Hamilton Chess Club

Twenty teams (9 primary, 7 intermediate, and 4 secondary) battled it out on Sunday for the privilege of representing the Waikato Region at the National Schools’ Chess Competition in Palmerston North in September.

Hukanui “1” (on 15 points) came first in the primary division with Southwell “1” (14.5) and Southwell “2” (11) coming 2nd and 3rd respectively.

The intermediate division was won convincingly by Fairfield “1” on 19 points with Southwell “1” (14.5) and Fairfield “2” (11) taking silver and bronze.

The Secondary division was contested by two teams from St Pauls and Hamilton Boys High School. St Pauls “1” and HBHS “1” tied on 9.5 points apiece, and there was nothing to seperate the teams on tie break either. This lead to a “penalty shoot out” of sorts with the teams vying it out against each other in a deciding playoff with a resounding 4-0 win to HBHS “1” .

We wish all the teams success at the forthcoming national event. A complete crosstable is available here and these are some photos  from the event.

When the current rapid finishes we will be having a one night blitz tournament with a special guest …….

The results after round 2 are posted here. Next weeks draw will be
Hilton:Richard
Ian:Stefan
Craig:Michael
Murray:Benjamin
William:George

There are 10 contenders for the glory of Club Rapid Champion 2012. Round one is completed and the 25 + 5 tournament will run over the next four weeks. The crosstable is here. Next weeks draw will be:
Stefan      —   Michael
Benjamin  —  Richard
George     —  Craig
Murray     —  Ian
William     —  Hilton

The July NZCF ratings are out. Club members fared well: 9 made gains in their rapid rating (with 3 losing) and 6 made gains in their standard rating (with 2 losing).

The big winner was Michael Metham who improved his standard rating by 172 points. Other substantial gains went to Craig (+32 rapid), Stefan (+45 rapid) and Brett (+59 rapid). The club rating list has been updated, and the full NZCF list can be found here.

The Waikato Open is coming soon — register now for the opportunity to polish up your standard rating!!

“The Pin is mightier than the sword.”

– Fred Reinfeld

The 40th Chess Olympiad is scheduled to take place in the Turkish metropole of Istanbul, from August 27 to September 10th, 2012. The Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other, it can be seen as the unofficial world team championship. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation. The previous Olympiad was held in 2010 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, the next will be in Tromsø, Norway. The first was held in Paris, France, in 1924, with 16 nations participating. The last Olympiad had 143 nations, 1294 competitors, and included no fewer than 254 grandmasters, 65 WGMs, 159 IMs, and 90 WIMs. This time the organisers are expecting even more.

We are pleased to report that two members of the Hamilton Chess Club will be attending this years Olympiad: Hilton Bennett as captain of the men’s team, and Peter Hulshof as captain of the Women’s team.

Open team (in possible board order):
FM Nic Croad, IM Russell Dive, IM Paul Garbett, FM Mike Steadman, Luke Li
Captain: Hilton Bennett
Women’s team (in board order):
wim Sue Maroroa, wfm Helen Milligan, Judy Gao, wfm Nicole Tsoi, wfm Natasha Fairley
Captain: Peter Hulshof

Winter rapid final results below — a win for Peter, with Gary second. Casual chess next week.

We had seventeen for rookies round 2. Christopher Symon came first with 6.5 out of a possible 7, dropping a half point to Murray Tuatini. David Chen and Nigel Crombie were tied on 5 points a piece, but David took second on tiebreak with Nigel third. Gary Judkins got the prize for best adult, and Maimoena Hulshof edged out her sister Zamiena for best girl. Age based prizes went to Benjamin Symon (U14), Sam Eddy (U12), Finlay Buckell (U10), and Campbell Wood (U8). Campbell was especially proud of his victory over Luke Halliwell. The full cross table is here, and a rogues gallery of photos is here. The final Rookies tournament for the year will be on 19 August.

Hurry and get your registration in to avoid disappointment, this is shaping up to be a well attended tournament with a good range of talent to test yourself against. Dont miss out!!!

The round four results are in. Final two rounds next week.

The club welcomes our newest member George Tuwhangai. George has been coming along to club nights for the last several weeks and has now joined as a fully fledged member. He managed to score a win in the first round of the club Winter rapid last night, and is looking forward to next weeks’ games

We kicked off a  six round mini rapid last night with 9 players. Welcome back to Michael returning after a long absence from chess, and welcome also to our newest member George Tuwhangai.
Standings at round 2:

…. Peter Hulshof has taken out the Title of Club Champion 2012 with an impressive 6.5 out of 7 score. For his efforts he gets $40 in prize money, the Trophy, and of course the accolades that go with the achievement. The final crosstable can be found here. If that wasnt enough, Peter also managed to take out the $20 prize for “Best Tactic Or Combination Leading To A Decisive Winning Advantage” with his neat 16. Bf4.

For the rest of us, as always, it is a case of “Next year, next year, next year I will come through victorious!!!!”.

Well… not those All Blacks, just that all games played were 0-1. With Hilton in Australia next week Peter now has an unassailable lead, so the contest is on for the minor placings. Final round next week. After that a six round rapid two games per night for three weeks.
Crosstable at round six …

In a gambit, you give up a pawn for the sake of getting a lost game

As well as leading the field for the title of Club Champion 2012, Peter Hulshof is now the main contender for the “Best Tactic Or Combination Leading To A Decisive Winning Advantage” award following a clever sequence in last week’s game against Stefan. His 16 Bf4 forces the black e-pawn forward which, following B x P both clears the e file and compels the knight onto e5, where it can be pinned against the king. The knight then falls to f4 followed by f4 x N. With his position in tatters, Stefan’s only recourse was to resign. Full analysis can be found here. Next week is the penultimate round for the Club Champs, but it will be your last chance to submit a combination for the above award.

Calling all rookies and juniors

After a long hiatus the next rookies shield event will be held at Hamilton Girls High School on June 24th

Where
Hamilton Chess Centre, Room G1, Hamilton Girls High School, enter from Hill St
Entry fees – cash only please – Juniors (and club members): $10, Adults: $15 *
Game time 15 minutes each player

Program
11 am Registration; Introduction.
11.30 am – 1 pm Rounds 1, 2 and 3,
1.10 pm Lunch break
1.50 – 2.55 pm Rounds 4, 5
2.55 pm Snack break
3.05 pm Rounds 6, 7 (Final)
4.15 pm Awarding of prizes

Cash Prizes: for 1st, 2nd and 3rd open, and best adult, best U18, U16, U14, U12, U10, U8, highest scoring girl.

Prior registration required to allow planning

To avoid disappointment register now; don’t delay

**Entries are restricted to players under 1600 NZCF rapid rating as this is a Rookies event – which still includes 80% of rated chess players!
**In case of tied scores a tiebreak count back will be used to allocate prizes. Only one prize per competitor
**Age is based on the date of the tournament, not 1 Jan
**Event will go ahead providing a minimum of 18 registrants indicate attendance

There are two more weeks to run for the club championship. From 12 June we will run a winter rapid over 3 nights, two rounds per night, with time control 20/5