Hamilton Chess Club

The club welcomes Yuangwei as its newest member

Club ratings have been updated to include the Club Champs. There are several new members featured in the rating list. Check out where you stand.

The club is in recess now. Club nights resume 29 April. Guests and new members welcome. See you there !!

Congratulations to Jacob Haughey who is Club Champion and Club Junior Champion for 2025. Jacob and Nathan both finished on 5-0, but Jacob takes out first place based on tie break

Complete crosstable is below

1	Jacob_Haughey	5.0	+W11	+B14	-W3	+B6	+W7	+B2
2	Nathan_Sun	5.0	+B13	+W9	+B8	+B3	+W5	-W1
3	Ryan_Zhou	4.0	+W18	+B5	+B1	-W2	-B4	+W6
4	Ian_Kennedy	4.0	+B20	-W8	+W10	+B9	+W3	-B5
5	Graham_Nolan	4.0	+B7	-W3	+B11	+W8	-B2	+W4
6	William_Lynn	3.0	-B15	+W19	+B9	-W1	+W10	-B3
7	Cooper_Gaddes	3.0	-W5	-B12	+B20	+W11	-B1	+W9
8	Erwin_Pacua	2.0	+W21	+B4	-W2	-B5	—	—
9	Dundun_Zhang	2.0	+W22	-B2	-W6	-W4	+B18	-B7
10	Heagan_HenareLync	2.0	—	+W20	-B4	+W12	-B6	—
11	Cohen_Stringer	2.0	-B1	+W15	-W5	-B7	+W13	-B20
12	Jacob_Kelly	2.0	—	+W7	—	-B10	+BYE	—
13	Thomas_Bennett	2.0	-W2	-B16	—	+W20	-B11	+B19
14	Naveen_Jayakrishn	1.0	+BYE	-W1	—	—	—	—
15	Zade_Litt	1.0	+W6	-B11	—	—	—	—
16	Luke_Taylor	1.0	—	+W13	—	—	—	—
17	Ryan_Trubshaw	1.0	—	+B18	—	—	—	—
18	Carlos_Duan	1.0	-B3	-W17	+B19	—	-W9	—
19	Austin_John	1.0	—	-B6	-W18	—	+B20	-W13
20	Arlo_Brooker	1.0	-W4	-B10	-W7	-B13	-W19	+W11
21	Moses_Kim	0.0	-B8	—	—	—	—	—
22	Samudra_Dissanayk	0.0	-B9	—	—	—	—	—

Crosstable with one round to go is below. Can Nathan make it 6-0? Find out next week.

1	Nathan_Sun	5.0	+B13	+W8	+B7	+B4	+W5
2	Jacob_Haughey	4.0	+W10	+B14	-W4	+B6	+W11
3	Ian_Kennedy	4.0	+B20	-W7	+W9	+B8	+W4
4	Ryan_Zhou	3.0	+W16	+B5	+B2	-W1	-B3
5	Graham_Nolan	3.0	+B11	-W4	+B10	+W7	-B1
6	William_Lynn	3.0	-B15	+W19	+B8	-W2	+W9
7	Erwin_Pacua	2.0	+W21	+B3	-W1	-B5	—
8	Dundun_Zhang	2.0	+W22	-B1	-W6	-W3	+B16
9	Heagan_HenareLynch	2.0	—	+W20	-B3	+W12	-B6
10	Cohen_Stringer	2.0	-B2	+W15	-W5	-B11	+W13
11	Cooper_Gaddes	2.0	-W5	-B12	+B20	+W10	-B2
12	Jacob_Kelly	2.0	—	+W11	—	-B9	+BYE
13	Thomas_Bennett	1.0	-W1	-B17	—	+W20	-B10
14	Naveen_Jayakrishn	1.0	+BYE	-W2	—	—	—
15	Zade_Litt	1.0	+W6	-B10	—	—	—
16	Carlos_Duan	1.0	-B4	-W18	+B19	—	-W8
17	Luke_Taylor	1.0	—	+W13	—	—	—
18	Ryan_Trubshaw	1.0	—	+B16	—	—	—
19	Austin_John	1.0	—	-B6	-W16	—	+B20
20	Arlo_Brooker	0.0	-W3	-B9	-W11	-B13	-W19
21	Moses_Kim	0.0	-B7	—	—	—	—
22	Samudra_Dissanayk	0.0	-B8	—	—	—	—

Club ratings have been updated to include the first four nights of the Club Champs. There are several new members feature in the rating list for the first time. THERE HAS BEEN A CHANGING OF THE GUARD AT THE TOP!!!.  Check out where you stand. 

The club welcomes Thomas Bennett as a new member

Crosstable at round 4 below. Two more weeks to go

1	Nathan_Sun	4.0	+B12	+W10	+B6	+B2
2	Ryan_Zhou	3.0	+W15	+B3	+B4	-W1
3	Graham_Nolan	3.0	+B9	-W2	+B11	+W6
4	Jacob_Haughey	3.0	+W11	+B14	-W2	+B8
5	Ian_Kennedy	3.0	+B19	-W6	+W7	+B10
6	Erwin_Pacua	2.0	+W21	+B5	-W1	-B3
7	Heagan_HenareLynch	2.0	—	+W19	-B5	+W13
8	William_Lynn	2.0	-B18	+W20	+B10	-W4
9	Cooper_Gaddes	2.0	-W3	-B13	+B19	+W11
10	Dundun_Zhang	1.0	+W22	-B1	-W8	-W5
11	Cohen_Stringer	1.0	-B4	+W18	-W3	-B9
12	Thomas_Bennett	1.0	-W1	-B16	—	+W19
13	Jacob_Kelly	1.0	—	+W9	—	-B7
14	Naveen_Jayakrishn	1.0	+BYE	-W4	—	—
15	Carlos_Duan	1.0	-B2	-W17	+B20	—
16	Luke_Taylor	1.0	—	+W12	—	—
17	Ryan_Trubshaw	1.0	—	+B15	—	—
18	Zade_Litt	1.0	+W8	-B11	—	—
19	Arlo_Brooker	0.0	-W5	-B7	-W9	-B12
20	Austin_John	0.0	—	-B8	-W15	—
21	Moses_Kim	0.0	-B6	—	—	—
22	Samudra_Dissanayk	0.0	-B10	—	—	—

Austin John is the clubs newest member

The club welcomes Arlo Brooker as its newest member

Round 2 last night. Ryan and Graham had a battle royal that went over 2 hours but in the end Ryan’s passed pawn was unstoppable. Remember that if you are not going to be there I need to be notified in advance in order to claim your half point bye.  New players can still join next week at round 3. After that entry will be closed. Round 3 draw will be done on the night, but if everyone that has played so far turns up then the draw can be found here. Crosstable at round 2 is below.

1	Erwin_Pacua	2.0	+W18	+B9
2	Jacob_Haughey	2.0	+W5	+B7
3	Nathan_Sun	2.0	+B16	+W6
4	Ryan_Zhou	2.0	+W17	+B8
5	Cohen_Stringer	1.0	-B2	+W14
6	Dundun_Zhang	1.0	+W22	-B3
7	Naveen_Jayakrishna	1.0	+BYE	-W2
8	Graham_Nolan	1.0	+B19	-W4
9	Ian_Kennedy	1.0	+B20	-W1
10	Jacob_Kelly	1.0	—	+W19
11	Luke_Taylor	1.0	—	+W16
12	Ryan_Trubshaw	1.0	—	+B17
13	Heagan_HeanreLynch	1.0	—	+W20
14	Zade_Litt	1.0	+W15	-B5
15	William_Lynn	1.0	-B14	+W21
16	Thomas_Bennett	0.0	-W3	-B11
17	Carlos_Duan	0.0	-B4	-W12
18	Moses_Kim	0.0	-B1	—
19	Cooper_Gaddes	0.0	-W8	-B10
20	Arlo_Brooker	0.0	-W9	-B13
21	Austin	0.0	—	-B15
22	Samudra_Dissanayk	0.0	-B6	—

“Nobody can give God pawn odds and win. But if I played white, I bet I could play God to a draw.”

Robert J. FIscher

Seventeen players turned out for round one. You can still join in round 2 and be awarded you single allowed  half point bye retroactively. See you next week

1	Erwin_Pacua	1.0	+W11
2	Graham_Nolan	1.0	+B12
3	Jacob_Haughey	1.0	+W13
4	Nathan_Sun	1.0	+B14
5	Ryan_Zhou	1.0	+W15
6	Ian_Kennedy	1.0	+B16
7	Dundun_Zhang	1.0	+W17
8	Zade_Litt	1.0	+W10
9	Naveen_Jayakrishna	1.0	+BYE
10	William_Lynn	0.0	-B8
11	Moses_Kim	0.0	-B1
12	Cooper_Gaddes	0.0	-W2
13	Cohen_Stringer	0.0	-B3
14	Thomas_Bennett	0.0	-W4
15	Carlos_Duan	0.0	-B5
16	Arlo_Brooker	0.0	-W6
17	Samudra_Dissanayke	0.0	-B7

“Adequate compensation for a sacrifice is having a sound combination leading to a winning position: adequate compensation for a blunder is having your opponent snatch defeat from the jaws of victory”

Remember that our premier event, the club champs, will kick off on Tuesday 04 March.

Time control will be the same as last year at 60 minutes + 10 seconds per move from move 1.

One game per night over 6 weeks.

The format will be start time 7.15pm, 1 game per night. We will permit non members/prospective members to play in the first few rounds in the hope of invigorating membership. After that games will be  limited to financial members (or financial members temporarily in arrears) and HBHS pupils. You can check when your sub is due by going to the website – About > Who We Are. Online payments preferred, see the website for details. If you are not currently a member but want to take part then you can join on the first night.

(Adult and Juniors both only $20 per year, — of which $15 is a levy to the national body, so in reality only $5 per year!!!)

A single division Swiss Style Tournament. The overall winner will be awarded the title Club Champion 2025 and receive all the accolades that are associated with the title. The highest rated junior  will be awarded the title Club Junior Champion 2025.

The draw will be based on Current club ratings. New players without a club rating will be assigned 1500 points for the purposes of the  draw.

Entry permitted in round one two and three, but round one preferred!.  If you can’t make it on the first night let me know and you will be awarded a half point bye. If you enter in round two without prior notification you will retrospectively receive a zero point bye for round 1. Also if you want to play but might be a little late on the first night let me know and I will include you in the draw. Please don’t turn up after 7:15. Entries will not be accepted after week three.

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 with  the exception of the Hamilton Chess Club Special Rules found on the website. Disputes committee will be club executive (Graham Ian and Richard). If one or two of the disputes committee is/are party to a dispute, the remaining member(s) will constitute the disputes committee.

Please bring a pen if you wish to record your games. Recording is not mandatory, but if you don’t record your game you will not be allowed to claim a draw for the 50 move rule or 3 fold repetition unless agreed by your opponent.

One 1/2 point bye allowed per player, if notified to Ian before the round that it applies.

No half point byes allowed in rounds 5 or 6.

Tie breaks will be according to the NZ  standard  1. Direct Encounter. 2. Cumulative (Sum of Progressive Scores). 3. Total Buchholz. 4. Sonneborn-Berger. 5. Buchholz Cut1.   If still tied the award will be shared.

Club ratings have been updated to include the first four nights of the year so far. Several new members feature in the rating list for the first time. Graphs have been updated so you can see trends. Check out where you stand. 

With one week to fill in before the commencement of the club champs on March 4 it was once again a night for rapid play, six rounds of five + three this time. The night was notable for Jacob Haughey, a new club junior who is clearly going places with an impressive clean sweep score of +6. We look forward to Jacobs participation in the forthcoming club championship. Crosstable below.

The night also notable for the improved turnout so far this year with double digit attendances every night so far. Lets hope that keeps up.

1	Jacob_Haughey	6.0	+B6	+W10	+B12	+W2	+B3	+W5
2	Graham_Nolan	5.0	+W4	+B11	+W5	-B1	+W6	+B8
3	Dundun_Zhang	4.0	-W5	+B14	+B13	+W7	-W1	+B10
4	Ian_Kennedy	4.0	-B2	+W8	-B10	+W13	+B7	+W6
5	Zade_Litt	3.5	+B3	+W13	-B2	+W12	=B10	-B1
6	Jacob_Kelly	3.0	-W1	+B15	+W16	+W10	-B2	-B4
7	Richard_Jackson	3.0	-W16	+B9	+W11	-B3	-W4	+W12
8	Tokusho_Littlewood	3.0	-W11	-B4	+W14	+B16	+B12	-W2
9	Carlos_Duan	3.0	-B12	-W7	-B15	+W14	+W11	+B13
10	Cohen_Stringer	2.5	+W15	-B1	+W4	-B6	=W5	-W3
11	Cooper_Gaddes	2.5	+B8	-W2	-B7	=W15	-B9	+W16
12	Heagan_HenareLynch	2.0	+W9	+B16	-W1	-B5	-W8	-B7
13	Thomas_Bennett	2.0	+W14	-B5	-W3	-B4	+W15	-W9
14	Luke_Taylor	2.0	-B13	-W3	-B8	-B9	+W16	+B15
15	Samudra_Dissanayake	1.5	-B10	-W6	+W9	=B11	-B13	-W14
16	Arlo_Brooker	1.0	+B7	-W12	-B6	-W8	-B14	-B11

This was going to be the first half of Summer (2) but again the computer shenanigans meant a revised plan called for. Seven rounds of five and oh proved memorable for Richard with an impressive first place score of 6, only dropping one game to Erwin in the final round. Crosstable below.

1	Richard_Jackson	6.0	+B9	+W14	+B7	+W4	+B2	+B8	-W3
2	Graham_Nolan	5.0	+W11	+B3	-B4	+W6	-W1	+B7	+B5
3	Erwin_Pacua	5.0	+B8	-W2	+B11	+W5	-B4	+W6	+B1
4	William_Lynn	5.0	+B12	+B13	+W2	-B1	+W3	-W5	+B8
5	DunDun_Zhang	4.0	+B10	-W7	+W9	-B3	+W11	+B4	-W2
6	Thomas_Bennet	4.0	-W13	+W12	+B14	-B2	+W9	-B3	+W10
7	Cooper_Gaddes	3.5	+W15	+B5	-W1	+B13	-W8	-W2	=B9
8	Moses_Kim	3.5	-W3	=B11	+W15	+B12	+B7	-W1	-W4
9	Heagan_HenareLynch	3.5	-W1	+BYE	-B5	+W10	-B6	+B11	=W7
10	Yi_Neng	3.0	-W5	+B15	-W13	-B9	+W12	+B14	-B6
11	Cohen_Stringer	2.5	-B2	=W8	-W3	+B14	-B5	-W9	+B15
12	Carlos_Duan	2.5	-W4	-B6	+BYE	-W8	-B10	=W15	+W14
13	Cameron_Munroe	2.0	+B6	-W4	+B10	-W7	—	—	—
14	Naveen_Jayakrisnha	2.0	+BYE	-B1	-W6	-W11	+B15	-W10	-B12
15	Jing_xx	1.5	-B7	-W10	-B8	+BYE	-W14	=B12	-W11

This week was supposed to be the second half of Summer(1) but computer problems put pay to that. Instead we had a five round tournament at 10 + 0. William top-scored on 4.5.  Crosstable below

1	William_Lynn	4.5	+W5	+B9	+B2	=W3	+B4
2	Graham_Nolan	4.0	+W4	+B8	-W1	+B6	+B3
3	Richard_Jackson	3.5	+B7	+W10	+B6	=B1	-W2
4	Zade_Litt	3.0	-B2	+W13	+W5	+B8	-W1
5	DunDun_Zhang	3.0	-B1	+W12	-B4	+W7	+B11
6	Cooper_Gaddes	3.0	+B13	+BYE	-W3	-W2	+B10
7	Heagan_HenareLynch	3.0	-W3	+B11	+W9	-B5	+W8
8	Samudra_Dissanayake	2.0	+BYE	-W2	+B10	-W4	-B7
9	Moses_Kim	2.0	+B12	-W1	-B7	-W10	+BYE
10	Cohen_Stringer	2.0	+W11	-B3	-W8	+B9	-W6
11	Thomas_Bennett	2.0	-B10	-W7	+B13	+W12	-W5
12	Carlos_Duan	2.0	-W9	-B5	+BYE	-B11	+W13
13	Naveen_Jayekrishna	1.0	-W6	-B4	-W11	+BYE	-B12

We kicked off the year without the traditional icebreaker blitz. Instead straight into a six round 20 + 0 over 2 nights. The first 3 rounds were on February 4. Unfortunately due to a computer malfunction on the intended second night, Feb 11, only the first 2 rounds managed to survive. Crosstable (for 2 rounds) is below

1	Dundun_Zhang	2.0	+W8	+B7
2	Graham_Nolan	2.0	+B12	+W6
3	Cohen_Stringer	1.5	+W14	=B4
4	Moses_Kim	1.5	+W13	=W3
5	Cameron_Munroe	1.0	+W9	—
6	Richard_Jackson	1.0	+W10	-B2
7	Zade_Litt	1.0	+B11	-W1
8	Samudra_Dissanayke	1.0	-B1	+BYE
9	Ian_Kennedy	1.0	-B5	+B13
10	Cooper_Gaddes	1.0	-B6	+W12
11	Heagan_HenareLynch	1.0	-W7	+B14
12	Thomas_Bennett	0.0	-W2	-B10
13	Carlos_Duan	0.0	-B4	-W9
14	Naveen_Jayekrishna	0.0	-B3	-W11