Hamilton Chess Club

Winter cup rounds 3 and 4 last night. Daniel is in the lead on 3.5  followed by Richard Craig and Eddie. Club ratings have been updated with Craig Daniel and Nick achieving all time personal bests . Craigs rise is particularly notable — he has picked up 38 club rating points in his last 10 games. Richard has overtaken Michael as the top rated club player. Final two rounds next week, then a couple of weeks of blitz

Only two days to go until the Waikato Open. We have around 35 entries so far, keep those entries coming !

The first two rounds of the winter cup were held last night. Seventeen players turned out. Currently Daniel, Gary, and Eddie lead the pack on two points each. Craig picked up some valuable club rating points with a win against William followed by a draw against Milton. A permanent link to the crosstable can be found under Events >2014. Club ratings have been updated. It is not too late to join in next week. Remember games kick off 7:30 sharp so don’t be late.

Club ratings have been updated reflecting the first four rounds of the rapid and Richard has managed to knock Michael off top spot. Currently he sits on 1648 points. He will be looking to pick up a few more points now to see if he can break the all time club ranking high of 1658 points that Michael had set on 23/6/13. Hats off to Richard.

We will run the inaugural winter cup over the next three weeks. Format will be a six round Swiss with two games per night, each at time control 25 + 0. The tournament is open to non members and guests, so if you have been thinking of coming along for a look this is your chance.

After four rounds of the Club rapid championship Richard leads on 4 points, followed by Graham, Milton, William, and Daniel all on three points each. We will take a break from the rapid now, and then conclude with rounds 5 6 and 7 in September and October.

The club welcomes Dhusar Chatterjee as its 35th member. Dhusar is eleven and joins an expanding group of juniors at the club. He has played eight ratable games so far and enters the club rating board with 1458 points. Dhusar has already signed up for the Waikato open in a couple of weeks time. Welcome Dhusar.

The club website, which began a little over 3 years ago on 24/02/2011, has just passed 50,000 hits. For those of you that dont remember, our most popular post ever was “Female Grandmaster Wins Rookies Shield” was here. A graph of visitors and views over the last 28 days can be seen here.

Club rapid round 3 last night. Richard and Graham lead on three points each. The crosstable has been updated here. Round 4 next week with a break then until round 5 in September. We will run the Winter cup, two games per night over 3 nights from 17/6/2014 as set out in the calendar. Club ratings have been updated: Richard, Eddie, Milton and Dave achieved personal bests this week. Richard only needs a couple of points and he will knock Michael off of top spot.

We currently have a members only tournament running on club nights. If you are a guest or prospective member we will be starting a less formal tournament running for three weeks from 24 June. Games will be about an hour long and there will be two per night. We would prefer that people commit to attending for all three weeks.  Alternatively,  we will be playing “blitz” games, 6 games per night, each of about 12 minutes duration, on the 8th and 15th of July. The blitz nights are usually the best for newbies to come along to so as to get a feel for the club.

The club rapid championship kicked off last night. We will have rounds 2, 3, and 4 over the next 3 weeks, with subsequent rounds later in the year. A permanent link to the crosstable can be found under events > 2014 above. As is usual in a seeded tournament such as this the first round was characterized by some pretty uneven matchups in playing strength, but as the rounds progress opponents will find themselves more evenly balanced. This year we have 20 starters, and may pick up a few latecomers with subsequent rounds. Last year we only had 17 entrants, and in 2012 there were only 12, so club membership and participation are blossoming

The club welcomes Nithin Perumal as a full member. The club now has 32 financial members (and one member in arrears). At 8 years old Nithin joins the group of youngsters that are regulars at the club. The 6 rated games that Nithin has played so far earn him a club rating of 1405, placing him between Adam and Elijah. We look forward to Nithin participating in the club rapid from tomorrow night. Welcome Nithin.

The club welcomes Milton as its newest member. Milton is a strong player scoring an impressive four out of six in the first round of the blitz, followed by a first equal of five out of six last week. The twelve ratable games that he has played so far mean he enters the ratings board with the rank Queen, a rating of 1611, and is now the fourth strongest club member by club rating. Milton is a serious contender for club blitz champion currently placed second overall. Welcome Milton.

A permanent link to the club night calendar for the rest of the year can now be found at the top left of the screen. As you can see there will be a range of different formats throughout the remainder of the year with an emphasis on slightly longer games at the expense of less blitz nights. There will be a graded round robin later in the year so members will need to watch their club ratings if they wish to play in the higher ranked divisions. There are a couple of novelty formats too. The program is not cast in stone, and can be modified if there are reasonable suggestions or additions.

We will commence the Club Rapid next week. This will be a members only event with time control 25 + 5, one game per night. The first three games will run over the next three weeks, with rounds 4 and 5, and then 6 and 7 later in the year. A full timetable for the rest of the year will be posted shortly.

Sean Clark joined up last night. Sean has been coming along for some weeks now and has proved a good sparing partner for the group of Junior members of the club. He has 23 games ratable for club purposes, and enters the ratings board on 1493 which places him between Adam and Elijah.

We had 20 for round 2 of the blitz last evening, which is a near record number for a club night. Richard and Milton took line honours on 5 points each, and Sivoram had a strong night scoring 4.5. Personal best club ratings were achieved by five players as Richard inched his way towards the top of the board. A permanent link to the club blitz results can be found under Events > 2014 > Club Blitz Champs. Club ratings have been updated also

“Yes, I have played a blitz game once. It was on a train, in 1929.” – Mikhail Botvinnik

Blitz round 1 last night. Crosstables and cumulative points tables are here. Member ratings have been updated to reflect last nights games. Round 2 next week. Dont be late.

“Blitz rots the brain just as surely as alcohol.” – Nigel Short