Author: Timothy Ha

Autumn Cup starts on Monday, May 9, at 7 pm

Autumn Cup A- and B- grades will be divided as 1300+ and U1300 FIDE. The FIDE- and NZCF-rated tournament is from May 9 to June 20, with a break on Queen’s birthday (please check NZCF calendars for the Trusts Open tournaments on that long weekend).

The top five boards of the A-grade will be broadcast live on https://aucklandchess.nz/live

Please use the following links to find your name, pairings before and results after each round (note that pairings are subject to change as players’ circumstances may change close to the time of the games)

The games start after a short announcement at 7 pm. Forfeit time is 30 minutes.

If you can’t make it to the game on time, please let us know (SMS is best) before 6:30 pm so we can re-pair players.

If you are sick, please let us know and do not visit the club.

If you’re going on vacation, please let us know in advance (email is best) and we’ll mark all the days you’re 100% not visiting the club.

Thanks and good luck!

Entries open for the fast chess May Weekender, 21-22/05

Entries are now open for Auckland May Weekender 2022. Please register and pay online at https://newzealandchess.nz/auckland-may-weekender-2022/

This tournament is similar to the Rapid and Blitz ones in the Grand Chess Tour, only here we play 9 games of blitz first, on Saturday morning, then 3-4 rapid games on Saturday afternoon (depends on the pace if we can fit all those or not), then the rest on Sunday.

The 9 rapid games give you double points in the final standings. The maximum number of points is 27. Blitz time control is 3+2, rapid is 25+5. Rapid games are FIDE- and NZCF-rated. Blitz games are FIDE-rated only.

The top five boards will be broadcast at least for the rapid portion via https://aucklandchess.nz/live

Autumn Cup starts May 9; 2022 club registration is still open

Autumn Cup registration is open at ACC (FIDE-rated, NZCF-rated, six rounds).

If you want to register and cannot find your name here AutumnCupA/playersname.html and AutumnCupB/playersname.html, please use the form https://forms.gle/85L3dn1NwyJsra2h6

However, you don’t need to re-register if you used the previous registration form. We do have the data from there and will double-check and re-process if necessary.

You can also use the form if you want to register for later events in the year.

Philli won the Autumn Blitz; Baraa beat an NZ champion

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Autumn Blitz at the Auckland Chess Centre, May 2, 2022

Philli Park-Tamati finished first in the 9-round Autumn Blitz at ACC. FM Daniel Gong came second, and Gino Thornton shared third with Jordan Lewis.

Final standings: https://www.aucklandchess.nz/vega/2022/wwwACCAutumnBlitz/standing.html

An honorary mention goes to Baraa Zara who beat FM Daniel Gong, the only player to upset the 2022 NZ Champ tonight 🙂

A short video: https://www.facebook.com/AKLChess/posts/7637513042955808
Some photos: https://www.facebook.com/AKLChess/posts/7637510329622746

ACC registration for 2022 is open

Please use the following form to sign up for ACC membership in 2022 (payment information will be provided later at the club)

https://forms.gle/85L3dn1NwyJsra2h6

Previous form, now closed – https://forms.gle/kvSFPXwwDkW5Rg2g7

We start on May 2 with a FIDE-rated blitz (3’+2″) tournament of 9 rounds.

From May 9 to June 20 (with the exception of Queen’s birthday) we will hold the Autumn Cup, a classical chess tournament with a time control of 75’+30″. There will be two grades, most probably the cut-off rating will be 1400 FIDE.

In the form for sign-up, you can specify if you will play the blitz or both, or will join a later tournament instead. The full list of tournaments is on the Calendar page.

If you’re new to the club, make sure you fill out all details very carefully, as we’ll use that information to register you with NZCF and FIDE for rating purposes. If you’re a regular member, you can trust that the captain remembers you well 🙂 However, please make sure you enter the most up-to-date email and mobile phone numbers.

Thanks!

ANZAC Weekender won by CM Felix Xie

Auckland Chess Centre reopened on April 23-25, 2022 for the traditional ANZAC Weekender. A tournament of more than 30 players was won by CM Felix Xie on 5.5/6. Three players finishing a point behind on 4.5 were Hao Tang, Hunter Po’e-Tofaeono and Philli Park-Tamati. Especially, look at how Hunter survived against Isabelle Ning and CM David Cilia-Vincenti (use the Lichess link below).

Full standings are on Vega. The full list of prize winners is on the Results page.

Facebook photos: album 1 by NZChessNews, album 2 by AKLChess.

There was also a Lichess broadcast of top 5 boards each round.

COVID-19 policies for ACC reopening

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With the exception of tenants who reside in Auckland Chess Centre, the following COVID-19 policies would apply to everyone entering the property:

1. Operating only in NZ Covid Protection Framework (Traffic Lights) Orange or Green. Closed in Red.

2. Masks that cover the nose and mouth must be worn by everyone at all times when indoors within the property of Auckland Chess Centre.

These COVID-19 policies are to meet or exceed NZ government recommendations in order to keep everybody at Auckland Chess Centre as safe as reasonably possible.

Additionally, current New Zealand government COVID-19 regulations or policies will also apply.

P.S.: Vaccine passes are not required.

Ewen Green on RNZ; online events as usual

Sports venues from large to small suffering under Covid limits – from RNZ Checkpoint on 18 February 2022

“Eden Park says its financial viability is at risk as it stares down the barrel of a third straight year of disruptions due to Covid-19 settings. Meanwhile, uncertainty over just how long the country will remain at red is causing major headaches for school and club sport around the country. And as Nick Truebridge and cameraman Nick Monro report, it’s not just our biggest sports and venues bracing for more Covid chaos.”

The RNZ team also visited Auckland Chess Centre in Mt Eden (capacity 80-100 compared to Eden Park 50000-60000) and interviewed FM Ewen Green.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the NZCF YouTube channel for more videos.

This week’s online events: (you can find them on the NZCF team page every week)

These are Lichess arenas so you can join in advance to show interest and come play, pause or quit any time in the given intervals.