New Zealand Chess

The first issue of “Chess Aotearoa Magazine” is out!

“The New Zealand Chess Magazine began publication as early as 1973 but sadly was discontinued in 2018. We would love to be able to act as a continuation of this magazine, but we also want to put our own spin on it - therefore the “Chess Aotearoa Magazine”. We’ve heard from way too many people that chess is a sport for “smart people” and that they don’t play chess because they’re “not good at it”. We think chess is a hobby for everyone! People of all ethnicity, gender, race, or level should be able to enjoy chess while feeling comfortable in the community. We totally understand that picking up chess can be intimidating, so our mission is to make chess fun through this accessible electronic magazine. Enjoy!”

“This issue would not have been possible without those who volunteered to write the articles for our first issue, namely Anya Thurner, Tyne Grant, Weiyang Yu, Felix Xie, Zachary Thirkell, Leo Malcolm, and Anjola Sigbeku. We’d like to thank Timothy Ha, Bill Forster, Ewen Green, and Craig Hall for their support and assistance throughout the inception of this magazine. A special thanks is also owed to Nigel Metge, who planted the idea of starting a project similar to the New Zealand Chess Magazine in our lead editor’s mind.”

Download for free here: Chess_Aotearoa_NZ_-_Vol_1_No.1.pdf

Editorial Lead Editor & Founder: Weiyang Yu
Designer & Editor: Charlotte Ray
Proofreader: Anya Thurner

P.S.: There’s even a chess crossword for those who can’t solve chess puzzles!

Applications open for Asian Youth Championships (12-23/12, UAE)

Attention junior NZL players, if you want to represent NZL in the Asian Youth Championships (Open and Girls U18, U16, U14, U12, U10, U8) - Al Ain, UAE, 12/12-23/12, please apply via the form forms.gle/oFqvNVZEwLRiu44u5

Applications close 5 November.

New NZCF rating files for arbiters for period 2023-3

New NZCF rating files were provided by Rowan Wood on Oct 15: Standard | Rapid - please use these files in your upcoming events. Detailed rating listsare provided in the Ratings section.

Period 3 includes tournaments from July, August and September.

Twenty-five standard rated tournaments have been processed involving 458 players and 1987 games. The open tournaments are New Zealand Seniors, New Zealand Women’s Championship, Peter Stuart Memorial (North Island), South Island, Auckland Interclub A, Canterbury Junior Championships (A, B) and Invercargill Southern Classic. The club tournaments are Auckland Weekend (July, August, September) and Winter Cup, Summit Winter Cup and Championship, North Shore Championships (A, B), Howick-Pakuranga Championship, Papatoetoe Winter Cup, Mount Maunganui Main Event (4-6) and Preliminary, Wellington Julian Mazur Memorial, Canterbury Eric Browne Shield and Otago Cleland Trophy

Twenty-four rapid rated tournaments have been processed involving 814 players and 3787 games. The open tournaments are South Island, New Zealand Schools Final (Primary, Intermediate, Secondary), Summit U1800 and U1000 (July, August, September), Howick Mid-Winter Junior, North Shore Schools (Intermediate, Secondary), Chess Power Super Champs (A/B, C) and Sarapu Cup (Kings, Bishops) and Otago Spring. The club tournaments are Summit Winter, Howick-Pakuranga Richard Sutton Cup, Canterbury Junior (July, August), Otago Championship (2) and Swiss.

Top Fifty: Alexei Kulashko remains at the top of the standard ratings and is joined by Ben Hague after both dropped a few points for a rating of 2455. Alphaeus Ang remains in third on 2448. No change in the rapid ratings with Ben Hague 2408 ahead of Alphaeus Ang 2402 and Anthony Ker 2376.

2023 NZ Women's Championship (25-28/09/2023), Auckland

WCM Isabelle Ning is the new Women's Champion! Isabelle finished the tournament on 6.5/7 (Full standings)

The 2023 NZ Women's Championship was dedicated to WIM Sue Maroroa-Jones. The event has been supported by the FIDE Development Fund.

74th South Island Championships (27/09-01/10/2023), Oamaru

The classical section of the 74th South Island Champs will start tomorrow. Follow the event on Vega and Lichess - game times are 9:00 am and 2:30 pm.

Rapid portion: Vega and Lichess

NZ Fischer-Random Championship 2023, 16th September

Congratulations to FM Alphaeus Ang, New Zealand's first Fischer-Random (Chess 960) Champion, scoring a picket fence 6.0/6! More in the Results section.

2023 NZ Seniors and Veterans, Invercargill (24-27/8)

FM Ben Hague is the 2023 NZ Seniors champion! Gordon Morrell and Tony Carpinter are joint Veterans champions. More in the Results section.

NZCF calls for suggestions with regard to the FIDE rating change proposal

NZCF will be putting in a submission to FIDE with regard to the rating change proposal, as described in a recent FIDE news article, "FIDE seeks public discussion about proposed rating changes". Any feedback should be sent to Rowan Wood and Michael Freeman (rowan.wood@rikstoto.no and michael@poisonpawn.co.nz) by the end of the month.

Selections for World Junior, Youth and Cadet Championships

Registrations for any remaining official places (see below for tournaments with remaining official places) and additional places are open again – first come, first served for the remaining official places. Registrations will be closed on 7 August to allow time to collate flight details etc. https://forms.gle/93n4wUtgdkHoErgo8 is the registration form.

NZCF congratulates the official selections who are as follows:

World Cadet Championships 2023
Girls Under 10: Luna Lu
Under 10: Sai Vivan Karthikeya Somaraju
Under 12: William Rui Liu

Girls Under 12, Girls Under 8, Open Under 8 are still open for applications.

World Youth Championships 2023
Girls Under 14: Sarah Sun
Girls Under 16: Yolanda Chang
Under 18: Alexandre de Maupeou d'Ableiges

Girls Under 18, Open Under 14, Open Under 16 are still open for applications.

World Junior Championships 2023
Open: Winston Weng

Junior Girls Championship is still open for applications.

FM Alphaeus Ang wins another North Island Championship

Congrats to FM Alphaeus Ang who won the North Island Championship on 7.0/8, the second year in a row. IM Tom Middelburg, CM Alex Nagorski and Miles Lee shared second on 6.0/8. Philli Park-Tamati, Nadia Braganza, WCM Isabelle Ning, and FM Leonard McLaren came third on 5.5/8. More info to come in the Results section.

NZCF ratings for the period 2023-2

Rating lists are now published quarterly. The four rating periods cover the calendar year, from January 1st to December 31st. Period 2 includes tournaments from April, May, and June.

Thirty-four standard-rated tournaments have been processed involving 506 players and 2324 games. The open tournaments are Auckland Anzac, George Trundle Masters and Qualifiers, Waitakere Trusts (A-C, Junior), Wellington Easter, and Canterbury’s Arie Nijman Memorial. The club tournaments are Auckland Autumn and Weekend (May, June), Summit Summer (A, B), North Shore Autumn (A, B), Papatoetoe Katrine Metge Autumn, Mount Maunganui Main Event (2, 3), Wellington Summer and Autumn (A-D), Kapiti Kingston Memorial, Canterbury Championships (A-C) and Colthart Cup, Otago Championships (A1-C1) and Graham Haase Memorial and Invercargill Classical.

Twenty-one rapid-rated tournaments have been processed involving 587 players and 2899 games. The open tournaments are Summit U1800 and U1000 (April, May and June), Howick Centre Autumn and Winter Junior, Upper Hutt Open and Junior, Kapiti Open and Otago Winter. The club tournaments are North Shore Championship (1, 2), Auckland Autumn, Wellington Championship, Canterbury Junior (April, May, June), Otago Championship, and Invercargill Rapid.

Top Fifty: A six-year reign at the top of the standard ratings has finally come to an end. Ben Hague has dropped to second behind new number one, Alexei Kulashko. Alphaeus Ang remains in third. On the rapid list, Ben Hague and Alphaeus Ang remain first and second. Anthony Ker moves up two places to third. See more in 2023-2-Rating News.pdf

Rowan Wood, NZCF Ratings Officer

New rating files for arbiters: Standard | Rapid.

Tournament levies increase from 1 July

NZCF Council reminds that tournament levies increase to $7 per player for NZCF-rated open tournaments from 1 July as decided by the NZCF AGM in January. More in the Notices section.

Applications open for World Cadet/Youth/Junior events

Applications for the official NZL places at the World Cadet Championships (U8, U10, U12), World Youth Championships (U14, U16, U18), and World Junior Championships (U20) are now open. Applications for official places close on 30 June 2023 and selections, if required, will take place after that date. As per NZCF International Events policy, the pre-eminent weight will be given to the most recent appropriate national championship (i.e. 2023 junior and age group championships) and ratings. Players who are not selected may be able to enter as an additional player in which case they won’t qualify for the free hotel room and board (meals) so will have to pay those costs as well. Players and accompanying persons (usually parents) should complete the form individually. For information about the tournaments, please check the regulations: a) World Junior Championships 2023 (20 Sep-2 Oct 2023, Mexico City, Mexico); b) World Cadet Championships 2023 (14-27 Oct 2023, Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt); c) World Youth Championships 2023 (12-25 Nov 2023, Montesilvano, Italy).

As per the NZCF FIDE fee policy, all costs are payable by the players or their parents and will be invoiced by the NZCF Treasurer once known. For likely costs, please check the regulations, particularly for hotel rates and registration fees. Official players (but not their accompanying parents) are entitled to a shared room and full board (meals) so accompanying persons/parents of official players should budget for the cost of a double (double rates in the regulations are usually per person) – hotel arrangements are usually part of registration so will be followed up after applications close. Visa support letters are usually provided by organisers following registration and payment.

Any enquiries, please contact Craig Hall, Paul Spiller, or Nigel Metge. Please apply here https://forms.gle/5whNcpbz5ZNNYswdA as soon as possible.

17th Asian Schools Chess Championship (13-22/07/2023)

The Asian Schools Chess Championship 2023 will be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from the 13th to the 22nd of July, 2023. Sorry for the delay with this registration form, but the deadline for FIDE registration is 13/6. Please apply with NZCF as soon as possible, Google form. More info on FIDE calendar.

Best games from 45th Trusts Open, selected by GM Murray Chandler

Grandmaster Murray Chandler has chosen Charles Zhang's win over Evguenia Charamova as the Best Game winner at the 45th Trusts Open. It's a historic win for Charles, as it's the first time a B-grade game has won this overall prize.

WINNER: Charamova - Zhang
While it is unusual for a known opening trap to win Best Game, there is no doubt this 18-move checkmate is highly publishable! Experienced international Jennya Charamova plays some plausible opening moves as white, yet her position is swiftly destroyed by two black sacrifices in quick succession (10...Rxe3! and 11...Nxd4!). Well done to the winner Charles Zhang for some fine preparation.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:
Smith - Wright, Closed Sicilian, 1-0 in 29 moves
Fulo - Mistry, French Defence, 1-0 in 23 moves
Both of these games feature a bold pawn sacrifice by White, in exchange for an initiative. Creative and attacking play brings home the full point in both cases.

Please find the full games on Lichess, https://lichess.org/study/3UXB9Ydp

FIDE 7th Preparation of Teachers Course (23-25/06/2023)

FIDE Chess in Education Commission is pleased to announce the dates of its new 7th Preparation of Teachers course. The course will be held online in English from June 23–25, 2023. The target audience is teachers, chess educators, beginner and advanced players with basic chess knowledge and experience working with children. Participants, based on their exam results, qualify for the FIDE title of School Instructor. More details and registration on the FIDE website.

Funeral details for Sue Maroroa Jones (26/05/2023)

The funeral for Sue Maroroa Jones will be at 9:30 am next Friday the 26th (NZ time 8:30 pm). Please find below 2 links for the live stream for Sue's funeral. There is a link for the ceremony at the Old Rectory and a second link for the burial at the woodland.

1. Funeral Service at The Old Rectory, Handsworth
2. Committal at South Yorkshire Woodland Burial Ground, Ulley

Once the live stream has finished at each location, these links won't work but the services are recorded parallel to the streaming service, so a recording will be available later. You can also support the family and share your memories on the GoFundMe page.

Sue Maroroa Jones 1991-2023

The tragically early death of Sue was revealed by her husband, GM Gawain Jones, on Facebook on Thursday 11th May with this poignant message:

It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we announce that my beautiful wife, Sue Maroroa Jones has passed away. An incredible and cherished mother of Samaria and baby Daniel, beloved daughter of the late Temu Maroroa and Suee Lee Maroroa, and wonderful sister of Andrew Maroroa, she leaves behind a loving family who will miss her greatly. Please send your personal memories of Sue to MaroroaJones@gmail.com. It would mean a great deal to me and the family during this difficult time. Thank you for keeping the Maroroa Jones family in your thoughts.

On behalf of the family,
EI TE TI - EI TE TA
EI TE TITI MAROROA WIN
EI TE TITI MAROROA LOSE

Sue made an impact on the New Zealand chess community very early. She came from a family of keen players, playing first at the Papatoetoe club, then Howick and Auckland Chess Centre. Her earliest coaches were John McRae, Ian McNally, and Ewen Green. Starting out at age 10 she showed such promise that she was selected for the New Zealand Women’s Olympiad team for Bled 2002 only a year later.

She continued to rapidly improve. Her achievements included becoming joint NZ Junior Champion in 2008, scoring 6/7 and sharing the title with Andy Chen and Mario Krstev, earning a spot on the cover of the NZ Chess magazine.

She earned three FIDE titles; WCM 2005, WFM 2007, WIM 2009, and played for New Zealand in five consecutive Olympiads from 2002 until 2010. Her marriage to Gawain saw her move to England and increasingly concentrate on supporting Gawain’s chess career, managing the details so he could just focus on the chess. Team managers looking to secure Gawain’s services to improve their team’s chances in the cut-throat European leagues would hope to settle matters with the easygoing Gawain, but they’d always be told “You’ll have to talk to Sue” instead, presaging a much tougher and more hard-nosed negotiation!

Although she played much less, when she did play her immense unfulfilled potential was apparent. She played one more Olympiad, for England in 2014. She was an intuitive player, eschewing deep study but excelling at attack, tactics, and fast time controls. She was a dangerous opponent for anyone, beating many titled players including a famous attacking win over GM Mark Hebden in a 4NCL game in 2013. Sue was intensely competitive, loving all kinds of games. You might think you are pretty intelligent and well educated, but up against Sue in a contest of pure mental dexterity, chances are you’d be put to the sword in double quick time (I speak from extensive experience).

Some of her NZ friends joined Gawain and Sue at the Reykjavik Open in 2019, one of the great European open tournaments. Of course, Sue was there to support top seed Gawain, but almost as an afterthought she chose to play as well. Almost casually she racked up 6/9 gaining 40 FIDE Elo points to a career-high 2168, and sharing the top Women’s prize with Dinara Saduakassova and emerging star Vaishali Rameshbabu. It’s incredibly sad to realise now that this was Sue’s last FIDE-rated event.

The July 2008 magazine that featured her on the cover included an interview. Asked about her future in the game she replied “I would love to say that I'll be around forever. But I'm not sure what the future will hold. I have good friends from overseas who are professionals and it would be unfortunate not to see them. But I'm not sure if in the immediate future I'll be able to have enough time to get as good as I would need to be to represent NZ with all the little girls coming up!”. Sue remained more than good enough to the end of her life. Her destiny was with one of those overseas professionals. She did us proud.

Bill Forster

P.S.: a tribute photoalbum has also been compiled by Helen Milligan on Facebook; and a tribute video from GM Matthew Sadler

Update: Chess.com's article on May 16, 2023 | Stuff.co.nz article | New Zealand Herald

Update 2: a GoFundMe page has been setup to support their family.

2023 Seniors and Veterans Champs to be held in Invercargill (24-27/08/2023)

Following the success of the 2022 South Island Chess Championships, the Invercargill Southland Chess Club and Richie Christie of Chessventures are proud to be hosting and organising the 2023 New Zealand Seniors & Veterans Chess Championships from August 24th to 27th at the Ascot Park Hotel in Invercargill. With a generous playing schedule of 6 rounds over 4 days, there is plenty of time for out-of-towners to get into and out of the city! The club cordially invites entries from players born in 1973 and before (and born in 1958 and before for the Veterans title). The entry form and full details - 2023_NZ_Seniors_Entry_Form.docx

Budapest Olympiad, 10-23 September 2024

Applications for the New Zealand Olympiad squads are now invited.

This initiative is one of the recommendations from the 2022 Chennai Olympiad NZ team captains and Head of Delegation (HOD) in order to be as well-prepared as possible for the 2024 Olympiad in Budapest, Hungary 10-23 September 2024. Two Olympiad squads, Open and Women’s, will be selected. More details on the Olympiad 2024 page.

NZCF Zoom School with Dejan Bojkov starts on May 7, 2023

For the aspiring club player looking to improve their chess through high-level, systematic coaching:

New Zealand Chess Federation and GM Dejan Bojkov will be running a series of chess lessons for 12 weeks, starting on the 7th of May, 2023. Dejan is well known to New Zealanders as team captain of our Open Olympiad Team for the past 3 Olympiads and has visited New Zealand several times. He has also done regular Junior coaching via Zoom at North Shore Chess Club.

The list of topics to be covered and registration on Google Forms - there is no age or strength restriction for players enrolling but you must be a member of a Club affiliated to NZCF. Payment info: Bank account: 01 0535 0073257 00 (Code: Zoom School, Reference: Student's name) or by credit card via Humanitix.

2023 Poppies Chess Challenge to be played on the 8th July

This year's Poppies Chess Challenge, the 5th match in the series that Paul Spiller began in 2019, will be held at Poppies Bookstore in Howick on Saturday, July 8th starting at 10.30 am. It will feature two junior players.

Ratings update 2023-1 (9th April, 2023)

Rowan Wood, the NZCF Ratings Officer, has provided the first rating update of 2023. Rating lists will now be published quarterly. The four rating periods cover the calendar year, from January 1st to December 31st.

Twelve standard-rated tournaments have been processed with 420 players and 1450 games. The open tournaments are New Zealand Open incorporating the 130th New Zealand Championship, New Zealand Major Open, New Zealand Junior Open, Auckland Anniversary and Waitangi, Bob Wade Masters and Challengers (A, B). The club tournaments are Auckland Summer and March, North Shore Summer and Mount Maunganui First.

Twenty-one rapid-rated tournaments have been processed with 691 players and 2154 games. The open tournaments are the New Zealand Championship, Latvian (A–D), North Shore January, Howick Centre New Year Junior, Summit February and March (U1800, U1000), Chess Power Sarapu Cup (A, B), Bay of Plenty (A/B, C), Hawkes Bay Open (A, B) and Otago Autumn. The club tournaments are Canterbury Summer, Otago’s Allan Chang Memorial, and Invercargill Summer.

Top Fifty: Ben Hague is still the number one ranked player on both standard and rapid rating lists, albeit by a narrow margin. Ben is two points ahead of Alexei Kulashko on the standard list and seven points ahead of Alphaeus Ang on the rapid list. There are 13 juniors, 18 seniors, 7 veterans, and 5 female players on the top fifty standard list. On the top fifty rapid list, there are 12 juniors, 19 seniors, 8 veterans, and 2 female players.

P.S.: Tournaments from November and December 2022 have been processed as part of the 2022 ratings. The standard-rated tournaments are Auckland November Arena and Spring (A, B), Tamaki Makaurau Summer, Waitakere Championship, Mount Maunganui Championship, Kapiti Championship, Wellington Championships (A–C), Canterbury Chas L Hart Cup, and Otago Richard Sutton Trophy. The rapid-rated tournaments are Summit Championship (A, B, Junior) and December (U1800, U1000), North Shore Spring (A/B, C) and Junior Championship, Chess Power Super Championship and Puchen Wang, Howick Centre Junior Masters (A, B) and Christmas Junior, Papatoetoe Open (A/B, C, Junior), Canterbury Arie Nijman Trophy and Otago Summer.

More details on the Ratings page.

Obituary: Peter Goffin (1938-2023)

"It is with great regret that we have to announce the death of Peter Goffin in February of this year at the age of 85 after a short illness.

Peter Goffin was born in 1938 into a Salvation Army background which possibly accounts for his choice of the trombone as a musical instrument. He developed an interest in chess in the Scandia club in Palmerston North which at the time was a very strong club. Peter played in a number of congresses from the 1960s through to the 1980s. In 1966 he drew twice in simultaneous exhibitions with Grandmaster Yuri Averbakh. The second of these was held in the Russian Embassy by special invitation.

Peter moved to Auckland and became an active member of the Auckland Chess Centre. He played in a number of interclub matches for the club and in Bledisloe Cup matches for the Auckland province. Peter represented New Zealand four times in overseas teams. In 1974 he was the Manager/Board 2 player in the team sent to the Asian Teams tournament in Penang. He returned to Penang in 1984 this time in the team for the Asian Cities. He represented New Zealand again in the 1985 Asian Cities tournament in Hong Kong where he qualified for the Candidate Master title. Peter represented New Zealand once again in the 1998 team to the Asian Cities in the Genting Highlands of Malaysia.

Peter was a very active correspondence chess player and won the New Zealand Correspondence Championship on a number of occasions. He was awarded the title of New Zealand Correspondence Master and was still actively playing up until his death.

In the 1970's Peter was the President of the New Zealand Chess Association (later NZCF) and also editor of the early issues of the New Zealand Chess Magazine (originally called the NZCA Bulletin) which he restarted in 1973.

As well as is his interest in chess Peter was a keen bridge player, a competitive golfer and an excellent cricketer. He achieved the title of Master in Bridge and was a single digit handicap golfer. He was a dedicated model train enthusiast and turned the lounge of his house into a giant train set.

Peter was a lover of fine wines, good food and classical music. He was also very keen on the 'Goons' and from this acquired his knickname of 'sponger'.

A great friend and travelling companion Peter will be sorely missed. RIP." (IA, FM Bob Gibbons)

RNZ: Queens of chess: promoting chess for girls

RNZ Nine-to-Noon, 28/03/2023, "World chess champions Dana Reizniece-Ozola and Anastasia Sorokina are in New Zealand as part of a global initiative by the World Chess Federation to promote chess, especially among women and girls. Dana Reizniece-Ozola is the deputy chair on the board of the World Chess Federation, FIDE. She is a Woman Grand Master, and is also the former Latvian Minister of Economics and Minister of Finance. Anastasia Sorokina is a Woman International Master, the chair of FIDE's Women's Commission and was the president of the Belarus Chess Federation for several years."

Oceania Youth Chess Championship Canberra Australia 11-15 April 2023

NZCF Selections as of 9/3/2023

GIRLS
U8 GUO Anne
U10 XU Luna
U12 NG Lok Jim
U14 GAN Emily
U16 ULM Joy
U18 BRAGANZA Nadia
U20 -- vacant --

OPEN
U8 -- vacant --
U10 SOMARAJU Saivivan Karthikeya
U12 -- vacant --
U14 ZHANG Kendrick Botong
U16 ZARA Baraa Yousef
U18 LANGFORD Joshua
U20 GONG Daniel Hanwen

Three vacant spots - Open U8, U12, and Girls U20 - are open for new applications, with a deadline of 17/03/2023

NZCF Interschool Rules 2023 Update

New document attached in Resources and Interschools section.

Key changes:

• Teams of home-educated players and from online and correspondence schools registered by the Ministry of Education are now permitted to play - all players in a team must be from the same interschool region and age group.
• Interschool levy increased to $15 per team as per the Chess Development Plan adopted by the NZCF AGM.
• Some clarifications of options for reserves.
• Updated timetable for the national final to better incorporate reserves and arrival of teams on day 1.
• Wild card application process outlined.
• A new section on spectators.

FIDE "Preparation of Teachers" April course

From FIDE news: "FIDE and its Chess in Education Commission are pleased to announce the dates of the newly revised Preparation of Teachers course. The course will be held online in English from April 15-16, 2023. The target audience is teachers, chess educators, beginner and advanced players with basic chess knowledge and experience working with children.

This brand-new course is focused on chess as an educational tool in the classroom. Participants, based upon their exam results, qualify for the FIDE title of School Instructor. Read the detailed course description here. Candidates who wish to attend the course must complete and return the registration form.

The cut-off date for applications is April 10. Applicants are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, and the maximum number of places on the course is 30. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at edu.courses@fide.com"

NZCF Rating Period 2023-1 To Be Prolonged

NZCF Ratings Officer, Rowan Wood, reports, "The current rating period 2023-1 will end on March 31st, rather than February 28th. This is due to some exciting changes to the ratings system which I’m working on now.

Ratings will move to a calendar year. This will make it easier to check NZCF membership and to generate yearly statistics such as active players, games rated, tournaments played, most improved players, etc, etc. Rating lists will be produced quarterly instead of three times a year. This will mean that there is a more even distribution of tournaments throughout the year. I’m quite sure players will be pleased to get quarterly ratings updates."

Girls' Chess Day at Waipuna Conference Centre, 26th of March

NZCF is hosting two FIDE officials on the weekend of March 25th & 26th who are coming to NZ to promote Girls' chess and also to meet with officials in Wellington of the NZ Olympic Committee and the Ministry of Education (on Monday, March 27th). The officials are WIM Anastasia Sorokina, chair of the FIDE Women’s Commission and WGM Dana Reizniece-Ozola, deputy chair of the FIDE Management Commission.

As part of this Paul Spiller will be organising a Girls' Chess Day at Waipuna Conference Centre on Sunday, March 26th. This will involve an introductory lecture about FIDE and the Women’s Commission followed by a one-hour chess coaching lecture. Following on from this will be a tandem simul by Anastasia and Dana using chess clocks and then a Girls' Blitz tournament. There will be some certificates and prizes. Timing will be 9.30 am start with a lunch break at 12.00 pm finishing at approximately 4.00 pm.

It will be free to take part but the event will be limited to around 20-25 girls. EOI’s should be sent via email to Paul Spiller (PaulSSpiller at outlook.com) by March 20th at the latest.

2023 Oceania Youth Chess Championship

2023 Oceania Youth Chess Championship will take place in Canberra, Australia from the 11th to the 15th of April 2023. The tournament details are available at actjcl.org.au.

Each Federation is entitled to nominate one official representative in each section of the tournament (eg Under 18 Open, Under 16 Girls, etc) and will receive free entry. Each non-Australian representative will receive free accommodation from the 10th to the 15th (5 nights). The Head of Delegation for each Federation will also be provided with accommodation. Additional players can also be entered for each event. The entry fee for additional players is $100 AUD. There is a registration fee of $75 AUD for all players.

This event runs immediately after the 2023 O2C Doeberl Cup (6-10 April), also in Canberra https://www.doeberlcup.com.au/ The Doeberl Cup is Australia's largest Open tournament and provides the opportunity to play in 2 international events over a 10-day period.

Express your interest to go as a representative of NZCF via online form. Form submission deadline -- 28th of February. Selection is to be made by the 8th of March.

Minutes of the AGM in Wellington, 11th January 2023

Minutes of the AGM held in Wellington on the 11th of January 2023 are posted in Notices section, for the attention of all clubs.

Bob Wade Masters and Challengers in Auckland

This year's Bob Wade Memorial Masters was held in Auckland from January 14 to 20, 2023, to commemorate the significant contribution made by New Zealand's first truly professional player IM Bob Wade who was born in 1921. He was a three-time NZ Champion and twice British champion.

The main idea of the event was to celebrate the enormous contribution that Bob made to chess globally and at the same time to hold a tournament that would give IM norm opportunities to aspiring NZ players. It was only made possible by the generosity of NZCF patron Jim Benson and support from the NZ Chess Federation along with the Howick-Pakuranga Chess Club and NZCF Vice-president Paul Spiller who was the Chief Organiser. It also created an opportunity for Invercargill chess organiser and arbiter Richie Christie to achieve his final norm for the FA title.

It was won by French/Egyptian Grandmaster Samy Shoker with 7.5/9 -- 7 wins, 1 draw (with runner-up Grandmaster Elshan Moradiabadi) and 1 loss to NZ FIDE Master Ben Hague. GM Moradiabadi had 5 wins and 4 draws to finish 2nd on 7 points. In third place were International Master Gary Lane from Australia (who recently won the Asian Seniors 50+ division in Auckland last October) and 14-year-old NZ chess star Felix Xie. For most of the tournament, Felix was on course to make his first qualification towards his IM title (7 points were needed), but a loss in the penultimate round to GM Shoker dashed his hopes.

There were also two Challengers sections, won by Hao Tang and Daniel Wang respectively. Full results can be found on the Results page.

FM Daniel Gong is champion again

FM Daniel Gong has won the NZ Champion a second year in a row. He also shared the Junior Champion title with Daqi Mao. The Blitz title was won by FM Ben Hague, and the Rapid title was shared by IM Anthony Ker, FM Nic Croad and CM Felix Xie. More info to come soon (a lot already available on the dedicated page).

Ian McNally (1963-2023)

Bruce Wheeler, President of Auckland Chess Centre, shared the sad news, "On Saturday the 14th of January, I learned of my good friend Ian McNally's death. Ian and I had been friends for nearly forty years. Ian was an Auckland Chess Centre stalwart — he was twice Club President and served on the Club's Committee in various roles innumerable times over the decades. He was also Club Champion in 1991. Over the years, Ian and I enjoyed many outrageous escapades in the chess world, particularly in Auckland Chess Association Blitz competitions. I shall miss him dearly. R.I.P. old friend."

The Hilton Bennett Memorial Summer Camp will be held 20th-22nd January 2023

Essential Chess Knowledge, by GM Dejan Bojkov and GM Ian Rogers

This online Camp follows on from those previously organised by Hilton Bennett, and continues his mission to provide all young players with the essential knowledge they need in order to further their chess development, with a view to reaching Candidate Master level. The Camp will be run with two concurrent sessions, and junior students will be split on the basis of current chess strength. It is anticipated that there will be an advanced group, with players over 1500, and a less experienced group, with players under 1500. The Camp is not intended for beginners, and all NZ junior participants must have been members of their school teams in Interschools, or competitors in rated junior events such as Summit Rapids. Adult participants are welcome, but we urge you to let the juniors ask questions before you!

We are also inviting all NZL FIDE-licensed Trainers (with a current active license) to participate, in the section of your choice. Our aim here is to improve chess coaching around New Zealand by letting these two world-class trainers demonstrate how it is done!

This online Camp is endorsed by NZCF, and sponsored by Paul Spiller and HeliganChess. Please register on the dedicated webpage, or find more details in the PDF flyer.

President's Newsletter and Documents For AGM

A President's newsletter and documents for the upcoming AGM in Wellington, January 2023, have been posted in Notices section.

A Short Interview On Radio NZ

Radio NZ reports, "An international boom in the popularity of chess has spread to the Pacific. Chess tables have been popping up within whistling distance of coral reefs and palm trees on several Island nations. The International Chess Federation is noting the rise in popularity and has sent Grandmaster Nigel Short to the Pacific. Short is currently in Fiji and spoke to Kim Hill."

Hilton Bennett's Funeral (17.11.2022)

A simple funeral service will be held on Thursday, 17 November at 11 am at Woodside Estate, 130-132 Woodside Road, Hamilton. No flowers, please. The service will be live-streamed. Additionally, an edited video of the funeral will be available afterward. To access both the live stream and/or the video, please go to https://vimeo.com/770969876/e8ef4c4e93.

Obituary booklet

R.I.P. Hilton Bennett (1955-2022)

We mourn the loss of our dear chess friend and colleague Hilton Bennett who very sadly passed away on November 12th after suffering a serious heart attack on Wednesday afternoon, November 9th.

Hilton was a colossus on the New Zealand Chess scene for many decades giving dedicated service as a councillor for the central North Island region and taking on many responsibilities in chess administration with an emphasis on junior coaching and facilitator for many training workshops. He was invaluable in his role in representing NZ at Chess Olympiads dating back to the early 2000s as the Head of Delegation. It was during these events that his organizational and people skills came to the fore as many past team members can testify.

Hilton was a passionate chess player and always gave 100% in his effort to play the best he could. He continually worked to improve his game. Recently he placed 3rd= in the 2022 Asian Seniors 65+ division and prior to that gained 3rd place in the 65+ section at the 2022 Malaysian Chess Festival in September. Hilton was part of the 1998 Auckland team that competed in the Asian Cities Championships in the Genting Highlands in Malaysia and the following year represented NZ at the 1999 World Cities and Asian Teams Championships in Shenyang, China. Hilton's international tournament successes included 1st= place at the 1st Fiji International tournament in Suva in 2003 and 1st place in the Palau International tournament in Koror in 2006.

Hilton held the titles of FIDE Candidate Master, FIDE Trainer, and FIDE International Organiser, as well as the national arbiter title, and was a life member of the New Zealand Chess Federation.

Hilton was also a passionate chess historian and was continually on the lookout for historical NZ Chess literature. He had impressive knowledge in this field.

He will be sadly missed by all who had the good fortune to know him as a wonderful colleague and friend.

-- Paul Spiller, NZCF VP

Hilton's funeral will be held on Thursday 17th at 11am at Woodside Estate, Hamilton.

Photo album tribute to Hilton Bennett, by Helen Milligan

NZCF Rating Period 2022-3

Attention all clubs and tournament organisers -- the NZCF rating period 2022-3 ends on the 31st of October, so please send all tournament reports to Rowan Wood by the 4th of November. Thanks!

Asian Seniors 2022 Report, by Paul Spiller

Paul Spiller, the organiser of the tournaments, reports, "The 2022 Asian Seniors Championships was always going to be a difficult project to undertake given that New Zealand was just coming out of a lockdown period and NZ Immigration only started accepting visa applications on the 1st of August. The priority was to ensure players from non-visa waiver countries applied at the earliest opportunity. Unfortunately, even though considerable assistance was given by MP Simeon Brown and his Pakuranga electorate staff, only 5 of the applications from 10 were successful in time. This meant that it was always going to be difficult to achieve the minimum requirement of 5 different federations for both the 50+ and 65+ groups and virtually impossible to achieve a separate women’s tournament.

After much lobbying (which was also undertaken by Hilton and myself at the Malaysian Chess Festival in early September) I managed to meet the FIDE requirement with representatives from Australia, PNG, Philippines, India, and Hong Kong in addition to New Zealand. Some of the players also encountered a lot of difficulties actually getting here having to contend with such problems as cancelled flights and lost luggage. FM Efren Bagamasbad arrived late and had to start his game two hours after the first round had started and virtually straight after getting off his flight.

The Asian Chess Federation appointed Bharat Singh Chauhan, VP of the Asian Chess Federation and General Secretary of the All-India Chess Federation (and recent organiser of the Chennai Olympiad) to act as their official representative and chairman of the Appeals Committee. This visit coincided with an impromptu meeting of the Oceania Chess Confederation on Monday 17th October which also used Zoom to link to newly appointed FIDE Chess Development chairman GM Nigel Short and Casto Abundo from the Asian Chess Federation.

Despite a late outbreak of Covid which affected pairings severely over the last two days, the event concluded successfully and didn’t overly impact the final placings and norm and title opportunities. It was even possible to hold a Blitz event on Wednesday 19th after round 6 which was won by FM Arlan Cabe of the Philippines with second place going to former NZ Champion FM Martin Dreyer and third (on tie-break) to IM Gary Lane." (end of Paul's report)

FM Efren Bagamasbad from the Philippines won the 65+ section and becomes an IM with a GM norm. In an interview with The Philippine Star, the 66-year-old master shared, "I've told my friend, the late Alex Milagrosa when he was still alive that we could still set a record as the oldest Filipino to become a GM and break Jayson Gonzales' record when he took the title at 38 years old, I'm closer now and I hope to break it."

The 50+ section was won by IM Gary Lane from Australia, who also achieved a GM norm. More details are on the Results page.

Asian Seniors 2022 (15-21/10/2022)

The 2022 Asian Seniors Championships will be held in Auckland from the 15th to the 21st of October, 2022, at the Auckland Rose Park Hotel.

Please follow the action on Lichess: 50+ broadcast and 65+ broadcast. Check results on Vega: 50+ group and 65+ group.

Photos will be posted on Facebook.

Oceania Zonal registration is open

The venue and dates for the Oceania Zonal (23-28/01/2023) have been decided on. Please find more details on the Calendar, or register here, or view entries here

South Island Champs (5-9/10/2022)

Live broadcast of the South Island Champs happening in Invercargill: Lichess and DGT Livecloud. Pairings on Vega and photos on Facebook.

Rapid portion: Live broadcast links for the South Island Rapid Championships (six rounds on Oct 9, games at 9:45 am, 11 am, 12:15 pm, 1:45 pm, 3 pm, and 4:15 pm) 1) DGT Livecloud; 2) Lichess (Vega for pairings and standings).

Mana Garland (1946-2022)

Mana Garland passed away early Sunday morning, Oct 2, 2022. Mana played in many tournaments and was known throughout the chess community. The funeral will be held on Friday, Oct 7, 2022 at 11.00 am, 85 McKenzie Road, Mangere, Auckland.

Photos from Peter Stuart Memorial tournaments 2019 and 2022 by Helen Milligan.

2022 Interschool Finals in Christchurch, 1st and 2nd of October

The NZ National Interschool Finals are happening this weekend in Christchurch. Participating teams in three groups: Primary, Intermediate, and Secondary. Good luck!

The venue is Christchurch Boys High School, 71 Straven Road, Fendalton, Christchurch. Information for teams and some more details in the Interschools section.

Update 3/10: results are in! Please check the Interschools Results page.

David Cilia Vincenti is the 2022 champion of Malta

CM David Cilia Vincenti, a Maltese Olympiad team member and New Zealand chess player, has become the 2022 champion of Malta after winning a double round-robin Finals tournament. Congratulations!

Here is what David shared on his Facebook page: "It was a real pleasure to once again spend some time with Noah and my parents. As an added bonus, after 22 years I have managed to win the national chess championship once again. To be honest, this came as a surprise to me. My rating had plummeted recently, mainly thanks to playing against underrated juniors in Auckland and the Gold Coast. Also in these two decades plus, younger players have come to the fore in the Maltese chess scene. Yet a lot of hard work in opening preparation bore fruit and after 10 rounds I managed to narrowly prevail.

This is probably the greatest achievement of my chess career, and more work will be required in the coming years in order to repeat this victory, preferably within a shorter time frame.”

World Cadets 2022 (September 15-22)

World Cadets 2022 is being held from the 15th to the 22nd of September in Batumi, Georgia. New Zealand is represented by William Liu (U12), Justin Wang (U10), Martin Zhou (U8) in the Open section. The Girls section has Emily Gan (U12), Luna Xu (U10), and Carol Wang (U8). Good luck!

The official website is https://wccc2022.fide.com/ Games are broadcast via Chess24, the live broadcast is linked from the official website. Games start on Friday the 16th of September, at 3 PM in Georgia, so it's 11 PM in Auckland.

Links to our players' results: William, Justin, Martin, Emily, Luna, Carol.

2022 NZ Seniors and Veterans Championships won by Leonard McLaren and Bob Smith

The 2022 New Zealand Seniors and Veterans Championships was held from 19th to 21st of August in the new Howick Chess Centre in Auckland. The tournament this year was also called the Ross Spiller memorial.

FM Leonard McLaren became the 2022 NZ Senior champion, FM Bob Smith is the Veterans champion, and Ralph Hart came third in the tournament. You can replay the games on Lichess DGT broadcast and check for all details on Vega pages.

Chennai Olympiad info

The NZ Women's team finished the Olympiad with a 4:0 win against Andorra. They finished 67th among 162 teams. 5 wins, 1 draw and 5 losses. Two players, Weiyang Yu and Anya Thurner, also achieved direct title results of WCM and WFM respectively. WFM Vyanla Punsalan got 8/10 on her board 2, winning seven games, drawing two, and losing only one.

NZ Open team lost the last match. They finished 115th among 188 teams. 5 wins and 6 losses. FM Daniel Gong, the 2022 NZ champion, got 6.5/9 on his board 1, with a performance of 2412 against an average 2246 opposition, very close to an IM norm.

More info to come when the teams are back. We'll update the Olympiad section. In the meantime you can also check out the Facebook photo album.

FM Alphaeus Ang is the 2022 North Island Champion in all time controls

While still a teenager, FM Alphaeus Ang scored another hat-trick at the North Island Championship tournaments, classical, blitz, and rapid. He repeated his achievement of 2017 when he also became a North Island Champion in three time controls, before becoming an NZ champion in 2018. His score in classical (15-17/7) was 8.0/9, with one loss to Philli Park-Tamati; in blitz (15-16/7) - 7.0/9, with two losses to Daniel Runcan and Emily Gan; and in rapid (18-19/7) - 8.5/9, one draw with Paul McAvoy. More details on the Results page.

The classical NI Champs tournament was organised on short notice by the Auckland Chess Centre, and it linked the dates nicely from 15th of July to 19th of July for three days of classical chess and blitz, then two days of rapid in the Ellen Melville Centre in Auckland CBD. The rapid event was run by the Central Chess Club (Stuart Vogel and Manoj Asrani). The Auckland Chess Centre (Keong Ang and Timothy Ha) also put up an effort to install 25 DGT boards, setting a new record in NZ events (the previous number of DGT boards was 18 at an NZ Congress). All players in NI Champs played on a DGT board and the Lichess broadcast link of the games can be found on the Results page.

Many young players played all five days and were not totally "chessed out". They even played blindfold chess later, and Philli Park-Tamati also had an exhibition blitz game on Freyberg Square with Daniel Wang, as can be seen on the two videos (please subscribe to our NZCF YouTube channel)

New Howick Chess Centre opened on 10/07/2022

A new chess centre has been opened in Howick, Auckland, by Paul Spiller. An opening ceremony was held on Sunday, 10th of July, with a Chennai Olympiad Fundraiser chess tournament which was fully booked. Here is a presentation from Paul Spiller and Nigel Metge

The Facebook album has photos from the site. Also available (please subscribe to our NZCF YouTube channel) is a quick tour of the Howick Chess Centre.

NZCF Ratings of period 2022-2 are calculated

New NZCF ratings are out for the period 2022-2. Forty-eight tournaments have been processed and 3394 games have been rated in this period.

Rating news by Rowan Wood, NZCF Rating Officer / new files for arbiters to use in tournaments starting from 8th of July - Standard and Rapid

2022 North Island Champs, classical portion, to be held at ACC on July 15-17

Flash update: please clear your calendar for the biggest classical chess tournament of the month - the 2022 North Island Championship - nine rounds of classical chess over three days July 15-17, just before the Rapid Champs on July 18-19. The venue for the classical champs is Auckland Chess Centre (Mt Eden), while the rapid portion will be run by Auckland Central Chess Club in CBD.

More details and online booking on the event website

2022 North Island Rapid has Red Bull among sponsors

Red Bull seems like a fitting sponsor for rapid chess. In addition to the winner's name being engraved on the NI Rapid Trophy, the first prize is $400 and 3 months supply of Red Bull. Second prize - $250 and 2 months supply, third prize - $150 and 1 month supply of the drink. Other sponsors are also listed on the tournament poster provided by the organisers, Auckland CBD's club, ACCC.

2022 Peter Stuart Memorial won by FM Alphaeus Ang

Peter Stuart Memorial has found a long weekend to call home. The traditionally two-day, five-game event is now a three-day, six-game one, run over Matariki holiday. This year's Open section had 25 players and Reserve had 56. FM Alphaeus Ang won convincingly with 6.0/6 in the Open section, two points ahead of second place finishers. Henry Vital won the Reserve. Please find all details in the Results section, including a link to many photos by NZChessNews (Helen Milligan) and PGN files.

Ratings period 2022-2 closing soon

The current NZCF ratings period, 2022-2, ends on June 30th. If you have tournament results to submit for this rating period, please send them to the Ratings Officer Rowan Wood (rowan.wood@rikstoto.no) by July 1st. We hope to have a new rapid rating list available for the Summit Rapid on July 3rd. Thanks!

ACC trialling a new team-based initiative; Peter Stuart Memorial now runs during Matariki

On the weekend of June 18-19, Auckland Chess Centre will be trialling a new type of OTB classical chess tournaments called Auckland Teams Arena. The tournaments are six-round Swiss with a slightly faster time control of 60+30, so the games fit in two days, which is easier to plan for busy people. An added dimension is the team competition, as players can group themselves or be grouped by organisers into teams for a final season standing (there'll be five events of this year). Teammates will not be paired against each other, and top 4 results of each team will be summed up as the team's result, similar to how it's done in Lichess team battles. Register for the June event on the event page and get more classical games under your belt.

The long-running Peter Stuart Memorial tournament, previously known as North Shore Open, has found a long weekend to call home, the new Matariki holiday on June 24-26, to run as a 3-day, six-round Swiss tournament. There are two grades, called Open and Reserve this year, and the prize fund has been increased. Register on the event website.

44th Trusts Open won by Ollie Archer and FM Bob Smith

Ollie Archer (2022 NZ Junior Champ) and FM Bob Smith are winners of the 44th Trusts Open A-grade. Harry Redwood won the B-grade, Charles Zhang won the C-grade and Buthsara Hettiarachchi won the Junior grade. The best game prize has gone to FM Bob Smith for his round 5 win over Chris Burns. An honourable mention: Justin Wang's first-round win over Karl Holdo. More on the Results page.

The teams for the 2022 Olympiad are selected

The NZCF selection committee has selected the NZ team for the 44th Olympiad in Chennai, India (July 28 - Aug 10). They are:

Open team
1. Gong, Daniel Hanwen
2. Croad, Nicolas
3. Xie, Felix
4. Lukey, Stephen
5. Duneas, John
Reserve: Thornton, Giovanni

Women's team
1. Zhang, Jasmine Haomo
2. Punsalan, Vyanla Mariam
3. Ning, Yixuan (Isabelle)
4. Yu, Weiyang (Cadence)
5. Thurner, Anya Doris Wu
Reserve: Gan, Emily

The Reserves are non-travelling.

Olympiad Appeal

An Olympiad Appeal had also been made by NZCF President, Nigel Metge. More on the Olympiad 2022 page.

"Greetings Fellow Chess players!

I am delighted we will have two teams representing New Zealand at the Olympiad, Chennai India 28th July-10th August. We have appointed IM Herman van Reimsdijk as Captain for our Women’s Team and GM Dejan Bojkov as Captain for our Open Team. These two are familiar with New Zealand chess and experienced in coaching and helping our players achieve best results.

New Zealand is assessed as a ‘level 2 chess development’ country by FIDE and therefore not entitled to an automatic travel subsidy. However, by personal negotiation NZCF has obtained one-off FIDE support for approximately half of our expected teams’ travel costs.

We now appeal to the whole NZ Chess Community for donations to help our players especially promising juniors to get to Chennai!

The Federation itself starts the Appeal with $1,000.

Donations should be made directly to NZCF bank account with notation ‘Olympiad’:

Account Name: New Zealand Chess Federation Inc.
Account Number: 01 0535 0073257 00
SWIFT: ANZBNZ22

Please also notify NZCF Treasurer (richiechristie73@gmail.com) who will promptly acknowledge receipt and issue a formal receipt.

NZCF is a Registered Charity and donations to NZCF are tax deductible, see the following link to IRD.

Any concerns or special donations you wish to discuss, please contact me directly."

Nigel Metge
President NZCF
Nigel.Metge@gmail.com
021 0925 08869

Donations received so far:
NZCF - $1,000
VADR Media - $1,000
A. J. Booth, Dr. - $50
Anonymous - $200
Anton Reid - $200
Barry Hooton - $200
Ben Hague - $200
Ewen Green - $200
Nigel Cooper - $200
Nigel Metge - $200
Paul Spiller (Chennai Fundraiser) - $560
Timothy Ha - $200
Tony Dowden - $200
---
Total - $4410

Auckland Interschools events starting in June

Interschools tournaments for 2022 are starting again in June. Please check the dedicated page Interschools and register your teams.

Auckland ANZAC Weekender is won by CM Felix Xie

Auckland Chess Centre reopened on April 23-25, 2022 for the traditional ANZAC Weekender. A tournament of more than 30 players was won by CM Felix Xie on 5.5/6. Three players finishing a point behind on 4.5 were Hao Tang, Hunter Po'e-Tofaeono and Philli Park-Tamati. Full standings are on Vega. The full list of prize winners is on the Results page.

Facebook photos: album 1 by NZChessNews, album 2 by AKLChess. There was also a Lichess broadcast of top 5 boards each round.

Vyanla Punsalan is the 2022 NZ Women's Champion

WFM Vyanla Punsalan claimed the title with a perfect score of 7.0/7 in the 7-round tournament which was held from April 17 to April 20. WCM Isabelle Ning and Weiyang Yu shared the second place on 5.0/7. The full list of prize winners is on the Results page.

The Vega link has the pairings and games, and there are many Facebook photos, too.

Congratulations to the organisers Vivian and Bob Smith, sponsors (which included Helen Courtney’s family and friends), IA Bruce Pollard and of course all the winners and players, who have all made this such a successful tournament.

Wellington Open 2022

The Wellington Open has been won by FM Nic Croad, with many juniors performing really well, including Ollie Archer, who shared second with IM Russell Dive, and Josh Langford who beat IM Anthony Ker and narrowly missed out on beating Russell, too. There were no DGT boards to broadcast games online, but Ian Sellen and Bill Forster worked hard behind the scene to both run the tournament and enter ALL the games into PGN and Lichess study format after each round, so competitors could review and prepare effectively, and friends and colleagues could follow and enjoy. Thanks to Andrew Brockway, Ian Sellen and Bill Forster for organising this event!

Here is a set of links:
Vega pairings and results
Tournament games in PGN
Lichess studies: round 1, round 2, round 3, round 4, round 5, round 6
Facebook photo album - many people in masks
Bill Forster's editorial - Wellington Open Impressions

NZCF & FIDE Friendship Online Junior Chess Camp no.2

Following the success of the first Online Camp in March, and because of the high level of demand, the New Zealand Chess Federation, with support from the FIDE Planning and Development Commission (PDC), will be rerunning the Essential Chess Knowledge camp on the weekend of the 29th / 30th April and 1st May.

This will give those who missed out the first time an opportunity to participate in this course. The weekend online camp, Essential Chess Knowledge, will be conducted by GM Dejan Bojkov (Bulgaria) and GM Ian Rogers (Australia). The theme of the training sessions will be the essential knowledge that young players must have as a foundation for chess development, and how to fill in gaps in that knowledge to progress to Candidate Master level.

More details on the registration form

Ratings updated for the 2022-1 period

Ratings Officer Rowan Wood has updated the NZCF ratings in time for the OTB tournaments in April. Please find your names on the Ratings page. Tournament directors and arbiters can now download the updated Vega files.

OTB is back in April!

Four OTB tournaments are coming up in Auckland and Wellington this April. Summit Rapid on April 10, Wellington Open on April 15-17, New Zealand Women's Championship on April 17-20, and Chess Power Junior Masters on April 26-30. More details in the Calendar.

2022 Chess Olympiad to be held in Chennai, India

"The FIDE Council has approved today the bid presented by the All India Chess Federation (AICF) to host the 2022 Chess Olympiad in Chennai, the capital of the Tamil Nadu state. The exact schedule is still being discussed and will be announced in the coming days, but the event will take place between the end of July and the beginning of August, not very far off from the dates originally planned." More in the FIDE announcement.

NZCF will post team selection info on the Olympiad 2022 page.

NZCF & FIDE Friendship Online Junior Chess Camp no.1

The New Zealand Chess Federation, with support from the FIDE Planning and Development Commission (PDC), would like to invite applications for an online junior training camp to be held from the 25th to 27th March 2022. The weekend online camp, Essential Chess Knowledge, will be conducted by GM Dejan Bojkov (Bulgaria) and GM Ian Rogers (Australia). The theme of the training sessions will be the essential knowledge that young players must have as a foundation for chess development, and how to fill in gaps in that knowledge to progress to Candidate Master level.

The camp will consist of 8 hours of lectures over the 3 days, self-tests to assess your own level of knowledge, homework and exercises, and summary information on key concepts. Places are limited and will be allocated to try to ensure that there is fair male and female representation from across New Zealand. Because of the financial support from NZCF and PDC we are able to offer participation in the weekend camp at $65 per student for those accepted. The timetable of lectures will be (with 15-minute breaks).

• Friday 25/03, 6pm to 8:15pm: Essential Positional Knowledge (GM Rogers & GM Bojkov)
• Saturday 26/03, 9am to 10:45am: Essential Endgame Knowledge Part 1 (GM Rogers)
• Saturday 26/03, 6:30pm to 8:15pm: Decision Making Essentials Part 1 (GM Bojkov)
• Sunday 27/03 9am to 10:45am: Essential Endgame Knowledge Part 2 (GM Rogers)
• Sunday 27/03 6:30pm to 8:15pm: Decision Making Essentials Part 2 (GM Bojkov)

If you require further information please contact Hilton Bennett, email: hiltonpbennett@gmail.com

President's March 2022 update

NZCF President Nigel Metge updates on results of the first Council meeting of the year.

Covid-19 update

(More details to follow) NZCF will accept club games played under CVC compliant conditions at 'traffic light' Red for NZCF & FIDE rating.

2022 Online Asian Nations Cup, U14

U14 Online Asian Nations Cup is open for registration, with a deadline for expression of interest on Monday, March 14, 5 PM. Please don't contact NZCF via email, but use the Google Form. Thanks!

More details in the brochure.

2022 Chess Olympiad

FIDE has advised NZCF that the Olympiads scheduled for Moscow and Khanty-Mansiysk July-Aug 2022 are withdrawn from Russia. New locations and times will be advised and at that time NZCF will call for expressions of interest for Open and Women’s teams.

FIDE Year of the Woman in Chess

We've created a section of news items and tournament notifications dedicated to the FIDE Year of the Woman in Chess. Please note there's a seminar coming this weekend, 27 February 2022 - Queens’ Festival Workshop: Increase Your Inner Strength (see the registration form at the link).

Sports, big and small, under Covid Red limits

Sports venues from large to small suffering under Covid limits - from RNZ Checkpoint on 18 February 2022

"Eden Park says its financial viability is at risk as it stares down the barrel of a third straight year of disruptions due to Covid-19 settings. Meanwhile, uncertainty over just how long the country will remain at red is causing major headaches for school and club sport around the country. And as Nick Truebridge and cameraman Nick Monro report, it's not just our biggest sports and venues bracing for more Covid chaos."

The RNZ team also visited Auckland Chess Centre in Mt Eden (capacity 80-100 compared to Eden Park 50000-60000) and interviewed FM Ewen Green.

Don't forget to like and subscribe to the NZCF YouTube channel for more videos.

Ratings period 2022-1 closing soon

The current NZCF ratings period, 2022-1, ends on February 28th. It will include the recent January Congress. If you have other tournament results to submit for this rating period, please send them to the Ratings Officer Rowan Wood (rowan.wood@rikstoto.no) by March 3rd. Thanks!

January Bulletin 2022

The January issue of the NZCF online chess bulletin, edited by Bill Forster, started with a single game highlight from Congress, but there are now more Congress games. Josh Langford wrote an entertaining Lichess blog post on his NZ Championship games. The games editor has transcribed the article to the NZCF format (with Josh's permission) and it is now available in this Bulletin too. Philip Hair's adventures into the most obscure openings possible continues. It would be great if some others followed his lead and sent the editor some PGNs with their thoughts and experiences in our wonderful game. You don't have to be a GM (or IM or FM or ...), amateur chess has a charm all of its own!

Also recently added is an appreciation of the recently deceased Bill Ramsay.

Games, Games, Games

The Peter Stuart Games Database has been updated, and includes Congress. Additionally, all of the chess content of the New Zealand Chess magazine in the last 11 years of its run has been gathered together and published on this site in interactive form for the first time. There are now over 1300 games available for playthrough on this site. As well as this most recent addition, there are some fully interactive magazines, bulletins, and interactive Listener columns from the years when Murray Chandler wrote a regular high quality column for that magazine.

Ratings

In other news, the Ratings Page has been updated with the 2021-3 NZCF ratings and January 21st 2022 FIDE ratings.

Chess is a Sport

NZCF President Nigel Metge took time out from playing at Congress to chat to Radio NZ's Emile Donovan about the resurgence of chess in New Zealand.

NZCF AGM

NZCF President Nigel Metge delivers his final newsletter of the year on the Notices Page. Included in the newsletter are detailed discussion and remit documentation for the AGM at Congress.

Good News - South Island Champs and Congress get Green Light

Craig Hall reports
With the recent NZCF Council decision to approve play of NZCF tournaments in locations at Green and Orange, we are delighted to confirm that the South Island Championship and South Island Rapid Championship will both take place on 8-11 December (Championship) and 12 December (Rapid). Because of the short notice, NZCF Council has approved changing the prize funds from the previously guaranteed $800 and $400 respectively to entries less costs in the event of low entries (which seems likely given the timeline).

Please see the updated entry forms (on the Calendar Page) to reflect this and also a number of additional Covid-related competition rules. Of particular note is that all NZCF tournaments, including these ones, will be run under CVC compliance i.e. vaccine passes are required for all attendees including players, spectators, arbiters and officials unless a legal exemption applies (under 12 years 3 months of age, or approved exemption from the Ministry of Health).

Congress will also go ahead as scheduled – the updated entry forms will be sent out once the additional Covid competition rules have been added and late entry fees have been adjusted (late entry fees will only apply to entries received and paid on or after 20 December).

Covid Policy Update

The purple Covid notice above has been updated, please see NZCF President Nigel Metge's 4th December newsletter on the Notices Page for all the details.

Summit Rapid and NZ Seniors stay alive by going online

Amongst the Covid carnage on the NZCF Calendar it's nice to see that two tournaments originally planned as OTB (over the board) are going to run in online form. It's not a perfect solution, but sometimes perfect is the enemy of good. Note: Entries for the Open Seniors Online now close on Tuesday 23rd November 2021..

2021 New Zealand Interschool Chess Finals Cancelled

NZCF Council has made the difficult decision to cancel this year’s national interschool finals.
The finals were due to be held in Auckland in late December, after the covid pandemic forced their postponement from September.
However holding the competition has become virtually impossible in view of the continuing uncertainty about Auckland’s covid level status and the rules regarding gatherings of vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
My apologies; for the sake of thousands of keen young chess players around the country I can only hope that we can return to some normality next year.

Bob Smith
NZCF National Interschool Co-ordinator

Covid Policy Update

NZCF has announced an updated Covid policy which affects local chess clubs. Please see the Notices Page for full details.

Asian Youth Online Championships, 22-31 October 2021

While this individuals tournament is in progress I will endeavour to provide some links for following progress of NZL players. This is work in progress, apologies for not providing anything more comprehensive at the moment.
Here is a link to the chess-results website (Girls).
Schedule for Girls tournaments: Fri,Sat,Sun (22nd-24th Oct); 3 rounds per day (9 total) at 7pm, 8:30pm, 10pm
Schedule for Open tournaments: Fri,Sat,Sun (29th-31st Oct); 3 rounds per day (9 total) at 7pm, 8:30pm, 10pm
Tournament Regulations: here.
Here is a link to the Girls' tournament, with games and results/standings, on Tornelo.
Here is a link to the Open tournament, with games and results/standings, on Tornelo.

President’s Newsletter - COVID Update

NZCF Council met by Zoom last Sunday 3rd October. We discussed the latest Covid update and the implications for over-the-board (OTB) play. It is obviously distressing to all of us that tournaments are being cancelled or postponed. We cannot predict if, and when we will reach ‘Level 1’.

For the moment NZCF advice is unchanged – there will be no official NZCF tournaments and no games NZCF or FIDE rated at Level 2 or above. But we are watching closely Government updates and what other associations of ‘mind sports’ like bridge are doing. There is another Council meeting 31st Oct and I will provide a further update immediately after that.

Nigel Metge, 5th October 2021

Asian Amateur Online Championships, 12-18 November 2021

CLOSING DATE SUNDAY 10TH OCTOBER MIDNIGHT
NZCF invites entries into this tournament organized by Oman Chess Committee on behalf of Asian Chess Federation.
Open to all amateur players with a FIDE rating 2100 or below in Open and Women categories.

All players must have FIDE ID and Tornelo registration.
NZCF must submit all entries and payment on Tuesday 12th October.

Entry fee is US$25 per player but note that NZCF will invoice entrants for entry fee + bank charges + NZ$10 administration fee.
Tournament Regulations: here.
All entrants must enter through this Google docs link.
Queries to:
Online Technical Director Timothy Ha email: timothyha@gmail.com.

Covid takes a toll

Sadly over the board chess in New Zealand has ground to a halt as the NZCF level 1 only policy means play throughout the country has been suspended for weeks, with no end in sight. The scheduling carnage can clearly be seen in the Calendar. We can at least play online, including in two NZCF events each week (Monday and Friday). These events are invariably good fun and are capably organised by Timothy Ha.

Asian Youth Online Championships, 21-31 October 2021

CLOSING DATE THURSDAY 30TH SEPTEMBER MIDNIGHT
NZCF invites entries into this tournament organized by All India Chess Federation under the authority of the Asian Chess Federation.
As usual two groups Open & Girls in age categories U8, U10, U12, U14, U16, U18.
All players must have FIDE ID and Tornelo registration.
All entrants must enter through this Google docs link.
Note that there is an entry fee of US$50.
NZCF must officially submit all entries and payment on Friday 1st October.
NZCF will invoice parents for cost of entry fee + banking charges.
Tournament Regulations: here.
Queries to:
Online Technical Director Timothy Ha email: timothyha@gmail.com.

Eastern Asia Youth Chess Online Championship

The NZCF web administrator apologises for the following late notice;
All junior players (aged 18 or younger, i.e. born in 2003 or later) are eligible to play in the Eastern Asia Youth Chess Online Championship but please note that the deadline for entries is Friday 17th September.

There are two divisions Open (October 1st-3rd) and Girls (September 24th-26th). Additionally there are U8, U10, U12, U14, U16 and U18 age group sections within each section.

Please note that NZCF is not selecting a representative team, this is an individual tournament open to all players of qualifying age. NZCF will forward all entries received and will handle the administrative task of paying the entry fees on behalf of players to the Thailand Chess Federation, BUT this will be charged back to parents.

The entry fee is US$25 per player. Further details are available in the FIDE Calendar and in the tournament regulations and in the entry form.

Please email the completed entry form directly to:
Nigel Metge nigel.metge@gmail.com.
Please include the phone number of the parent responsible for paying the entry fee.

Update Entries have Closed!
We have a record 48 entrants of whom 16 or 33% are Girls.
We had to work to a tight deadline to get entry fees paid to Thailand Chess Association on time.
Your President and others have been working all yesterday and today to make it happen.
We are sorry for any Juniors that missed out.
We often get short notice of tournaments ourselves and always try to alert everyone in good time.
We are working with Thailand Chess Association to update the entries from New Zealand.
The current list of entries processed is shown on this chess-results.com link but more will be visible tomorrow.

National Interschools Finals now moved to 18th and 19th of December

Please see the NZCF Notices Page for full details of changes to the timing of the National Interschools Finals.

President's Newsletter

On the Notices page NZCF President Nigel Metge has shared some thoughts on the year to date. This promises to become a regular President's Newsletter feature.

FIDE Online Olympiad

Coverage of NZL participation in the FIDE Online Olympiad has been moved to the Results Page.

Snippets

The last two home page stories enjoyed some confluence as Ewen Green joined the fray at the NZCF Friday night online Swiss and despite unfamiliarity with Lichess, came close to winning the tournament. Remember the NZCF online tournaments will keep running through lockdown and beyond, thanks again Timothy Ha. Meanwhile the first stage of the FIDE online cadets tournament has come to an end, see the results page. There has been some local mainstream media attention. Finally the ratings page has had another upgrade, and you can now see your NZCF and FIDE ratings and codes on one handy page.

Friday Night Online Swiss

Once again we have reverted to online only local chess (see the Covid information panel above). Hopefully not for too long. Many thanks to Timothy Ha who keeps a regular series of NZCF online events ticking over, ready for everyone to jump back in at times like this.

The next event is this Swiss tournament, on Friday, Aug 20, at 7:30 pm. A Swiss tournament should make a nice change from the usual online Arenas, note that Lichess still allows you late join, pause and exit flexibility (if you feel you must).

NZ Games Database Updated

The Peter Stuart Games Database has just been updated. This database, established and maintained by the late Peter Stuart, is now under NZCF stewardship and we endeavour to keep it consistent and up to date. The database aims to gather games from the most important competitions within NZ and also NZ games in international competition. Club and tournament administrators can help by submitting PGN files to the NZCF web administrator for possible inclusion.

43rd Trusts Chess Open

An impressive 152 players crowded into the Te Pai Centre. Australian IM Brodie McClymont enjoyed the bubble more than most this weekend, taking out New Zealand’s premier standard chess weekender with an impressive A Grade score of 6/6, 1.5 points clear of second place. Results and details are now on the Results page.

Bob Wade Memorial Results and Photos...

... are of course on the Results Page. Both the inaugural tournament and the special dinner were a great success. GM Stuart Conquest provides some nice background information in this article.

Asian U14 Online Teams

New Zealand teams are competing in this competition for three evenings in a row on March 27th, 28th and 29th starting at 7pm New Zealand time. The official results will be posted on Chess-Results; Open and Girls.

Following online has proven problematic on these chess.com events in the past. For now at least the following links are the best hope we can provide for following live play Open and Girls. Update: Timothy has provided this link for viewing and advises "Refresh the page when games start as players are visible on this page only when they're online and playing". Update 2: Final results are now on the Results page.

Timothy Ha is captaining the teams and doing a fantastic job of organising the information and marshalling the teams. Don't forget that Nic Croad (below) is also playing four three more official Hybrid Zonal classical online games on the same weekend.

Nic Croad Competing in the Oceania Zone Hybrid

A new and interesting chess format is being trialled in New Zealand and around the Oceania region over the weekends of March 20-21 and March 27-28. Hybrid chess is an attempt to marry traditional chess and online chess, with a view to eventually allowing official rated competition between geographically distributed competitors. Instead of playing at home, the players compete from "hubs" under the control and supervision of qualified arbiters. Our own Paul Spiller, president of FIDE's Zone 3.6 describes the competition Nic Croad is competing in here. Basically it's a round robin classical tournament, two rounds a day, featuring two Australian GMs amongst others (Nic plays both GMs on Saturday 20th). At stake is decent prize money, and a qualifying spot for the world cup. Rounds are at 1pm and 7pm NZ time, and a link will be put up here in time for you to follow the action. Update: The promised link has not yet been delivered by the organisers, but it should appear on this page before start of play. Update 2: Hopefully this is the actual link. Update 3: Final results are now on the Results page.

NZCF Ratings Updated

Rowan Wood, our longstanding and dedicated ratings officer reports that 2021 period 1 ratings are now available. You can still see them on the Resources Page, but now for the first time there is a dedicated Ratings Page which has active ratings information inline so you can quickly check your NZ rating without downloading a document.

Asian Nations Online Under 14 Team Championship

NZCF seeks applications from eligible players (players under 14 on Jan 1 2021) for selection in New Zealand teams to play in the Asian Nations Online Under 14 Team Championship on 27th-29th March. Players should check they are available on all three nights from 7pm to 11:30pm before applying. Please email your applications to the NZCF secretary Winsome Stretch at secretary@newzealandchess.co.nz by Friday 12th March 5pm (sorry for the short notice). Please indicate whether you are applying for a position in the Open or Girls team (or either). Include your chess.com account name, and your NZCF and FIDE ratings. Successful applicants will be required to submit a passport sized photo. There is a fee to play in this tournament, but NZCF will bear the cost (of no more than one open team and one girls team).

Update 16/03/2021: The NZCF team selections are;
OPEN TEAM:
Oscar Qin
Baraa Zara
Emily Gan
Sai Somaraju
Kendrick Zhang

FEMALE TEAM:
Isabelle Ning
Anya Thurner
Yolanda Chang
Sophia Feng
Ritika Joseph
The team captain is Timothy Ha.

NZCF Online Team Battle

Another Covid hiccup, another online tournament organised by Timothy Ha. This time it's a Monday night team battle. With the whole country at alert level 2 or higher for at least a week, keep a lookout for these tournaments, we might be having more of them!

On Sailing, Chess and Covid

America's Cup Organisers and Teams spend millions on lawyers and insanely elaborate rules, yet they can't quite figure out whether their rules allow competition at the moment. Or not. Perhaps they should have hired NZCF as (very reasonably priced) legal consultants, our rules are crystal clear. Chess is on at Level One, suspended at Level Two and above. Sadly this means that in Auckland chess clubs remain closed for at least a little while longer. But never fear the indefatigable Timothy Ha has organised another Friday night online tournament so chess addicts in Auckland and nationwide can still get their fix.

NZCF Online Tournament, plus a Covid Reminder

Sadly the NZCF Covid Policy (see purple box above) has been activated again. The entire country is currently above level 1 for three days (at least). The NZCF online tournaments have understandably been quiet for a while, but maybe this Monday night tournament is a good opportunity to commiserate with the local chess community about this hopefully very temporary setback. Thanks to Timothy Ha for keeping the tournaments going, and for hastily organising and promoting this one.

NZCF Press Release February 5th, 2021 World Cup

FIDE have granted NZCF the right to select a player to participate in the prestigious World Cup knockout event this year. This is a rare opportunity, normally a NZL player faces a difficult path to qualification. All the details are on The Press Release. Use this application document to apply for selection! Applications close on April 15th 2021.

Tournaments, Tournaments, Tournaments

After missing out on so many tournaments in 2020, we are now bathing in an abundance of regular and new events. Please check out the Calendar Page and enjoy your options. We have already had a successful Congress. Auckland Chess Centre has put on an Anniversary Weekender and is following up in short order with a Waitangi Weekender and an ANZAC Weekender a bit further down the track. Howick Pakuranga's Latvian Rapid is now the single biggest weekend rapid in the country. The Summit Chess Club is running its full program of junior events. The Bay of Plenty and Hawkes Bay Rapids are coming up soon in reliably gorgeous parts of New Zealand. The North Island Champs are on over Easter Weekend in Wellington. A bit later on you must pencil in the 43rd Trusts Open. (Late in the year the NZ Women's Championship has been revised).

A special mention is due to a special new event, the Bob Wade memorial on Bob's 100th anniversary, April 10th 2021. Thanks to Paul Spiller for conceiving of this event and making it a reality. The atmospheric photos below are courtesy of britishchessnews.com which was founded in 2016 by John Upham who takes and supplies chess photographs world-wide. The same website offers this detailed compendium of interesting information about Bob. Also consider checking out Bob's obituary in our own NZ Chess magazine, January 2009 issue, page 18.

   

   

Kasparov Chess Foundation University Cup

The Kasparov Chess Foundation is a substantial supporter and sponsor of chess in New Zealand, particularly our annual Congresses. On February 6th-7th they are running a free online event for university teams. It would be marvellous if one or more New Zealand university teams could compete. All the details are on the event website here. If you are tempted to enter please send an email to NZCF Vice President Paul Spiller or NZCF web administrator Bill Forster (email addresses on the Contact Page) to let us know.
Update: A Victoria University of Wellington team (Ryan Winter, Michael Sole, Nicholas Heyworth, Ben Bryant) competed despite a very hostile time zone and posted a solid mid table performance, 64th from 125, see the results page here. NZ Games PGN here.

Thank You Murray

New NZCF President Nigel Metge can be seen handing out the prizes in the congress photos below and on the Results Page (he also picked up a grade prize in the Blitz:). For those who haven't realised it yet, this does indeed mean that GM Murray Chandler has handed over the baton. Hopefully Murray will quietly continue to contribute to the NZ chess scene in an unofficial capacity. The maintainer of this website would like to take the opportunity to post a personal thank you to Murray for his wise counsel and steadfast support for a shared vision of a steadily improving, focussed, local, tasteful, coherent and comprehensive website for the New Zealand chess community.

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An archive of all NZCF website front page stories since 2007 is available here.