JENKINS TROPHY vs NORTH SHORE CHESS CLUB 
Wednesday September 28th 7.15 p.m. at North Shore Chess Club 							
Northcote Citizens Centre, Cnr College Road & Ernie Mays Street, Northcote, Auckland

Tick if available	2016-2	STD		RAPID	
X	WANG	Puchen		2465		2458		
X	LI	Luke		2381		2145		
X	McLAREN	Leonard		2340		2210		
Yes 1	GONG	Daniel		2264		2179		
Yes 2	DREYER	Martin		2263		2257		
Yes 3	GREEN	Ewen		2255		2199		
Yes 4	LIM	Benjamin	2044		1915		
Yes 5	YEE	Stanley		2022		1824		
Yes 6	SPILLER	Paul		2011		1920		
X	BARNARD	Thinus		1991		1776		
X	ZHU	Leo		1977		1730		
Yes 7	ZHANG	Jasmine		1940		1589		
X	JANISZ	Andrew		1928		1606		
X	ZHU	Karl		1925		1622		
X	YIP	Edwin		1916		1645		
X	LAM	Byron		1893		1761		
?	SHEN	Terry		1857		1578		
X	RIDING	Chris		1844		1586		
X	RAWNSLEYLouis		1836				
X	ZHAN	Judd		1819		1614		
X	MORTEN	Paul		1817		1758		
X	ZHANG	Michael		1782		1768		
X	WU	Eric		1774				
Yes 8	HACKNEY	Leyton		1728				
X	HUANG	Edward		1725		1644		
X	JIANG	Richard		1667		1661		
Yes 9	BENSON	Jim		1662		1553		
Yes 10	HACKNEY	Connor		1603				
	GUAN	Kevin		1583		1681		
	CHEN	Biyuan		1575		1554		
Yes 11	BOOTH	Anthony		1575		1414		
X	BURGESS	Ken		1545		1236		
	ZHU	Alex		1533		1255		
	HOU	Kevin		1503		1177		
	HUANG	Daniel		1494		1252		
X	WANG	Aaron		1475		1461		
?	DAI	Oliver		1463		1268		
X	MAROROA	Temu		1355		1400		
	LIN	Kevin		1334		1192		
	KANG	Alan		1317		1203		
	QI	Yiwei		1293		1265		
Yes 12	QIU	Daniel		1291		1217		
?	SHEN	Aleck		1276		1013		
Yes 13	HAN	Allan		1251		1107		
X	TAN	Eddy		1238		1161		
X	YE	Thomas		1232		1223		
X	YE	Nicholas	1226		1133		
	GUAN	Malinda		1221				
	MOHAMMEDImran		1220				
Yes 14	WANG	Ying		1214		881		
	COVENTRYRay		1191		1092		
Yes 15	ZHENG	Thomas		1184		874		
X	JANUSZCZHubert		1183		1189		
	WEN	Bill		1174		1095		
?	DUKESON	Ryan		1150		1185		
	CHEN	Andrew		1030		1053		
	BATTYE	Brian		978		1024		
	WANG	Kim		951		631		
	SHAMIR	Mohammed	946				
	PATTNI	Jayti		891		941		
Yes 16	AGNEW	Ben		910				

14th September 2016 - Results have been posted for the third and final round of the Auckland Interclub B Grade, held on 11th September. We lost to Papatoetoe 4 to 2. Venue was Alexandra Park, Gate B, Stables Room. Walk through the restaurant to the double doors at the rear, go outside and turn left, then walk down to the end of the path. Assembly time is 6:15 p.m. with start at 6:30 p.m. Please do not be late!
The team of 6 players is: Leyton Hackney 1728 (C), Jim Benson 1662, Connor Hackney 1603, Anthony Booth 1575, Oliver Dai 1463, Aleck Shen 1276.

Competitions Current 9th September 2016 - The President's Cup was completed last Tuesday, a Blitz knock out tournament, playing Black and White with a third tie-break game if necessary, with a time control of 10 minutes plus 5 seconds. It was won by Daniel Gong, and the First Round Losers tournament was won by Oliver Dai. Congratulations to the winners, well done.

14th September 2016 - The results from round 7 of the Club Championship have been posted. There are just three games to be played. Please try to complete these by the end of September if possible. Results will be posted as they become available. Please email stanyee@ihug.co.nz so that I can post the results. I have emailed you the contact details of the eight players in the Club Championship so that you can contact them directly to re-schedule any games. Due to the number of players away in the last three rounds I have decided not to have a strict deadline for completion of all games. Instead there will be no deadline, but please try to complete games by 30th September if possible.

24th August 2016 - The results from round 7 of the Club Reserve Championship have been posted. This was the final round. Congratulations to the winner Aaron Wang with 5.5 from 7, and to the runner up Daniel Qiu with 5.

3rd August 2016 - The results from round 4 of the Club Reserve Championship have been posted. The pairing for round 5 will be made next Tuesday night, to withdraw any players absent so that everyone gets a game. As mentioned before the start of play in the last two Tuesdays, we stayed past our 11.30 p.m. closing time the week in round 2, and were liable for a callout fee for an alarm activation. The vicar was called out, and was not happy. This was caused by a late start that night, partly due to two late entries into the Club Reserve Championship at 7.55 p.m. As a result of this we will no longer accept late entries into future tournaments, or late entries into the next round. In fairness to those that do arrive on time we will continue to withdraw players who are in the tournament but have not appeared on the night, in order to give those who do attend a game. Those who are absent will be withdrawn at 7.55 p.m. sharp. Please be on time.

CM Jasmine Zhang has just returned from the 12th Asian Schools Chess Championships 2016 held in Tehran, Iran from 9th July to 18th July. She scored a very respectable 5 from 9 games. Well done Jasmine. Next stop the Baku Olympiad in September.

Congratulations to CM Daniel Gong in coming 4th= with IM Russell Dive at the Waikato Open, ahead of a strong field.

Games 2016 3rd August 2016 - Leyton Hackney vs Paul Spiller analysed, Club Champs Round 2.

Competitions Current 13th July 2016 - The Richard Sutton Rapid Grand Prix tournament results have been posted. Congratulations to the winner FM Alexei Kulashko, 2nd Allen Fan, 3rd Vyanla Punsalan, and 4th and winner of the Richard Sutton Cup Terry Shen. Alexei is the current New Zealand Co-champion and a FIDE Master. He is top board for the NZ mens team to the Baku Olympiad in September. Photo of Alexei receiving the winners cheque from Club President FM Martin Dreyer. See more photos at "Photos 2016". Also heaps of photos of the Interclub A team.

Club Championship 12/07/16: Next Tuesday is the start of the Club Championship. The two draws will be finalised on the night, the Championship consisting of the top eight players in a Round Robin, and the rest in a Swiss tournament. I am taking the final entries for the Club Championship up until Tuesday, with entries closing at 7.30 p.m. sharp. Please email stanyee@ihug.co.nz before the deadline if you don't want to miss out.

On Tuesday 1/03/16 we announced that the format for the Club Championship will be similar to previous years, with one change. We will stick with a Round Robin for the top 8 standard rated players over 7 rounds, but allow games to be played out of order or at home. This is only if the scheduled games cannot be played on the Tuesday night. It is not a licence to create chaos by having all games played on any night. You are to play your scheduled opponent in the first instance, if he/she is there on the night (and has therefore not emailed to say he/she cannot make it). Only after you find your scheduled opponent cannot play you should you then seek out another opponent. For example round 5 can be played instead of round 2 on the Tuesday night, on condition that an agreement is reached with the other player affected before the day the round is due and an email is sent to Eddy Tan, Stan Yee or Tony Booth - their email addresses are on the Committee page. Or the game can be played at the home of a player, but if a player is younger than 20 years old then the game must be played at the home of the younger player under the supervision of his/her parents. Both original score sheets must be given to Eddy, Stan or Tony on the following Tuesday. The reason for this is that last year only about half of all games were actually played, with a mountain of defaults. This will also allow flexibility for those people who wish to plan a holiday longer than a week. The result will be that all games get to be played, and the champion will have played all games. All games are to be played by the deadline of 7th September 2016. We did this in at least one previous year and it worked out fine. The only problem with this Round Robin being played at home is that there is no Arbiter present for disputes. Therefore if there is a dispute it is the duty of both parties to have one of you ring Stan Yee on 021-180-8850 or Tony Booth 534-6392 immediately and at the time, not after the game. If this does not work this year we will go back to a Swiss tournament next year.

Club Reserve Championship has in previous years been a Vega Swiss, and this will stay as such this time. If you know you will be away on any given Tuesday will you please let Eddy, Stan or Tony know in advance of the respective Tuesday.

Interclub 2016 Auckland Interclub, Sunday 26th June
27th June 2016 - We have been asked to provide two Junior teams of 4 players each for the Auckland Interclub rapid, at Alexandra Park, Gate B. First floor in the Trainers Room. Players will be selected tonight Tuesday 21/06/16. We need 4 per team, aged under 14 on 01/01/16. Assembly time is 9:45 a.m. with start at 10:00 a.m. and finish by 4 p.m. It is an all day event with 10 teams competing over 5 rounds. Please do not be late!
The teams are: Team 1 Daniel Gong 2166, Jasmine Zhang 1588, Terry Shen 1571, Oliver Dai 1407. Team 2 Daniel Qui 1250, Ryan Dukeson 1221, Allan Han 1017, Aleck Shen 1008, Jayti Pattni 941 (Reserve). Results have been posted, click on the link above "Interclub 2016".

Competitions Current 9th June 2016 - The 7 round Fundraising Blitz tournament was held on Tuesday night, with proceeds going to assist Jasmine Zhang to the World Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan from 1/09/16 to 14/09/16. Thank you to all seniors and parents for the food, and for your generous support for Jasmine. Paul Spiller of Chess Enterprises NZ kindly donated two chess clocks, score books and Australian chess magazines for prizes. There were some outstanding efforts by lots of players, most notably by Martin Dreyer, Terry Shen and Paul Spiller. Click on the "Competitions Current" link for details. Jasmine is in the green jacket. The pizzas are in the oven and microwave! Reminder, "A" Team, don't forget the Interclub this Sunday. Everyone else, see you all at the Sutton Rapid next Tuesday. Photo by Stan Yee.

International 2016 5th June 2016 - An unbelievable game from the French Team Championship on 28/05/16 between GM Alexandr Fier and GM David Navara. Alexandr is from Brazil, and was in the last NZ Open so will be known to a lot of you. David Navara is a super GM from the Czech Republic. Photo of Alexandr from http://drancy2016.ffechecs.org/












Games2016 3rd June 2016 - An instructive game from our match with Papatoetoe, from board 1 Daniel Gong versus Katrine McCarthy. Most of the game was straight out of the text book of opening theory. So what is the lesson here? Don't memorise moves - it is better to learn and understand positions arising from the opening.

Howick-Pakuranga Chess Club News 3rd June 2016 - Analysis of last Tuesday's games have been posted.

Trophy Winners 2016 3rd June 2016 - Results for the year have been updated. Congratulations to the winners.

Grand Prix 2016 18th June 2016 - The Poisoned Pawn Grand Prix points have been posted.

George Trundle 9/07/16: For 2016 Auckland Chess Centre is looking at adding a "C-Grade" event to the George Trundle. They are seeking interest from players. Note the ratings guidelines have a little flexibility. Provisional Information:

Dates: July 9th-17th 2016. 1 game per day. 1st week of School Holidays
Venue: Auckland Chess Centre
Format: 10 player round Robin. 9 rounds
Rated: FIDE and NZCF rated
Entry Fee: $50 with majority returned as prizes
FIDE Ratings: 1700-1950 (approx guideline)
Please contact Simon Lyall at Auckland Chess Centre:
Email: Simon Lyall simon@darkmere.gen.nz
Phone: 021-575-233

They hope to finalise the field by late March or early April.

Baku Olympiad 1/09/16: NZCF have now released team details for the 2016 Olympiad to be held in Baku. Jasmine Zhang has been selected for the board 2 position in the Women's team which is tremendous for Jasmine and also the first time I believe that a female player from our club has been chosen. Also Luke Li has been selected for the board 3 position in the Open team. Incidentally, Luke has made his final IM norm but will need to get his rating to 2400 before officially being awarded it. Paul Spiller.

Jenkins Trophy 28/09/16: The Jenkins Trophy challenge with North Shore CC will be on Wednesday 28/09/16, over 20 boards.

Fees 27th April 2016 - Annual fees were due on 29th March. If you have not paid yet, please see Secretary Tony Booth or Treasurer Ludi Zhang on Tuesday night.

NZ Seniors 2016 27th April 2016 - Results of the NZ Seniors from Mt Maunganui have been posted.

Site Map 27th April 2016 - "Site Map" has been updated, so that the "Competitions Current" page can now be accessed from your smart phone.

Interclub 2016 20th April 2016 - Papatoetoe Challenge at Papatoetoe. Papatoetoe CC has challenged Howick-Pakuranga CC to a re-match, to be held at their club rooms on Wednesday 20th April. This will be over 23 boards. Venue: Papatoetoe CC, RSA Bowling Club, 86 Cambridge Terrace. Time to assemble 7.30 p.m. Results and report have now been posted.

Photos 2016 15th March 2016 - Annual General Meeting and prize giving. See more photos on link to Photos 2016 page. Photo by Stan Yee.

Trophy Winners 2015 15th March 2016 - Trophies and miniatures for 2015 will be presented at the Annual General Meeting tonight 15th March 2016. Congratulations to the winners.

NZ Champs 2016 4th February 2016 - The results of the NZ Chess Congress have been posted, along with a link to the games on chessgames.com

Current Competitions 3rd February 2016 - Last night was the Juniors versus Seniors Challenge night. The Seniors were outnumbered so had to borrow three Juniors to even up the teams. The food was great! Now the kids know what Shumai is. Photo by Stan Yee.

Next Tuesday 9th February is the first round of the Parkinson Cup. Players meeting 7.30 p.m. Make sure you are not late!
















Schedule 26th January 2015 - The Club Schedule for 2016 has been updated on the "Schedule" page, with a printable docx file. This Tuesday 2nd February is our Opening Night, at 6.30 p.m. for Juniors Registration followed at 7.30 p.m. by Juniors vs Seniors Challenge Night 1 (60 minutes flat). Will seniors and parents please bring a plate for supper. All are welcome. Photo by Stan Yee.

Photos 2016 24th January 2016 - Luisa Restrepo shakes hands with Nigel Short. Heaps of pictures from the Nigel Short simul have been posted. Photo by Martin Dreyer.

Site Map 24th January 2016 - "Site Map" to be progressively updated, to help with site navigation. There will be 9 new pages added over the next few days, to the existing 78 pages:
"HP 2015" archives our Club 2015 tournament results.
"NZ Champs 2016" for the NZ Open Championship.
"NZ Seniors 2016" for the NZ Seniors.
"Games 2016" for more exciting Club games during the year.
"Grand Prix 2016" for this year's Grand Prix rules and latest Grand Prix results and points.
"Interclub 2016" for more interclub battles this year.
"International 2016" to link in with what is going on in international tournaments.
"Photos 2016" for more smiling faces this year, including trophy awards.
"2016 Results" trophy winners for this year.
Have a click around to familarise yourself with the website.

Australian Chess Championship 2016 21st January 2016 - Our former junior member Luke Li played very strongly in the Australian Chess Championships and has his third & final International Master norm. He scored 6/11 having beaten GM Darryl Johansen as well as three IM's namely Ari Dale, Junta Ikeda and Brodie McClymont (who was joint winner of the 2015 Oceania championship). He played young Australian IM Anton Smirnov in round 8 and despite not having a great record against him managed a draw. He then drew against Karl Zelesco, who eventually finished in third place. In round 10 he lost to Bobby Cheng, ex-Auckland Chess Club, and the eventual 2016 Australian Champion and 2nd overall. Luke then inexplicably did not play the last round against Samuel Chow, who would finish 8-9th to Luke's 10th-14th. He did this at one of our club tournaments. He will still need to get his FIDE rating to 2400 to qualify for the IM title. His rating was 2311 before this tournament. It would be great to see a home grown Howick player achieve this!!

Anderson Collection 21st January 2016 - Here is some information about the Anderson Collection in the Australian State Library in Melbourne (which our Paul Spiller has visited twice!). The Anderson Collection ranks as the third largest public collection (of chess books) in the world, behind the John G. White collection in Cleveland and the collection at the Royal Library in The Hague, yet is far more popular.

Games2016 17th January 2016 - The instructive games from our end of year party have been posted. I am also progressively posting the Nigel Short simul games for those that remembered to hand in their scoresheets.

  












Photo by Frederic Friedel:                Photo by Helen Milligan: Nigel Short’s               
English Grandmaster Nigel Short,          Simul in 2014 at the National Chess
former challenger for the 		  Centre in Devonport.
World Chess Championship.  

Simultaneous Displays by Grandmaster Nigel Short
Wednesday 13th January 2016
Beauty versus The Beast

Aotea Square, Auckland CBD (courtesy of “Summer in the Square”). Don’t miss this one - legendary English Grandmaster Nigel Short will be taking on 20 female opponents at once, in this simultaneous exhibition with a novel twist. Play starts 11 am, and is expected to last about 3 hours. This event is organised by the National Chess Centre.

Thursday 14th January 2016
Howick-Pakuranga Simul

Howick-Pakuranga Chess Club rooms at Haseler Hall, below All Saints Church, corner of Selwyn Road and The Glebe, Howick, 6 pm. Assemble at 5:30 pm. Play will finish by 10:30 pm. at the latest.

Registration for the Howick-Pakuranga Simul: only 4 places left
Cost per player for non-Howick-Pakuranga club members is $50 to play, with a limit of 20 players on a first-come first-served basis. Places are only confirmed if payment is made into the bank account of the Howick-Pakuranga Chess Club, account number 020168-0091321-00 held at Bank of New Zealand Howick branch, with your name in the Particulars field and ‘Nigel Short’ in the Reference field. An email must be sent to Stan Yee stanyee@ihug.co.nz to advise him that you have paid the fee. The Howick-Pakuranga simultaneous exhibition is sponsored by the Howick-Pakuranga Chess Club.

Entries so far with payment and email yet to come are:

1.  Daniel Gong 	2055	
2.  Bob Gibbons 	2003	
3.  Stan Yee 		1975	
4.  Paul Spiller 	1917	
5.  Tony Booth 		1766	
6.  Barry Hooton 	1593		
7.  Ken Burgess 	1580
8.  Aaron Wang 		1576	
9.  Oliver Picken 	1501
10. Luisa Restrepo	1400	
11. Oliver Dai 		1231	
12. John McRae 		1153	
13. Ray Coventry 	unr
14. Thomas Zheng 	unr
15. Ying Wang		unr
16. Pauline Thomas	unr

Current Competitions 9th December 2015 - Next Tuesday 15th December is our Christmas Party at the clubrooms, and the sorting out of equipment. There will be free pizza like last year. Can seniors and parents also bring a plate - Chinese food is very welcome! We will have a few instructive games whilst you eat. If you want your food hot, it starts at 7:30 p.m. I will be a little late as I have to pick up my wife from the airport. Photo by Stan Yee.







Coaching 22nd November 2015 - Coaching page has been updated. Do you want your child to be a good chess player? Does he/she show talent? Why not ring/email Leonard or Ewen for some coaching?

Links 21st November 2015 - Just added expert-chess-strategies.com to links. Can't decide on an opening repertoire? Chess strategies and tactics. Lots more excellent learning resources in the other links too.

Interclub2015 7th November 2015 - Blitz Tournament teams event will be held at the Auckland Chess Centre tomorrow Sunday 8th November. Assembly time is 10:30 a.m. The format is that teams are of 4 players and matches are Scheveningen-style, i.e. each player will play each of the 4 players in the opposing team. We have 6 teams entered: AC, HP, NS1, NS2, PT1 and PT2. Draw can be done on the day. So five rounds and a finish around 3:30/4:00pm. Time control will be 3 minutes + 2 sec/move. Our team is Daniel Gong, Terry Shen, Paul Morten and Jim Benson.

Problems 5th November 2015 - Scroll to the bottom of this homepage for the latest problem.

Club Schedule 29th September 2015 - Change of dates for the Pakuranga Plaza Tournament, now Sat/Sun 17/18 October.

Games 2015 29th September 2015 - Each week I will try to select the best game, and post it to this page. The best game from this week was Ben Lim vs Nathan Goodhue in the George Trundle Qualifiers.









































Interclub 2015 29th August 2015 - Jenkins Trophy challenge, Howick-Pakuranga versus North Shore last Wednesday night. Well, our top order fired despite a splutter from our opening batsman Leonard McLaren who was bowled by a googly from Ralph Hart after a lengthy stay at the crease. Batting went down to number 6, with Martin Dreyer, Ewen Green, Daniel Gong, Benjamin Lim and Stan Yee all putting points on the board. But after Paul Spiller was undone by Jeff McCrone the rot set in. Middle order players Karl Zhu and Terry Shen gritted it out to add to our total, but the tail never wagged until the last man. NS 14 HP 6. Or is that a pro-rata loss by 7 wickets Accountant Martin Dreyer? Thanks for organising our team to Tony Booth and Judd Zhan. For the full results and a few very instructive games click on "interclub2015". Photo by Tony Booth.

Interclub 2015 15th August 2015 - The Interclub "B" Grade will be at Stables Cafe, Alexandra Park date tba. Our team will be: Jasmine Zhang 1776, Terry Shen 1765, Judd Zhan 1759, Tony Booth 1683, Richard Jiang 1601, Biyuan Chen 1551, Alfa Lee 1521 and Kevin Guan 1514.

Current Competitions 21st July 2015 - Last Tuesday we had Juniors versus Seniors. Great food.

Current Competitions 14th July 2015 - We had a Simultaneous Display by FM Ben Hague, co-NZ Champion. He won 14, drew one and lost one. Well done Ben.

Interclub 2015 7th July 2015 - Papatoetoe Chess Club came with 20 plus players for a match against our club, but we could only field 15 players against them. It was a friendly match played in good spirit. Results are in "interclub2015".

30th June 2015 - Sutton Rapid results from Rounds 7 and 8 and Cross Table have been posted. Congratulations to FM Ben Hague, co-NZ Champion, winning the tournament with a perfect 8 from 8. Ben (left) receiving the winners cheque from Club Secretary Tony Booth. Photo by Stan Yee.








Games 2015 24th July 2015 - Each week I will try to select the best game, and post it to this page. The best game from this week was Alex Zhu vs Jim Benson.

HPCC Ratings 24th May 2015 - Latest Howick-Pakuranga Chess Club Standard Active Ratings by Ranking, extracted from the NZCF Standard Active Ratings.

NZCF Ratings 24th May 2015 - Latest New Zealand Chess Federation Standard Active Ratings by Ranking.

FIDE Ratings 24th May 2015 - Latest FIDE (World Chess Federation) Active Ratings by Ranking for New Zealand players.

Interclub 2015 13th May 2015 - The Interclub "A" Grade started at Stables Cafe, Alexandra Park at 6.30pm on Sunday 10th May. Our team faced off against Papatoetoe, and won 5-1. The interclub will continue with rounds on 24th May and 14th June. Our team of six players is: Leonard McLaren, Martin Dreyer, Ewen Green, Ben Lim, Daniel Gong and Paul Spiller. For the results click on the link.

Contact Us 5th May 2015 - All contacts have been updated. Find a club near you.











Photo by Paul Spiller

International 2013 26th May 2013 - The Oceania Zonal was held in Fiji from 4-10 May. The winner of the Women's section was won by IM Irina Berezina ... Click link for more.

Games 2013 18th May 2013 - There is a brilliant game from our Simultaneous Display in January last year, between Super Grandmaster Surya Ganguly and our own Andrew Janisz.

Rules 29th April 2013 - "Rules" have been updated. These rules are for all tournaments, and you cannot play your game at any time or venue. All members please read this page.

Tournaments 24th April 2013 - The Fairhurst Pawn tournament is currently under way, and scheduled for every Tuesday from 23rd April to 4th June. It is open to Howick-Pakuranga CC members only, as it is no longer a Grand Prix event. Then Juniors vs Seniors is scheduled for 11th June, followed by the Sutton Rapid, a Grand Prix event open to all NZCF affiliated players, from 18th June to 9th July. Entry forms will be available soon.

Grand Prix 2013 12th April 2013 - Myer Tan NZ Chess Grand Prix results and points have been posted.

International 2013 2nd April 2013 - Magnus Carlsen won the FIDE Candidates Tournament in London yesterday after a bizarre finish of what has become a historic event for chess. More ...

About Us 2nd April 2013 - Our sponsor Manukau City Council was disestablished in 2010 and amalgamated into the Auckland Council, which has continued to sponsor the Club. More ...

Trophy Winners 2012 27th March 2013 - Trophies and miniatures for 2012 were presented at the Annual General Meeting on 12th March 2013. Congratulations to the winners, especially to Ben Lim, who swept away six trophies, including the prestigious Howick-Pakuranga Chess Club Championship Cup. Photo by Stan Yee.









NZ Champs 2011 20th January 2011 - 118th New Zealand Chess Congress results have been posted. IM Anthony Ker wins the tournament again. Our own Leonard McLaren is clear 5th place with 7/11, and our most promising junior Luke Li is 14th= with 5/11. Both have played well beyond their ratings, and have left some big names behind. Roy Seabrook wins the Major Open. Eric Wu came a credible 7th= with 7/11 in his first national tournament, Hristo Kolev 13th= with 6.5/11, Stefan Kolev 26th= with 5.5/11, and Olivia Dong 51st with 3/11. All games are now available as a pgn file.

Links 2nd January 2011 - IM Kalin Karakehajov of Bulgaria shares his best opening analysis online, see "Links" online-chess.eu.
Join us on Chessagora, the new web community dedicated to all chess players, amateurs and professionals, composers and solvers, correspondence players, coaches and many more! See "Links" Chessagora.

Photos 2010 31st December 2010 - The BBQ at Andrew Janisz's place, Team Janisz versus Team Li over a giant chess set. For the games see Games 2010. Photo by Stan Yee.










www.queenstownchess.com 5th December 2010 - The New Zealand Chess Federation is delighted to announce official confirmation of the 2012 Queenstown Chess Classic, to be held 15th-23rd January 2012. The $50,000 sponsorship is being provided by New Zealand Chess Grandmaster Murray Chandler. The tournament will be a nine round Swiss-system, staged over nine days. As with the previous Queenstown events of 2006 and 2009, the 2012 Classic will be a fully-fledged International Open tournament. The 119th New Zealand Championship will also be incorporated within the event. The venue will be the ballroom of the Millennium Hotel, Queenstown. Previous Queenstown events have attracted numerous international players, including masters and grandmasters. Opportunities for international title norms are once again expected to be available.

World Chess Championship 9th May 2010 - World Chess Championship Match 21st April - 13th May 2010 in Sofia, Bulgaria - Viswanathan Anand vs Veselin Topalov. Follow the match on our "International 2010" page from Sunday 25th April (first game will be played on Saturday 24th April in Bulgaria, so we in New Zealand won't have the game until Sunday 25th April), one day later than originally scheduled. The Icelandic volcano has caused this delay. Last Thursday 15th April World Champion Vishy Anand took a flight from his home in Madrid, Spain to Sofia, Bulgaria. He and wife Aruna had a stopover in Frankfurt, Germany, with an ongoing flight to Sofia the next day. No sooner had they landed in Frankfurt, however, that word went out that all further flights in and out of that airport were cancelled. This was due to an ash cloud which emanated from an Icelandic volcano and had drifted into European airspace. Slowly one airport after another was closed down, until on Friday all the major European airports, including all those in Germany, had come to a complete standstill. FIDE have approved a one-day postponement to allow Vishy Anand and his team to find a way to reach Sofia. Photo fide.com.

Members 2nd May 2010 - The first anniversary of our Club founder Dr Richard Sutton passing away was 17th April 2010. Paul Spiller has unearthed two previously unpublished games of Richard, and I have now posted them on the "Members" page and "Games 2010" page. The details of when and where they were played, and at what events are unknown. For more click on the "Members" page and the "About Us" page. Photo otago.ac.nz.







Interclub 2010 14th April 2010 - Interclub Challenge Match vs Chess 4 Miracle results have been posted. Congratulations to Chess 4 Miracle for their win.

Vasily Smyslov 28th March 2010 - World Champion Vasily Smyslov passed away.

19th Melody Amber Blindfold & Rapid Tournament 26th March 2010 - Follow the Melody Amber tournament, organised by the Association Max Euwe in Monaco, one of the most prestigious chess events in the world. Photo amberchess2010.com.







Photos 2010 24th March 2010 - The Yee surprise night, with Juniors versus Seniors over a giant chess set. Many thanks to Manukau Institute of Technology for lending us the giant chess pieces, and to Spillers Hammer Hardware for lending us the giant chess board. For more click on "Photos 2010". Photo by Stan Yee.










27th Linares Tournament 14th February 2010 - 27th Linares Tournament 13th - 25th February 2010. Can't read Spanish? You don't need to. Just click onto the link above to "International 2010" and then click on the link to the official website ajedrez.ciudaddelinares.es. Google Translation will automatically translate the Spanish to English. Six of the best super GMs do battle. Topalov is using this as his practice run for the World Championship match with Anand. The official presentation of the tournament was held at the headquarters of diario Marca in Madrid. The event was attended by the Director Mark D. Eduardo Inda, Mayor of Linares D. Juan Fernández and the president of the FEDA D. Javier Ochoa of Echagüen. Photo ajedrez.ciudaddelinares.es.


Books 13th February 2010 - The Gambit booklist has been updated with a few of the more recent titles. Don't know what to buy for his/her birthday? Buy a chess book! Write a happy birthday message on the first page, and every time they pick up the book they will remember you gave it to them. Don't know what book to buy them? Leonard McLaren has also introduced a Chess Book Voucher worth $60, which you can send as a gift.

Events 13th February 2010 - "Events" page has been REINSTATED.

About Us 10th February 2010 - This is a NEW page, to tell you about our Club. We are now an "incorporated charitable organisation", so you can make donations and get receipts to claim a tax rebate. For more click on "About Us".

Last Tuesday 2nd February 2010 was the first Club night of our New Year and it promises to be a busy year. We are starting with a good muster of 55 Juniors in our Junior hour. Please all you Juniors be at the Club by 6.25 p.m. so we can start on time, and don't forget to bring your bar code tag. Those of you who have been steadily improving over the final months of last year have probably discovered that you play better chess when the room is quiet. Let us start this year with no noise, and above all, no intimidating or distracting your opponent.

We will have a busy year with about four or five inter Club matches in the planning stages, and hope to announce the dates of these in the next couple of weeks. They will be placed on this website.

The Eastern Suburbs Interschools' Teams Tournaments are planned to be held on 26th May 2010 for the Primary Schools' Round, and on 2nd June 2010 for the Intermediate Schools' Round. All those Club Juniors who are attending a school which has not participated before in these tournaments could approach your teachers and/or Headmaster to form a school Chess Club and get the school to take part in the future, if not now.

A friendly nudge to keen Parents and willing Senior members; you have observed by now that the computerised Junior programme is starting to run quite smoothly, and I am ready to form a team of you who are willing to take on the Junior hour on a rostered basis. The idea being that we can then really take steps to bring our Juniors up the Chess training ladder with leaps and bounds. With three, four or even five parents taking an active interest in our Juniors, and to be taught what the computer programme is all about, will give me the confidence that the future of our Club will be secure. Parents can be very valuable in this programme, because some of you already spend that time at the Club anyway. Please give me a ring or speak to me during Club nights any time. See the "About Us" page for more details, and to talk to Kees van den Bosch, Secretary, see the "Contact Us" page for contact details.














Photos 2009 6th October 2009 - Left, President Tony Booth presenting the Richard Sutton Cup 2009 to Ben Lim, with Henry Vital who tied for first equal but can't keep his hands on the Cup as he is a member of Papatoetoe CC. "Game of the Tournament" was Ben Lim vs Henry Vital, see "Games 2009". Right, Luke Li and James Lee, both of Somerville Intermediate, who were in the winning team at the Nationals held in Palmerston North on 26th-27th September 2009. The team was James Lee, Luke Li, Saissen Naicker and Leo Zhu. The cup is the Intermediate Schools National Trophy and the smaller one is a memento for the school to keep. Photos by Stan Yee.

FIDE Grand Prix - Pearl Spring 2009 22nd September 2009 - The sixth FIDE Grand Prix tournament in Nanjing, China 28th September - 9th October 2009.

Interclub 2009 22nd September 2009 - Interclub B Grade Rd 2 results have been posted.

FIDE Grand Prix - Jermuk 2009 21st September 2009 - The fifth FIDE Grand Prix tournament in Jermuk, Armenia 8th - 24th August 2009.

Australasian Chess Match of the Decade 19th September 2009 - GM David Smerdon (AUS) 2502 vs IM Puchen Wang (NZL) 2465. Player profiles, history and games. Now includes the epic match GM Murray Chandler vs GM Ian Rogers in 1986.

2nd Grand Slam Masters Final Bilbao 19th September 2009 - The winners of the Nanching Pearl Spring, Corus-Wijk aan Zee, Ciudad de Linares and M-Tel Masters-Sofia tournaments 5th - 12th September 2009.














Photos 2009 15th September 2009 - Left, President Tony Booth presenting the Howick-Pakuranga Chess Club Championship Cup 2009 to Ben Lim. This is Ben's third consecutive title. Right, President Tony Booth presenting the Howick-Pakuranga Chess Club Reserve Cup 2009 to joint winners Edwin Yip and Stefan Kolev. They are the first winners to have their names engraved on this new cup. Photos by Stan Yee. "Game of the Tournaments" was J Cater vs A Booth, see "Games 2009".

6th IGB Dato Arthur Tan Malaysia Open 15th September 2009 - Final Rankings of the 6th IGB Dato Arthur Tan Malaysia Open are shown at this link. GM Negi Parimarjan (IND) 2590 is the 2009 champion. The tournament features regular New Zealand players WFM Helen Milligan, Paul Spiller and Hilton Bennett 21st - 28th August 2009.

British Champs 24th August 2009 - Features familiar friends to New Zealand shores GM Stuart Conquest and GM Gawain Jones. 26th July - 8th August 2009.

Interclub 2009 30th July 2009 - Interclub A Grade Rd 3 results and overall standings have been posted.

Oceania Zonal Open 13th June 2009 - Oceania Zonal Open 20th - 26th June 2009. Lots of New Zealand players have entered.

Westfield Pakuranga Junior Tournament 6th-7th June 2009 - Westfield Pakuranga Junior Tournament, Pakuranga, Auckland. 27 players played in the Final on Sunday and results have been posted.

Intermediate Schools Tournament 2009 6th June 2009 - Teams from Auckland Intermediate Schools have just finished their tournament and results have been posted.

Interclub 2009 26th May 2009 - Interclub "A" Grade dates and draw are now confirmed.

M-Tel Masters 2009 10th May 2009 - The international super chess tournament M-Tel Masters in Sofia, Bulgaria. 12th - 23rd May 2009.

2009 Sydney International Open Chess Tournament 10th May 2009 - Features several Kiwis. 15th - 19th April 2009.

FIDE Grand Prix - Nalchik 2009 10th May 2009 - The fourth FIDE Grand Prix tournament is taking place in Nalchik, Russia 14th - 30th April 2009.

Russian Team Championship 5th April 2009 - XVI Russian Team Championship in Dagomys, Sochi. 4th - 10th April 2009.












Alexandra Kosteniuk and Susan Polgar 12th March 2009 - GM Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia, Women's World Chess Champion, and GM Susan Polgar of USA have been appointed to Co-Chairman of the Commission for Women's Chess. "It is impressive that we have managed to join the forces of all eight Women's World Champions since 1962 to today ..." Extract and photos from fide.com.

International 2009 27th February 2009 - World Chess Challenge in Sofia, Bulgaria 17th - 27th February 2009 - Veselin Topalov vs Gata Kamsky. Click the link for their full profiles and each game.
27/02/09 Game 7: Well, another French Defence Tarrasch Variation from Kamsky, despite his lack of experience with it ... Topalov wins 4.5 - 2.5 and becomes the challenger for the World Chess Championship against the reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand in April 2010.

Events 25th February 2009 - "Events" has now been updated with lots of goodies. A big thank you to those parents and seniors who brought along supper for our opening night with Grandmaster Hans-Joachim Hecht - a very successful night was had by all. Photo schachfestival.de.

                   
NZCF Patron Jim Benson with IM David Smerdon        IM Anthony Ker with NZCF Patron Jim Benson
          Photo by Helen Milligan                            Photo by Helen Milligan

NZ Championship and NZ Major Open 29th January 2009 - NZ Championship and NZ Major Open results have been posted. IM David Smerdon of Australia wins the tournament and IM Anthony Ker of New Zealand wins his 10th New Zealand Chess Champion title.

Dresden Olympiad 28th November 2008 - Features the NZ mens' and womens' teams. 12th - 25th November 2008.

Members 26th November 2008 - Clive Wilson, an active and founding member of our Club since 1976 passed away on Friday 21st November 2008 at the South Auckland Hospice after fighting a brave battle with cancer. Clive loved the game of chess and was very sad when he became too sick to play. His name is on a number of chess trophies. The family are holding a celebration of Clive’s life on Thursday 27th November 2008 at 11am to be held at Lambert Fountain Memorial Chapel, corner Wood and Elliot Streets, Papakura and would welcome past and present chess members and associates who would like to attend. We would be grateful if you could let everyone know of Clive's funeral on Thursday. Patricia Wilson, Andrew Wilson, Ian Wilson, and Anne Wilkins. Photo by Stan Yee.




Interclub 2008 23rd November 2008 - Interclub "B" Grade final results. Pgn file, all results and standings are now posted.

Anand - Kramnik World Championship Match 14th - 29th October 2008 30th October 2008 - Anand 1/2 Kramnik 1/2 in Round 11, score Anand 6.5 Kramnik 4.5. Vishy Anand retains the World Chess Championship title. Congratulations Vishy Anand, and this will silence the doubters who said winning the title in a tournament was not the traditional and fair way. Do you know where chess really originated from? See "Links" Anand. Want to listen to a post match video? See "Links" ibnlive. Photo by Torsten Behl.







World Youth Chess Championships Vung Tau Vietnam 29th October 2008 - Features our very own Katy Qiu. 19th - 31st October 2008.

Interclub 2008 23rd July 2008 - Jenkins Trophy Challenge, North Shore vs Howick-Pakuranga results and all games as a "pgn" file have been posted, and Board 1 game Ralph Hart vs Martin Dreyer.

Games 2008 22nd June 2008 - Incredible game 13th May 2008 from 2nd ENCI Limburg Open, Round 6: GM Gawain Jones (2522) vs IM Puchen Wang (2397), kindly supplied by Paul Spiller.

Magistral Ciudad De Leon 2008 2nd June 2008 - Magistral Ciudad De Leon in Leon, Spain. 29th May - 2nd June 2008. Invitational tournament with Viswanathan Anand, Vassily Ivanchuk, Alexey Shirov and Francisco Vallejo-Pons.

Gifted Kids Programme 31st May 2008 - Gifted Kids Programme (GKP) was held this Thursday 29th May at our premises. The Gifted Kids organiser, Gail, arranged the BBQ. Leonard McLaren was the facilitator. It was a six round Swiss with 10 minutes each on the clock. There were about 60 kids there. Photo by Craig Blaxall.










New Zealand Seniors Chess Championship 2008 29th April 2008 - New Zealand Seniors Chess Championship 2008 was held 25th-27th April 2008 in Hamilton. Joint Seniors' Champions 2008 are Peter Stuart and William Lynn. 3rd place Wayne Power. Joint under-1600 winners were Nigel Cooper, David Capper, and our very own Tony Booth. He was also 4th= overall. Top female Vivian Smith. seniors2008 (doc file) seniors2008 (pgn file)

Second Sunday Puchen GM Rapid 17th April 2008 - IM Puchen Wang cleaned everyone up in the "A" Tournament with 6/6. He has had a very successful tour of France, Hungry, and Australia, and was having a well earnt break at home before embarking to Spain. All the best Puchen. For those that want to make donations to Puchen see further below on this Homepage.

9th Ciudad de Dos Hermanas 29th March 2008 - For the ninth consecutive year, ICC is hosting the annual Internet Chess Tournament "Ciudad de Dos Hermanas" 2008. 28th March - 5th April 2008.

Leonard McLaren becomes a New Zealand Master 18th March 2008
Leonard McLaren receiving his New Zealand Master Certificate from New Zealand Chess Federation President Paul Spiller. Photo by Stan Yee.






Remuera Junior Chess Club - Queen of chessboard 29th February 2008 - "Girls do just as well as boys, and, I think better."

Paul Spiller elected President, Jim Benson elected Patron 19th January 2008 - Paul Spiller, stalwart of the Howick-Pakuranga Chess Club, was elected as the President of the New Zealand Chess Federation at the Annual General Meeting on 19th January 2008. Jim Benson, another longstanding Club member, was elected the Patron. This is a double-first for our Club. Howick and Pakuranga Times "Howick player becomes NZ chess leader".

Tribute to Bobby Fischer 9th March 1943 - 17th January 2008 18th January 2008 - I had just come home after round 6 of the New Zealand Major Open on Friday 18th January 2008 and saw the news - Bobby Fischer had passed away.


Club Schedule


Problem

G Glavinac vs P K Wells, European Club Cup Skopje, Macedonia 19th October 2015.





















Black to play and win.

Solution to Problem