Hamilton Chess Club

The club welcomes Chris Rezon as its newest member.

Club champs kicked off last night with 24 players putting their hats in the ring. Special mention to Peter Ladur who took Hilton to a technical draw with opposite coloured bishops only to miss out due to the clock. Remember you can still join up in week 2 and claim a retrospective bye for round one. No joining week three and beyond. As Ian is away next week and their is no capacity to request byes via email the draw will be done on the night for the next two nights, so dont turn up late. Also remember no play on Easter Tuesday

Standings at round one

Club ratings have been updated to include the just completed Summer Cup

Remember that our premier event, the club champs, will kick off on Tuesday 22 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 (interrupted by Easter, and the school holidays).

The format will be start time 7.15pm (7.30 on week 1), 1 game per night, open to financial members (or financial members temporarily in arrears), and newly paid up members, only. 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: $40 per year, or $25 for 6 months. Juniors $20 per year)

A single division Swiss Style Tournament. The overall winner will be awarded the title Club Champion 2021 and receive all the accolades that are associated with the title. The highest rated junior  will be awarded the title Club Junior Champion 2021.

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 and two, 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 in week three or beyond.

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 (Hilton 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 the Sunday 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.

The Summer Cup was a clean sweep to Richard on 6.0. Club champs begin next week

The club welcomes two new junior members, Peter Ladur and Poen Hsieh

The country is back at level one, so club nights resume on Tuesday

We may be in for a stop start sort of a year. Club nights will run when all of New Zealand is at level one. That means no chess next week I am afraid. Once the country is back at level one we will resume. Hopefully see you soon

The club welcomes Leon Lee as its newest member.

Current standings are below, final two rounds next week

With the club now back up and running member subscriptions have been adjusted. If you had an active sub at the time the club went into recess you have had the expiry date extended by 11 months. Members that had not yet paid there 2021 subs are now in arrears. You can check when your sub is due by visiting this page

The club welcomes Fuatai as its newest member.

Club ratings have been updated

Thirty players turned out for the icebreaker blitz which I think is a club record. Honours go to Hilton on 5.5. Next week we will have slower paced chess, 2 games per night over three weeks. Please make a commitment to come to all three nights. We look forward to many of the new faces last night turning into regular attenders and fully fledged members

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After a long covid winter the chess club will resume activity at 7pm on February 2nd 2021 (assuming the country is in level one). The playing calendar for term one 2021 has been posted. Hope to see you all again soon.

Sadly as the year draws to a close the club will remain in covid recess for the remainder of the year.

Richard (AKA Chessy64) takes line honours in our second virtual tournament. Email Andrew if you want to take part in the new tournament starting next week.

We will have a virtual Swiss over the next three weeks, two games per week at time control 20+ 0. If you don’t know how to join contact Andrew (see below). Please don’t join if you know you cant commit to the three weeks. Be in the waiting room at 7:20. Kickoff is 7:30

Thirteen players for our first virtual tournament. Cross table below. First blood to Prashanth

Club nights will resume this Tuesday 25th August in virtual format. We will start with a six round swiss on the Lichess server. Time control will be 5 + 3 with one minute between rounds. Start time is 7:30 so be in the waiting room by 7:25. If you dont have a Lichess username or account go and sign up now for free (maybe you could use your initials so other club members know who they are playing). Andrew Malcouronne is Director Of Play so you need to email him to become part of the HCC Lichess user group. If you are not already member of the group then email  Andrew (see below). Assuming things go smoothly we will run some more traditional club events (like 20 + 0, 3 games per night over 2 nights, etc) starting from next week.

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