Hamilton Chess Club

For those of you not present this week the following is the format of the club blitz championship. Swiss tournament, 6 rounds per night at time control  5 + 3. Players will be able to accumulate a maximum of 6 points per night. The winner will be the individual with the most points. In the case of a tied score, the winner will be decided based on the individual game scores between the contestants over the 4 weeks of the tournament. The highest scoring player will be awarded the title of Club Blitz Champion and will have their name immortalized on our championship board. The title of Club Blitz Champion (reserve board), also immortalized as above, will be awarded to the highest scoring player whose club ranking was pawn, knight, or bishop at the start of the tournament. Players can take a bye in one week and receive 3 points. No byes in the final round.

A permanent link to the cumulative points, and the individual crosstables, has been added under Events>Club Blitz Championship

Each round robin will be open to anyone present on the night, including guests, but only club members will be eligible for the titles

Club member William Lynn has been working hard to raise the profile of chess at Fairfield Intermediate School as they prepare for regional and hopefully national competition. He recently played a simultaneous match against 10 intrepid opponents during the school lunch break, scoring +8=1-1. Credit to club member Samuel Eddy who managed to take the point off William just as  the school bell was calling “time” on the match.

Hilton managed a respectable 5 out of 7 at the recent New South Wales chess open. Using the Swiss Gambit as a clever opening strategy in round one he went on to outplay his opponents in subsequent rounds. In the final round he managed a win against FM Igor Bjelobrk. There was a strong field that included 10 titled players out of a total muster of 76. Australian IM  Max Illingworth came first, followed by Australian GM Zong-Yuan Zhao in second. Hilton has stated that he plans to avoid the Swiss Gambit in this weeks NI rapid.

Following a straw poll of members the blitz champs are to run over the four weeks at 5 + 3. Round one kicked off with 14 players. Hilton is in the lead with 5 points. Members who didnt make it tonight will be allocated 3 points as a bye for the round. One bye per player allowed, and none on the last night. See you there for round 2 next week. The crosstable is here and player ratings have been updated.

The club welcomes back Asheesh Gautam as a financial member after a long absence. Asheesh is a strong player who has represented Fiji internationally, including at the  37th Chess Olympiad in Turin. In that event he won his game against International Master Danner Georg, Fide rating 2402, in a wonderful display of tactical chess. Asheesh will make a valuable contribution at the top end of club ability.

“I make errors, therefore I am!”
– Saviely Tartakower

A six round informal blitz tonight. Welcome back Asheesh who has rejoined the club as a financial member after a long absence. A couple of new potential members as well.  Sivoram played well. Check out your rating and see if you have gone up or down. More blitz next week — all welcome

The game score and analysis of Michaels round 6, 7 and 8 club championship games have been added under Library>contributions. The text can be cut and pasted into any .pgn reader to allow replay of the games. Please if any members have things they want to add to the library forward to me so that we can keep enhancing the website.

Damian managed a win against Christopher last night in the final round of the club champs and scooped a fist full of club rating points in the process. As a consequence he has leapfrogged up the rankings reaching the lofty grade of rook, having been a knight previously. With Damian moving up to position 9 on the rankings board several other members have been pushed down a grade. Not too too many rating points separate the large mass of players in the middle of the pack however, and with a number of quick fire tournaments coming up over the next few weeks there is plenty of opportunity to improve your club rating and club ranking.

With Hilton absent this week Michael went into the last round secure in the knowledge that he had an unassailable lead, ending up with 7 out of a possible 8 points, and has now had his name immortalized on the Champions Board. Stefan and Hilton shared second place on 5.5 points. Credit to Stefan as the only person to take points off Michael with a draw in round 2. Daniel’s chess has come ahead in leaps and bounds this year (oh to be young again), dropping only three points and taking out clear fourth on 5 points – maybe next year he will be on the podium at the end. Graham next on 4.5, ahead of a large group sharing 4 points, and then the also-rans. Once again the lament for most us (dreamers) will be “Next year, next year, next year I will do better in the club champs!!!!!”. Pleasing to note this year we managed a healthy 21 starters (even if many of them weren’t able to play in all rounds) compared to only 12 starters for the club champs last year. The crosstable, summary statistics, and individual statistics have all been updated on their respective pages.

If you have been thinking about coming along for a look then June 11 at 7pm is your best bet. Next week (June 4) is the last night for the really serious chess of the club champs. After that we will revert back to something a little less formal with a series of quick fire games. Games will kick off shortly after 7, so dont be late if you want to take part in the mini tournament. New members are always welcome.

As an added incentive to sharpen up club members now receive a ranking based on their club rating. In groups of three starting from the highest ranked player each member will be successively designated king, queen, rook, bishop, and knight, with the remaining members designated as pawns. Your club ranking will appear next to your rating here. Check out how you rate, and try and make your way up the hierarchy each week!

A rather sedate night tonight with no upsets, fireworks, or sparks. Michael now in an unassailable lead given that Hilton is not going to be present next week. Still some life in the battle for the minor placings so dont miss the final round next week. Ian lost again, but at least this time his game made it in to double figures. Player ratings, summary statistics, and individual member crosstables have all been updated to reflect tonight’s games, and the updated crosstable has been posted under events. One round to go …….

Club ratings are now based on 459 games since the start of the year. As more members play in excess of thirty games the K factor will drop and ratings will stablize out, making it more difficult to improve (and destroy) ones rating. Note also that players generally wont lose or gain rating points when there is a wide gap between ratings and the game goes as expected (ie the stronger player wins). This can be seen when you examine the rating changes that occurred after last nights games, with Daniel gaining the most points from his win against the higher rated Stefan:

Round six saw Michael overtake Christopher on the top spot of the crosstable following a close game between the two of them on board one. Christopher moves down to number three sharing 4 points with Daniel, with Hilton in second on 4.5 and Michael on 5. With two rounds to go there is still real competition in the Gold-Silver-Bronze. Two draws also this evening with Gary and Richard splitting the point, as did Sivoram and Craig. Game of the night was Daniel-Stefan, which came down to queen and pawn to queen. Once Stefan ran out of checks Daniel took the honours and gained significant ratings points in the process. Ian managed the wooden spoon of the tournament (year?) award losing in spectacular style to Hilton in nine moves. Next week his goal is that the game might make it in to double figures. Player ratings, summary statistics, and individual member crosstables have all been updated to reflect tonight’s games, and the updated crosstable has been posted under events. Two rounds to go …….

Michael has kindly provided some analysis of his game with Hilton last night.  The permanent link can be found in the library under the menu above. Text can be copied to a pgn file for replay. (Further contributions to the library always welcome). Michael won in 46 moves but given that both players were under time pressure things may have turned out differently if Hilton had spotted the way to win Michaels queen on move 42. In the diagrammed position Michael has just played Rc1 in response to Hilton’s Rf1 check. Hilton responded Rf2, but could have won the queen with an alternative move. Can you spot the better continuation, without asking your German friend?

The 2013 North Island Rapid Chess Championship, a  Myer Tan Nz Grand Prix Class 2 Event, will be held at St. Paul’s Collegiate School, Hukanui Road, Hamilton Sunday 23^rd June, 2013. The format is a FIDE and NZCF rapid rated 6 round Swiss tournament, with each player having 25 minutes plus 5 seconds added from move one. Minimum total prize fund will be $700 (1st: $200,  2nd:$150,  3rd:$100;  plus grade prizes – cash & chess books – to the value of $250.

Players meeting:     9am sharp, entries close. Round 1 9:30 am – 10:30 am; Round 2 11:00 am – 12 noon; Round 3 12:45 pm – 1:45 pm; Round 4 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm; Round 5 3:15 pm – 4:15 pm; Round 6 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm. Prize-giving will follow as soon as possible after the completion of the last round. All players must be NZCF registered.

Entry Fees: $40 if received by Friday 21^st June.  Late entry fee $7.50 (if entry received after 21^st June)

NZCF player registration fee $20, if not already registered for 2013. The registration page is here. A tournament flyer is here. This will be great chess in a great venue. We hope to see you there

Round five once again provided some red hot games. Michael and Hilton went into a Kings Indian Defence in the first showdown of the club heavyweights. Hilton swapped a queen for minor pieces but in the end Michael came through to take the game 1-0. Daniel managed to create passed pawns on both sides of the board against Graham for a well deserved win. Damian and Sivoram’s game was very close and could have gone either way down to the last move, but Damian came through in the end. Damian Michael and Daniel were the biggest winners of rating points on the night picking up 21, 18, and 11 respectively. Player ratings, summary statistics, and individual member crosstables have all been updated to reflect tonight’s games, and the updated crosstable has been posted under events. Three rounds to go.

Dont forget you can follow Hamilton Chess Club on facebook!

Changes to member ratings now reflect the number of games previously played. If a player has played 30 or fewer games the number of rating points at stake for that individual  in that particular game (referred to as the K-factor in the ELO system) will be 32. In theory, after a sufficient number of games have been played, ratings should become more stable and to reflect this the rating points at stake (ie the K-factor) will be reduced to 16 after an individual has played more than 30 games. A full explanation is here. Ratings have been reworked for all rated tournaments since 1/1/13 to reflect the modification. Members can now also review their own individual crosstable against other club members for all rated games here. The permanent link to this page is “Individual Member Crosstables” under Club Ratings, top right.