Author: Simon

B Grade Interclub will be starting on Sunday July 19th. It is open to players with NZCF ratings below 2000. Please talk to Simon Lyall if you’d like to be on the team.

Winter Cup A Grade Rd 3 PGN by Ewen Green

Vega Links: A Grade , B Grade

A Grade

Boards 1-4 saw the top 4 players in the Grade beat all the lower rated players. But on board 5 recently-returned player Richard Taylor got an upset.

Bruce Watson, Alphaeus Ang and Paul Garbett share the lead on 3/3.

Upsets in Round 3

Anya Thurner drew with Louis Lim
Richard Taylor beat Daniel Runcan
Stephen Peak beat Andrew Michael
Jordan Lewis drew with Nigel Metge
Jeffrey Yu drew with Simon Lyall

B Grade

Jacob Yuan, Mike Steiner, Alan Leach and Eric Fan lead on 3 points.

Upsets in Round 3

Lanjun Liu beat Paul Kane
Pranav Shenoy beat Tyleah Po’e-Tafaeono
Michael Ma drew with Wayne McDougall

A reminder that club fees are due and should be paid by the end of the Winter Cup. Mike Steadman will be at the club at the start of most rounds.

Also a reminder that the club will be playing though the school holidays. Please text Simon (021 575 233) if you will be away and miss rounds.

Vega Links: A Grade , B Grade

Winter Cup A Grade Round 2 PGN by Ewen Green

A Grade

The 2nd round of the Winter Cup saw a few more upsets. Philli Park-Tamati managed his second upset in a row.

There are 7 players on 2 points.

Upsets in Round 2

• Anya Thurner beat Andrew Michael
• Philli Park-Tamati beat Nigel Metge
• Euan McDougall beat Nathan Goodhue
• Kenny Zhang beat Isabelle Ning

B Grade

Top seed Wayne McDougall was upset by Baraa Zara but most of the other top players survived this round.

Upsets in B Grade Round 2

• Anderson Chen beat Tracey Tang
• Wincent Cai beat Hunter Po’e-Tofaeono
• Baraa Zara beat Wayne McDougall
• Anas Zara beat Paul Kane

Interclub Chess is planned to start again in July. We are looking for B-Grade Players with a rating under 2000 on NZCF 2020-1 list.

Games are planned for Sunday evenings at Alexandra Park. Provisional dates are: 19 July, 2 August, 9 August, 16 August and 23 August.

If you would like to play on the team (you don’t have to play all rounds) then please contact Club Captain Simon Lyall on Mondays or via SMS on 021 575 233.

The First Round of the 2020 Winter Cup was held on June 22. This is the first tournament after Covid-19 lockdown. We have around 40 entries in each tournament.

A reminder that since the tournament is FIDE rated we cannot change the draw after a round starts. If you cannot make a round please text Simon before 6:40pm.

Vega Links: A Grade , B Grade

PGN for A Grade Round 1 by Ewen Green

A Grade

Only a few upsets due to the big rating range between opponents.

• Philli Park-Tamiti beat Jasmine Zhang
• Lakshmi Ravi beat Isabelle Ning
• Scott Treanor drew with Don Eade
• Grant Burrows drew with a recently-returned Richard Taylor

B Grade

Also only a few upsets

• Anderson Chen beat Paul Kane
• Sophia Feng beat newcomer Miles Ross
• Vincent Cau beat Grayson Po’e-Tofaeono
• Pranav Shenoy drew with Bevis Jiang
• Sai Somaraju drew with Adam Ali

For the Chess Centre’s first night back after the Covid-19 Lockdown we had an unrated Blitz tournament. 36 players over 6 rounds of 3m+2s .

Top players were FMs Alphaeus Ang and Daniel Gong. Both players were undefeated for 4 rounds (although Alphaeus was a piece down against Felix Xie in round 4). Daniel won their pairing in round 5 and also won round 6 to be undefeated.

Vega link for tournament

Photo album from the Night

1st Daniel Gong 6/6
2nd= Alphaeus Ang, Philli Park-Tamati, Aaron Wang 5/6
5th Felix Xie 4.5/6

The Winter Cup will start on the 22nd of June. Registrations are now up and we have over 60 entries. The tournaments will be NZCF and FIDE rated.

We are now planning to restart Monday Chess and the Chess Centre from the 15th of June.

Over the next week we will be getting the centre ready to restart

• We will be doing a full clean of the rooms, including carpets and all pieces and boards
• The venue will be registered with the government Tracing App
• We will be adding Cleaning Stations, new paper towels and signs to remind people to wash their hands

On Monday the 15th of June we will be having a casual night. Probably a casual blitz or similar tournament.

On Monday the 22nd of June we will restart the calendar with the Winter Cup. This will be played as two Nationally rated Swiss Grades. Entries will open soon.

We would remind people not come to the Chess Centre if they are sick ( cough, running nose, or fever, etc).

A Junior Night will also start up on Saturdays soon and we are working on something for Friday.

In line with the NZCF Guidelines we are currently planning to open the Club for Chess once the New Zealand government’s Covid-19 Alert Level goes to Level One.

The exact events we will hold will depend on the notice given and days remaining in the year. For example we may hold some casual and rapid nights for the first few weeks.

The ACC committee has decided with regret, to extended the cancellation of Monday Night Chess though till the end of May. Further extensions are possible.

• The Summer Cup will be cut short to the 5 rounds already played. Results will be sent in for rating.
• The Autumn Rapid is cancelled, potentially it might be played later in the year.
• The Autumn Cup is cancelled.
• We are going to stop taking subscription fees for now. Some of the 2020 fee may be credited towards the 2021 subscription. Detail will be worked out when chess restarts
• Events to be played in 2020 will depend on when chess restarts.

Following the impact of Covid19 various other Chess events have been cancelled.

The Latvian Gambit Chess tournament which was supposed to happen on March 21 has been postponed

The New Zealand Seniors has been postponed to September.

Other tournaments in Australia have also been cancelled.

NZ Chess News is maintaining a page with a list of NZ and Australian events and activities that are affected. Also the New Zealand Chess calendar will have updates.

With the spread of Covid19 overseas, it is increasingly likely that it will be spreading in Auckland before the end of March.

To ensure the safety of our members and their families, we have decided to cancel the March 16 and March 23 Monday night Chess.

Please check the club website and Facebook page regularly for updates. We will post news there.

We will be creating fields and entries for the Autumn Rapid and Autumn Cup in case these go ahead. We are also looking at options for online games. The remaining two rounds of the Summer Cup may be played later or we may reduce it to five rounds.

Updated Guidelines for Playing Nights

We have the following additional guidelines for when Club Nights restart.

A reminder that players can request half-point byes for any reason. Please text Simon on 021 575 233.

We would ask the following not to come to the club:

• People who have been outside New Zealand in the last two weeks
• People who are in close contact with somebody who has been outside New Zealand in the last two weeks
• People who are ill with Colds, Cough, Runny Nose, Flu or other infectious illness
• People with compromised immune systems

At the Club

• We will be working to add more soap and other cleaning options.
• Players should wash their hands with soap regularly, especially after using the toilet.
• Players should reduce direct physical contact, including no handshakes at the start of games.
• Players can wear masks to reduce risk of picking up an infection. But if you are sick yourself you should stay home.