw 0 Stracy 1

Forster 1 Aldridge 0

Kay 1/2 Hewson 1/2

C grade

Pattekar 1/2 Salem 1/2

Russell Dive is Wellington Club Champion with 100%!

2008-09-29T03:57:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-22T03:05:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-13T03:15:00.000-07:00

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

Club Championship week 5

2008-08-31T04:25:00.000-07:00

After 11 moves against Anthony Ker I looked over at Russell Dive's game against Ross Jackson and was interested to note that I had adopted almost exactly the same setup as he. Indeed, I ended up with quite a promising position, before it all went horribly wrong. Both 2007 club champions kept their 100% records, Brian Nijman defeating Daniel Baider rather more quickly than the latter is used to these days.
In the B grade all three games that were played ended in draws. Thus Martin Hill lost his 100% record, but is still easily in the lead, With Alan Aldridge once again not playing.
In group C, the favourite Paul Bowden drew level with the leader Blaise Drinkwater, with a draw against Edmund Salem. Blaise dropped a full point to John Marney.

Full results:

A grade
Dive 1 Jackson 0
Sellen 0 Ker 1
Marner 0 Croad 1
Nijman 1 Baider 0

B grade
Hill 1/2 Forster 1/2
Brockway 1/2 Hewson 1/2
Shierlaw 1/2 Kay 1/2

C grade
Salem 1/2 Bowden 1/2
Pattekar 1 Krueger 0 (default)
Drinkwater 0 Marney 1
Foster 0 Proctor 1

Club Championship week 4

2008-08-25T03:55:00.000-07:00

Apologies to anyone who tried unsuccessfully to click on last week's image to enlarge. No, it's not your computer, the Blog people must have changed the program. This time I saved as a GIF image, and it seems to work.

A host of Black victories in group A! This group is still dominated by Russell Dive. He defeated his highest rated rival, Anthony Ker, so is on target to make a clean sweep, and justify his Olympiad selection (as if any justification were required!). Having said that, joint club champion Brian Nijman is also on 100% (with 2/2 compared with Russell's 4/4), so anything could happen. I had another disaster, losing a drawn position in an opposite coloured Bishop ending against Nic Croad. It was after midnight, so I must have turned into some kind of pumpkin.
In group B Martin Hill is leading on 4/4 with Alan Aldridge absent and remaining on 3/3. Does anyone have the result of Nicholls vs Stracy? I am missing that one.
In group C Blaise Drinkwater regained the lead, as his opponent did not show up, and Paul Bowden could only manage a draw against Somesh Pattekar.

Full results:

A grade
Sellen 0 Croad 1
Ker 0 Dive 1
Jackson 0 Marner 1
Nyberg 0 Nijman 1

B grade
Nicholls ? Stracy ?
Hewson 0 Hill 1
Kay 1/2 Brockway 1/2

C grade
Marney 1 Foster 0
Bowden 1/2 Pattekar 1/2
Krueger 0 Drinkwater 1 (default)

Club Championship week 3

2008-08-18T03:20:00.000-07:00

Lots of unplayed games this week, so positions are a bit unclear. In the A grade Russell Dive has twice as many points as anyone else, and it's only week 3! Anthony Ker finally got an opponent, and beat him. Group B is much better, because there have been no postponed games so far. The field is still very polarised, with a big gap between the top and bottom halves. Defending B grade champion Alan Aldridge is on 3/3, as is Martin Hill. Great result for Alistair Nicholls drawing with Bill Forster - both players now half a point behind the leaders, along with Andrew Brockway, who is also having an excellent tournament. Only 1 game played in the C grade - Blaise Drinkwater losing his 100% record to Paul Bowden, (Blaise now on 2/3, Paul on 2/2).

Many thanks to Anthony Ker for organising a Chess Club team at the Bridge Club fundraising quiz on Saturday. We were awarded 1st prize (actually had the prizes on the table!), but then there was an appeal, and another team drew level. We lost the tie-break. Heart-breaking. Still, for those of you who missed out, there may be an impromptu performance of our prize-winning rendition of "Mamma Mia!" some Tuesday, if you don't watch out.

A grade

Dive 1 Sellen 0

Marner 0 Ker 1

Nyberg 0 Baider 1

Van der Hoorn 1/2 Jackson 1/2

B grade

Forster 1/2 Nicholls 1/2

Aldridge 1 Hewson 0

Hill 1 Kay 0

Brockway 1/2 Rabina 1/2

Shierlaw 0 Stracy 1 (default)

C grade

Drinkwater 0 Bowden 1

Cross tables: (click to enlarge)

Club Championship Week 2

2008-08-11T02:27:00.000-07:00

In the A grade defending 2007 champions Russell Dive and Brian Nijman are both on 100% (2/2 and 1/1 respectively). Brian was fortunate that his opponent Ross Jackson self destructed in a reasonably promising position. Daniel Baider seemed to be doing ok in Baider v Dive, but Russell had it all worked out, trapping White's Knight on the 7th rank in a R+N vs R+B ending.
Anthony Ker is the last player in the A grade on zero, but that is because his opponents have not shown up!
In the B grade there is a neat split, with half the field on 2/2, and the other half on 0/2.
New boy Blaise Drinkwater leads the C grade on 2/2, 1 point ahead of the field - congratulations to you Blaise.
Thanks to Andrew Brockway for the opening suggestion on my round 1 disaster (see below). Nice to see I could have lost much quicker! If anyone else has any comments or content they would like to submit, please feel free to do so.

A grade
Baider 0 Dive 1
Sellen 1/2 Marner 1/2
Jackson 0 Nijman 1
Croad 1 Nyberg 0

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

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

Club Championship begins

2008-08-01T04:44:00.000-07:00

Results of round 1 of the 2008 Wellington Club Championship:

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

B grade
Aldridge 1 Rabina 0
Hewson 0 Nicholls 1
Hill 1 Stracy 0
Forster 1 Kay 0

C grade
Brockway 1 Shierlaw 0
Krueger 1 Proctor 0
Bowden 1 Marney 0
Drinkwater 1 Foster 0

Here is my dreadful game against Mark van der Hoorn. If you have a weak heart, or a violent antipathy to bad chess, please stop reading now!

White: Mark van der Hoorn
Black: Ian Sellen
Opening: Sicilian Grand Prix Attack

1. e4 c5
2. Nc3 Nc6
3. f4 g6
4. Nf3 Bg7
5. Bc4
I have previously faced 5. Bb5, the great favourite of another member of the club.
5. ...... e6
6. f5
A thematic pawn sacrifice is looming.

6. ....... gxf5
Mark says that 6. .... Ne7 is correct, but I am already out of my opening book!
7. d3 Ne7
8. 0-0 0-0
9. Qe1 d5
10. exd5 Nxd5
11. Bxd5 exd5
12. Qg3
It is hard to say that White has enough compensation for the pawn.
12. ...... Kh8
13. Bf4 Rg8

14. Ng5??
White wants to get on with his attack quickly, but this is a serious mistake, which underestimates Black's defensive idea, and ends up losing material.
14. ....... Bd4+
15. Kh1 Rg7
Now White is in serious trouble. He decides, rather than retreating the Queen to break the annoying pin on the g file, to sacrifice the Knight.
16. Nb5 f6
17. Nxd4 cxd4
18. h4 fxg5
19. hxg5
Many players would have already resigned in this position, but Mark van der Hoorn is renowned for his fighting qualities in hopeless situations!
19. ..... Kg8
20. Rae1 Bd7
21. Bd2 Qf8
22. b4 a6
23. Qc7

23. ...... Qb8?
There are many ways to win this position for Black, but this is not one of them! I was hoping to exchange Queens, thinking that White would run out of squares to run away to, but I soon realised this would not happen.
24. Qb6 Qd8
25. Qc5 Qf8
26. Qxd5+ Qf7
The loss of a pawn, while not at all necessary, nevertheless has the advantage of opening lines for the somewhat useless white squared Bishop.
27. Qc5 Re8
28. a4 Qh5+
29. Kg1 R7e7
30. b5 Rxe1
30. ........Re2 may have been better, setting up lethal threats on White's 2nd rank.
31. Bxe1 axb5
32. axb5

32. ....... Ne7?
Actually, Black should probably just let White take this Knight on c6 and just play something like 32. Qxg5, as with the Bishop taking back on c6, the threats on g2 and the back rank should be enough to kill White off.
33. Qxd4 Bxb5
34. Bc3 Qg6
35. Re1

35. ....... Bc6??
The losing move. Black is still winning after 35. .... Kf7, when White has run out of tactical ideas. Now Mark wins in efficient style.
36. Re6! Qxg5
And now it's mate in 4
37. Qh8+ Kf7
38. Rf6 Black resigns

Blitz Championship and July ratings

2008-07-26T06:20:00.000-07:00

Anthony Ker won the keenly contested 5 minute tournament on Tuesday. There were 22 entrants, although Russell Dive was not one of them this year.
Here are the July ratings for club members. Since we have 6 players in the top 20, I would suggest Wellington be allowed to keep its "Strongest Club in New Zealand" tag!
In New Zealand as a whole, Murray Chandler easily comes out on top, with a ranking of 2542. Russell Dive is our top rated player, 3rd nationally with a rating of 2382.
I have marked inactive players with an (I). Please let me know if I have made any mistakes.

1. Russell Dive 2382
2. Anthony Ker 2342
3. Scott Wastney 2322
4. Nic Croad 2317
5. Daniel Baider 2195
6. Mark van der Hoorn 2152
7. Brian Nijman 2131
8. Maciej Wojnar 2050 (I)
9. Martin Sims 2017 (I)
10. Michael Nyberg 2001
11. Arthur Pomeroy 1993
12. Jacek Wojnar 1983 (I)
13. Gavin Marner 1982
14. Ian Sellen 1944
15. Ross Jackson 1942
16. Jeffrey Boardman 1934 (I)
17. Edgar Benitez 1907 (I)
18. Ferdie Ang 1876 (I)
19. Martin Hill 1855
20. Russel Gordon 1838 (I)
21. Alan Aldridge 1825
22. Bill Forster 1815
23. David Smith 1796 (I)
24. Ralph Townsend 1782 (I)
25. Don Stracy 1780
26. Mark Wilkins 1768
27. Romeo Rabina 1655
28. Bruce Kay 1644
29. Lawrence Farrington 1614
30. Tudor Chifu 1605 (I)
31. Joshi Mulshankar 1593 (I)
32. Michael Hewson 1587
33. Rick Benitez 1567 (I)
34. Alistair Nicholls 1552
35. Max Wigbout 1552 (I)
36. John Cook 1539
37. Megan du Plessis 1525
38. Neels du Plessis 1519
39. Matthew Gers 1504
40. Stephen Moore 1490
41. Andrew Brockway 1477
42. Alan Khoo 1443 (I)
43. Richard Thorpe 1421 (I)
44. Hamish Shierlaw 1402
45. Edmund Salem 1393
46. Alex Olssen 1354
47. Will French 1306 (I)
48. Sebastian Kruger 1280
49. Hugh Waugh 1126
50. Michael Stevens 1260 (I)
51. John Marney 1245 (I)
52. Richard Pickering 1226 (I)
53. Matthew Proctor 1183
54. Michael Leibowitz 1155 (I)
55. Henry Wylde 1144 (I)
56. David Wu 1134 (I)
57. Blaise Drinkwater 1110
58. Somesh Pattekar 1100

Ker falters, Dive takes Rapid title

2008-07-13T03:18:00.000-07:00

Anthony Ker had a stroke of bad luck in the 9th round against Scott Wastney. He looked set to promote his queen rook pawn in a Queen and Rook ending, but his King was exposed and he accidentally got mated (time trouble came into it). Russell Dive wasn't in the mood for slip-ups, and he defeated Alan Aldridge and Anthony's nemesis Scott to take the title by a full point. Upset of the 10th round would have been my draw with Nic Croad. As White in a standard Dragon with opposite castled Kings, my King came under a ferocious and hair-raising Croadian attack, which involved a temporary Queen sacrifice on his part. Somehow he failed to find the killer blow, and the game petered out to a R + 2 pawns vs B+ 4 pawns ending where nobody could make progress.
So Nic tied for 2nd with Anthony, with Scott and Gavin Marner a further point behind - good result for Gavin who only lost to Nic and Russell, scoring a draw against Anthony in round 4, and beating joint club champion Brian Nijman in round 8.

Full results.

Round 9
Ker 0 Wastney 1
Aldridge 0 Dive 1
Croad 1 Marner 0
Sellen 1 Farrington 0
Seabrook 0 Nijman 1
Forster 1 Jackson 0
Drinkwater 0 Du Plessis N 1
Brockway 1 Kay 1
Nyberg 1 Bowden 0
Shierlaw 0 Du Plessis M 1
Proctor 1 Krueger 0
Hewson 0 Rabina 1 (default)
Meyer and Pattekar 0 point byes

Round 10
Dive 1 Wastney 0
Aldridge 0 Ker 1
Sellen 1/2 Croad 1/2
Marner 1 Farrington 0
Nijman 0 Nyberg 1
Seabrook 0 Forster 1
Jackson 1 Proctor 0
Rabina 0 Bowden 1
Du Plessis N 1 Shierlaw 0
Du Plessis M 1 Hewson 0
Krueger 0 Brockway 1 (default)
Kay 1 Drinkwater 0
Meyer and Pattekar 0 point byes

FINAL STANDINGS

1. Russell Dive (9)
2=Anthony Ker, Nic Croad (8)
4=Gavin Marner, Scott Wastney (7)
6=Alan Aldridge, Bill Forster, Michael Nyberg, Ian Sellen (6)
10=Megan Du Plessis, Neels Du Plessis, Lawrence Farrington (5.5)
13=Ross Jackson, Bruce Kay, Marany Meyer, Brian Nijman (5)
17=Paul Bowden, Andrew Brockway (4.5)
19=Matthew Proctor, Romeo Rabina, Roy Seabrook (4)
22. Michael Hewson (3)
23=Blaise Drinkwater, Hamish Shierlaw (2)
25=Sebastian Krueger, Somesh Pattekar (1)

Dive and Ker lead Rapid, 2 rounds to go

2008-07-07T02:15:00.000-07:00

Russell Dive and Anthony Ker will each be hoping that the other makes a slip in the final rounds on Tuesday. They have both played Nic Croad, chief contender and half a point behind, but neither has played Scott Wastney yet, probably the only other player with a decent chance of scoring against them. Russell crushed me effortlessly last week, though I managed a bit more of a fight against Anthony (still lost). Getting Black against both Anthony and Russell (and with a stinking cold!) in one week is probably as bad as it gets.

Round 7
Dive 1 Sellen 0
Nijman 0 Ker 1
Kay 0 Croad 1
Marner 1 Forster 0
Nyburg 1/2 Jackson 1/2
Bowden 1/2 Shierlaw 1/2
Farrington 1 Brockway 0
Rabina 1 Proctor 0
Drinkwater 0 Hewson 1
Wastney 1 Seabrook 0
Krueger 0 Aldridge 1
Byes: Du Plessis M, Du Plessis N, Meyer, Pattekar

Round 8
Forster 0 Dive 1
Ker 1 Sellen 0
Croad 1 Rabina 0
Nijman 0 Marner 1
Wastney 1 Jackson 0
Aldridge 1 Seabrook 0
Farrington 1 Proctor 0
Nyburg 1 Kay 0
Bowden 1 Krueger 0
Drinkwater 0 Brockway 1
Shierlaw 0 Hewson 1
Byes: Du Plessis M, Du Plessis N, Meyer, Pattekar

Standings after 8 rounds:

7 points
Russell Dive, Anthony Ker

6.5 points
Nic Croad

6 points
Alan Aldridge, Gavin Marner, Scott Wastney

5.5 points
Lawrence Farrington

5 points
Marany Meyer

4.5 points
Ian Sellen

4 points
Bill Forster, Ross Jackson, Brian Nijman, Michael Nyburg, Roy Seabrook

3.5 points
Paul Bowden, Andrew Brockway, Megan Du Plessis, Neels Du Plessis

3 points
Michael Hewson, Bruce Kay, Matthew Proctor, Romeo Rabina

2 points
Blaise Drinkwater, Hamish Shierlaw

1 point
Sebastian Krueger, Somesh Pattekar

Club Rapid 5 & 6 - Ker and Dive lead

2008-06-28T04:12:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-23T02:54:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-14T05:19:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-09T03:10:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-02T02:45:00.000-07:00

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:

Autumn Cup Week 4 - Dive takes lead

2008-05-22T04:51:00.000-07:00

Russell Dive beat Anthony Ker to take sole lead in A group on Tuesday. An interesting looking middlegame led to an ending where Russell had a powerful passed queen side pawn. Nic was a pawn up against Daniel, but couldn't convert to a win. Mark sneaked a draw against Gavin by losing all his pieces and getting a stalemate.

The B and C group leaders (Michael Nyberg and Don Stracy) resumed their winning ways, but Don has to share his lead with newcomer Romeo Rabina, who is on fine form. I need to beat Michael next week to at least share first place in the B group.

In group D Michael Hewson is guaranteed first place by virtue of having won all his games. Alistair Nicholls can equal him if he wins the last game next week. Alistair slipped in the first round against Hamish Shierlaw, but has won all his games since.

Full results:

Group A

Dive 1 Ker 0

Marner 1/2 Van der Hoorn 1/2

Baider 1/2 Croad 1/2

Group B

Nyberg 1 Jackson 0

Aldridge 1/2 Sellen 1/2

Pomeroy 1 Forster 0

Group C

Farrington 0 Rabina 1

Stracy 1 Brockway 0

Group D

Shierlaw 0 Hewson 1

Nicholls 1 Salem 0

Krueger 1 Proctor 0

Drinkwater 0 Pattekar 1

Tables: (click to enlarge)

Autumn Cup round 3

2008-05-16T04:38:00.000-07:00

In the A group Ker vs Croad was postponed, which means that everyone has played the same number of games (two). Mark Van der Hoorn was slightly shocked to find himself losing on time to Russell Dive, even though earlier on he had 25 minutes left to Russell's one! Daniel Baider won eventually against Gavin Marner after a fine tactic left him 2 pawns up and a won position.

In both the B and C groups the bottom placed player beat the top placed player. And there have still been no draws in either the A group or the C group - Wijk aan Zee eat your heart out!

Group D is being run as a Swiss tournament. For a while it looked like Blaise Drinkwater would take the lead without having played a single game, but Michael Hewson turned up eventually, and promptly kept his 100% record.

Full results:

Van der Hoorn 0 Dive 1

Marner 0 Baider 1

Pomeroy 0 Aldridge 1

Forster 1 Nyberg 0

Jackson 1/2 Sellen 1/2

Brockway 0 Farrington 1

Rabina 1 Capper 0

Kay 1 Stracy 0

Hewson 1 Drinkwater 0

Shierlaw 1 Bowden 0

Salem 1 Krueger 0

Proctor 0 Nicholls 1

Tables: (click to enlarge)

Group D standings:

3 points

Michael Hewson

2.5 points

Hamish Shierlaw

2 points

Alistair Nicholls, Edmund Salem

1.5 points

Blaise Drinkwater, Somesh Pattekar

1 point

Sebastian Krueger

0.5 points

Paul Bowden, Matthew Proctor

Autumn Cup Round 2

2008-05-11T05:01:00.000-07:00

Already there have been quite a few postponements which makes the overall positions quite unclear. In each of the 4 groups there is only one person left with 2/2. In the A grade it is Anthony Ker who has a 1 point lead in the group after defeating Daniel Baider in an interesting looking encounter in round 2. Michael Nyberg leads in the B grade, after a fantastically wild encounter with Arthur Pomeroy (marred only by a slightly premature declaration of checkmate on Michael's part). I hope this encounter makes it to the pages of Alan Aldridge's new chess magazine. In the C grade Don Stracy continued his run of good results with a defeat of new player Romeo Rabina. And in the open Swiss group Michael Hewson defeated Somesh Pattekar to keep his 100% total.

Full results of round 2:

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

Leaders: Ker 2/2, Dive 1/1, Croad 1/2

B grade
Nyberg 1 Pomeroy 0
Sellen 1 Forster 0
Postponed: Aldridge vs Jackson

Leaders: Nyberg 2/2, Sellen 1.5/2, Jackson 1/1

C grade
Kay 0 Brockway 1
Stracy 1 Rabina 0
Capper 1 Farrington 0

Leaders: Stracy 2/2, Brockway 1/1 Capper 1/1, Rabina 1/2

D grade
Pattekar 0 Hewson 1
Krueger 1/2 Shierlaw 1/2
Nicholls 1 Bowden 0
Salem 1 Proctor 0
Bye: Drinkwater

Leaders: Hewson 2/2, Shierlaw 1.5/2

Autumn Cup begins

2008-05-04T05:02:00.000-07:00

Back to the normal chess, after all that Fischer Random excitement.
The Autumn Cup consists of 4 graded all play all groups of about 6 players each. Some players were missing for the first week.

Results from round 1.

Group A:
Van der Hoorn 0 Ker 1
Dive 1 Croad 0

Group B:
Nyberg 1 Aldridge 0
Pomeroy 1/2 Sellen 1/2
Forster 0 Jackson 1

Group C:
Rabina 1 Kay 0
Farrington 0 Stracy 1

Group D:
Hewson 1 Salem 0
Shierlaw 1 Nicholls 0
Bowden 1/2 Brockway 1/2
Bye: Pattekar

Congratulations to Alan Aldridge who has been awarded the job of producing the New Zealand Chess Magazine. Please support him in every way possible, in particular by providing content and helpful suggestions.

Croad slips, Ker takes Fischer Random title

2008-04-28T05:42:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Anthony Ker who finished with wins against Nic Croad and Brian Nijman to take the inaugural Fischer Random title. Here are the positions:

Round 5

It was really difficult to castle in this position, and less than half of players managed it. Only one person managed to castle on the King side - Martin Hill. In his game against Matthew Proctor he cleared his back rank, and with a great flourish (and a great big smile) swept the king and the c1 Rook over to the other side of the board. Not only this, Martin and I played a couple of blitz games afterwards using the same position, and he castled on the King side in both games!

Round 6 position:

For the record, here are the results of rounds 5 and 6:

Round 5

Ker 1 Croad 0

Wastney 1/2 Dive 1/2

Farrington 0 Nyberg 1

Jackson 1 Van der Hoorn 1

Nijman 1 Aldridge 0

Brockway 0 Forster 1

Drinkwater 0 Sellen 1

Hill 1 Proctor 0

Round 6

Nijman 0 Ker 1

Nyberg 0 Croad 1

Jackson 0 Wastney 1

Dive 1 Hill 0

Sellen 0 Van der Hoorn 1

Forster 1 Proctor 0

Aldridge 1 Brockway 0

Drinkwater 0 Farrington 1

Final placings:

5.5 points

Anthony Ker

5 points

Nic Croad

4.5 points

Rusell Dive, Scott Wastney, Michael Nyberg

4 points

Brian Nijman

3 points

Alan Aldridge, William Forster, Martin Hill, Ross Jackson, Mark Van der Hoorn

2 points

Andrew Brockway, Lawrence Farrington, Matthew Proctor, Ian Sellen

1 point

Blaise Drinkwater, Edmund Salem, Roy Seabrook

0 points

Paul Bowden, Romeo Rabina

Back to normal this week for the Autumn Cup. See you there.

Nic Croad leads Fischer Random event

2008-04-18T04:28:00.001-07:00

Nic Croad is setting the pace in the Fischer Random event under way at the Wellington Chess Club. He is the only player left on 100%, and is well placed to take his third consecutive title.

Round 3 position:

Round 4 position:

I am not qualified to do this, since I am coming last, but I will just make some remarks about Fischer Random as experienced by the club:
1. Some opening positions accentuate the white advantage, notably when an opening white pawn move opens a diagonal which threatens an undefended black pawn.
2. Bishops are powerful pieces in the opening, especially if they are positioned on long diagonals.
3. Games tend to be rather tactical. We have seen some very wild positions, and there has only been one draw in the first four rounds. Michael Nyberg for example, noted for his tactical virtuosity, can be expected to do rather well in this environment!
4. It is quite normal for a queen to go rampaging round the board at an early stage.
5. It is easy to get a piece hopelessly trapped. In my round 4 game against Alan Aldridge, Alan played an early c3, which kept his bishop on a1 trapped for the duration of the game (this did not, however, prevent him giving me a damn good thrashing).

In at least 2 games in round 4, Black was a rook down by move 3!

Full results:

Round 3
Hill 0 Croad 1
Wastney 1 Van der Hoorn 0
Ker 1 Aldridge 0
Forster 0 Nyberg 1
Jackson 0 Dive 1
Nijman 1 Farrington 0
Sellen 1 Salem 0
Brockway 1 Drinkwater 0

Round 4
Croad 1 Wastney 0
Van der Hoorn 0 Ker 1
Nyberg 1 Hill 0
Proctor 0 Nijman 1
Dive 1 Forster 0
Aldridge 1 Sellen 0
Farrington 0 Jackson 1
Salem 0 Brockway 1

Standings after round 4:

4 points
Nic Croad

3.5 points
Anthony Ker, Michael Nyberg

3 points
Russell Dice, Brian Nijman, Scott Wastney

2 points
Alan Aldridge, Andrew Brockway, Martin Hill, Ross Jackson, Roy Seabrook, Mark Van der Hoorn

1.5 points
Matthew Proctor

1 point
Paul Bowden, Drinkwater, Lawrence Farrington, William Forster, Romeo Rabina, Edmund Salem, Ian Sellen

Fischer Random fever hits Wellington!

2008-04-11T05:39:00.000-07:00

Well maybe not the whole of Wellington, but for the 20 devotees of chess innovation who turned up on Tuesday an enjoyable, if head-scratching time was to be had. It was great to see all the best active Wellington players participating, Russell Dive, Anthony Ker, Scott Wastney Nic Croad and Mark Van der Hoorn. Nic wrote the computer program to generate the random positions which we would be using for the games. For the record, here were the positions we got for the first 2 rounds which were played on Tuesday (there will be 6 rounds altogether, 2 per night).

The sensation of the first round was Russell Dive losing to his joint club champion, Brian Nijman. I did not get to see the game, as I was busy messing up my own game, but you can see it on Brian's blog http://capitalchess.blogspot.com/

I was a rook ahead against Anthony Ker (2 rooks and a pawn vs 1 rook and a pawn!). In a finish that will haunt me for many years to come, I somehow managed to lose the position and the game. Actually my 2nd round game against Matthew Proctor was probably equally painful, where I was again a rook up but walked into a mating net - but not quite as many spectators witnessed that one!

Full results:

Round 1

Ker 1 Sellen 0

Jackson 0 Salem 1

Hill 1 Bowden 0

Brockway 0 Van der Hoorn 1

Nijman 1 Dive 0

Proctor 0 Nyberg 1

Wastney 1 Farrington 0

Seabrook 0 Croad 1

Rabina 0 Aldridge 1

Forster 1 Drinkwater 0

Round 2

Nyberg 1/2 Ker 1/2

Croad 1 Forster 0

Aldridge 0 Wastney 1

Van der Hoorn 1 Nijman 0

Salem 0 Hill 1

Bowden 0 Jackson 1

Sellen 0 Proctor 1

Drinkwater 0 Seabrook 1

Farrington 1 Rabina 0

Dive 1 Brockway 0

Positions after 2 rounds:

2 points

Nic Croad, Martin Hill, Mark Van der Hoorn, Scott Wastney

1.5 points

Anthony Ker, Michael Nyberg

1 point

Alan Aldridge, Russell Dive, Lawrence Farrington, Bill Forster, Ross Jackson, Brian Nijman, Matthew Proctor, Edmund Salem, Roy Seabrook

0 points

Paul Bowden, Andrew Brockway, Drinkwater, Romeo Rabina, Ian Sellen

Nic Croad wins Summer Cup

2008-04-03T03:33:00.000-07:00

Nic Croad drew with Daniel Baider to win the Summer Cup by the margin of a full point. Daniel could have caught him with a win, but will be happy to have further improved his rating. Russell Dive and Anthony Ker both won their games to join Daniel on equal second, with Mark van der Hoorn half a point behind. Congratulations to Nic who has now won 2 tournaments in a row!

Full results:

Baider 1/2 Croad 1/2
Ker 1 Nijman 0
Dive 1 Hill 0
Van der Hoorn 1 Forster 0
Sellen 0 Nyberg 1
Jackson 1 Farrington 0
Stracy 1 Capper 0
Rabina 1/2 Bowden 1/2
Aldridge 1 Brockway 0
Proctor 0 Seabrook 1
Pattekar 0 Nicholls 1
Shierlaw 1 Olssen 0

Final standings:

7 points
Nic Croad

6 points
Daniel Baider, Russell Dive, Anthony Ker

5.5 points
Mark Van der Hoorn

5 points
Martin Hill, Ross Jackson, Brian Nijman, Michael Nyberg, Don Stracy

4.5 points
William Forster, Gavin Marner, Ian Sellen

4 points
Alan Aldridge, Megan Du Plessis, Lawrence Farrington, Michael HewsonMulshankar Joshi, Arthur Pomeroy, Romeo Rabina, Roy Seabrook

3.5 points
Paul Bowden, David Capper, Mark Wilkins

3 points
Andrew Brockway, Alistair Nicholls, Edmund Salem

2 points
Neels Du Plessis, Alex Olssen, Somesh Pattekar, Hamish Shierlaw

1.5 points
Hugh Waugh

1 point
Matthew Proctor

FISCHER RANDOM EVENT
Next Tuesday we start a tournament which will be a first for the club: a six round Fischer random event, where the back rank pieces are shuffled around. It will get those good players out of their opening books, so maybe we all stand a chance of winning!
It should be exciting and fun, so I hope as many of you as possible will be able to take part.

Summer Cup - Daniel Baider does it again!

2008-03-26T02:33:00.000-07:00

My grand scheme of "doing a Baider" failed at the first hurdle, and I got wiped off the board in 17 moves by Nic Croad. Meanwhile Daniel was out-Baidering himself at the other end of the table - he defeated his Wellington Open nemesis Anthony Ker after a tricky queen knight and pawns ending where Daniel was a pawn up. In the last 5 days he has wrought chaos among the cream of Wellington's chess talent. At this rate we will soon be forced to start up a grandmaster fund for him!

Round 7 results (1 round to go)

Croad 1 Sellen 0
Baider 1 Ker 0
Nijman 1 Jackson 0
Hill 1 Stracy 0
Du Plessis M 0 Dive 1
Rabina 0 Van der Hoorn 1
Bowden 0 Marner 1
Nyberg 1 Hewson 0
Salem 0 Farrington 1
Capper 1 Du Plessis N 0
Nicholls 0 Wilkins 1
Olssen 0 Aldridge 1
Brockway 1 Shierlaw 0
Proctor 0 Pattekar 1

Standings:

6.5 points
Nic Croad

5.5 points
Daniel Baider

5 points
Russell Dive, Martin Hill, Anthony Ker, Brian Nijman

4.5 points
William Forster, Ian Sellen, Mark Van der Hoorn

4 points
Lawrence Farrington, Ross Jackson, Gavin Marner, Michael Nyberg, Arthur Pomeroy, Don Stracy

3.5 points
David Capper, Megan Du Plessis, Mulshankar Joshi, Romeo Rabina

3 points
Alan Aldridge, Paul Bowden, Andrew Brockway, Michael Hewson, Roy Seabrook, Mark Wilkins

2.5 points
Edmund Salem

2 points
Alistair Nicholls, Alex Olssen, Somesh Pattekar

1.5 points
Neels Du Plessis, Hugh Waugh

1 point
Matthew Proctor, Hamish Shierlaw

Wellington Open - Final Results and Standings

2008-03-23T03:37:00.000-07:00

Anthony Ker and Scott Wastney shared top spot on 5/6 at the end of the Easter Wellington Open which finished today. Anthony has a slightly higher sum of opponents' scores, if there is a tie-break. B grade title shared by John Duneas, Alan Aldridge, William Forster, Ross Jackson and Fuatai Fuatai. C grade title taken outright by Du Plessis père, who got the same score as the top B graders, 3 1/2.
Junior title was taken (again) by Daniel Baider, who to me was the real star of this tournament.
Overall the tournament was well organised, and played with such generosity of spirit and good humour that it made me proud to be a chessplayer! (even though I wasn't playing.) Congratulations to all who took part in a great contest. I hope to get some photos of the event to publish in the next few days.

Round 4
Baider 1/2 Wastney 1/2
Fuatai 0 Ker 1
Davis 0 Dive 1
Croad 1 Van der Hoorn 0
Han 0 Duneas 1
Marner 1/2 Aldridge 1/2
Jackson 1 Stracy 0
Forster 1 Ward 0
Wilkins 1 Wu 0
Judkins 1 Capper 0
Du Plessis N 1 Khoo 0
Gers 1 Brockway 0
Hewson 0 Smith 1
Kruger 0 Du Plessis M 1
Bye: Shierlaw

Round 5
Ker 1 Baider 0
Wastney 1 Jackson 0
Dive 1/2 Croad 1/2
Van der Hoorn 1 Forster 0
Smith 0 Han 1
Duneas 1/2 Marner 1/2
Aldridge 1 Fuatai 0
Judkins 0 Davis 1
Stracy 0 Wilkins1
Wu 0 Ward 1
Capper 1 Hewson 0
Du Plessis M 1/2 Du Plessis N 1/2
Shierlaw 1 Kruger 0
Khoo 1 Gers 0
Bye: Brockway

Round 6
Wastney 1/2 Ker 1/2
Croad 1 Aldridge 0
Dive 1 Duneas 0
Baider 1/2 Van der Hoorn 1/2
Han 1 Davis 0
Jackson 1/2 Marner 1/2
Wilkins 0 Fuatai 1
Forster 1 Du Plessis M 0
Hewson 0 Stracy 1
Ward 1 Shierlaw 0
Khoo 0 Capper 1
Du Plessis N 1 Smith 0
Gers 1 Kruger 0
Brockway 0 Judkins 1
Bye: Wu

Final Standings:

5 Points
Anthony Ker, Scott Wastney

4.5 points
Nic Croad, Russell Dive

4 points
Daniel Baider, Daniel Han, Mark Van der Hoorn

3.5 points
Alan Aldridge, John Duneas, Neels Du Plessis, William Forster, Fuatai Fuatai, Ross Jackson, Gavin Marner

3 points
David Capper, Justin Davis, Gary Judkins, Simon Ward, Mark Wilkins

2.5 points
Megan Du Plessis, Jeremy Smith, Don Stracy

2 points
Matthew Gers, Alan Khoo, Hamish Shierlaw, David Wu

1.5 points
Andrew Brockway, Michael Hewson

1 point
Sebastian Kruger

Wellington Open rounds 2 and 3

2008-03-22T04:12:00.000-07:00

No doubting who is player of the tournament so far - 14 year old Daniel Baider, finally fulfilling some of the promise he has shown over the last few years. How many of us can say we have have beaten Russell Dive, followed it up with a win against Nic Croad, then taken a breather with a draw against Scott Wastney? Not many, I suspect.

Round 2:

Dive 0 Baider 1
Ker 1 Marner 0
Davis 0 Wastney 1
Croad 1 Duneas 0
Van der Hoorn 1 Aldridge 0
Han 1 Kruger 0
Wu 0 Fuatai 1
Jackson 1 Smith 0
Forster 1 Hewson 0
Wilkins 1 Gers 0
Brockway 1/2 Stracy 1/2
Ward 1 Du Plessis M 0
Capper 1 Shierlaw 0
Du Plessis N 1 Judkins 0
Bye: Khoo

Round 3:

Van der Hoorn 1/2 Ker 1/2
Han 0 Wastney 1
Baider 1 Croad 0
Fuatai 1 Forster 0
Ward 0 Dive 1
Marner 1 Wilkins 0
Khoo 0 Davis 1
Duneas 1 Capper 0
Kruger 0 Jackson 1
Aldridge 1 Wu 0
Stracy 1 Du Plessis N 0
Hewson 1 Gers 0
Smith 1 Brockway 0
Du Plessis M 1 Shierlaw 0
Bye: Judkins

Standings after 3 rounds:

3 points
Daniel Baider, Scott Wastney

2.5 points
Fuatai Fuatai, Anthony Ker, Mark Van der Hoorn

2 points
Alan Aldridge, Nic Croad, Justin Davis, Russell Dive, John Duneas, Daniel Han, Ross Jackson, Gavin Marner

1.5 points
William Forster, Michael Hewson, Jeremy Smith, Don Stracy

1 point
David Capper, Megan Du Plessis, Neels Du Plessis, Gary Judkins, Alan Khoo, Sebastian Kruger, Simon Ward, Mark Wilkins, David Wu

0.5 points
Andrew Brockway

0 points
Matthew Gers, Hamish Shierlaw

Wellington Open round 1 results

2008-03-21T02:50:00.000-07:00

The Wellington Open takes place 21st March to 23rd March 2008, 2 rounds a day.

Results from round 1:

Russell Dive 1 Mark Wilkins 0
Don Stracy 0 Anthony Ker 1
Scott Wastney 1 Simon Ward 0
David Capper 0 Nic Croad 1
Mark Van der Hoorn 1 Neel Du Plessis 0
Matthew Gers 0 Daniel Han 1
Daniel Baider 1 Andrew Brockway 0
Megan Du Plessis 0 Gavin Marner 1
Fuatai Fuatai 1/2 Michael Hewson 1/2
Hamish Shierlaw 0 Justin Davis 1
John Duneas 1 Gary Judkins 0
David Wu 1 Ross Jackson 0
Alan Aldridge 1 Alan Khoo 0
Jeremy Smith 1/2 William Forster 1/2

Byes: Sebastian Kruger, Asheesh Gautam, Matthew King, James Stewart.

Summer Cup round 6 and a game

2008-03-19T02:54:00.000-07:00

Nic kept his half point lead by grinding down Ross Jackson in round 6 (2 rounds to go). The entertainment was provided for us late night stragglers by Russell Dive and Anthony Ker who played out an exciting ending where Anthony had a bishop and pawns against a knight and an extra pawn (but doubled and isolated). Both players were in time trouble when the minor pieces came off and Anthony got a pawn through while Russell's got headed off by the opposing king. Result: win for Anthony.
And who is this coming up in the outside lane, joint third with Daniel Baider? It is I! Now all I have to do is beat Nic and Russell and I'll be laughing...

Full results:

Jackson 0 Croad 1
Dive 0 Ker 1
Marner 0 Baider 1
Sellen 1 Rabina 0
Nijman 1/2 Pomeroy 1/2
Forster 1 Bowden 0
Seabrook 0 Hill 1
Stracy 1 Joshi 0
Du Plessis M 1 Aldridge 0
Van der Hoorn 1 Salem 0
Farrington 1 Nicholls 0
Wilkins 0 Nyburg 1
Du Plessis N 0 Brockway 1
Pattekar 0 Olssen 1
Shierlaw 1 Proctor 0
Byes: Hewson, Meyer, Capper, Waugh

Standings:

5.5 points
Nic Croad

5 points
Anthony Ker

4.5 points
Daniel Baider, Ian Sellen

4 points
Russell Dive, Bill Forster, Martin Hill, Ross Jackson, Brian Nijman, Arthur Pomeroy, Don Stracy

3.5 points
Megan Du Plessis, Romeo Rabina, Mark Van der Hoorn

3 points
Paul Bowden, Lawrence Farrington, Michael Hewson, Mulshankar Joshi, Gavin Marner, Marany Meyer, Michael Nyburg

2.5 points
David Capper, Edmund Salem, Roy Seabrook

2 points
Alan Aldridge, Andrew Brockway, Alistair Nicholls, Alex Olssen, Mark Wilkins

1.5 points
Neels Du Plessis, Hugh Waugh

1 point
Somesh Pattekar, Matthew Proctor, Hamish Shierlaw

Here is my game from yesterday, Sellen v Rabina
I won't show you the opening because it wasn't very well played by either of us. Basically I played the cowardly 2 Nc3 against an Alekhine ("unaccountably favoured by club players" according to one book I read) and followed up with an early f4.

Position after 14.....h5

Black has left f7 and g6 weak, so the next move came rather naturally.

15. Rxf7 Kxf7
16. Rf1+ Kg8
Any other king move leads to checkmate.
17. Qxg6 Qe7
18. Bxh5
So not a real sacrifice then - white gets a knight and 2 pawns for the rook. More important is the poor position of black's pieces, especially after he loses his white squared bishop.
18...... Rh6

Up to here everything was more or less forced. This move encourages the queens to come off, but it does not really help black's position.

19. Qf7+ Qxf7
20. Bxf7+ Kh8
21. Ne6 Bxe6
22. dxe6

This was to create an annoying bind in black's position, and also to vacate a possible outpost for the knight.

22. .......c6
23. g3 Rf6
24. Ne2 Rxf1
25. Kxf1 g5
26. Nd4 Kg7
27. Ke2 c5?

Clearly a mistake, allowing the knight to dominate proceedings from an unassailable outpost on d5.
28. Nf5+ Kf6
29. Kf3 Be7
30. Ne3 Kg7

Now the black king has to retrace his steps back to the back rank

31. Nd5 Kf8
32. Kg4 Bd8
33. h4 gxh4
34. gxh4 Kg7
35. h5
35. Bh5 threatening e7 would have been a quicker win.

35..... Ba5?

The bishop fatally takes his eye off the e7 square

36. Bg6 Bd8
37. e7 Bxe7
38. Nxe7 Kf6
39. Nd5+ Kg7
40. Kg5 Kf8
41. Nf4

Black lost on time

Summer Cup round 5

2008-03-12T15:56:00.000-07:00

The clash of the leaders ended in a draw. Nic Croad's king side pressure led to the gain of a pawn, but it seems that Russell Dive had enough counterplay to secure the half point. Now that Nic has played both IMs he must be clear favourite to take the title, with 3 rounds to go. Ross Jackson and Anthony Ker join Russell in the chasing group after winning against Michael Hewson and Gavin Marner respectively.

Full results:

Croad 1/2 Dive 1/2
Ker 1 Marner 0
Hewson 0 Jackson 1
Baider 1 Van der Hoorn 0
Salem 0 Sellen 1
Rabina 1 Du Plessis M 0
Nyburg 0 Nijman 1
Hill 1 Wilkins 0
Farrington 0 Forster 1
Aldridge 0 Stracy 1
Seabrook 1 Pattekar 0
Proctor 0 Capper 1
Nicholls 1 Brockway 0
Joshi 1 Shierlaw 0
Bowden 1 Du Plessis N 0
Byes: Pomeroy, Meyer, Olssen, Waugh

Standings:

4.5 points
Nic Croad

4 points
Russell Dive, Ross Jackson, Anthony Ker

3.5 points
Daniel Baider, Brian Nijman, Arthur Pomeroy, Romeo Rabina, Ian Sellen

3 points
Paul Bowden, William Forster, Martin Hill, Mulshankar Joshi, Gavin Marner, Don Stracy

2.5 points
Megan Du Plessis, Michael Hewson, Marany Meyer, Edmund Salem, Roy Seabrook, Mark Van der Hoorn

2 points
Alan Aldridge, David Capper, Lawrence Farrington, Alistair Nicholls, Michael Nyburg, Mark Wilkins

1.5 points
Neels Du Plessis

1 point
Andrew Brockway, Alex Olssen, Somesh Pattekar, Matthew Proctor, Hugh Waugh

0 points
Hamish Shierlaw

Please take time to check out Helen Milligan's new(ish) website, http://www.newzealandchess.co.nz/ , unquestionably the most informative, attractive and up-to-date chess website in New Zealand.

Summer Cup round 4

2008-02-26T15:56:00.000-08:00

Nic Croad is now the sole leader, having beaten Anthony Ker yesterday and maintained his 100% record. In fact, he got 100% in the the last tournament too, the Julian Mazur, so that makes at least 11 victories in a row. Looking back at my previous blogs, the last time he lost was against Brian Nijman in the Club Championships.
Next round he will probably face a tough challenge in Russell Dive, who is also in a winning mood.

Results:
Croad 1 Ker 0
Dive 1 Hewson 0
Pomeroy 1 Nyburg 0
Marner 1 Forster 0
Sellen 1/2 Baider 1/2
Jackson 1 Bowden 0
Stracy 1/2 Du Plessis M 1/2
Aldridge 1 Nicholls 0
Wilkins 1 Proctor 0
Brockway 0 Hill 1
Salem 1 Seabrook 0
Du Plessis N 0 Nijman 1
Shierlaw 0 Rabina 1
Pattekar 0 Farrington 1
Joshi 1 Olssen 0 (default)
Capper 1 Waugh 0

Standings:

4 points
Nic Croad

3.5 points
Russell Dive

3 points
Ross Jackson, Anthony Ker, Gavin Marner, Arthur Pomeroy

2.5 points
Daniel Baider, Megan Du Plessis, Michael Hewson, Brian Nijman, Romeo Rabina, Edmund Salem, Ian Sellen, Mark Van der Hoorn

2 points
Alan Aldridge, Paul Bowden, Lawrence Farrington, Bill Forster, Martin Hill, Mulshankar Joshi, Marany Meyer, Michael Nyburg, Don Stracy, Mark Wilkins

1.5 points
Neels Du Plessis, Roy Seabrook

1 point
Andrew Brockway, David Capper, Alistair Nicholls, Somesh Pattekar, Matthew Proctor

0.5 point
Alex Olssen, Hugh Waugh

0 points
Hamish Shierlaw

Wellington versus Wanganui/Palmerston North

2008-02-25T13:47:00.000-08:00

A very convincing victory for the Wellington visitors in Palmerston North on Saturday against Palmerston North and Wanganui combined. - 16.5 versus 1.5. Congratulations to all players!

Scott Wastney - Charles Ker 2-0
Anthony Ker - John McDonald 2-0
Nic Croad - Justin Davis 2-0
Alan Aldridge - Cedric Backhouse 1.5-0.5
Ross Jackson - Martin Post 2-0
Roy Seabrook - Stewart Holdaway 1-1
Ralph Townsend - Brian Williams 2-0
Lawrence Farrington - Tehgyu Kim 2-0
Andrew Brockway - John Young 2-0

For a sample game please visit Nic Croad's excellent blog http://www.southernchess.blogspot.com/

Summer Cup Round 3

2008-02-19T15:43:00.000-08:00

Maybe I put a curse on the official site - it went down as soon as I linked to it. Anyway, I will carry on adding results to this blog, as I can get them out faster than them.
A few interesting results in round 3 - most notable was Megan's draw against Gavin Marner after a difficult knight versus bishop ending. Megan is rated 585 points below Gavin in the latest rating list! Our B grade champion Alan Aldridge (rating:1801) lost spectacularly to Paul Bowden (listed as an Upper Hutt player, rating 1432), and our joint A grade champion Brian Nijman was held to a draw by Don Stracy. Recent arrival Marany Meyer put up some resistance to Russell Dive, but lost in the end. And Michael Hewson is currently joint 3rd, along with Russell Dive, Just behind Anthony Ker and Nic Croad.

Full Results:

Ker 1 Sellen 0
Van der Hoorn 0 Croad 1
Du Plessis M 1/2 Marner 1/2
Dive 1 Meyer 0
Hewson 1 Rabina 0
Proctor 0 Jackson 1
Nyburg 1 Farrington 0
Baider 1 Wilkins 0
Forster 1 Joshi 0
Bowden 1 Aldridge 0
Nijman 1/2 Stracy 1/2
Hill 0 Pomeroy 1
Shierlaw 0 Seabrook 1
Olssen 0 Du Plessis N 1
Waugh 0 Salem 1
Nicholls 1 Capper 0

Standings:

3 points
Nic Croad, Anthony Ker

2 1/2 points
Russsell Dive, Michael Hewson

2 points
Daniel Baider, Paul Bowden, Megan Du Plessis, William Forster, Ross Jackson, Gavin Marner, Michael Nyburg, Arthur Pomeroy, Ian Sellen, Mark Van der Hoorn

1 1/2 points
Neels Du Plessis, Marany Meyer, Brian Nijman, Romeo Rabina, Edmund Salem, Roy Seabrook, Don Stracy

1 point
Alan Aldridge, Andrew Brockway, Lawrence Farrington, Martin Hill, Mulshankar Joshi, Alistair Nicholls, Somesh Pattekar, Matthew Proctor, Mark Wilkins

1/2 point
Alex Olssen, Hugh Waugh

0 points
David Capper, Hamish Shierlaw

Good luck to the Wellington team for Saturday, when they play the combined might of Wanganui and Palmerston North. I hope to get the results to publish here.

Summer Cup round 2

2008-02-14T20:55:00.000-08:00

The official Wellington Chess Club website is now back up and running. The address is http://chess.wellington.net.nz/. Since tournament information will be available there, I will stop adding to this blog, unless anyone out there wants me to carry on for any reason.

I will just provide round 2 results before I sign off, since, uncharacteristically, I am up there with the leaders!

Aldridge, Alan 0 Ker, Anthony 1
Croad, Nic 1 Nyburg, Michael 0
Joshi, Mulshankar 0 Van der Hoorn, Mark 1
Sellen, Ian 1 Forster, William 0
Wilkins, Mark 1/2 Bowden, Paul 1/2
Pomeroy, Arthur 1/2 Baider, Daniel 1/2
Du Plessis, Megan 1 Salem, Edmund 0
Nichols, Alistair 0 Hill, Martin 1
Seabrook, Roy 1/2 Brockway, Andrew 1/2
Capper, David 0 Hewson, Michael 1
Rabina, Romeo 1 Pattekar, Somesh 0
Du Plessis, Neels 0 Proctor, Matthew 1
Jackson, Ross 0 Dive, Russell 1
Stracy, Don 1 Shierlaw, Hamish 0
Farrington, Lawrence 1 Olssen, Alex 0
Byes: Meyer, Waugh

Standings:

2 points
Croad, Ker, Van der Hoorn, Sellen

1.5 points
Dive, Du Plessis M, Hewson, Marner, Meyer, Rabina

1 point
Aldridge, Baider, Bowden, Farrington, Forster, Hill, Jackson, Joshi, Nyburg, Pomeroy, Proctor, Stracy, Wilkins

1/2 point
Brockway, Du Plessis N, Olssen, Pattekar, Salem, Seabrook, Waugh

0 points
Capper, Nicholls, Shierlaw

Welcome back! and Summer Cup round 1

2008-02-05T04:17:00.000-08:00

Great to see so many people at the club tonight after the summer break.

Summer Cup started tonight and runs for eight weeks. No real upsets as far as ratings go.

Results:

Ker, Anthony 1 Stracy, Don 0
Hill, Martin 0 Croad, Nic 1
Van der Hoorn, Mark 1 Seabrook, Roy 0
Farrington, Lawrence 0 Sellen, Ian 1
Marner, Gavin 1 Capper, David 0
Brockway, Andrew 0 Jackson, Ross 1
Nyberg, Michael 1 Nicholls, Alistair 0
Olssen, Alex 1/2 Wilkins. Mark 1/2
Forster, William 1 Shirlaw, Hamish 0
Proctor, Mike 0 Aldridge, Alan 1
Meyer 1 Waugh, Hugh 0

Julian Mazur - 8th and final round

2007-12-17T00:50:00.000-08:00

Here are the results from the final round of the Julian Mazur Memorial:

Ang, Ferdie 0 Croad, Nic 1
Sellen, Ian 1/2 Pomeroy, Arthur 1/2
Van der Hoorn, Mark 1 Forster, William 0
Baider, Daniel 1 Kay, Bruce 0
Hill, Martin 0 Jackson, Ross 1
Brockway, Andrew 1/2 Townsend, Ralph 1/2
Nicholls, Alistair 1 Proctor, Mike 0
Marney, John 0 Hewson, Michael 1
Waugh, Hugh 0 Cook, John 1
Seabrook, Roy 1 Shirlaw, Hamish 0

Congratulations to Nic Croad on winning all of his games.

Final placings:

1st Nic Croad (7.5 points, 7 wins and 1 bye)
2nd-4th Baider, Sellen, Van der Hoorn (5.5 points)
5th-8th Ang, Jackson, Pomeroy, Seabrook (5 points)
9th Forster (4.5 points)
10th-12th Hill, Nicholls, Townsend (4 points)
13th-15th Brockway, Du Plessis M, Kay (3.5 points)
16th-19th Cook, Farrington, Hewson, Shierlaw (3 points)
20th Marney (2.5 points)
21st-22nd Proctor, Waugh (2 points)

This week - 5 minute chess and beer, hope to see you all there.

Club Championships - final results

2007-12-12T01:54:00.000-08:00

Last results from the club championships

A Grade
Dive, Russell 1 Nijman, Brian 0

This result means that we have joint Wellington champions this year - Russell Dive, rated 2370, and Brian Nijman, rated 1980. Congratulations to both players. Third place goes to Nic Croad.

C Grade
(results from last few weeks)
Shierlaw, Hamish 1 Marney, John 0
Proctor, Mike 0 Shierlaw, Hamish 1

Hamish finished strongly, but too late to make an impression on the top places.

Here are cross tables for all 3 grades.

A grade

B grade

C grade

Wellington ratings November 2007

2007-12-07T02:15:00.000-08:00

Here are the ratings for Wellington players taken from the new grading list published by the New Zealand Chess Federation. Note that the games played in the club championship are not included.In the country as a whole, Russell Dive is third on the list, behind Wainuiomata's finest export (in my opinion) Murray Chandler, and Otago's Ben Martin. A lot of the Wellington people in the list have not been active this year, some have moved away, and some of them, I confess, I have never heard of.

1.Dive, Russell 2370
2. Ker, Anthony 2344
3. Lukey, Stephen 2326
4. Croad, Nicholas 2321
5. Wastney, Scott 2318
6. Van der Hoorn 2213
7. Baider, Daniel 2148
8. Dunn, Paul 2071
9. Wojnar, Maciej 2050
10. Sims, Martin T 2017
11. Turner, Michael 2017
12. Pomeroy, Arthur 1995
13. Marner, Gavin 1991
14. Wojnar, Jacek 1984
15. Nijman, Brian 1980
16. Sellen, Ian 1940
17. Boardman, Jeffrey 1934
18. Jackson, L Ross 1914
19. Benitez, Edgar 1907
20. Nyberg, Michael 1903
21. Wilkins, Mark 1853
22. Forster, William 1847
23. Ang, Ferdie 1832
24. Gordon, Russel 1821
25. Aldridge, Alan 1801
26. Smith, David 1796
27. Stracy, Don 1765
28. Hill, Martin 1762
29. Du Plessis, Neels 1693
30. Walters, Nigel 1680
31. Farrington, Lawrence 1673
32. King, Peter 1628
33. Chifu, Tudor 1607
34. Capper, David 1587
35. Kay, J Bruce 1571
36. Benitez, Rick 1567
37. Wigbout, Max 1552
38. Moore, Stephen 1491
39. Nicholls, Alistair 1457
40. Thorpe, Richard 1420
41. Harnett, Patrick 1408
42. Du Plessis, Megan 1406
43. Brockway, Andrew 1384
44. Olssen, Alex 1362
45. Sidell, Gregory 1333
46. Yan, Garry 1326
47. French, Will 1306
48. Yin, Ambrose 1211
49. Shierlaw, Hamish 1173
50. Leibowitz, Michael 1155
51. Wylde, Henry 1143
52. Stevens, Michael 1105
53. Pattekar, Somesh 1103
54. Waugh, Hugh 1086

Julian Mazur round 7

2007-12-06T04:35:00.000-08:00

With one round to go Nic Croad is already uncatchable at the top, having totally outclassed the field and won all his games (the half point was a bye because he had to play a club championship game). Congratulations Nic!

Croad, Nic 1 Van der Hoorn, Mark 0
Pomeroy, Arthur 1/2 Forster, William 1/2
Seabrook, Roy 0 Sellen, Ian 1
Ang, Ferdie 1 Hill, Martin 0
Townsend, Ralph 1 Baider, Daniel 0
Farrington, Lawrence 1/2 Jackson, Ross 1/2
Nicholls, Alistair 1/2 Brockway, Andrew 1/2
Hewson, Michael 1 Waugh, Hugh 0
Cook, John 1 Marney, John 0 (default)

Standings

6.5 points: Nic Croad
5 points: Ang, Sellen
4.5 points: Baider, Forster, Pomeroy, Van der Hoorn
4 points: Hill, Jackson, Seabrook
3.5 points: Kay, Townsend
3 points: Brockway, Nicholls
2.5 points: Farrington, Marney
2 points: Cook, Hewson, Proctor, Waugh

Julian Mazur round 6

2007-11-29T01:47:00.000-08:00

Results from 27th November 2007

Croad, Nic 1 Hill, Martin 0
Van der Hoorn, Mark 1 Baider, Daniel 0
Forster, William 1/2 Sellen, Ian 1/2
Kay, Bruce 0 Pomeroy, Arthur 1
Brockway, Andrew 0 Ang, Ferdie 1
Jackson, Ross 1 Nicholls, Alistair 0
Waugh, Hugh 0 Seabrook, Roy 1
Marney, John 1 Proctor, Matthew 0
Hewson, Michael 1 Cook, John 0

Nic is now one point clear with 2 rounds to go.

Standings:
5.5 points: Croad
4.5 points: Van der Hoorn
4 Points: Ang, Forster, Hill, Pomeroy, Seabrook, Sellen
3.5 points: Baider, Jackson, Townsend
3 points: Kay
2.5 points: Brockway, Du Plessis M, Marney, Nicholls, Shierlaw
2 points: Farrington, Waugh
1.5 points: Proctor
1 point: Cook, Hewson

Finally - a game!

2007-11-22T02:33:00.001-08:00

I am very grateful to Anthony Ker for donating his loss to Russell Dive in the Autumn Cup earlier this year. He also supplied the exclamation marks. Finally, this is starting to look like a proper chess site!

White: Russell Dive
Black: Anthony Ker

Opening: English

1. c4 e5
2. Nc3 b6?!
3. Nf3 Nc6
4. g3 Bb7
5. Bg2 Rb8
6. 0-0 g6
7. d4 Nxd4
8. Nxd4 Bxg2
9. Kxg2 exd4
10. Qxd4 Qf6

11. Qd3! Ne7
12. Bf4 Bg7
13. Kg1 d6
14. Nb5 Kd7?!
15. Qa3! a5
16. Rad1 Nc8
17. Qa4 Kd8
18. Nd4 Ne7
19. Qb5! h6
20. c5 d5
21. e4 g5

22. exd5!! gxf4
23. d6 c6
24. Nxc6+ Nxc6
25. Qxc6 Rc8
26. Qxb6+ Kd7
27. Rfe1 Rhe8
28. Qb5+ Black resigns

The all-seeing computer shows a slightly quicker finish with 28. Qb7 Kd8 29. Re7 Rxe7 30. dxe7 Ke8 31. Qd7 #, but, of course, the move played is perfectly sufficient.

B grade champion - Alan Aldridge

2007-11-22T02:04:00.000-08:00

Final game in the club championship B grade:

Jackson, Ross 1/2 Aldridge, Alan 1/2

Alan Aldridge pulled off an amazing escape in a completely lost endgame position against Ross Jackson. He thus gets to take the title by himself, half a point ahead of Ferdie Ang. Congratulations Alan! Ross takes 3rd place.

A grade penultimate game

Dive, Russell 0 Ker, Anthony 1

Russell lost on time "just as his position was about to fall apart" in a typically exciting battle between the two international masters. This is a huge favour to Brian Nijman, who now only needs to avoid defeat by Russell in the final game of the championship to keep the title to himself. That's not asking too much is it Brian? Definitely a game to watch!

Cross-table with 1 game to play:

Julian Mazur Round 5

2007-11-21T19:54:00.000-08:00

Nic Croad took sole lead in the Julian Mazur Memorial after I somewhat prematurely resigned against him a pawn down in a rook and pawn ending. 3 rounds to go.

Round 5 results:
Sellen, Ian 0 Croad, Nic 1
Hill, Martin 1 Townsend, Ralph 0
Forster, William 1 Nicholls, Alistair 0
Van der Hoorn, Mark 1 Kay, Bruce 0
Pomeroy, Arthur 1 Waugh, Hugh 0
Cook, John 0 Ang, Ferdie 1
Proctor, Matthew 0 Brockway, Andrew 1
Seabrook, Roy 1 Hewson, Michael 0
Byes: Baider, Jackson, Du Plessis M, Shierlaw, Farrington, Marney

Standings after round 5:
4.5 points: Croad
4 points: Hill
3.5 points: Baider, Forster, Sellen, Van der Hoorn
3 points: Ang, Kay, Pomeroy, Seabrook, Townsend
2.5 points: Brockway, Jackson, Nicholls
2 points: Du Plessis M, Shierlaw, Waugh
1.5 points: Farrington, Marney, Proctor
1 point: Cook
0 points: Hewson

Club Championships B and C grades

2007-11-16T02:54:00.000-08:00

B grade
Aldridge, Alan 1 Frost, Paul 0

C grade
Shierlaw, Hamish 1 Gerrs, Matthew 0
Stracy, Don 0 Proctor, Matthew 1

We have a champion!

Megan du Plessis won the C grade by a full point after Matthew Gerrs stumbled against Hamish Shierlaw on Tuesday. 9 points is a terrific total, so congratulations to Megan. Matthew can draw consolation from Don Stracey's loss to Matthew Proctor, which means he gets to share second place with Neels du Plessis. There are still 2 games to play in this tournament, but the top three places are already decided.

We have another champion! (but possibly a joint one)
Alan Aldridge, fresh from his triumphs in the US Championship, has been in devastating form in the B grade (apart from a minor hiccup last week). This week he dispatched Paul Frost, so just needs to avoid defeat by Ross Jackson in the final game to keep the B title all to himself.

Julian Mazur round 4

2007-11-16T02:25:00.000-08:00

Julian Mazur results from 13th November 2007:

Croad, Nic 1 Forster, William 0
Sellen, Ian 1 Van der Hoorn, Mark 0
Baider, Daniel 1 Cook, John 0
Townsend, Ralph 1 Seabrook, Roy 0
Ang, Ferdie 1/2 Pomeroy, Arthur 1/2
Waugh, Hugh 1/2 Jackson, Ross 1/2
Nicholls, Alistair 1 Marney, John 0
Kay, Bruce 1 Farrington, Lawrence 0
Brockway, Andrew 1 Hewson, Michael 0 (default)

Byes: Du Plessis M, Hill, Proctor, Shierlaw

Standings after 4 rounds:

3.5 points: Croad, Sellen
3 points: Baider, Hill, Kay, Townsend
2.5 points: Forster, Nicholls, Van der Hoorn
2 points: Ang, Jackson, Pomeroy, Seabrook, Waugh
1.5 points: Brockway, Du Plessis M, Proctor, Shierlaw
1 point: Cook, Farrington, Marney
0 points: Hewson, Kopp

2007-11-07T01:22:00.000-08:00

Finally the cross tables for the club championship B and C grades:

B grade:

Yesterday Lawrence overcame his tiredness to beat previously undefeated Alan Aldridge, who still has a good chance of passing early pace-setter Ferdie Ang. He needs 1.5 points from his last 2 games, while Ferdie has already played all his games.

C grade

Results from yesterday:

Shierlaw, Hamish 0 Du Plessis, Niels 1

Stracey, Don 0 Du Plessis, Megan 1

Great to see some new, young, female talent at the top of the table. Congratulations to Megan, and also to Dad Niels, who is not far behind. Matthew Gers can still catch Megan if he wins his last game - I am not sure who gets to lift the trophy if this happens.

Julian Mazur round 3

2007-11-07T00:55:00.000-08:00

Results for the Julian Mazur round 3 as follows:

Baider, Daniel 0 Croad, Nic 1
Van der Hoorn, Mark 1 Waugh, Hugh 0
Townsend, Ralph 1/2 Sellen, Ian 1/2
Hill, Martin 1 Nicholls, Alistair 0
Kopp, Levi 0 Forster, William 1 (default)
Cook, John 0 Kay, Bruce 1
Marney, John 0 Seabrook, Roy 1
Pomeroy, Arthur 1 Proctor, Matthew 0
Hewson, M 0 Ang, Ferdie 1
Jackson, Ross 1 Brockway, Andrew 0

Correction to last week's posting:

Kopp, Levi 0 Sellen, Ian 1 (default)
Hugh Waugh had the bye.

Standings:

2.5 points: Croad, Forster, Hill, Sellen, Van der Hoorn
2 points: Baider, Kay, Seabrook, Townsend
1.5 points: Ang, Jackson, Nicholls, Pomeroy, Waugh
1 point: Cook, M du Plessis, Farrington, Marney, Proctor, Shierlaw
0.5 point: Brockway
0 points: Hewson, Kopp

Please let me know if you see any errors / discrepancies.

A warm welcome to Ralph Townsend from Maine, USA, who will be in Wellington for a couple of years. I hope we will see him in some more tournaments during this time.

Julian Mazur round 2

2007-10-30T16:12:00.000-07:00

Results from the Julian Mazur Round 2:

Seabrook, Roy 0 Baider, Daniel 1
Waugh, Hugh 0 Sellen, Ian 1 (default)
Forster, William 1 Jackson, Ross 0
Ang, Ferdie 0 Townsend 1
Kay, Bruce 1 Hewson, M 0
Brockway, Andrew 1/2 Farrington, Lawrence 1/2

Byes: Kopp, Levi; Pomeroy, Arthur; Croad, Nic;Hill, Martin; Nicholls, Alistair; Van der Hoorn, Mark; Du Plessis, Megan

Assuming that those who started in round 2 were awarded a half point bye in round 1, the standings after round 2 are as follows:

2 points
Baider, Sellen

1.5 points
Croad, Forster, Hill, Nicholls, Townsend, Van der Hoorn

1 point
Kay, Seabrook, Waugh

1/2 point
Ang, Brockway, Du Plessis (M), Farrington, Jackson, Kopp, Pomeroy, Shierlaw

0 points
Hewson

Club Championship catch-up games:

A grade

Lukey, Stephen 0 Croad, Nic 1
Marner, Gavin 0 Ker, Anthony 1

B grade

Aldridge, Alan 1 Cook 0

C grade

Shierlaw, Hamish 0 Stracey, Don 1
Marney, John 1/2 Nicholls, Alistair 1/2
Salem 1 Proctor, Matthew 0

I am having problems getting hold of the B and C grade standings and results , so if anyone out there has any information at all, please could you send it to me, thanks. Maybe we can piece the whole thing together!

Here is the cross-table for the A grade, with 2 games left to play. Click on image to enlarge. Whatever happens at the end, this was an astonishing performance from Brian Nijman, graded under 2000, playing against some of New Zealand's finest, including 2 IMs and an FM. Congratulations Brian!

2007-10-24T02:34:00.000-07:00

The Julian Mazur Memorial tournament started at the Wellington Chess Club yesterday.
Round 1 results as follows:

Croad, Nic 1 Kay, Bruce 0
Farrington, Lawrence 0 Van der Hoorn, Mark 1
Baider, Daniel 1 Du Plessis, Megan 0
Seabrook, Roy 1 Pomeroy, Arthur 0
Sellen, Ian 1 Brockway, Andrew 0
Shierlaw, Hamish 0 Hill, Martin 1
Waugh, Hugh 1 Kopp, Levi 0
Nicholls, Alistair 1 Hewson, M 0

More players are expected to join this tournament once the catch-up games for the club championship have been completed.

Grade "A" catch-up game
Forster, William 0 Lukey, Stephen 1

2007-10-23T15:03:00.000-07:00

"A" grade cross table so far:

Congratulations to Roy Seabrook on winning B grade at the Merv Morrison Memorial in Auckland over Labour weekend.

Results from 16th October 2007

Dive 1 Lukey 0

Nijman 1 Croad 0

Van der Hoorn 1 Forster 0

3 games left to play

2007-10-16T02:24:00.000-07:00

Current state of play in the Wellington Chess Club Championship A grade as at 9th October 2007.

Games scheduled for 16th October 2007:
Dive vs Lukey
Nijman vs Croad
Van der Hoorn vs Forster
Marner vs Ker

I will add the results of these games plus the other catch up games when I know them. I will also add the B and C grades.