Hamilton Chess Club

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Last night saw the welcome addition of three new members to the club, from the very junior to the very experienced. We now have a total of 24 paid up members and a couple of prospects in the wings as well. First of all we welcome Darius Hasan-Stein as a junior member. Darius is 13 and a pupil at St Pauls Collegiate. No doubt he will make Gary’s school team in later years. He lists his interests as Chemistry, Science, and chess. He has been coming along the last few nights with younger brother Adam, who will graduate to full club membership in a few years as well. Welcome Darius. Next we welcome Damian Eades. Damian comes to us from the Bay Of Plenty and is a strong player with an NZCF standard and rapid ratings of  1701 and 1475 respectively (and now a HCC rating of 1031). Finally we welcome Michael Freeman. Michael is a very strong player (NZCF standard rating of 2174) while his rapid rating of 2110 places him at number 28 nationally. Michael was NZ Correspondence Champion in 1979/80 and 1983/84, and earned a NZ Correspondence Chess Master title. In 1995 he gained an International Correspondence Master title (2450 level) and in 2003 he won the International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) 50th anniversary IM-D event and gained a Senior International Master title. Over the board Michael represented NZ in chess at the 1996 Chess Olympiad and the 1983, 1993 and 1995 Asian Teams events and was NZ Team Captain for four Chess Olympiads (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000) and a member of the FIDE Executive Board from 1998-2002. He is the current FIDE delegate and also the NZ delegate to ICCF.

We had 22 players at the club last night which I think is our best ever turnout. We had a lightning tournament of eight rounds at 3 + 2, Richard’s favourite time control. Peter and Michael were neck and neck with Peter just taking it out by half a point, although based on Club ratings Michael came out on top with 1598 to Peter’s 1577. Christopher and Richard were clear third and fourth respectively, Stefan and Eddie tied for fifth and then there were the rest. Ian managed to score a spectacular own-goal by calling time against Eddie, only to realize that it was his own flag that had fallen and not his opponents (palm slaps forehead). Club ratings have been updated, and the crosstable is below.

The Club champs will start next Tuesday the 2nd of April
The Championship will run over eight club nights excluding the School Holidays

The format will be  start time 7.15pm, 1 game per night, open to paid up club members only     No exceptions
– if you are not a financial member, please remember to update your  subscription payment this Tuesday – or next week at the latest (Subs can be paid online — details on the website)

You can check when your sub is due by going to the website – About > Who we are

-time limit 45 minutes plus 10 seconds per move from move 1, as we need to be out of the room by 9:30
-games start at 7.15pm – a 30 minute late time applies (your game is lost if you are 30 minutes late).
-clocks will be started at 7:15 even if neither player is present.
-usual FIDE laws apply
-please bring a pen to record your games
-one 1/2 point bye allowed per player, if notified the Sunday before the round that it applies
-no half point byes allowed in rounds 7 or 8.

Entries will be seeded based on Current club ratings

We will be starting the club champs shortly. You will need to be a paid up member to participate so check when your subscription expires under About>Who We Are

We have 21 participants registered so far for the Rookies, so may get close to thirty once all entries are counted.

Hamilton Chess Club is pleased to announce that it will be hosting the North Island Rapid Champs on Sunday the June 23 . The Waikato Open will be held  26/27/28 July. Once again we will be making use of the excellent facilities at Saint Pauls Collegiate. We look forward to seeing you there. Flyers will be posted shortly

Looks like we will have a big turnout for the Autumn Rookies come April 7 with seventeen players already registered. Past experience is that only half of attendees will have registered by this point meaning we might be headed for a  turnout of around 35. So come on the rest of you sign up for more chess fun than you can poke a stick at and register!

We had sixteen for the 5 + 3 last night. Peter once again proving too tough for the rest of us. He now holds the record for the all time highest club rating of 1947. Ian picked up around 270 rating points from a couple of good wins.  The crosstable is below and club ratings have been updated.

Chess etiquette dictates that one should resign when you KNOW you are lost, but failing that the aims of play can be summarized as—
1 To mate the opposing king;
2 To build up a decisive concentration of pieces on the approaches to the king;
3 To gain an advantage in material that, in time, can be converted into a mating force;
4 To make your pieces work effectively as units and harmoniously as a team;
5 To render the opponent’s pieces ineffective;
6 To frustrate the opponent’s plans;
7 To draw, if to win is out of the question;
8 Not to lose;
9 If losing, to create chances for the opponent to go wrong;
10 To fight like hell to achieve these objectives;
11 To remain courteous to your opponent.

In future all club tournaments on club nights and on weekends will be rated. I have gone back to the start of the year and calculated ratings for all participating financial members. You can find the ratings and an explanation as to how they are calculated using the menu at top right, or by clicking  here

We welcome Eddie as the newest member of the club. Eddie comes to us from the UK and has already proved himself a strong player taking second place in the Autumn Cup.

We had a good turnout last night with 19 showing for casual chess including several prospective new members. We will have a 6 round Swiss next week with time control 5 + 3. Games start at 7:20 sharp so dont miss out.

The first Sunday Rookies Tournament of the year will take place on April 7th starting at 11am. Seven games with 15 minutes each player on the clock. Entry is restricted to unrated players and players under 1600 NZCF rapid rating as this is a Rookies event – which still includes 80% of rated chess players! There will be cash Prizes for  1st and 2nd and for best U18, U14, U10. The tournament flyer can be accessed here. Register here to avoid disappointment

Stefan managed to take out last nights seven round blitz by a full point despite having one arm in a sling and Gary impressed with a draw against Peter to wind up in fourth place. The crosstable is here

The club welcomes Sivaram Manoharan as our newest member. Sivaram joins us as a junior but has already put in an impressive performance in the Autumn Cup where he managed a very creditable third equal on 4 points (shared with Peter and Stefan), and in fact if tie break is used he comes out third overall, above the other two.

The full Autumn Cup crosstable is now available for viewing here