Old NZ News

	NZ Chess Providing information about chess in New Zealand

LATEST SITE UPDATES HERE!

2009 Grand Prix
NZCF Mar 09 Ratings
FIDE Jan 09 Ratings
ICCF Jul 09 Ratings

NZCCA Tables
Rules
Event Calendar

Jan-05 Site Redesigned

A Summary of 2003

The NZ Congress has finished. Details, results and games at 2002/03 NZ Congress. The two Australian visitors Alex Wohl and Tim Reilly shared the event with 8/11, with Anthony Ker retaining the NZ Champion title with sole third place on 7.5/11. Tony Dowden gained enough master points to gain the National Master title. John McDonald made no race of the Major Open with a record 11/11.

The NZ Rapid was won by IM Russell Dive from IM Anthony Ker and the NZ Lightning event was won by 13 year old Puchen Wang from Stephen Lukey and Bob Smith.

A new event was the Global Chess Enterprises Auckland International. The event was won by German IM Peter Froehlich with 7.5/9. NZ Champion Anthony Ker was the best NZ'er in 3rd with 6.5/9. Final results and games at: http://www.auschess.org.au/oceania/auckland/.

All Canterbury Open and ‘B’ Tournament, organised by Canterbury Chess Club from 25-27 October.
Leading scores : Open – G. West (AUS) (5/6) 1, C. Bleis (GER), S. Lukey (4.5) 2-3, R. Nokes, M. Van der Hoorn, H. Bennett, A. Compton (4) 4-7, B. Anderson, D. Lean, N. Cummings (3.5) 8-10 … 23 players
B Tournament – C. Hall , Regan Jackson (5.5/6) 1-2, S. Stringer (4) 3 … 8 players.

As an overseas visitor IM Guy West was ineligible for GP points, as was joint runner-up Christian Bleis. This left Stephen Lukey to take 15 points in the Open section, catapaulting him into a close second overall behind Alexei Kulashko. Alistair Compton’s good showing has pushed him to second in the Under 2000 division, behind Ben Giles. And another good result has taken Hamish Gold to clear first in the Under 1700 category. Interestingly, all Hamish’s points have come from South Island tournaments.

Prior were the South Island Championship (Class 2) and Rapid (Class 3), run by Ashburton CC. No Open GP events or Female GP points were able to be awarded in these tournaments, but most other categories were represented. Especially pleasing was a good contingent of Seniors. 18 players have now received Senior GP points in 5 events, so this category is developing into another good contest.

Leading scores : South Island Championship - B. Smith, A. Compton (7.5/8) 1-2, P. Fraemohs, H. Gold (5) 3-4, P. Boag, B. Reedy, A. Nijman, R. Scarf, V. Smith, D. Smith (4.5) 5-10 … 22 players South Island Rapid - B. Smith (7/8) 1, N. Cummings, A. Compton (5.5) 2-3, P. Fraemohs, B. Reedy, H. Gold (5) 4-6, V. Smith, S. McChesney, P. Williams (4.5) 7-9 … 18 players

30th North Shore Open (class 1). Puchen Wang and Stephen Lukey shared 1st with 4/5, ahead of Michael Steadman, Michael Freeman, Matthew McNabb, C. Wells and Peter Green with 3.5/5. Twenty six played. The 'B' grade was shared by W. Gao, D. Xu, and P. Morten with 4.5/5 in a field of 49.

The Papatoetoe Rapid was run in three divisions.
Leading scores: 'A' Tournament: L. McLaren (4/5) 1, A. Kulashko, P. Wang, B. Van der Lee (3.5) 2-4, P. Garbett, B. Smith, J. McCrone (3) 5-7 .. 16 players. Under 1700 - D. Xu, Paul Morten, J. Cater, E. Charomova, J. Browne (4/5) 1-5, V. Smith, D. Pelle, E. Dawood (3.5) 6-8 … 31 players Juniors - D. Smith, B. Feng (4/5) 1-2, M. Wu, R. Dare (3.5) 3-4, G. Parker (3) 5 … 12 players

Otago Spring Rapid - R. Dowden, D. Lazarev (4.5/5) 1-2, T. Rowell (3.5) 3, Q. Johnson, H. Gold, G. Haase, R. Clarkson (3) 4-7 …15 players

Waikato Open (Class One) run by Hamilton Chess Club. Leading scores: Over 1700 - A. Kulashko, M. Steadman, M. Wojnar (4.5/6) 1-3, L. McLaren (4) 4, B. Smith, M. Van der Hoorn, B. Giles (3.5) 5-7 … 16 players Under 1700 - J. Davis (5/6) 1, M. Burn (4.5) 2, C. Smith, B. Robertson, B. Cooze, H. Courtney (4) 3-6 … 21 players

Upper Hutt 30-30 Tournament, run by Upper Hutt Chess Club. It was a class 3 event. Leading scores: R. Dive, S. Lukey (5/6) 1-2, G. Marner, J. Wilson (4.5) 3-4, P. King, M. Turner, M. Van der Hoorn, W. Forster, M. Tortoza (4) 5-9 …27 players

North Island Championship – IM G. Lane (8/8) 1, J. Wilson (6.5) 2, M. Van der Hoorn (6) 3, B. Reedy (5.5) 4, G. Spain, D. Han, D. Xu (5) 5-7 .. 31 players

North Island Rapid Championship – IM G. Lane (6/6) 1, P. Garbett, A. Kulashko, B. Smith, B. Giles (4.5) 2-5, P. Green, P. Wang, P. Spiller, G. Thornton, E. Charamova (4) 6-10 … 36 players

North Island Rapid Under 1400 – R. Perelini, V. Collingwood, A. Lin, D. Smith (5/6) 1-4, T. Maroroa (4.5) 5, M. MacDonald, E. Lui, A. Pan, J. Cho, K. Dalton (4) 6-10 … 34 players

NZ Junior Championship. Puchen Wang (6.5/7), David Xu (6), Daniel Han, Michael Zhang, Gino Thorton, Evgenia Charamova (5.5).

The Maruia Open on 28-29 June, a class 3 7-round rapid (1 hour per game) involving 14 players. Leading scores: R. Smith (7/7) 1, R. Sutton (6) 2, B. Giles, B. Donaldson (4.5) 3-4, P. Spiller, A. Nijman, S. McChesney (4) 5-7.

2003 GRAND PRIX PRIZE-WINNERS

OPEN
1^st Stephen Lukey $500 2^nd Puchen Wang $350 3^rd Alexei Kulashko $250 4^th Leonard McLaren $200 5^th Peter Green $150

UNDER 2000
1^st Alistair Compton $300 2^nd Ben Giles $200 3^rd Brendan Reedy $150

UNDER 1700
1^st Gino Thornton $250 2^nd Hamish Gold $150 3^rd Pablo Williams $100

UNDER 1400
1^st Blair Robertson $150 2^nd Sam McChesney $100 3^rd Devon Smith (taking Under 14 prize) 4^th Dominic Pelle $50

JUNIOR
1^st Evginia Charamova $150 2^nd David Xu $100 3^rd Michael Zhang $50

FEMALE
1^st Evginia Charamova (taking Junior prize) 2^nd Sue Maroroa $150 3rd Viv Smith $100 4^th Helen Courtney $50

SENIOR
1^st = Victor Portougal & Bob Mitchell $125 each 3^rd Peter Morten $50

UNDER 14 & UNDER 1400
1^st Blair Robertson (taking Under 1400 prize) 2^nd Richard Dare $100 3rd Devon Smith $60 4^th Daniel Baider $40

FINAL LEADING GP STANDINGS FOR 2003

OPEN
S. Lukey 58, P. Wang 57.5, A. Kulashko 55.17, L. McLaren 45, P. Green 38.4, P. Garbett 36, B. Smith 33.83, M. Van der Hoorn 29.25, A. Ker 25.33, M. Steadman 24.2, B. Giles 23, J. Wilson 20, M. Wojnar 15.67, T. Dowden 15, B. Reedy 14, R. Dive 12.83, R. Sutton 10.5

UNDER 2000
A. Compton 61, B. Giles 55.5, B. Reedy 46.83, G. Thornton 39.83, W. Lynn 34.83, J. McCrone 32.5, J. Wilson 25.5, C. Wells 25, H. Gold 22.83, P. Spiller 22.33, N. Cummings 21, M. Wojnar 20, P. Godfrey 18.5, A. Aldridge 18, B. Donaldson 17.83, P. Dunn 17.5, M. Nyberg 17.16, Q. Johnson 16, N. Goodhue 15.9, S. East 15.67, M. Turner 15.25, B. Van der Lee 15, P. Fraemohs 14.83, R. Gibbons 14.07, B. Lim 14, G. Marner 13.83, T. Rowell, M. Le Brocq 12, D. Lean, J. Wojnar, M. Sims, P. David 10.5

UNDER 1700
G. Thornton 50.83, H. Gold 48, P. Williams 39.33, D. Xu 38.86, V. Smith 33.58, S. McChesney 31.83, J. Cater 31.7, H. Marko 29, J. Wilson 27, Paul Morten 24.86, E. Charamova 23.9, B. Robertson 23.75, J. Browne 22.9, R. Mitchell 21.25, S. Price, J. Davis 20, J.B. Kay 18.33, W. Gao 15.66, L. Lambert, A. Newbould, M. Burn, Regan Jackson 15, M. Zhang 14.25, D. Plumpton, G. Aimers, A. Mulligan, T. Rowell, S. Stringer 12, V. Portougal 11.7, D. Smith 10.67, R. Scarf 10.08

UNDER 1400
B. Robertson 61.17, S. McChesney 48, D. Smith 45, D. Pelle 39, H. Courtney 30.42, T. Rowell 24, R. Stone 23, S. Maroroa 22.67, D. Baider 21.83, B. Rider, J. Vosloo, S. Ward 20, D. Bennett 15.75, T. Judkins, B. Cooze, L. Jacques 15.67, C. Webber, J. Gesmundo, M. Stone, S. Ward, P. MacLaren 15, S. Yang, E. Dawood 13.5, K. Abrie, M. Tortoza, J. Van Zoomeren, J. Lei, J. Wu, P. Kay 12, R. Perelini 11.5, E. Nicholls 10.5

JUNIOR
E. Charomova 60.5, D. Xu 56.5, M. Zhang 53, D. Smith 48, B. Robertson, G. Thornton 47.5, P. Wang 42, S. McChesney 34.5, J. Wilson 27, D. Han 20.25, S. Yang 20, R. Dare, D. Baider 19.5, W. Gao 17.5, A. Pan, P. Prinsloo, O. Lynn 15, S. Maroroa 12.5, S. Tang, L. Ding 12, T. Judkins 10.5

FEMALE
E. Charamova 63.5, S. Maroroa 50.17, V. Smith 48, H. Courtney 45.67, N. Fairley 24.67, S. Tang 20.5

SENIOR
V. Portougal, R. Mitchell 30.5, P. Morten 27, A. Booth 15, P. Boag, A. Nijman, P. Vetheraniam, B. Kay 13.5, R. Collingwood, G. Haase 12

UNDER 14 & UNDER 1400
B. Robertson 70, S. Maroroa 56.2, R. Dare 54.5, D. Smith 54, D. Baider 37.1, O. Lynn 33, D. Xu 20, A. Lin 15.64, M. Zhang 15, Shirley Wu 14.6, B. Jones, M. Chan, B. Feng 13.5, B. Dalton 10.84, Jason Wu, J. Lei 10.5

New Zealand Chess Team at Bled Olympiad

The men's team has finished with 27/56 in a tie for 80th-87th place, but 87th on countback, after being seeded 80th out of 136 teams. The women's team finished with 15/42 for 85th place from a seeding of 82nd out of 92 teams.

These results are on par with previous years: Istanbul 2000 Men 26 points, Women 18.5; Elista 1998 Men 26.5/52 (13 rounds), Women 15.5/26; Yerevan 1996 Men 25.5, Women 18; Moscow 1994 Men 27.5, Women 18.

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Score	Percent
Opponent	France	Jersey	Monaco	Mexico	Libya	Venezuela	Algeria	Costa Rica	Namibia	IPCA	Japan	Botswana	Dominican Rep	South Africa			Performance Rating
Seed	10	113	102	60	122	71	90	70	121	79	128	110	78	87

Kulashko	0	1	0.5		1	0			1	0	0.5		0	1	5	50.00%	2316	10
Dive	0		0	0.5		0	0.5	0	1	0.5		1	0	0	3.5	31.82%	2120	11
Bjelobrk	0		0.5	0	1	0.5		0		0			0.5	1	3.5	38.89%	2252	9
Smith	0	1		0		0.5	0		1		1	1		1	5.5	61.11%	2346	9
Wastney		1		0	1		0.5	0		0	1	1	0.5		5	55.56%	2260	9
Dowden		1	1		1		0.5	0	1		0	0			4.5	56.25%	2101	8
Match	0	4	2	0.5	4	1	1.5	0	4	0.5	2.5	3	1	3	27	48.21%		56

Opponent	Argentina	Singapore	Japan	Yemen	Botswana	Jamaica	Angola	Costa Rica	Sri Lanka	Albania	Zimbabwe	Zambia	Ireland	Dominican Rep
Seed	34	52	73	87	71	92	79	90	84	80	94	86	69	74

Smith	0	0		0.5	0.5	0	1	0.5	0		0.5	1	0.5	0	4.5	37.50%		12
Otene	0	0	0.5	1	1	0	1			0	0	0	0	0	3.5	29.17%		12
Charomova	0	0	0.5		0	0		1	1	0.5	0.5	1		1	5.5	50.00%		11
Maroroa			0.5	0			1	0	0	0			0		1.5	21.43%		7
Match	0	0	1.5	1.5	1.5	0	3	1.5	1	0.5	1	2	0.5	1	15	35.71%		42

Australasian State Matches - NZ South WINS!!!

The South Island team has finished with 8/9 in the Australasian Internet Challenge. See two of their games here: North Island - South Island South Australia - South Island

This guarantees the South Island first place in this event, possibly sharing this with the North Island, if they can win their final game.

The NZ South team was founded around ICM Michael Freeman, IM Vernon Small, Peter van Dijk and Erin Roughton, with contributions from many others at various times. The games and crosstable can be seen at http://www.auschess.org.au/interstate/istatemain.htm

NZ Junior 2002

The results of the New Zealand Junior (under 20 years of age) Chess Tournament held from July 1-3 at the Wellington Chess Club venue in Turnbull House in its various categories are as follows:

New Zealand Junior Chess Champion 2002 
Jesse Wilson, Wellington, 5.5/6
                                                                                                                                                                from six games )
2nd place Sergei Tkatchenko, Wellington 5

New Zealand Schoolpupils Champion: Jesse Wilson
National Girls: Eugenia Charomova, North Shore, 4.5
National Girls Schoolpupils: Eugenia Charaomova
Under 16: Eugenia Charomova and Andrew Khytko 4.5
Under 14: Eugenia Charomova and Andrew Khytko
Under 12: Angela Song 4
Under 10: Angela Song
2nd place under 12 and under 10: Raymond Song 3.5

109th New Zealand Championship

Games available from the download page.

 1 AF Ker (IM)       WE  D4   D13  W18  W9   W6   D5   W11  W3   W7   D2   D8    8½ 
 2 M  Haag           GER L9   W16  L4   L18  W10  D15  W13  W14  W5   D1   W6    7  
 3 RJ Dive (IM)      WE  D7   W8   L6   W14  W4   D11  D5   L1   D10  D12  W15   6½   65
 4 RA Dowden         OT  D1   D7   W2   D11  L3   D12  L8   W17  W15  W6   D5    6½   63½
 5 BR Anderson       CA  W11  D12  W14  D6   W13  D1   D3   L7   L2   D9   D4    6    68½
 6 MW Van Der Hoorn  WE  W16  W18  W3   D5   L1   W13  D7   W8   L11  L4   L2    6    63½
 7 GA Spain          GA  D3   D4   L11  W17  W9   D14  D6   W5   L1   D16  D10   6    63
 8 B  Jones          AUS D13  L3   D16  D10  W15  D9   W4   L6   D12  W18  D1    6    60
 9 N  Croad          WE  W2   D14  D12  L1   L7   D8   W15  L11  W18  D5   W17   6    59
10 LJ McLaren        NS  L18  W15  L13  D8   L2   W16  W17  D12  D3   W11  D7    6    54½
11 PA Garbett        NS  L5   W17  W7   D4   D12  D3   L1   W9   W6   L10  L14   5½   65½
12 RW Smith          WT  W17  D5   D9   L13  D11  D4   D14  D10  D8   D3   D16   5½   60
13 HP Bennett        HA  D8   D1   W10  W12  L5   L6   L2   L16  W17  D15  W18   5½   57½
14 SC Wastney        GA  W15  D9   L5   L3   W18  D7   D12  L2   D16  D17  W11   5½   55
15 BJ Giles          AC  L14  L10  D17  W16  L8   D2   L9   W18  L4   D13  L3    3½   58
16 P  Litwak         POL L6   L2   D8   L15  L17  L10  D18  W13  D14  D7   D12   3½   56½
17 JL Sutherland     OT  L12  L11  D15  L7   W16  W18  L10  L4   L13  D14  L9    3  
18 M  McNabb         AC  W10  L6   L1   W2   L14  L17  D16  L15  L9   L8   L13   2½

Major Open
 1 B  Martin-Buss    WT  W23  W12  L6   W19  W5   W17  D3   W2   D7   W8   D4    8½ 
 2 MG Turner         WE  W16  W14  W5   W6   W21  L3   W4   L1   L8   W12  W7    8    75
 3 NV Cummings       CA  W13  D21  W4   W15  W14  W2   D1   D6   D5   D7   D8    8    75
 4 J  Wojnar         WE  W25  L6   L3   W28  W23  W12  L2   W20  W9   W13  D1    7½ 
 5 N  Goodhue        WE  W33  W7   L2   W9   L1   W14  W17  L8   D3   D6   W13   7    73
 6 AJ Nijman         CA  W31  W4   W1   L2   D12  W10  W21  D3   L13  D5   D9    7    73
 7 B  Donaldson      CA  W20  L5   W13  L14  W22  W11  W18  W21  D1   D3   L2    7    71
 8 MT Sims           WE  W24  L10  W18  D12  W19  L21  W20  W5   W2   L1   D3    7    70½
 9 JF Boardman       WE  W18  L15  W22  L5   W13  L20  W16  W10  L4   W21  D6    6½   67
10 P  Fraemohs       CA  W27  W8   D17  L21  W15  L6   W26  L9   D12  D11  W19*  6½   64
11 DM Stracy         WE  L35  L22  W27  W33  W34  L7   L32  W29  W15  D10  W21   6½   51½
12 W  Forster        WE  W28  L1   W31  D8   D6   L4   W22  W18  D10  L2   D15   6    69
13 J  Pakenham       AC  L3   W33  L7   W30  L9   W34  W14  W17  W6   L4   L5    6    65½
14 M  Wojnar         WE  W29  L2   W32  W7   L3   L5   L13  D30  W22  D18  W24   6    63½
15 AL Aldridge       WE  W34  W9   D19  L3   L10  L26  W28  W32  L11  W20  D12   6    60½
16 HR Gold           OT  L2   L32  W29  W31  L18  W28  L9   W27  D17  D24  W22   6    56
17 AB Mullan         WE  W32  D26  D10  W23  W20  L1   L5   L13  D16  D19  D18   5½   64
18 G  Putt           IN  L9   W30  L8   W27  W16  W19  L7   L12  D20  D14  D17   5½   63½
19 C  Hall           CA  W22  W35  D15  L1   L8   L18  W23  W26  D21  D17  L10*  5½   61
20 S  Shatalin       NS  L7   W29  W35  W26  L17  W9   L8   L4   D18  L15  W28   5½   60
21 DA Wood               W30  D3   W26  W10  L2   W8   L6   L7   D19  L9   L11   5    70½
22 PJ Voss           GA  L19  W11  L9   W35  L7   W23  L12  W34  L14  W27  L16   5    59
23 PW Boag               L1   W28  W34  L17  L4   L22  L19  L24  W35  W29  W26   5    55½
24 R  Scarf          AS  L8   L27  L33  W25  L26  W31  D29  W23  W30  D16  L14   5    53½
25 J  Bojtor         HP  L4   L31  L28  L24  bye  W33  L27  D35  D29  W34  W30   5    42½
26 B  Reedy          CA  bye  D17  L21  L20  W24  W15  L10  L19  L27  W33  L23   4½   52
27 G  Thornton       NS  L10  W24  L11  L18  L28  bye  W25  L16  W26  L22  D35   4½   50½
28 J  Atkinson       CA  L12  L23  W25  L4   W27  L16  L15  W31  D34  D30  L20   4    57
29 GE Trundle        GA  L14  L20  L16  bye  L30  W35  D24  L11  D25  L23  W33   4    49
30 R  Fernando       WE  L21  L18  bye  L13  W29  L32  W33  D14  L24  D28  L25   4    48
31 M  Stevenson      CA  L6   W25  L12  L16  L32  L24  bye  L28  L33  W35  W34   4    46½
32 CL Riding         HA  L17  W16  L14  L34  W31  W30  W11  L15   -    -    -    4    41½
33 RL Keeling        AS  L5   L13  W24  L11  D35  L25  L30  bye  W31  L26  L29   3½   48½
34 CH Webber         UH  L15  bye  L23  W32  L11  L13  W35  L22  D28  L25  L31   3½   48
35 N  Heremaia       CA  W11  L19  L20  L22  D33  L29  L34  D25  L23  L31  D27   2½ 

The web site for the event can be visited by clicking here.

World Youth 2001

Puchen Wang scored 6.5/11 in the World Under 12 Boys for 25th equal, and 33rd on countback. Evginia Charomova scored 5.5/11 in the Under 12 Girls for 33rd equal and 47th on countback. A full report available in the NZ Team Reports pages.

All Canterbury 2001

The 2001 All Canterbury event saw Bruce Anderson head the field with 4.5/5, with Ben Giles second on 4/5. Twelve players took part.

Waikato Open Hamilton 17th, 18th & 19th August

The tenth Waikato Open attracted a field of 32 players for the 6 round swiss format weekender. Half of the field was from outside the Hamilton region including a 5 player Wellington contingent. The pre-tournament favourite was Leonard McLaren, a regular at Waikato tournaments, along with local player Graeme Spain.

Final Results:

Open: 1st = (5 points) M van der Hoorn, L McLaren, R Gibbons
Grade 1 (u1700): 1st = (4 points) M Nyberg, P Rossiter
Grade 2 (u1400): 1st (3.5 points) T Gothorp
2nd = (3 points) A Mayne, V Prinsloo
Top Juniors: V Prinsloo (3), C J Philips (2.5)
Len Whitehouse Memorial Trophy (top Waikato player) G Spain (4.5)
Upset Prize: G Judkins

Devonport Open Junior Chess Tournament 18th & 19th August

Felicity Timings organised a very successful weekend tournament for children under 13, which attracted 108 entrants and was won by Puchen Wang, with Evginia Charamova among those sharing second (she lost only to Puchen). Director of Play was David Shead, while NZCF Coach Ewen Green also assisted.

Birkenhead Licensing Trust Open Auckland 22nd & 23rd September

Another successful event took place last weekend with the Open tournament eventually being won by Bob Smith and Ben Giles (4/5). The outright winner of the "B" Grade tournament was Aaron Cossey.

Maruia Open 2001 - A Brief Report and Crosstable
(by Chris Wright)

The Lewis Pass on the way to Maruia Springs, Springs Junction, Maruia, Murchison, and Nelson is a very scenic place to drive through. We drove past Maruia Springs (the initial venue) which is 41 km south of Springs Junction, and Maruia Village is 20 km east of Springs Junction. It took about two and a half hours drive (230 km) to get to Maruia from Christchurch.

Maruia is the midpoint between Nelson and Christchurch. A very picturesque place - a secluded area amongst forest and mountains with snow on them. The air was fresh and crisp. Maruia is a peaceful location.

It was good to catch up with old friends again, and Friday night consisted an evening of 5 minute chess and a Hungarian goulash meal that Pearl Giles had superbly prepared. The venison was delicious! The venue was Reid’s Store, a very famous Backpackers that you would find listed in any Lonely Planet travel guide. A fabulous venue to play chess!

The Maruia Open drew players from Nelson, Wakefield, Maruia, Christchurch, and North Otago. Sadly, Gavin Marner and FM, ICM Mark Noble could not join us, but Maruia still had a strong tournament line-up nonetheless!

The top six seeds in the tournament were past or present chess champions. Scott Wastney (NZ Chess Champion), Ben Giles (South Island Chess Champion), John van Ginkel (Nelson Champion), Shane Hudson (1992 NZ Schoolpupil Champion), Brian Donaldson and Arie Nijman (1999 South Island Champions). There were 16 players at the Maruia Open. Bruce Donaldson, Arie Nijman, Bruce Gloistein, and Dan Dolejs made up the tournament midfield (rating distribution 1786 to 1658).

In the first round I was paired to play Ben Giles. After I thrashed out 31. …Qxf3 I heard a smirk from Scott Wastney who was watching. After the game he showed that I had missed a force win in two! Instead, the result was a draw, but I was happy with that!

In rounds two and four I played white against Bruce Gloistein (North Otago) and Erin Roughton (Wakefield) - I lost both games due to my desire to over-press. I also found out that a free pawn is not always a free pawn!

In round three I got to play Sarah Brown (aged 11). Sarah came 3^rd in the Christchurch Schoolgirls Championship on May 30 earlier this year. During analysis with Bruce Gloistein, Bruce said that Sarah had a strong game. Sarah did put me under a lot of pressure in the opening and early middlegame. Embarrassingly, I could have lost my Queen! I must admit, I had more to fear in this game than I did against my easy win against Edith Otene in the Waitemata Major Open!

Sarah is distinct from the other Junior chess players in that she has the concentration and maturity at the chess board to be a good tournament player. In my opinion, and in Ben Giles opinion, she has great potential to be a very strong player. During friendly games, she defeated another promising junior, Shannon Clements (aged 16), from Nelson College. I played two games with Shannon in friendly play, both games were drawn. As for other juniors, Patrick Downey (winner of junior prize at Nelson Cole Cup - 16^th June 2001) looks promising but has a lot of work yet to do, and as for Chris Wastney (Scott’s nephew) and Michael Price - Sarah Brown proved that she is clearly the stronger player!

After 3 rounds of chess on the first day of play, Saturday night entailed the playing of trivial pursuit - as relaxation. This was enjoyed after a pasta dish and a cold beer.

Bruce Gloistein (nicknamed Groinstrain) won the Grade 1 prize on countback. Sarah Brown clearly won the Grade 2 prize (despite her not being present for the first two rounds due to a Saturday netball game), and Scott Wastney won the Maruia Open trophy.

Sadly, Ben Giles had a poor tournament, drawing with Chris Wright (I missed a force win in two), and lost to Arie Nijman and Shane Hudson. I do hope that Ben can still make the 2000 qualification mark for the upcoming 109th NZ Chess Congress. Ben and Pearl Giles are to be highly complimented for their generous hospitality and organisation of the Maruia event.

Everyone enjoyed their time in Maruia, and everyone desires to be back next year. See you at the Maruia Open in 2002!

(2) Ben Giles (1954) - (9) Chris Wright (1343) [D63]

Maruia Open (Round 1), 18 August 2001

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Nf3 0–0 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Rc1 dxc4 8.Bxc4 c5 9.0–0 b6 10.dxc5 Nxc5 11.b4 Ncd7 12.a3 Bb7 13.Qb3 Bxf3 14.gxf3 Ne5 15.Rfd1 Qc8 16.Be2 Qb7 17.e4 h6 18.Bf4 Ng6 19.Bg3 Nh5 20.Nb5 Rac8 21.Bd6 Rxc1 22.Rxc1 Bxd6 23.Nxd6 Qe7 24.Rd1 Qg5+ 25.Kh1 Nhf4 26.Bf1 Rd8 27.Nb5 Rxd1 28.Qxd1 Qh4 29.Qd2 Nh3 30.Bxh3 Qxh3 31.Kg1 (=) 31...Qxf3 32.Qe3 Qd1+ 33.Kg2 Qg4+ 34.Kf1 Qd1+ 35.Kg2 Qg4+ 36.Kf1 Qd1+ 37.Kg2 (=) ½–½

MARUIA OPEN 2001
	Player	Rating	Score					Total	Place
1	S. Wastney (FM)	2230	1 b8	1 w6	1 b4	0.5 w3	1 b5	4.5	1^st
2	B. Giles	1954	0.5 w9	1 b7	0.5 w3	0 b6	0 b4	2
3	J. van Ginkel	1930	1 b10	1 w15	0.5 b2	0.5 b1	1 w6	4	2^nd=
4	S. Hudson	1852	1 w11	1 b5	0 w1	1 b7	1 w2	4	2^nd=
5	B. Donaldson	1786	1 b12	0 w4	1 b10	1 w8	0 w1	3
6	A. Nijman	1692	1 w13	0 b1	1 w11	1 w2	0 b2	3	1^st=
7	D. Dolejs	1673	1 b14	0 w2	1 b15	0 w4	1 b10	3	1^st=
8	B. Gloistein	1658	0 w1	1 b9	1 w14	0 b5	1 w11	3	1^st=
9	C. Wright	1343	0.5 b2	0 w8	1 b16	0 w10	1 b12	2.5
10	E. Roughton	unr	0 w3	1 b13	0 w5	1 b9	0 w7	2
11	S. Clements (J)	unr	0 b4	1 w12	0 b6	1 w15	0 b8	2
12	P. Downey (J)	unr	0 w5	0 b11	1 w13	1 b14	0 w9	2
13	C. Wastney (J)	unr	0 b6	0 w10	0 b12	0 w16	1 b15	1
14	M. Price (J)	unr	0 w7	1 bye	0 b8	0 w12	0 b16	1
15	C. McKinstry (J)	unr	1 bye	0 b3	0 w7	0 b11	0 w13	1
16	S. Brown (J)	unr	0.5 bye	0 default	0 w9	1 b13	1 w14	2.5	1^st

North Island Championship 2001

The 2001 North Is. Champion is FM Bruce Watson who scored an impressive 7.5/ 8 to head head off second seed Graeme Spain who finished on 6.5. Despitean increased prize fund, excellent playing conditions, and plenty of advance notice the field was smaller than usual (26), and notable for the absence of many top players. Bruce's "picket fence" was stopped by Ben Giles in Round 6, with Graeme Spain losing to to the top seed and drawing with Henry Vital in the final round. Henry Vital and Ben Giles finished on 5.5 for 3rd = place. Ben Giles' efforts to keep contact with the leaders were derailed in Round 4 by a loss to Maciej Wojnar.

One notable feature of the Junior Grade placings was that 1st and 2nd positions were both taken by female competitors in Evgenia Charamova and Dorette Prinsloo.

Final Scores:

1st - Bruce Watson 7.5, 2nd - Graeme Spain 6.5, 3rd = Ben Giles & Henry Vital 5.5

Grade 1, 1st = Philip Rossiter, Maciej Wojnar, Don Stracy 5

Grade 2, 1st - Regan Jackson 4.5, 2nd = Jonathon Whittle, Edith Otene, Gary Judkins 4

Junior Grade 1st - Evgenia Charamova 4, 2nd Dorette Prinsloo 3, 3rd CJ Phillips 2

North Island Rapid Championship

In a field of 40 players including 15 juniors, the honours were finally shared between top seed Leonard McLaren and Ralph Hart who both finished on 5.5 / 6. Once again there was a shortage of 2000 plus players at the head of the field.

The pairings for the Rapid were done using the SwissPerfect pairing software currently being trialled by NZCF, which passed the test with flying colours.

The final positions were:

1st= Leonard McLaren, Ralph Hart 5.5, 3rd = Alan Dunn, Ben Giles 5

Grade 1, 1st= Barry Williams, Graham Pocock 4

Grade 2, 1st Caleb Wright 4.5, 2nd Regan Jackson 3.5

Grade 3, 1st= CJ Phillips, Navin Singh 3, 3rd Maziar Hojabri 2.5

This site template was built by Michael Freeman. Contact us for feedback on this site.