Author: Simon

Chess is back for now. and there are several things coming up

• Monday October 19 is round 2 of the Club Champs
• Saturday October 24 – Monday October 26 is the Merv Morrison tournament being held at the Club during the holiday weekend
• No Chess on Monday evening October 25
• Sunday November 1st is the Junior Interclub, Please sign up if you are interested in playing
• Monday November 2 is round 3 of the Club Champs
• Sunday November 8 will be the last round of the B Grade Interclub
• Interclub Lighting Teams will be held on Sunday November 15th.

Of the above

• The Merv Morrison is accepting entries, enter online or with Mike Steadman
• Junior Interclub is looking for plays, signup or contact Simon Lyall
• The Blitz Interclub is looking for players (Open and Under-1800) to play.

Club Champs Round 1

Vega page

A number of players had to withdraw from the tournament (mainly due to exams) while several others did not turn up to round 1. Hopefully things will settle down for round 2.

With the wide gap between players there were only two upsets in the first round. Also Grayson Po’e-Tofaeono had Nathan Goodhue under pressure for some time, but Nathan was able to survive and win.

Upsets were:

Lucas Xiao drew with Richard Taylor
Michael Ma drew with Anderson Chen

Following the government announcement that Auckland is going back to Level 1 we are planning to restart Monday Night chess on Monday October 12th with the 2020 Club Champs.

The Club Champs will be played as a single-grade Swiss tournament of up to 9 rounds, See that post for more details. The list of current entries for the Club Champs is here. Please let Simon know if you like you name added or removed.

The Auckland Chess Association is also planning to resume Interclub Chess in October. Proposed dates are:

• Sunday 18 October – B Grade Interclub round 4
• Sunday 1 November – Junior Interclub
• Sunday 8 November – B Grade Interclub round 5

The latest announcement from the government has put back our earliest possible return day to Monday the 28th of September since we cannot restart chess till we are back at Level One.

As per the previous announcement we still hope to run the Club Champs as a Single Swiss Grade. See that post for more details.

The list of current entries for the Club Champs is here. Please let Simon know if you like you name added or removed.

Due to the second Covid19 lockdown Monday Night Chess has been cancelled since early August. Since chess involves close contact with many people for long periods we are unable to play unless the alert level is at Level 1.

The latest announcement by the government is that Auckland will not go to Level one till at least Wednesday the 16th of September.

With this in mind out current schedule is to start the Club Champs on Monday the 21st of September. The tournament would be:

• Single Swiss Grade Covering all players
• 80 entries max
• 90 minutes plus 30s/move
• FIDE and NZCF Rated
• Rescheduled/shortened in the event of further lock downs

Unfortunately round-robin events are too vulnerable to disruption by missed nights or missing players. Hence we have decided to stick with a Swiss which gives us some flexibility.

Due to the Level 3 Covid-19 lockdown the Chess Centre will be closed on Monday the 17th of August.

It is very likely that the club will be closed on August 24th and potentially following Monday. Chess cannot be restarted until we are back at level 1.

Rounds 4-6 of the Spring Cup are cancelled and the event will be shortened to just 3 rounds. Rounds played will be submitted to NZCF and FIDE for rating.

Once we have a firm restart date we will decide on a calendar of events.

With the Latest Covid-19 lockdown there is a good chance that Monday Chess will be suspended for a time. We will post an update once the government announces an update to the lockdown.

A reminder to check that you have entered the Club Champs. This will probably be the next event to be held. Check the vega page to make sure you are entered.

The Spring Rapid is the 2nd leg (after the Blitz) of the ACC Rapid Champs. Points earned in each event got towards determining the winner.

Spring Rapid Rounds 1 to 3

The first 3 rounds of the Spring Rapid were held on August 10th. The field was very full with several latecomers having to be turned away.

Vega Page for the Spring Rapid

Photos from the Spring Rapid

Round 1

Upsets (all 500 or more point different) were:

Sai Somaraju beat Nico McKinlay
Eric Mironov beat Eric Fan
Pranav Shenoy beat Alan Leach
Daqi Mao beat Clinton Wells
Eden Oshri beat Sameer Khanal

Round 2

Eric Mironov got his send upset in a row, an 835 point difference, although is opponent was probably a little over-rated.

Eric Mironov beat Anas Zara
Charlotte Ray beat David Zhu
Mantra Bhatt beat John McClory
Ayaan Vasudeva beat Anderson Chen
Victor Coen beat Abraham Deng

Round 3

Many players took half-point byes in the last round including the 5 top seeds. This left 4 players sharing the lead on a perfect score: Hao Tang, Rauen Le Grange, Alex Nagorski and Euan McDougall. Even if rounds 4-6 are played the top seeds may not be able to catch them.

Upsets in Round 3

There were a large number of upsets in this round. 14 of the 19 boards had upsets. Eric Mironov got his 3rd upset in a row with a draw with Stephen Peak.

Ethan Sheng beat John McClory
Zihao Lin beat Paul Kane
Eric Mironov drew with Stephen Peak
Grayson Po’e-Tofaeono beat Isabelle Ning
Bao Nguyen beat Abraham Deng
Ayaan Vasudeva beat Nicholas McKinlay
Daqi Mao beat Anaz Zara
Victor Coen beat Sylvia McDougall
Hunter Po’e-Tofaeono beat Mike Steiner
Hao Tang beat Richard Taylor

Spring Rapid will start on August 10th. Please enter as soon as possible. The Club Champs will be starting on August 24th. A Grade will be a 10-player round robin while there will be a big Swiss grade for everyone else.

Vega Links: A Grade , B Grade

Winter Cup Round 7 PGN by Ewen Green

A Grade

With 3 players on 5 points in the last round Danial Gong and Paul Garbett drew while Bruce Watson beat Jasmine Zhang in a close endgame to become the winner.

1st Bruce Watson – 6
2nd= Alphaeus Ang, Paul Garbett, Danial Gong – 5.5

Upsets in A Grade Round 7

Anya Thurner beat Don Eade
Lucas Xiao drew with Akshay Sharma
Scott Treanor drew with Andrew Michael
Philli Park-Tamati drew with Clinton Wells
Jordan Lewis beat Tang Hao

B Grade

Baraa Zara and Neil Sonnekus both scored wins in the last round to share 1st place.

1st= Baraa Zara, Neil Sonnekus 6
3rd= Jacob Yuan, David Zhu, Hunter Po’e-Tofaeono, Sameer Khanal 5

Upsets in B Grade Round 7

Adele Zhou beat Paul Kane
Ayaan Vasudeva beat Grayson Po’e-Tofaeono
Andersen Chen drew with Wayne McDougall
Lanjun Liu drew with Ethan Liu
David Zhu beat Mike Steiner

Catching up with the previous rounds. Spring Rapid starts on August 10th. Get your entry in soon.

Vega Links: A Grade , B Grade

A Grade

Winter Cup, A Grade, Round 6 PGN by Ewen Green

Leader Paul Garbett lost his game to Bruce Watson to give us a three-way tie between them and Daniel Gong going into the last round.

Upsets in A Grade round 6

Philli Park-Tamati beat Daniel Runcan
Lucas Xiao drew with Boyian Zhang
Anya Thurner drew with Simon Lyall

B Grade

Baara Zara upset Alan Leach on board 1 . Baraa, Jacob Yuan and Neil Sonnekus now lead on 5 points each.

Upsets in B Grade round 6

Lanjun Liu drew with Tracey Tang
Sophia Feng beat Grayson Po’e-Tofaeono
Weiyang Yu beat Eric Mironov
Baraa Zara beat Alan Leach

Over the weekend the first round of the B-Grade Interclub was played. ACC played Howick-Pakuranga and won by 4.5 – 1.5. Further rounds will be played in August.

A signup sheet is now up for the Spring Rapid.

Vega Links: A Grade , B Grade

A Grade

Winter Cup A Grade Rd 5 PGN by Ewen Green

Paul Garbett kept his unbeaten lead with a win over Alphaeus Ang to put him on 5/5. Boards 2 and 3 saw draws so he will be hard to catch in the last two rounds. Bruce Watson, Daniel Gong and Felix Xie share 2nd place on 4 points.

Upsets in A Grade Round 5.

Scott Treanor beat Karl Holdo
Tim Ha beat Nigel Metge
Winston Weng beat Hao Tang
Richard Taylor beat Nathan Goodhue

B Grade

A Draw at the top left Alan Leach and Jacob Yuan on first equal with 4.5. Just behind are Mike Steiner, Baraa Zara and Neil Sonnekus.

Upsets in B Grade Round 5

Lanjun Liu beat Grayson Po’e-Tofaeono
Weiyang Yu beat Paul Kane
Max Wang beat Adele Zhou
Charlottle Ray beat Charles Lu

Entries for the Spring Rapid will be going up soon. This will be 6 rounds of 25+5 Rapid in a single Grade.

We had a film crew in the Club getting some footage for a documentary on Club member Mike Steiner.

Vega Links: A Grade , B Grade

A Grade

Winter Cup A Grade Round 4 PGN by Ewen Green

A Draw on the top board between Alphaeus Ang and Bruce Watson means that Paul Garbett is now in the led by himself on 4 points out of 4.

On Row 2 Euan McDougall and Philli Park-Tamati continued their run of upset wins.

Upsets in A Grade Round 4

• Anya Thurner beat Rauen Le Grange
• Philli Park-Tamati beat Paul Macdonald
• Euan McDougall beat Clinton Wells
• Lewis Jordan drew with Daniel Runcan

B Grade

Alan Leach and Jacob Yuan are now the only undefeated players and share first place. Srenoy Pranav took advantage of a default to go into 3rd.

Upsets in B Grade round 4

• Lanjun Liu beat Sai Vivan Somaraju
• Anderson Chen beat Grayson Po’e-Tofaeono
• Vincent Cai beat Tracey Tang
• Eden Oshri beat Paul Kane
• David Zhu beat Hunter Po’e-Tofaeono
• Ethan Liu beat Sylvia McDougall