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, while the rapid portion will be run by Auckland Central Chess Club in CBD.
More details and online booking on https://newzealandchess.nz/north-island-championship-2022/
July FIDE ratings are published. All players in the Winter Cup A-grade now have FIDE ratings, and games of rounds 1-5 will go for the August rating list. Rounds 6 and 7 will be affecting the September ratings. The B-grade has newly rated players, too, and their rounds affect future ratings similarly to the A-grade.
Congrats to FM Alphaeus Ang who peaked at 2307, playing in a much lower-rated field this year. New FIDE rules give him 0.0 points for many of his wins in our club. Only one game per tournament is calculated with a 400 rating difference, and others with the actual value.
Auckland Teams Arena July 2022 is the only OTB classical chess event on the July chess calendar in all of New Zealand. You can register here https://newzealandchess.nz/auckland-teams-arena-july-2022/
The June event was run successfully on June 18-19 (see Vega) with three teams participating. Current team standings are:
The Knightmares (Po’e-Tofaeono Hunter, Grayson and Tyleah + Fergus Lee) – 15.5 pts
Mi Caissa, su Caissa (Timothy Ha, Mantra Bhatt, Daksh Bhatt) – 11 pts
The Morphians (William Liu, Luna Lu, Jacob Barry, Branden Li, Lisa Shi) – 10.5 pts
The individual winner of the June event was William Liu with 5.5 pts.
We expect to have several new teams joining for the July event. And you can always join an existing team. Some offer nice T-shirts 🙂 Four top scorers of the winning team in each event will also get T-shirts from the organisers.
Winter Cup (7 rounds, FIDE- and NZCF-rated, two grades A and B) starts on Monday, June 27.
If you played in the Autumn Cup, your name will be carried over (unless you tell Club Captain that you are withdrawing).
Some players are coming back to the club starting from the Winter Cup and their names are reflected here, too:
https://www.aucklandchess.nz/vega/2022/wwwACCWinterCupA/index.html
https://www.aucklandchess.nz/vega/2022/wwwACCWinterCupB/index.html
If you didn’t play in the Autumn Cup and are not on this list, please contact Club Captain to join the Winter Cup. Please send your details to timothyha at Gmail.
Join our first Auckland Teams Arena event this weekend, Sat-Sun 18-19/6 (six shorter classical games of 60+30) — don’t worry if you don’t have a team yet, we’ll find you one on the day
https://newzealandchess.nz/auckland-teams-arena-june-2022/
A description of the Auckland Teams Arena is available on https://www.aucklandchess.nz/auckland-teams-arena/
A reminder for club members, old and new: if you’re sick, please let the Club Captain know and do not come to the club on Monday and Saturday nights. If you want to skip a Monday night for any reason, just let the Club Captain know before 6:30 pm on the night, and you’ll be given a “bye” in the current tournament.
Our club requires mask-wearing and recommends frequent hand sanitisation. More details on https://www.aucklandchess.nz/covid-19-policies-for-acc-reopening/
Are you building a team for the Auckland Teams Arena? Have you ever heard about it? If not, please head here first – https://www.aucklandchess.nz/auckland-teams-arena/
One team already prepared their T-shirts and is offering them while inviting players. There were rumours about a girls’ team being formed, too. And some 2000+ players wanted to team up just to crush everybody else (and not play each other during the tournaments).
Everybody better team up soon, as it’s important for teams to be present in as many events as possible, to get a better total score at the end of the season. Players don’t have to play all events and can even change teams, but teams need to be organised soon before the first event on June 18-19.
More about the arena: https://www.aucklandchess.nz/auckland-teams-arena/
The page for teams to promote themselves: https://www.aucklandchess.nz/auckland…/2022-ata-teams/
CM Felix Xie won the blitz portion of the May Weekender (May 21-22, 2022) on 8.5/9 and finished the rapid portion with a perfect 9/9 score.
Blitz Vega and Rapid Vega / Event webpage / Photos by NZChessNews
The list of prizewinners (players with a higher score may be listed under a grade category if that won more prizemoney for them)
| Open | |||
| 1st | 26.5/27 | CM Felix Xie | |
| 2nd | 24/27 | FM Alphaeus Wei Ern Ang | |
| 3rd | 17.5/27 | CM Alex Nagorski | |
| Under 1800 | |||
| 1st | 19/27 | Daniel Wang | |
| 2nd | 18/27 | Daqi Mao | |
| 3rd | 16.5/27 | WCM Isabelle Yixuan Ning | |
| Under 1600 and Above 1400 | |||
| 1st | 17.5/27 | Justin Zhide Wang | |
| Under 1400 and Above 1300 | |||
| 1st | 13.5/27 | Duncan McDonald | |
| Under 1300 | |||
| 1st | 15/27 | Mantra Bhatt |
Detailed standing
| Composite Standings | Blitz Rounds | Rapid Rounds | Total Rounds | ||
| 9 | 9 | 18 | |||
| Open | CompositeRating | BlitzScore | RapidScore | CompositeScore | |
| 1 | Xie, Felix | 1951 | 8.5 | 9 | 26.5 |
| 2 | Ang, Alphaeus Wei Ern | 2172 | 8 | 8 | 24 |
| 3 | Wang, Daniel | 1614 | 6 | 6.5 | 19 |
| 4 | Mao, Daqi | 1633 | 6 | 6 | 18 |
| 5 | Nagorski, Alex | 1785 | 5.5 | 6 | 17.5 |
| 6 | Wang, Justin Zhide | 1483 | 5.5 | 6 | 17.5 |
| 7 | Ning, Isabelle Yixuan | 1688 | 6.5 | 5 | 16.5 |
| 8 | Thornton, Giovanni A | 2068 | 6 | 5 | 16 |
| 9 | Wheeler, Bruce | 2106 | 5.5 | 5 | 15.5 |
| 10 | Ha, Huy Minh (Timothy) | 1623 | 4.5 | 5.5 | 15.5 |
| 11 | Gan, Emily | 1413 | 5 | 5 | 15 |
| 12 | Bhatt, Mantra | 1243 | 5 | 5 | 15 |
| 13 | Vital, Henry | 1950 | 4.5 | 5 | 14.5 |
| 14 | Mistry, Prashant | 1874 | 4.5 | 5 | 14.5 |
| 15 | Liu, William Rui | 1448 | 4.5 | 5 | 14.5 |
| 16 | Zara, Baraa | 1522 | 5.5 | 4.5 | 14.5 |
| 17 | Wells, Clinton A. | 1767 | 4 | 5 | 14 |
| 18 | McDonald, Duncan | 1306 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 13.5 |
| 19 | Zhang, Kendrick Botong | 1573 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 12.5 |
| 20 | Po`e-Tofaeono, Hunter | 1448 | 4.5 | 4 | 12.5 |
| 21 | Coates, Alex | 1366 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 22 | Somaraju, Sai Vivan | 1343 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 23 | Po`e-Tofaeono, Grayson | 1381 | 5 | 3.5 | 12 |
| 24 | Thurner, Anya | 1348 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 25 | Zhu, Yeqing | 1294 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 26 | Mei, Zihan | 1070 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 27 | Lobanov, Nikita | 1022 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 10.5 |
| 28 | Zhang, Tim Lifan | 1213 | 3 | 3.5 | 10 |
| 29 | Nimmakayala, Srirama | 1125 | 3 | 3.5 | 10 |
| 30 | Xu, Luna | 1316 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 9.5 |
| 31 | Bhatt, Daksh | 1342 | 2 | 3.5 | 9 |
| 32 | Lu, Xiahan (Luna) | 0 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| 33 | Lau, Brillion Yan Jun | 1285 | 3 | 2.5 | 8 |
| 34 | Zara, Anas | 1277 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| 35 | Smith, Scott R | 1276 | 3.5 | 1 | 5.5 |
| Under1800 | Rating | BlitzScore | RapidScore | CompositeScore | |
| 1 | Wang, Daniel | 1614 | 6 | 6.5 | 19 |
| 2 | Mao, Daqi | 1633 | 6 | 6 | 18 |
| 3 | Nagorski, Alex | 1785 | 5.5 | 6 | 17.5 |
| 4 | Wang, Justin Zhide | 1483 | 5.5 | 6 | 17.5 |
| 5 | Ning, Isabelle Yixuan | 1688 | 6.5 | 5 | 16.5 |
| 6 | Ha, Huy Minh (Timothy) | 1623 | 4.5 | 5.5 | 15.5 |
| 7 | Gan, Emily | 1413 | 5 | 5 | 15 |
| 8 | Bhatt, Mantra | 1243 | 5 | 5 | 15 |
| 9 | Liu, William Rui | 1448 | 4.5 | 5 | 14.5 |
| 10 | Zara, Baraa | 1522 | 5.5 | 4.5 | 14.5 |
| 11 | Wells, Clinton A. | 1767 | 4 | 5 | 14 |
| 12 | McDonald, Duncan | 1306 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 13.5 |
| 13 | Zhang, Kendrick Botong | 1573 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 12.5 |
| 14 | Po`e-Tofaeono, Hunter | 1448 | 4.5 | 4 | 12.5 |
| 15 | Coates, Alex | 1366 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 16 | Somaraju, Sai Vivan | 1343 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 17 | Po`e-Tofaeono, Grayson | 1381 | 5 | 3.5 | 12 |
| 18 | Thurner, Anya | 1348 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 19 | Zhu, Yeqing | 1294 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 20 | Mei, Zihan | 1070 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 21 | Lobanov, Nikita | 1022 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 10.5 |
| 22 | Zhang, Tim Lifan | 1213 | 3 | 3.5 | 10 |
| 23 | Nimmakayala, Srirama | 1125 | 3 | 3.5 | 10 |
| 24 | Xu, Luna | 1316 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 9.5 |
| 25 | Bhatt, Daksh | 1342 | 2 | 3.5 | 9 |
| 26 | Lu, Xiahan (Luna) | 0 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| 27 | Lau, Brillion Yan Jun | 1285 | 3 | 2.5 | 8 |
| 28 | Zara, Anas | 1277 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| 29 | Smith, Scott R | 1276 | 3.5 | 1 | 5.5 |
| Under1600 & Over1400 | Rating | BlitzScore | RapidScore | CompositeScore | |
| 1 | Wang, Justin Zhide | 1483 | 5.5 | 6 | 17.5 |
| 2 | Gan, Emily | 1413 | 5 | 5 | 15 |
| 3 | Liu, William Rui | 1448 | 4.5 | 5 | 14.5 |
| 4 | Zara, Baraa | 1522 | 5.5 | 4.5 | 14.5 |
| 5 | Zhang, Kendrick Botong | 1573 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 12.5 |
| 6 | Po`e-Tofaeono, Hunter | 1448 | 4.5 | 4 | 12.5 |
| Under1400 & Over1300 | Rating | BlitzScore | RapidScore | CompositeScore | |
| 1 | McDonald, Duncan | 1306 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 13.5 |
| 2 | Coates, Alex | 1366 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 3 | Somaraju, Sai Vivan | 1343 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 4 | Po`e-Tofaeono, Grayson | 1381 | 5 | 3.5 | 12 |
| 5 | Thurner, Anya | 1348 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 6 | Xu, Luna | 1316 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 9.5 |
| 7 | Bhatt, Daksh | 1342 | 2 | 3.5 | 9 |
| Under1300 | Rating | BlitzScore | RapidScore | CompositeScore | |
| 1 | Bhatt, Mantra | 1243 | 5 | 5 | 15 |
| 2 | Zhu, Yeqing | 1294 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 3 | Mei, Zihan | 1070 | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| 4 | Lobanov, Nikita | 1022 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 10.5 |
| 5 | Zhang, Tim Lifan | 1213 | 3 | 3.5 | 10 |
| 6 | Nimmakayala, Srirama | 1125 | 3 | 3.5 | 10 |
| 7 | Lu, Xiahan (Luna) | 0 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| 8 | Lau, Brillion Yan Jun | 1285 | 3 | 2.5 | 8 |
Autumn Cup A- and B- grades will be divided as 1300+ and U1300 FIDE. The FIDE- and NZCF-rated tournament is from May 9 to June 20, with a break on Queen’s birthday (please check NZCF calendars for the Trusts Open tournaments on that long weekend).
The top five boards of the A-grade will be broadcast live on https://aucklandchess.nz/live
Please use the following links to find your name, pairings before and results after each round (note that pairings are subject to change as players’ circumstances may change close to the time of the games)
The games start after a short announcement at 7 pm. Forfeit time is 30 minutes.
If you can’t make it to the game on time, please let us know (SMS is best) before 6:30 pm so we can re-pair players.
If you are sick, please let us know and do not visit the club.
If you’re going on vacation, please let us know in advance (email is best) and we’ll mark all the days you’re 100% not visiting the club.
Thanks and good luck!
Entries are now open for Auckland May Weekender 2022. Please register and pay online at https://newzealandchess.nz/auckland-may-weekender-2022/
This tournament is similar to the Rapid and Blitz ones in the Grand Chess Tour, only here we play 9 games of blitz first, on Saturday morning, then 3-4 rapid games on Saturday afternoon (depends on the pace if we can fit all those or not), then the rest on Sunday.
The 9 rapid games give you double points in the final standings. The maximum number of points is 27. Blitz time control is 3+2, rapid is 25+5. Rapid games are FIDE- and NZCF-rated. Blitz games are FIDE-rated only.
The top five boards will be broadcast at least for the rapid portion via https://aucklandchess.nz/live