News

Some players who participated in our recent FIDE-rated blitz tournament on Jan 25, 2021, have received their FIDE ID numbers now. They are:

4314638 Ellis, Roderick NZL M 1944
4314646 Hughes, Mike NZL M 1960
4314654 Khawaja, Ahmad NZL M 1987
4314662 Khor, Yoong Soon NZL M 1990
4314670 Newman, Nicholas NZL M 2004
4314689 Salvador, Markus NZL M 2006
4314697 Taha, Shereif NZL M 1987
4314700 Zlygostiev, Mykola NZL M 1992

Some will have their new blitz ratings published on Feb 1, as they scored points against rated players (the initial value would come from the last column in the FIDE rating variation report of the blitz tournament).

Welcome to NZL in FIDE, participate in FIDE-rated tournaments, which are plenty in Auckland, and also in other cities of New Zealand (see newzealandchess.nz/calendar). With these IDs, you can also play anywhere else in the world and got rated. Good luck in establishing a good rating while enjoying chess!

Our club tournaments in 2021 will start with the Summer Cup on February 15. It’s a 7-round Swiss tournament, NZCF-rated. With only 80 places in our club and 67 players already registered, there aren’t many places left, so hurry up! (contact Tim Ha to sign up)

The Vega list to check your registration: https://www.aucklandchess.nz/vega/2021/wwwACCSummerCup/playersname.html

If you have signed up, then please follow the club etiquette: (being responsible makes your chess better, too!)

• if you have entered the tournament(s) but cannot make it on Monday night of any round, inform Tim Ha via a text or Facebook message before 6:45 pm on Monday (please don’t call, if possible, as it’s difficult to get distracted for a call)
• if you are late but will play anyway, please also inform Tim Ha, so your opponent can patiently wait
• if you are going away for vacation and will miss a round or two, please also plan ahead and notify
• if you don’t show up twice without any prior notification, please expect to be withdrawn from the ongoing tournament (especially if it’s FIDE-rated)

Thanks a lot! Let’s enjoy chess together!

The casual night on Jan 18 was good, we had a 9-round blitz tournament, with six (!) new players in the club, years of birth ranging from 1944 to 2010. FM Alphaeus Ang won without any problems, 9.0/9. Rauen Le Grange finished second with 8.0/9 (losing only to Alphaeus) and Jordan Lewis on 7.0/9 (losing only to the two leaders).

Vega: https://www.aucklandchess.nz/vega/2021/wwwCasual20210118/standing.html
Some photos of the night (mums played chess to entertain the kid that had a bye!)

Next Monday, Jan 25 is the 9-round FIDE-rated blitz. Please text/email/message Tim Ha to register. Current registrations are online: https://www.aucklandchess.nz/vega/2021/wwwACCJanuaryBlitz/playersname.html

After that, the club will be closed for two Mondays until Feb 15, but for a very good reason: TWO back-to-back weekend tournaments will be held in the club venue. They are:

1. Auckland Anniversary Weekender, Jan 30, Jan 31, Feb 1, a 6-round classical tournament, 90+30.
2. Waitangi Day Weekender, Feb 6, Feb 7, Feb 8, another 6-round classical tournament, 90+30.

Please register via the links on NewZealandChess.nz.

Hi everyone. We are reopening for the Saturday Night Junior Chess on the 13th February this year. Unfortunately, I have lost all of my phone contacts on my holiday trip. We would like to ask our parents to send me a txt with their child’s name, so we can inform everyone about our future junior night events. My contact number is 021-0543891, Alex. Thank you so much.

We also would like to ask whether if our parents are interested in the return of the ACC Junior Rapids (which was run monthly from 2016-2019, on behalf of GM Murray Chandler) in 2021. Quite a few parents were asking about this last year and we also keen to start running it again.

There will be a schedule for this year’s Saturday Junior Nights. A link will be added here (and on the club page) when it’s up and running.

Lastly, we would like to ask your opinion about what future chess events you would like to see us to run, we can make it happen! We highly value your opinion.

Alexander

2021’s calendar of Auckland Chess Centre is up.

With most people traveling or attending the New Zealand Congress in Palmerston North early January, the club will resume on Jan 18.

Please also note: the new club captain is Timothy Ha. During the next few weeks please send Tim your contact details via Facebook or email timothyha at gmail or text via phone O21-O88O-1O35. Please state the following information:

• your name (and your child’s name, if you’re a chess parent) as registered with either FIDE and/or NZCF
• the mobile number for text messages during club nights, so you can inform Tim of your absence (or your child’s) and he can recognise you

Thanks!

First several weeks of 2021:

• Jan 18 — a casual night
• Jan 25 — 9 rounds of 3+2 blitz, FIDE-rated
• Then two back-to-back weekenders, held at ACC!
  Jan 30 – Feb 1, Auckland Anniversary Weekender (3 days, 6 rounds of 90+30 classical, FIDE-rated)
• Feb 6 – Feb 8, Waitangi Weekender (3 days, 6 rounds of 90+30 classical, FIDE-rated)
• Friday, Feb 12, is when the casual nights with coach Wayne McDougall will resume
• And Feb 15 is the start of the NZCF-rated Summer Cup.

See you soon in 2021!

https://www.aucklandchess.nz/monday-chess-night/calendar/

Our new Friday Casual Chess attracted a few more players in it’s second week. The last day for 2020 is on December 18th so come along if you are interested in some casual games.

Final night for the Monday Chess the 21st of December. Currently plans are:

• Annual General meeting of ACC
• 2020 Prize giving
• Pizza and some drinks
• A casual tournament of non-standard chess.

Club Champs Round 8

Vega Link

Tournament leader Bruce Watson beat second place Nigel Metge. Timothy Ha also beat Daqi Mao to go into outright second. Wins for both Tracy Tang and Hao Tang saw the Father and Daughter share 3rd place.

The final round will likely see Bruce Watson playing Tim Ha for 1st place, Bruce has the advantage of a half point and a small rating difference. There are a large group of players on 6 and 5.5 that could share 2nd or 3rd.

Upsets in Round 8

Ayaan Vasudeva beat Eric Fan
Baraa Zara beat Philli Park-Tamati
Charles Lu beat Grant Burrows
Daksh Bhatt beat Scott Treanor
Narasimhan Lakshmi Ravi beat Jordan Lewis
Hunter Po`e-Tofaeono beat Winston Weng
Tracey Tang beat Anya Thurner

A reminder that we now have a casual evening on Fridays for those people who wish to play chess outside the usual Monday tournament. All ages are welcome and it will be run on the 10th and 17th of December before taking a break till February.

On Saturday the 6th of December the Papatoetoe Rapid was held. ACC players who did well were:

A Grade: 1st equal Alphaeus Ang and Daniel Gong, 2= Paul Garbett
B Grade: 1st equal Tim Ha

There was also a Junior Rapid on the Sunday that was won by Alphaeus Ang.

Club Champs Round 7

Vega Link

Three players Daniel Runcan, Nigel Metge and Bruce Watson went into the round sharing the lead on 5 points. A draw on the top board between Daniel and Nigel allowed Bruce to go into the lead with a Win.

We also had some new players in the tournament with David Chen and Utkarsh Shah starting and Tyleah Po’e-Tofaeono and Philli Park-Tamati back after breaks

Bruce Watson now leads the tournament with just two rounds left. He is half a point ahead of Daniel Runcan, Nigel Metge and Timothy Ha.

Upsets in Round 7

Zihao Lin beat Paul Kane
Charles Lu beat Anderson Chen
Anya Thurner beat Philli Park-Tamati
Tracey Tang beat Stephen Peak
Yolanda Chang drew with Simon Lyall
Tim Ha beat Alex Nagorski

Hi everyone,

Tonight on December 5th, we will finish off the year with our Saturday Night Junior Chess for this year. It’s been a very hectic year and I’m glad everything worked out for most of us. Next year we will resume at the start of February.

For those of you who are interested in playing more chess in December can play on Friday Night Casual Chess, which is dedicated to more complete beginners to beginners for adults and kids alike. This is held at the Auckland Chess Centre from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. Wayne McDougall will be running that event for another two weeks this year. Please see the post about Friday Night Casual Chess for more details.

Thank you for all those who came along to our evenings. We had many very interesting and close games during this year. Our evening is still considered quite casual, with a bit more competition from strong kids and a stepping stone towards to the tougher Monday Night Chess.

Happy holidays!

Alexander

We are please to announce Friday Casual Chess, which will start on 6:30pm on Friday the 4th of December 2020.

Friday Chess is intended for people of all ages to come along and play casual games. You can play your friends or we will try and pair you up with other players around you skill level.

Wayne McDougall will on site to pair up players and he can also teach beginners at chess how to play.

More Details on the Friday Casual Chess webpage.

We had several new players in Round 6. Shiyan, Elianor, Becky and Jerome all played for the first time and Ying Wang decided to start playing again.

A reminder that there are several tournaments coming up. The NZ Seniors Starts this week, The Papatoetoe Rapid is on December 5th and Howick has a tournament on December 20th. Plus there are 2 Junior tournaments during December. More details in the NZ Chess Calendar.

Club Champs Round 6

Vega Link

Once again there were a large number of upsets. The top two on boards 6 and 7 were Hunter Po’e-Tofaeono beating Nathan Goodhue and Tracy Tang beating Richard Taylor.

A Draw on board one means 3 players are now in first equal on 5 points. Bruce Watson, Daniel Runcan and Nigel Metge. Another 5 players are just half a point back on 4.5. So with 3 rounds left the result is still in doubt.

Top Upsets in Round 6

Hunter Po’e-Tofaeono beat Nathan Goodhue
Tracy Tang beat Richard Taylor
Ayaan Vasudeva beat Virginia Milne
Baraa Zara beat Andrew Michael
Mike Steiner drew with Grant Burrows
Philbert Zhai drew with Neil Sonnekus
Alan Leach drew with Kenny Zhang
Eric Fan beat Scott Treanor
Don Eade drew with Daniel Runcan