Results
Editor's 2023 note. Excuse the fact that these results aren't sorted into final placing order. It's a little difficult to do after-the-fact. Maybe someday.
A grade
Nbr Name Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 Score 1 Ker, Anthony 2456 1 1 1 1 1 5 2 Dive, Russell 2419 0 1 1 1 1 4 3 Turner, Mike 2099 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 Nijman, Brian 2167 0 0 1 ½ 1 2.5 5 Van der Hoorn, Mark 2178 0 0 1 ½ 1.5 6 Wastney, Scott 2378 0 0 0 0 0
B grade
Nbr Name Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 Score 1 Nyberg, Michael 2041 ½ 0 1 0 1 2.5 2 Kay, Bruce 1840 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 1.5 3 Sellen, Ian 2040 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 4 4 Jackson, Ross 1986 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 5 Forster, Bill 1967 1 1 0 ½ ½ 3 6 Aldridge, Alan 1840 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 3
C grade
Nbr Name Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 Score 1 Roberts, Mike 1818 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 Stracy, Don 1741 1 1 1 0 1 4 3 Farrington, Lawrenc 1708 1 0 1 ½ 0 2.5 4 Rabina, Romeo 1773 0 0 0 1 1 5 Brockway, Andrew 1800 1 1 ½ 0 1 3.5 6 Riley, Tim 1765 1 0 1 0 2
D grade
Nbr Name Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 Score 1 Stoeveken, Peter 1677 W 7- B12+ W9+ B2+ W6+ bye = 4.5 2 Whittle, Jonathon 1673 B 8+ W5+ B3- W1- B9+ W6- 3 3 Marney, John 1501 W 9+ B4+ W2+ B6- W10+ B7+ 5 4 Veldhuizen, Matt 1448 B 10+ W3- B6- W12- B8+ W9+ 3 5 Drinkwater, Blaise 1403 W 11+ B2- bye = W8+ bye 0 . 2.5 6 Proctor, Matthew 1374 bye = B7+ W4+ W3+ B1- B2+ 4.5 7 Theodosiou, Andreas 1259 B 1+ W6- B8- W11+ B7= W3- 2.5 8 Palmer, Luke 1035 W 2- B11+ W7+ B5- W4- bye + 3 9 Bobach, Conrad - B 3- W10+ B1- bye = W2- B4- 1.5 10 Loginov, Vladimir - W 4- B9- W12 + bye = B3- bye = 2 11 Sknar, Andriy - B 5- W8- bye 1 B7 - bye = W12- 1.5 12 Ranson, Bryce - bye = W1- B10 - B4+ W7= B11+ 3
Reports
Round 6
A Grade) Dive v Ker was a typical DvK (or KvD) dogfight. Ker used his ...d6 ...e5 then ...e4 pushing Nf3 to Ng5 anti English system. No doubt Russell and Anthony have debated this stuff 845 times before. This time Russell supported the Ng5 with h4 and combined this with queenside play. Classicists would no doubt be pleased to know that Anthony's play through the centre triumphed over this double edged (literally) play on both sides. So Anthony edges Russell into second place again. I haven't been paying sufficient attention, maybe Russell edges Anthony in even numbered years. Nijman v Turner saw Brian winning an interesting tactical battle. Mike's downhill slide started when his attempted zwichenzug was met by a counter zwichenzug. Brian had a good tournament, clearly coming third, and unlucky to drop a whole point v Dive and half a point v van der Hoorn. Wastney and van der Hoorn didn't eventuate after a disappointing tournament for both players.
B Grade) Ian Sellen smashed your unfortunate reporter brilliantly in the decisive contest for this group, extending his impressive streak to three powerful wins in a row. Basically the mano a mano contest I was anticipating turned into a mano a boyo rout instead. My lawyers are presenting Gambit books with an affadavit as I write this. Their annoying and pathetic book describes the pawn structure b6,c6,d5,e6,f5 and indicates that after c4xd5 e6xd5 the dual weaknesses on c6 and f5 are not a big problem for black, even if white strikes at them both simultaneously with Qc2. Not so as Ian brilliantly demonstrated with a string of powerful tactics (I suppose it's possible I mishandled some of the details:-). Towards the end Ian was taking yet another pawn with each move. Instead of these missing pawns opening lines for me and providing counterplay, they were transferring whatever pathetic control of the board I had to Ian. I gave up when the toll reached 4 pawns and an exchange. (Anyone confused about the colours should note that I was playing the Stonewall Dutch with white and an extra tempo, which was of no use whatsoever). Meanwhile Nyberg v Aldridge was an opportunity for Al to join Sellen on +3, but instead Nyberg was da man, taking many Aldridge pawns (systematic, increasing material losses were a feature of all 4 A and B grade games) reducing Aldridge to my +1 and creating a mid table logjam in Ian's majestic wake.
C Grade) Lawrence described his clash with Brockway as a grandmaster draw. After playing through the game I can confirm it was definitely a draw. This gave Don Stracy a chance to win by himself, a chance he grabbed by beating Rabina. Congratulations Don! Our senior players are doing some damage this year.
D Grade) John Marney was predictably too good, although the noble Andreas Theodosiou fought hard and was gracious in defeat. Congrats John for a well deserved tournament win. Matt Proctor concluded a great tournament with a nice win against Jonathon Whittle, his second against a much higher rated player in this tournament. He joins Peter Stoeveken (who took the week off) in second place. Conrad Bobach didn't show for his clash with Matt Veldhuizen (not cool Conrad - you must notify absences like this), but Matt was at least able to get a quick game against young Andriy Sknar who also played Bryce Ranson. I hope Andriy persists, a young brain like his can absorb chess knowledge and develop strength very quickly if given an extended run. One tip is play just a little bit slower, you've got time, use some of it!.
Round 5
A Grade) Ker v Wastney saw a routine looking Scotch position where suddenly Anthony was winning the exchange and Wastney didn't seem to be getting sufficient comp. (Edit: Playing through the game with Rybka turned on shows Scott getting more than enough comp, but Anthony slowly neutralising black's initiative and taking over - the lesson, as always, don't take any notice of anything I say). A similar very early exchange loss or maybe sacrifice happened to Scott earlier in the tournament versus Mike Turner. Scott lost both games. I really owe the readers more information, I'll ask Scott whether these were sacs or blunders (edit: I asked. They were both sacs). I didn't see Dive v van der Hoorn but I am guessing at 17 moves, and total elapsed time of about two minutes (I may be exaggerating slightly) it wasn't pretty for Mark. So going into next week, it's deja vu all over again as everything comes down to Dive v Ker. Talking up Scott hasn't worked for him in this tournament, but dear reader, remember that form is temporary and class is permanent. So watch out for him next tournament. Just putting it out there.
B Grade) Bruce Kay let down his global fanbase with a rather feeble effort against Aldridge's Czech Benoni. Still credit to Al for a creative opening choice (Bruce loves nothing more than grinding v the Nimzo) and then taking full advantage of some ineffectual tempo losses from Bruce. Whipping up a mating attack as black just out of the opening is unusual. Ian Sellen continued his positive momentum, winning a pawn and converting it handily v Nyberg the impaler. Jackson v Forster was a typically close, hard fought encounter between the club's two bad boys. Ross was doing well milking a nice positional bind against my very first Stonewall Dutch (Gambit books, I want my money back). But suddenly things went very wrong for him as he allowed undeserved counterplay. I won a pawn, and relaxed, mentally working on my victory speech. (It was going to go something like "Yeah bad luck Ross, good game, I think you were doing well, but Nb3 was definitely a mistake..."). Greedily I grabbed, literally, a second pawn. With the pawn in my hand I realised it was a terrible mistake and started reconsidering, until the realisation dawned that physically securing the pawn had made reconsideration moot. The game quickly burned out to a draw after that and I had to make up a new speech. Everything to play for next week with Aldridge, Sellen and myself all on +2. Aldridge takes on the impaler, who hasn't had such a great tournament and will be looking for redemption, while the other two contenders battle mano a mano.
C Grade) Brockway's good run came to a shuddering halt as he blundered a piece early v Rabina. I know from a previous similar experience that Romeo is more than good enough to convert in such circumstances. Next time I'll resign and get an early night, but Andrew is made of sterner stuff and got a full evening's chess, and insisted afterwards he had chances, although it all looked pretty futile to me (Edit: Andrew was quick to point out by email that my casual glances had me misjudging his attack, which did in fact get him right back into the game. Andrew is right. I was wrong. Sorry. (see Ker v Wastney edit above if the lesson from this is insufficiently obvious)). I never saw Stracy v Riley but Don prevailed in Tim's last game at Wellington this year. Don eases into a joint lead with Andrew Brockway. Lawrence got to play against the French for once and beat Mike Roberts. I don't know whether it was a Mike Roberts trademark premature resignation or not. Although if Mike resigned after, for example, realising he'd slightly weakened his black squares, no doubt Lawrence's crazed laughter would have been heard in the PM's office across the street. (It wasn't, this time, so let's assume a conventional win for Lawrence: Edit: after looking at the game, full credit to Lawrence for a nice attack, and credit to Mike for a nicely judged resignation). Going into the last round Brockway must be a slight favourite, if only since he gets the white pieces (v Farrington) whilst Stracy is black (v Rabina).
D Grade) A nervous looking Matt Proctor was up against 300 extra Elo points (in the shape of Peter Stoeveken) this week, and the fire went out, at least for now. Jonathon Whittle beat the promising Conrad Bobach, John Marney got back on the horse v Vladimir Loginov, and it was nice to see scholar and gentleman Matt Veldhuizen score an overdue victory. New boy Bryce Ranson got a second result, this time a draw v Andreas Theodosiou. Stoeveken and Marney now lead, with Proctor a half point back. Unsurprisingly the top players have already played each other, and the smart money flooded in behind John Marney once the punters found out that Peter Stoeveken is taking a half point bye in the last round. Still, Andreas Theodosiou relishes the role of spoiler, maybe he can take down another frontrunner. Stay tuned for another exciting update next week.
Round 4
A Grade) Dive got out of jail again. This time Wastney was the unfortunate victim. Good prep yielded a fabulous attacking position for Scott. But then a big think didn't quite yield the convincing follow up that was surely there somewhere (edit:after consulting the silicon oracle it transpires that Scott's big think did result in the right move, e7, for a winning position, but a few more accurate moves were required). Russell survived to the ending with heaps of extra time and a smidgeon of retained material advantage from Scott's sacrifices. I still think Scott will bounce back! Brian Nijman was again unlucky not to collect the full point, this time van der Hoorn was the benefactor as late in the evening things went wrong again. Still, at least this time only half a point went west. Turner v Ker was a routine crush for Anthony after Mike played into a favourable variation in Anthony's pet 1...d6 2...e5 pet variation versus 1.d4. Mike should have read my championship report in the NZ chess mag.
B Grade) Aldridge v Forster was a hard fought draw. Bruce Kay nearly gave his fanbase a heart attack by insisting on using every last one of his thirty seconds for every move after obtaining Philidor's drawing position v Nyberg. Bruce play the obvious moves quickly and build up a safety margin. Please! (disclosure: I am Bruce's fanbase). Sellen comes into contention after a nice crush v Jackson (30.Rf7! is a spectacular winning move), as Ross' misery continues.
C Grade)Brockway v Riley was the clash of the big guns. Brockway for the win! Actually after playing through this one I should reassess Aldridge v Forster as instead of meekly drawing once an even rook and pawn ending was reached (like we did), Brockway made something out of nothing. Mike Roberts came up with one of his trademark premature resignations v Stracy. Mike, you're not playing Kramniks, one pawn isn't necessarily enough!
D Grade) John Marney and Matt Proctor were on fire, and Matt still is, taking first place by himself with a hardfought win. Peter Stoeveken has fought back from his first round shock loss to Andreas Theodosiou and joins John half a point behind Matt. Blaise Drinkwater wins in adverse circumstances. Bryce Ranson gets his first win at the club. Well done Bryce.
Round 3
A Grade) Ker and Dive lead with 2 out of 2 each (both have had week off) which sounds like situation normal, but actually perhaps Brian Nijman is very unlucky not to have a share of the lead; He took down Wastney with black in a nice game, and seemed to be all over Dive (2R+N play Q+R but I think Brian had perhaps 4(!) extra pawns, and a bind) when I left the club at 11pm on Tuesday. Ian assures me the remainder of the game was basically a tragedy for Brian. Dive and Ker really make you play the full 80 minutes (I'm using a rugby metaphor, try to pay attention) if you want to win. This writer predicts that Wastney, the other class player in the field, will find form and bounce back after a nasty start.
B Grade) I am leading after a nice win against Nyberg, but then a very lucky result against Bruce Kay who resigned in a barely worse position. He had I'm guessing at least 1.99 pawns worth of comp for his two missing pawns. Apart from that glitch Bruce is continuing to play like a 25 year old after a hot hot hot 2010. Alan Aldridge is also having a good tournament so far. Heaps of chess yet to be played here.
C Grade) Brockway and Riley have their noses in front. No surprises there I suppose. Again, the tournament is a long way from being decided.
D Grade). John Marney and Matt Proctor are on fire with nothing but wins to date. Really nice to see these guys who have been really solid club members for some time getting good results.
Round 1 and 2
Sorry, no reports for these rounds.