Hamilton Chess Club

Last nights crosstables are below. We ran the competition in two divisions, with Graham achieving a perfect 7 in the Open grade, and Jeff leading on 5.5 in the Juniors. Total competition points across the two nights mean that Graham is Club Lightning Champion for 2015 on 12 points, with Jeff Club Junior Lightning Champion 2015 on 9. Spring Cup next week. See you there

Open

Junior

If you have been thinking about coming along for a look then next week 10 November at 7pm is a good place to start. We will have an evening of lightning chess, 7 games at time control 3 minutes plus 2 second increment per move from move one.  We will have a slower format the following week; guests welcome then as well. Come along and join in the fun.

Lightning round 1 last night. Round 2 next week. The title of Club Lightning champion 2015 will go to the player with the highest cumulative score across the 2 weeks. If there is a tie then tie break points will be added from week 1 and week 2 and used to determine the title holder.

If you have been thinking about coming along for a look then next week 3 November at 7pm is a good place to start. We will have an evening of lightning chess, 7 games at time control 3 minutes plus 2 second increment per move from move one.  The same format will repeat the following week. New members are welcome. Come along and join in the fun.

After five rounds the final crosstables are below. Congratulations to Richard, Prashant, Alex and Jarvis.

Division A

Division B

Division C

Matt Recently enjoyed a break in New York and took time out to visit the Marshall Chess Club, and play a few chess Hustlers in nearby Bryant Park. Some photos of his trip appear below.

The Marshall Chess Club, in Greenwich Village, New York City, is one of the oldest chess clubs in the United States. The club was formed in 1915 by a group of players led by Frank Marshall. It is a nonprofit organization and a gold affiliate of the United States Chess Federation

The Marshall Chess Club was a long-time rival of the Manhattan Chess Club, which ran from 1877 to 2002. The club had several temporary meeting places until it moved permanently to 23 West Tenth Street in 1931, where it occupies two floors of a townhouse that the club owns. Marshall was the leader of the club until his death in 1944, when his wife Caroline took over its leadership. Some notable members of the club have been Fabiano Caruana, Arthur Dake, Larry Evans, Reuben Fine, Bobby Fischer, Stanley Kubrick, Edmar Mednis, Hikaru Nakamura, Fred Reinfeld, Anthony Santasiere, Herbert Seidman, James Sherwin, Albert Simonson, Andy Soltis, and Howard Stern. The club has been the site of several rounds of the U.S. Chess Championship. Bobby Fischer played in the 1965 Capablanca Memorial Tournament being held in Havana, Cuba via Teletype from the club. The Game of the Century also was played there

After 4 rounds Richard, Prashant lead divisions A and B respectively, while Alex and Jarvis share first place in division C

Final round next week, followed by a brief AGM, and then casual chess for the rest of the night.

Division A

Division B

Divison C

We will have a very brief AGM following the final round of the Round Robin Next week. Last years minutes are here. Nominations for office bearers are now open.

The Round Robin kicked off last night with 19 players in 3 divisions. Division C is being run Swiss style, with Goen and Alex in the lead at present. Cross tables below. Rounds 3 and 4 next week.

Division A

Division B

Division C

Several club members participated in the recent interschool national chess champs held in Palmerston North. Teams from Hamilton Boys High, Fairfield Intermediate, and Hukanui primary took part in their  respective divisions. Placings were 4th = (of 10) for HBHS, 5th= (of 12) for Fairfield, and 6th= (of 12) for Hukanui. Special mention to Sivaram who managed 6 points out of a possible 7 on board 3. As his score was five wins and 2 draws, he managed to come through without a single loss. Even though this was a team event,  individual commendations for Waikato players go to the following

Tomorrow night 13/10/15 we will start a graded round robin tournament. There will be three (or possibly four) divisions depending on numbers:  An  A and B grade consisting on groups of six players based on club ranking. There will also be a C grade that will be a five round Swiss style tournament. There will be two games  this week and again next week, with the fifth and final game 27/10/15. Please players  will need to commit to being there on each of the three nights to take part. See you there.

Over the last several months there has been discussion among senior members with respect to the direction of the club.

The Hamilton Chess Club exists for the benefit of members that want to play serious chess in a controlled, relatively quiet, peaceful environment. In addition there are issues of responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of youngsters (think: broken arm following a fall on the stairs, or an exuberant dash across the carpark late at night).

In respect of the above the executive have decided that henceforth:

The minimum age for new club members will be 12 years. In addition any member under the age of 14 must be fully supervised by a parent or guardian while participating at the club – no exceptions.

Exisiting members under the age of 12 can continue uninterrupted membership as at present, but we  will require a parent or guardian to remain on site during club nights.

We regret this change may disappoint some of our younger juniors but believe it to be necessary to best enable us to ensure the long term vigour of chess in the Waikato. We would encourage younger players to become more fully involved with school chess clubs (and request that their school start one if necessary). We thank all our parents for their understanding. In addition Richard Jackson has indicated he may consider hosting a chess club solely for juniors if a suitable venue can be identified.

We will start back on October 13th with a round robin run over 3 nights. Players will be in groups of six based on club rating. There will be two games per night  on October 13 and 20, and the fifth and final game wiil be on October 27. Time control is 25 + 0. See you there.

The club is in recess for the school holidays. Normal club nights resume October 13.

Club Member Prashant Mistry scored an impressive win at last weeks North Shore Open, taking out the B division with a perfect score of 6 from 6. Prashant collected a sizable monetary prize for his efforts. Well done.

Paul is the club’s newest member. He has played 26 rated games so far and enters the club rating list on 1483 points.Welcome Paul.

Richard Dare and Joel Crombie are the club Rapid Champions for 2015, both coming through their respective tournaments with perfect 6 out of 6. Joel wins a book prize for his efforts. Sean and Jeff  came second and third respectively in the Junior division with Stefan and Christopher second and third in the open. Final crosstables are here. The Previous Champions page has been updated also.

We had round five of the club Rapid Champs  last night. Joel now has an unassailable lead in the Junior section so will claim the book prize for Juniors. Stefan can potentially still tie for first place with Richard in the open, although the real race is for the minor placings. Final round next week. Games kick off at 730pm. Be there by 7:20 or you wont make the draw. Junior pickup at 8:15 please.

Junior

Open

We had two new juniors (Alex Liu, and Geon Choi) and an adult (John Chin) sign up as new members last night. All three have been included on the updated statistics page. Welcome.

The club rapid tournament resumes at round five next week. We will have one game per week at 25 + 5 time control. Rember  we will have a book prize for the winner of the Junior division. As there is only one organized game on the night pickup for Juniors will be around 8:15 please. Note that this is a members only event. You can join the club on the night and play out the remaining two rounds of the tournament if you wish. The crosstable after the first four rounds can be found here.