Hamilton Chess Club

We will start the annual club rapid championship next week. The format will be one game per night over six weeks. Time control to be 30 minutes, plus 10 seconds increment per move from move one. Hamilton Chess Club Special Rules, and the usual rules about awarding byes will apply. Note that this is a member only event, so if you are not already a member and want to take part you will need to join up next week

We had a new club record last night with 32 players turning up to join in the fun. In the end it was Richard on 5.5 for the tournament, followed by Prashanth and Hilton. That concludes the Autumn cup season and we will kick off the club rapid from next week

Thanks go to Hilton for organizing a great night on Tuesday with a 25 person Simul against Grandmaster Degan Bojkov from Bulgaria. Degan is in New Zealand at present due to his role as the Coach of NZ Open Team to Olympiad travelling to Batumi, Georgia this September. In 2009 Degan was champion of Bulgaria and member of the Bulgarian team at the European championships. He earned his GM title in 2008 and won the 48th Canadian Open Chess Championship in 2011. He was the trainer for Antoaneta Stefanova who was Women’s World Champion from 2004 to 2006. Degan’s current FIDE rating is 2478. The final score for the night was 24.5 to 0.5 with credit going to Prashanth who took the draw. Honourable mention also to William Lynn and Joel Crombie. At the finish William had connected passed pawns on the 6th rank, but was just nudged out by Degan’s bishop pair. Joel played firmly and was one of the last players to fall, with things very even in rook and pawn ending till close to the end.