Hamilton Chess Club

The Spring Cup got underway last night. Despite the rain we had a good turnout with 20 players. Matt was especially pleased with his win against Ian. Graham Richard and Stefan are in the lead with 3 points each. Three more rounds next week, then 2 on the final night. Games kick off at 7:30 so don’t be late.

We will have the Spring Cup for the next three weks. Format will be 3 games at 15 + 0 in each of weeks one and two, with two games at 25 + 0 to finish in week three, so eight rounds in all. Games start 7:20 so dont be late!. Non-members welcome.

Richard managed 7 out of 7 for the club rapid, and looks unstoppable. Second and third place (on tiebreak scores) went to Graham an David on 4 points each. Daniel Richard and Sivoram also shared 4 points. The crosstable, and statistics have been updated

With one round to go Richard sits on six points, 2 pioints clear of his nearest rivals, so has been awarded the title of Club Rapid champion 2014. Graham and Dave share 4 points each and are vying for the the silver medal. Joel scored a nice win against Ian and picks up club rating points in the process. Don’t miss the final round next week. The full crosstable is here, and club ratings have been updated

Gary has sent us some photos from his recent trip to Tromso Norway to watch the chess olympiad. He was there from the 11^th to the 14^th of August leaving on the last day of play. On the left is a selfie of Gary and Fabiano Carauna. For those of you that havent caught up Fabiano has had a recent meteoric rise and is now the No. 2 ranked player in the world. This month he achieved an Elo rating of 2844, becoming the third highest rated player in history. During August – September he won the 2014 Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis, Missouri, one of the strongest tournaments ever held, featuring six of the world’s top ten players, including the world champion Magnus Carlsen. With 7 wins, 3 draws and 0 losses, Caruana achieved a 3100 plus performance rating, possibly the best tournament result in history. As much as we like Magnus, Gary might very well be standing next to a future worlds champion. The next photo is of Gary with Judit Polgar and two members of the Hungarian team. The fourth member had arrived late and Gary offered to sub in on the team if they were short, but in the end his services werent needed. Further photos from the trip can be found here in the library (About > Library > Contributions)

We have two rounds to go on the club rapid which resumes next week. For those of you that have forgotten your current standings in the tournament the crosstable to date can be found here. Games kick off 7:30 so dont be late.

Well done to Nithin for managing a back rank mate on Ian in the final round of last nights blitz tournament. After leaving his queen exposed in the middle of the game Ian was always going to be in trouble, with Nithin eventually managing to trap Ians king in the corner and picking up some valuable club rating points.

Once again Richard blitzed the field scoring 7.5 out of a possible 8, with the nearest rivals being Sivaram and Daniel on 5.5. Continuing a now well established theme Richards’s club rating continues to rise, now 1668 after 109 games. The good news is that at these lofty heights, he can only gain a very few club rating points for every win, while a loss costs him dearly. The cumulative points table across the two weeks of lightning and this week’s crosstable are below. Club rating points have been updated.

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If you have been thinking about coming along for a look then the next  7/10/14 at 7pm area good place to start. We will be playing 8 blitz games at short time control of three minutes per game plus 2 seconds per move. New members are always welcome. Come along and join in the fun.

Club members Joel Sean Calib and Elijah were in Auckland last weekend representing the Waikato in the annual National School Pupils’ tournament. On the left is a picture taken as they were just about to start their match against Hillsbrough – who eventually went on to win the tournament. Joel and Sean had good positions against their respective opponents in this round.  Unfortunately Joel lost on a technicality when he inadvertently  played an illegal move just as he was about to deliver mate.

We had 19 for “Super Blitz” last night at time control 3 minutes, plus 2 seconds per move. Richard and Graham top scored on 6.5 each, while Eddie third (6) and Stefan fourth (5.5). The full crosstable is below. With such a big number of games there has been a bit of movement in club ratings (four members achieving new personal bests, including Dhusar and Craig) which have been updated. We will accumulate points across two nights; there is still a chance to polish up your super blitz score next week. Don’t be late as we have eight games to get through.