The 130th NZ Chess Congress
2-12 January 2023
In Association with 
Wellington Chess Club hosted the 130th New Zealand Chess Congress at our Wellington Bridge Club home base from January 2nd-12th. A successful congress has concluded!
Quick Links
Rapid:
Pairings,
Results,
Standings,
Live,
PGN
Blitz:
Pairings,
Results,
Standings,
Championship:
Pairings,
Results,
Standings,
Live,
PGN
Major Open:
Pairings,
Results,
Standings,
PGN
Junior:
Pairings,
Results,
Standings,
Live,
PGN
Results
NZ Championship
NZ Champion, FM Daniel Gong
1st= GM Elshan Moradiabadi, GM Samy Shoker, FM Daniel Gong 7/9
4th= CM Edward Rains, IM Herman van Riemsdijk, IM Anthony Ker, Ryan Winter 6/9
<2200 Rating prize CM Edward Rains
Chessable Bonus Prizes (Open) 1st GM Elshan Moradiabadi, 2nd GM Samy Shoker, 3rd FM Daniel Gong; (Women) 1st WIM Jasmine Zhang, 2nd WCM Isabelle Ning, 3rd WCM Nadia Braganza
NZ Major Open
1st Kayden Loke 8/9
2nd= Jie Gong, Romero Suggate 7/9
<1700 Rating prize Jie Gong 7/9
<1400 Rating prize Zeqi Xing 5/9
Chessable Bonus Prizes (Open) 1st Kayden Loke, 2nd Jie Gong, 3rd Romero Suggate; (Women) 1st Emily Gan, 2nd Jenny Qi, 3rd Sarah Sun
NZ Junior
1st= FM Daniel Gong, Daqi Mao 6/7
3rd= Cohen Young, Leo Malcolm 5.5/7
U16 1st= Lucas Barnett-Harris, Bill Li 5/7
U14 1st Sarah Sun 4.5/7
U12 1st Daqi Mao 6/7
U10 1st= Luna Lu, Richard Jinjie Liu, Carol Huixin Wang 4/7
U8 1st= Long Minh Le, Kevin Qi 2/7
Best Girl Sarah Sun 4.5/7
School Pupils Champion Daqi Mao
Girl School Pupils Champion Sarah Sun
Chessable Upset Prizes
Martin Zhou, Zhou (1061) - Kerr (1953) 1-0, round 1.7
Bill Li, Suggate (2049) - Li (1384) 0-1, round 5.9
Luna Lu, Suggate (2049) - Lu (1480) 0-1, round 3.7
Anderson Chen, Chen (1487) - Loke (1972) 1-0, round 2.6
NZ Rapid
Joint NZ Rapid Champion; IM Anthony Ker, FM Nicolas Croad, CM Felix Xie
1st GM Samy Shoker 8.5/9
2nd= IM Anthony Ker, FM Nicolas Croad, CM Felix Xie, IM Herman van Riemsdijk 7/9
<2000 Philli Park-Tamati 6.5/9
<1700 Justin Zhide Wang 6.5/9
<1400 Matthew Keith 6.0/9
NZ Blitz
1st GM Samy Shoker, 8.5/9
2nd FM Ben Hague 8/9
3rd IM Anthony Ker 7.5/9
<2000 Thomas van der Hoorn 7/9
<1700 Leo Malcolm 6.5/9
<1400 Kayden Loke 7/9
Revised Prize Schedule
The prize fund has been increased from the original Entry Form announcement. Prize winners please be patient, we will be paying out your prizes and contacting you about Chessable prizes within a few days of the end of the tournament.
Championship
1st $1600
2nd $1000
3rd $700
4th $500
5th $300 (new prize)
<2200 $300
Chessable Bonus Prizes (Open and Women): 1st, 2nd and 3rd on tie-break, vouchers and Chessable Pro membership (1st $EU100/12 month, 2nd $EU50/6 month, 3rd $50EU/ 3 month)
Major Open
1st $1000
2nd $800
3rd $500
<1700 $250
<1400 $250
Chessable Bonus Prizes (Open and Women): 1st, 2nd and 3rd on tie-break, vouchers and Chessable Pro membership (1st $EU100/12 month, 2nd $EU50/6 month, 3rd $50EU/ 3 month)
Rapid
1st $500
2nd $400
3rd $300
<2000 $150
<1700 $150
<1400 $150
Blitz
1st $300
2nd $200
3rd $150
<2000 $70
<1700 $70
<1400 $70
Junior
1st $400
2nd $300
3rd $150
U16,U14,U12,U10,U8 and Best Girl each $70
4 Chessable bonus prizes for biggest decisive upsets ($US25 Gift Cards)
(Note players may win more than one prize)
Live Board Links
Live board links Rapid DGT, Championship Lichess, Championship DGT and Junior Champs DGT. Thanks to Ying Wang our live boards expert. (Championship and Major Open games start at 2pm NZ time, from January 2-10)
Game Downloads
Rapid: (coming soon)
Championship rounds 1-9:
PGN file
Major Open rounds 1-9:
PGN file
Junior Championship* rounds 1-7:
PGN file
The organisers will attempt to keep the files as up to date as possible. Please help out by keeping a neat scoresheet and if possible emailing your game to billforsternz@gmail.com, thanks.
* Only the top 15 electronic board games are automatically included. Other games will be accepted and included if the players email them to billforsternz@gmail.com, thanks.
Vega Home Pages
Entry Form
The Entry Form allows you to enter electronically and includes detailed tournament information.
Entries to the Rapid and Blitz have been extended but will definitely close on Tuesday night..
Parking
Sorry for the Blitz and Rapid on the last day please do not park under the building if at all possible, we have a double booking problem. Apologies.
There are approximately 32 car parks on site, we might be able to squeeze one or two more in. Hopefully this will be enough, we won't really know until the event is underway. But we encourage you to consider alternative options. One person per car is discouraged, see if you can team up and car pool. Public transport is another option. The main railway station is 20 minutes walk away, The number one bus route (and several other bus routes) go along nearby Thorndon Quay. If you plan to use the car park, please come early to avoid disappointment. Park considerately and be prepared to accept there is a chance you will be temporarily blocked out so you might have to delay your departure.
If you have mobility concerns and you need to use your car, please contact the organiser.
If you come by car and there is no room to accommodate you, you may have to park in the coupon zones in the surrounding streets and accept the risk of a fine, there is a P120 limit even on weekends. The nearest free parking is up the hill in the adjacent suburb of Wadestown. This is definitely an option for those happy to walk 20 minutes or so, up a steep hill for the return journey!
Accommodation
The Atura Wellington Hotel, 24 Hawkestone Street Thorndon is our accommodation partner for this event. They are
the closest hotel or motel.
They offer a very attractive rate for a Queen room, $119 per night, or $139 including breakfast for visitors
staying 8 nights or longer. Note that they are now offering free cancellation with this deal.
Please use this link to book (first come first served): https://www.aturahotels.com/private-page/chess-club/
(The breakfast option can be added either at check-in or by emailing reservations_aturawellington@evt.com).
Special Covid Policies
Masking will be encouraged but will not be compulsory. This policy, and all Covid policies is subject to change during the tournament to enable maximum flexibilily to deal with potential emergency circumstances.
Because there is an increased chance of unexpected and late withdrawls in Covid times, the draws made after each round in the the NZ Championship, Major Open and NZ Junior and Age Group Championships will be provisional. Pairings will be considered final, i.e. published for the purposes of FIDE Regulations, 30 minutes before the round start time.
Players without games after a round starts may be paired against other players without games if they and the arbiter agree.
Players should not enter or attend if they have Covid, are awaiting the results of a Covid test, have been asked to isolate, or have one or more Covid symptoms. Where the Chief Arbiter believes that any of these apply, the Chief Arbiter may declare the game lost or exclude the player from one or more rounds. If a player is excluded pending a Covid test, one half-point bye may apply at the discretion of the Chief Arbiter. If a player refuses to follow arbiter direction on these, they may be expelled from Congress. Spectators may be expelled and/or banned from the venue.
Zonal Qualification Spot
The first placed New Zealand player in the 2023 New Zealand Chess Championship will be offered first choice of representing NZ at the Oceania Open Zonal to be held in Melbourne from 23 - 28 January 2023. If tiebreak is necessary the order will be; Direct Encounter, Buchholz Cut 1, Buchholz, Most Wins, Most Wins with Black, Drawing of Lots. This individual will be entitled to free accommodation (usually shared accommodation with another zonal representative) at the zonal. If the first eligible representative declines their invitation (they have 24 hours to decide), then the invitation will go to the next highest representative, etc, until the representative has been found. (The wording of this section was updated on November 3rd 2022).
Tournaments
2023 New Zealand Championship
2 – 10 January 2023
Format: 9 Round Swiss.
Time Control: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of
the game with an additional 30 seconds per move from move one.
Eligibility: Open to all players, however players rated less than 2000 (NZCF or FIDE)
are encouraged to play in the Major Open, also non NZ residents must have a FIDE id.
2023 Major Open
2 – 10 January 2023
Format: 9 Round Swiss.
Time Control: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of
the game with an additional 30 seconds per move from move one.
Eligibility: Players must have an NZCF rating below 2100 or a FIDE rating below 2000,
also non NZ residents must have a FIDE id.
2023 New Zealand Blitz Championship
11 January 2023
Format: 9 Round Swiss tournament
Competition Rules: Article B.4 of the Laws of Chess will apply.
Time Control: 3 minutes for the game with an additional 2 seconds per move starting
from move one.
Eligibility: Open to all, except that non NZ residents must have a FIDE id.
2023 New Zealand Rapid Championship
11-12 January 2023
Format: 9 Round Swiss tournament
Competition Rules: Article A.4 of the Laws of Chess will apply.
Time Control: 25 minutes for the game with an additional 5 seconds per move starting
from move one.
Eligibility: Open to all, except that non NZ residents must have a FIDE id.
2023 New Zealand Junior and Age Group Championships
3 – 9 January 2023
Format: 7 Round Swiss tournament
Time Control: 60 minutes for the game with an additional 30 seconds per move
starting from move one.
Eligibility: Open to players born in 2003 or later, also non NZ residents must have a FIDE id.
Arbiters
Chief Arbiter: IA Craig Hall, arbiter IA Ying Wang, assistant arbiter NA Gordon Lyall
AGM
The NZCF AGM will be held in the Pipitea room at the tournament venue on the evening of Wednesday the 11th after the completion of the Rapid rounds for that day (approximately 7pm).
Sponsored by
The main prizefund is $8600 (refer to the entry form for a breakdown) plus there are special membership and course prizes from our sponsor Chessable valued at over $1000.