News

There were a large number of players taking byes in Round 5 due to exams and concerns over Covid-19. A reminder that half point byes are always available on request provided they are notified before 6:45pm on Monday evening.

We will do a further post on the weekend regarding Covid-19 and the Chess Club.

For now a reminder that entries for the Autumn Rapid and Autumn Cups are now open for all players who played in the Summer Cup.

A Grade Round 5

Allen Fan and Alphaeus Ang got wins to share the lead. Daniel Gong is just behind on 4 points. Another 7 players are on 3.5

Upsets in A Grade Round 5

Rauen Le Grange drew with Gordon Morrell
Euan McDougall beat Nigel Metge
Virginia Milne drew with Abraham Deng

B Grade Round 5

The Leader from round 4, Neil Sonnekus was beaten by the underrated Anderson Chen.

Anderson is now in the lead by himself with Neil, Mike Steiner and Baraa Al-Afaghani half a point behind.

Upsets in B Grade Round 5

Anderson Chen beat Neil Sonnekus
Pranav Shenoy beat Adam Macauley
Charles Liu beat Lucas Xiao
Adam Ali beat Luiz Stephany Filho

The Autumn Rapid will be starting on March 30th while the Autumn Cup is on April 20th. Due to lack of space we are limiting entries to both and opening entry in stages. Please read below for details.

Limit on Field Sizes

Autumn Rapid – 75 players
Autumn Cup – 85 players

Entry dates

Entries should be via the sheet at the club or a text or email to Simon Lyall ( 021 575 233 ). Text message is preferred

6pm March 8 – Open for players who played in the Summer Cup A Grade

6pm March 13 – Open for players who played in the Summer Cup B Grade (plus players above)

6pm March 20 – Open for all

Entries are first-in-first served within each group. Players will be expected to have payed subscriptions before the start of the rapid. Early entries will be ignored.

Entries are not confirm until posted on website.

Grades in the Autumn Cup

Sorted of players will be via Current FIDE rating with NZCF rating as a backup.

Registration for the Autumn Rapid and Autumn Cup will go up in the next few days. Due to lack of physical space at the Club there will be restrictions on numbers in both tournaments.

A reminder that if you are sick and possibly infectious then please do not come to club nights. You can get a half-point bye for any round of a Swiss tournament bye texting Simon Lyall on 021 575 233 before 6:45pm.

A reminder that the draft draws below is not final. It will change when people takes byes. Also if you turn up at 7 on a Club night and are listed as a bye then please tell Simon and stick around for a while. We will try and pair you with somebody whose opponent hasn’t turned up.

Vega Links: A Grade , B Grade

A Grade

The two leaders in round 3, Allen Fan and Alphaeus Ang drew so they are now joined by two other juniors (Daniel Gong and Felix Xie) in 1st equal with 3.5.

The adults from A Grade are all half a point behind on 3.

Upsets in A Grade round 4

Daqi Mao beat Abraham Deng
Muhammad Razzaq beat Grant Burrows
Akshay Sharma drew with Alex Nagorski
Felix Xie beat Gordon Morrell
Jeffrey Yu beat Joe Wang
Boyuan Zhang beat Simon Lyall
Winston Weng beat Eric Wu

B Grade

Neil Sonnekus is now the sole leader, undefeated on 4 points. Just behind on 3.5 are Alan Leach and Anderson Chen

Upsets in B Grade round 4

Sophia Feng beat Hunter Po’e-Tofaeono
Anderson Chen beat Wayne McDougall
Adam Ali beat John McClory
Pranav Shenoy beat Ayaan Vasudeva

Potential Draws for round 5

These will change due to byes

Remember to keep an eye on the New Zealand Chess Calendar for upcoming national events.

The 2021 NZ Chess Congress has just been announced. It will be in Palmerston North at the start of January 2021 and comprise 7 tournaments including the NZ Open Championship. An Entry form with details is online.

Vega Links: A Grade , B Grade

A Grade

There are now just two players on 3 points. Allan Fan (who beat Bruce Watson in Round 3) and Alphaeus Ang.

The Black player was also the winner on the bottom 6 boards.

A Potential draw for round 4 is below.

Upsets in A Grade round 3

Allen Fan beat Bruce Watson
Lewis Jordan drew with Gordon Morell
Hugh Gao drew with Kenny Zhang

B Grade

Fewer upsets on the top boards in B grade than A. There are 3 leaders Mike Steiner, Neil Sonnekus and Jacob Yuan on 3 points. 3 others are just back on 2.5 points.

Upsets in A Grade round 4

Sai Somearaju beat John McClory (986 point rating difference!)
Sophia Feng beat Liuz Filho
Anderson Chen beat Sylvia McDougall
Eden Oshri beat Ying Wang

Possible Draws for Round 4

This will change due to byes

A reminder that the Bay of Plenty Rapid is in Tauranga on Saturday the 29th of February. Tournament Website

After a panicky request, a draft draw for round 3 is available below. This will change on the night due to byes.

Vega Links: A Grade , B Grade

A Grade round 2

There were 5 upsets in the top 10 boards (4 draws, one loss) so things are already getting mixed up.

Just 5 players are now on 2 points while 12 are on 1.5

Upsets in A grade Round 2

• Yolanda Chang beat Nigel Metge
• Jordan Lewis drew with Daniel Gong
• Felix Xie drew with Ben Hague
• Hao Tang drew with Michael Steadman
• Hugh Gao beat Abraham Deng
• Mathew Steadman beat Rauen Le Grange
• Don Eade drew with Gordon Morrell

B Grade Round 2

7 players on 2 wins after 2 rounds

Upsets in B Grade Round 2

• Sophia Feng beat Philbert Zhai
• Kenny Liao beat Lucas Xiao
• Anderson Chen beat Maxwell Xiao
• Paul Kane beat Adam Macauley

Potential Draws in Round 3

The first round of the Summer Cup was on Monday the 10th of February.

We were very full with 97 players entered in the tournament and 84 people playing in Round 1. This is at the limit of the number of players we can fit into the centre so no further entries will be accepted for this tournament.

Vega Links: A Grade , B Grade

A Grade

Only a few upsets due to the large rating difference between opponents.

• Daqi Mao beat Kendrick Zhang
• Yolanda Chang beat Eric Wu (Eric was 30 mins late and the game was one of the last to finish)
• Akshay Sharma drew with Nathan Goodhue

B Grade

Upsets:

• Sai Vivan Karthikeya Somaraju beat Luiz Stephany Filho
• Charlotte Ray beat Eric Fan
• Kenny Liao beat Grayson Po’e-Tofaeono
• Pranav Shenoy drew with Kenneth Liu
• Adam Ali drew with Alan Leach
• Anderson Chen drew with David Zhu

Hi everyone, the Friday Night junior chess (which originally we planned to start tomorrow for this year) will be postponed until further notice. We expect to reopen in a few weeks time. Sorry for any inconvenience. Will let you know on this website when we do start again this year. Alex

The 2020 Blitz was held on Monday the 3rd of February. It was 9 rounds of 3m+2s and points earned count towards the 2020 Rapid Championships

Just over 40 players played

• Vega Link
• Photos

Results

1st Alphaeus Ang 8 points
2nd Paul Garbett 7.5
3rd Jordan Lewis 7.0
4th Felix Xie 6.5

The Schedule for 2020 is now up. The first night back will be February 3rd which is the Blitz. This will be followed by the Summer Rapid starting on February the 10th.

Entries for 2020 events will start on Monday January 20th

Pages:
– 2020 Calendar page (with Excel and PDF versions)
– List of 2020 Tournaments

December 16th was the final night of the Auckland Chess Centre in 2019. We had the AGM, Prizegiving, pizza and a pairs tournament.

Photos by Nigel Metge and Simon Lyall are online

AGM

The council was elected unopposed with Nigel Metge replacing Bryan Latimer. Club Captain Simon Lyall also outlined the scheduled for 2020 saying there would be fewer round-robins and more FIDE- and NZCF-rated tournaments.

Prize-Giving

Winners of the major tournaments this year were announced and photos taken of those present (by Nigel Metge). Club President Bruce Wheeler also picked the “Centre Spirit” winner who was Yolanda Chang.

Pairs Tournament

The 4 round pairs tournament was run (2 people on each team, alternating moves) with the highest rated players paired with the lowest.

Winners were the mid-range pair of Stephen Peak and Jeffrey Yu with 3.5/4

Second equal were 3 other teams led by Paul Garbett, Bruce Watson and Alexei Kulashko all on 3 points.