Author: Timothy Ha

2025 Auckland Interclubs results: 1st in A- and B-, 2nd in blitz and Junior

The 2025 Auckland Interclubs season has just finished. Auckland Chess Centre won the A-grade classical and B-grade classical tournaments. We came second in the blitz event and junior (U14) rapid event. Summit CC was the winner of these two.

Big thanks to all of our players:

A-grade: (two teams, listed in board order)
Alphaeus Ang, Daqi Mao, Cohen Young, and Leo Baker;
Isabelle Ning, Sarah Sun, Sophia Feng, Luna Lu, and Emily Gan.

B-grade: (board order) Timothy Ha, Huw Dann, Alex Pan, and Brogan Powlesland.

Blitz: (alphabetical order) Alphaeus Ang, Benjamin Guo, Bruce Wheeler, Daqi Mao, Isabelle Ning, Jordan Lewis, and Leo Baker.

Junior: (board order) Daqi Mao, Grayson Po’e-Tofaeono, Yanshuo Pei, and Ryan Hwang.

ACC Double Weekends resume in July (12-13, 19-20)

With the Winter Cup already ongoing (still a few spots open), the next big thing at ACC is the July edition of the ACC Double Weekends, when you can get up to 8 classical rated games with a regular time control of 90+30, played on two consecutive weekends. You can also take any number of byes.

All details about ADW (this year we have July, August, and September left) – https://newzealandchess.nz/auckland-double-weekends-july-2025/

Registration for the Winter Cup is open

Please use the TryBooking link on the club calendar to register for the Winter Cup. It’s a 9-round Swiss tournament from June 16 to August 11. If you plan to take more than 3 byes due to exams or travelling, please consider NOT registering to give space to others. An exception is given to those who represent NZL in international events. They need practice at ACC.

If you can’t play on Mondays, you can still play in the ACC Double Weekends series, which will run in July, August, and September this year.

The list of Winter Cup players who have registered is here https://www.vegaresult.com/vega/5844

FM Alphaeus wins ADW March; the next one in May

FM Alphaeus Ang won the first ACC Double Weekends (ADW) event of March 2025 on 7.5/8, conceding only one draw to Justin Wang. Justin Wang, Markis Tew, and Maximilian Fang finished 2nd= on 5.5/8.

The double weekend model, an add-on to our Monday meets, proved convenient for more than 30 players to play comfortably on normal weekends with a slow time control like in big tournaments. The next event will be held in May (10th, 11th, 17th, 18th of May). If you want to play at ACC but are busy on weekdays, consider playing on weekends. There is currently no limit on the number of “byes” in the ADW, so you don’t have to play all 8 rounds, and yet it’s a great opportunity to get up to 8 rated games in just two weeks inside a calendar month and a FIDE rating period.

Registration details can be found here https://newzealandchess.nz/auckland-double-weekends-2025/

Auckland Double Weekends 2025, starting in March

Auckland Chess Centre Double Weekends 2025 are a series of 5 over-the-board (OTB) chess tournaments with 8 rounds played over 4 days on two weekends.

Auckland Chess Centre (ACC) is having a series of OTB tournaments to be run throughout 2025, the Auckland Double Weekends (ADW). These tournaments will fill the gaps between months with long weekends when ACC’s big open tournaments are traditionally run. The main differences are:

  • ADW events take four days over two normal weekends.
  • ADW events are played using time control of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds increment that meets all FIDE requirements.
  • Unrated players in ADW events do not have to play each other, which provides an opportunity for more players to get FIDE-rated quicker.

In 2025, ADW would be run on the following dates:

Players in each month’s ADW can play up to 8 classical games. Those who play in all 5 ADWs in 2025 may have up to 40 classical games at ACC this year. Welcome to play classical chess with us!

ACC starts 2025 with Waitangi Blitz, Waitangi Weekender and Summer Cup

Happy New Year 2025! We reopen the club with a Waitangi Blitz on Monday Feb 3, then the Waitangi Weekender will be run from Feb 6 to Feb 9, on Thursday Feb 6, then Saturday and Sunday Feb 8-9. The Summer Cup starts on Feb 10 and will run for 7 rounds.

The Waitangi Weekender is an open tournament, please register for it on New Zealand Chess News.

The Waitangi Blitz and Summer Cup are Monday club events. Please register at https://www.trybooking.com/nz/events/landing/14420 (bookmark this page for the year, too).  

The blitz event is FIDE-rated, with 9 rounds of 3+2 blitz. The Summer Cup is FIDE- and NZCF-rated, with 7 rounds of classical chess over 7 weeks starting from Feb 10.  The time control is 60+30, we’re trialling out this format to see if parents and schoolchildren will have a better time, going home earlier by at least 30 minutes.

We recommend not registering if you know in advance that exams or travel plans will make you skip more than 1/3 of the rounds, to give space for somebody else.  Summer Cup has 7 rounds, so that’s skipping 3 rounds.  Taking byes due to sickness or emergencies is OK.  The policy is about prior knowledge of plans.  This policy also doesn’t apply to those who represent NZL in international events.  They need practice, and ACC is one of the best places to find it 🙂

If you hold any of these titles – FM/IM/GM, or WFM/WIM/WGM, and want to play, you can play for free without registration via the link above.  Only write us an email so we can reserve a spot for you before all spots run out.  This applies to all club events (except the opens – AklAnniv, Waitangi, ANZAC, Merv).

The full calendar of club events on Mondays and other days, like ABR, ADW (btw, what is ADW, why not ACW?) and other events to be added there soon — https://aucklandchess.nz/calendar