Congratulations to CM Leo Baker (left on the photo) who has become a new club champion at ACC, after a few years of domination by FM Alphaeus Ang. This year Leo is also club champion at North Shore CC, so he’s champ in two biggest clubs in Auckland!
Going into the last round of the 2025 Club Champs, only Leo and Preeyansh (right on the photo) were on 6.5/8. A few people were chasing on 6.0, including Alphaeus (who was beaten by Preeyansh in the previous round), so we could have just one or up to five co-champions. Leo seemed confident and said he’d need about 25 moves to win the game. It took only 21, but both spent a lot of time in hard calculation.
CM Hao Tang and CM Cohen Young shared 2nd= on 7.0/9.
Vega standings: https://www.vegaresults.com/vega/6227
Lichess broadcast: https://lichess.org/broadcast/acc-monday-nights-2025–club-championships/Qt0Cik91