Club member William Lynn recently went to Hamilton West primary school to assist with the setting up of a chess club. Hamilton Chess Club was acknowledged favourably in the school newsletter and we hope that William’s efforts translate into more youngsters attending the Rookies events next year, as well as raising the profile of chess in the Waikato more generally.
Peter has sent us an update from the Istanbul Olympiad. Not quite sure what it says, although he seems pleased with “Halverwege op 50% !!”. Even if you cant decipher the report I have appended the photos he sent to this page. We will need to have him elaborate on what the chess team were doing at the “Bermuda Party” when he gets back !!!
Woensdag 5 september 2012.
Halverwege op 50% !!
In mijn vorige verslag eindigde ik bij de wedstrijd tegen USA. Natuurlijk verloren we deze wedstrijd, maar daarna werd er geweldig gestreden en dankzij forse overwinningen in de laatste 2 ronden zijn we terug op 50% ! We speelden achtereenvolgens tegen Nederlandse Antillen (was dat niet een provincie van Nl.?) Estland, Luxemburg, Sri Lanka, Yemen en Zambia. Er had zelfs meer in gezeten (oa 3x dezelfde stelling in gewonnen positie) maar 50 % is voor NZL gewoon goed. De sfeer is prima, er wordt volop geschaakt en voorbereid en tussendoor is er ook tijd voor ontspanning. Kortom, de captain/coach is tevreden.
Het blijft natuurlijk ook fantastisch om hier aanwezig te mogen zijn. Inmiddels al vele topspelers her en der ontmoet (Bermuda party, gym, etc.) en nog steeds geweldig om zoveel verschillende culturen bij elkaar te zien. Vandaag spelen we tegen Syrie trouwens wat wel erg vreemd is nadat we gisteren op CNN een reportage vanuit Syrie zagen waaarin een meisje in haar huis werd dood geschoten. Dat relativeert alles wel weer behoorlijk en over een week zal het “echte” leven ongetwijfeld ook wel weer wennen zijn. Maar voorlopig nog volop genieten van deze schaakwereld !!
Here with the assistance of Google Translate is what he actually said:
Wednesday, September 5, 2012.
Halfway to 50%!
In my previous report I finished the match against USA. Of course we lost this match, but then there was great battle and thanks to significant victories in the last 2 laps we are back at 50%! We played consecutively against Netherlands Antilles (that was not a province of Eng.?) Estonia, Luxembourg, Sri Lanka, Yemen and Zambia. There had been even more (eg 3x same proposition in playing position) but 50% for NZL just fine. The atmosphere is fine, there is plenty of chess and prepared and in between there is time to relax. In short, the captain / coach is satisfied.
It is still too great to be here to be. Meanwhile many top players here and met (Bermuda Party, gymnastics, etc.) and still great to so many different cultures in one place. Today we play against Syria by the way what is very strange after we yesterday on CNN a report from Syria waaarin saw a girl in her home was shot. That puts everything again properly and in a week it will be “real” life undoubtedly have to get used to. But for now still enjoy this chess!
We will be having a six round swiss at short time control next Tuesday so dont be late or you will miss out
Lately we seem to be adding one new member a week. Last night Eric Cookson took the plunge and joined up. Eric has been coming along for several weeks now and is fitting in well at the club. We welcome him as our newest member.
We had quite a lot of ladder activity last night, see the link at the top right of the home page for the updated results. The 25 + 5 doesnt seem to be a popular option, so has been shortened to 15 + 0, but most members seem to prefer the shorter 5 + 0.
Peter has sent us a few photos from the Olympiad in Istanbul. Currently the mens team after 3 rounds have 3 points out of a possible 12 ( 0.5:3.5 Germany, 2.5:1.5 Nepal and 0:4 Paraguay). The best individual result is a draw achieved by Nicolas Croad against German GM I. Khenkin with a FIDE rating 401 points higher. The womens team have played 2 rounds and have 3.5 points out of 8 (0:4 USA, 3.5:0.5 Netherlands Antilles).
The club welcomes Daniel Davis as our newest member. Daniel recently played in the recent Waikato Open and scored 2.5 in the under 1800 division. Like our other junior members his chess is making some of the older members work hard to maintain their dignity over the board. Recently we have been adding a new member every one to two weeks so the future for the club looks bright.
As a new feature the club has added ladders for 25+5 and 5+0 chess — see the menu at the top right of this page. To improve your place on the ladder (and the associated bragging rights) you must challenge (and beat) someone with a higher rating than yourself. Inform Ian of your win and the ladder will be updated. The rules for the ladder competition may evolve (I am open to suggestions), but at this point there are only two (in addition to the usual rules of chess, of course):
1. No re-match on a particular night: 1 game, 1 result only to count. 2. If your subscription remains unpaid for more than a few weeks you will slide to the bottom of the ladder.
Currently Colin Barrett Hogg occupies the top spot on both ladders, and given his relative rarity at the club of late, he might stay there for some time !!
The pundits were guessing who the “Mystery Guest” was going to be at the club night on Tuesday. Turns out that that Ian had organized a “Grim Reaper” tournament and that the Mystery Guest was none other than the Grim Reaper himself (sort of). The tournament attracted 14 players and was a handicap knockout blitz that was eventually won by Micheal Freeman following a tense last round against Peter Hulshof. Players were allocated a certain number of lives at the start of the tournament based on NZCF rapid rating, losing one life for each lost game, and being eliminated when they had no remaining lives. The “Grim Reaper” was Shredder playing on an 1800 rating that acted as the opponent to the odd man out when there were an odd number of players in a particular round. Needless to say nobody survived their tussle with the reaper who served well to clean up the stragglers. The tournament was quick fire, went to seven or eight rounds, and was generally enjoyed by all. Next time I think we will amend the rules such that if any two players get paired against each other in two consecutive rounds then that round is re – drawn to avoid the repetition. And perhaps the arbiter should start with a few extra lives as well.
The club welcomes Graham Nolan as its newest member. Graham performed strongly at the Waikato Open recently gaining 3.5 points out of 6 in the Open division, and will be a strong contender in future local tournaments, and in the club champs and rapid next year.
We tied with our best ever previous turnout for the Rookies today with 30 competitors. Special kudos to those that travelled from as far afield as Rotorua and Auckland to take part. First overall was taken out by Benjamin Symon –participation in club night games has increased his ability in the last few months and he will be giving big brother Christopher a run for his money soon. Second and third went to club members Murray Tuatini and George Tuwhangai. Age division first and second prizes for U16 U14 U12 U10 and U8 were also awarded – the final crosstable and full details of all prizewinners and the tiebreak points can be found here, and these are the photos. Special thanks to Hilton for giving a simul against 6 players during the lunchbreak – hopefully we can provide the same challenge at next year’s events. This was the last rookies tournament for 2012 but we look forward to seeing you all again next year when maybe we can get to 40 participants.
Castling is for sissies — Anon
Only three more and we will have reached 30
Numbers are looking good for this weeks Rookies Tournament with in excess of 20 entries. Make sure you dont miss out, register now
Hilton has managed to take the title of Club Rapid Champ 2012 with 4.5 out of 5, dropping only half a point to the second place getter Stefan. For the rest of us it is a case of “Maybe next year …. ” as usual. For his efforts Hilton’s name is now immortalized in the hall of fame. Final cross table is here. Next week we have a one night blitz tournament like no other – definitely not to be missed.
The link has now been updated so that you can access all the games (both u1800 and open grade divisions) of the Waikato Open Tournament 2012 in .pgn format
The results after round 4 are posted here. The final weeks draw will be
Hilton:Michael
Richard:Stefan
Ian:William
Murray:George
Benjamin:Craig
The games for the Waikato Open 2012 are now available here in .pgn format. Currently only the Open Grade games are available, we hope to make the under 1800 grade games available in the near future. (The page is located permanently under Events > Waikato Open 2012).
Combining a top class venue with the organisational skills of Hilton Bennett and Keong Ang meant that once again the Waikato Open was a resounding success for the forty six participants, some from as far away as the South Island. The Open division was contested by 22 individuals including one IM and 3 FM. First place (4.5 out of 6) was a three way tie between Ben Hague, Mark Noble, and Ralph Hart. The Len Whitehouse Memorial Trophy for the best Waikato Player in the open division went to club member William Lynn. Twenty four aspirants tussled it out in the under 1800 division with first placed (5.0 out of 6) shared equally by Ian Kennedy and Nigel Crombie. David Chen and Arvin Lim took the first equal grade prize in the under 1500. The William Lynn Trophy for the best local junior was shared by Sheng Cao and Daniel Davis. A big thank you to all the participants and we look forward to an even bigger tournament turnout next year. Cross tables are located here and once again the obligatory rogues gallery is included here.
Hamilton Chess Club 