News

Club registration form for 2023

Please use the following registration form to register yourself or your child for 2023. This is a preliminary registration form.  The club captain will confirm your place.  Please don’t make any payments yet!

https://forms.gle/tykoNGs1xuz4Q3k78

The club will be open every Monday, from 13/2 to the week before Christmas, except public holidays, but without any gaps for school holidays. Whenever you know your travel plans or have long breaks from the chess club, please let us know. We also ask you to notify us on Mondays before 6:30 pm if you’re not coming. If you’re sick, please do not come and inform us about that, too. Thanks.

Ian McNally (1963-2023)

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.

Bruce Wheeler
Club President

Photo from Aleksandar Wohl’s blog, with Ian McNally, Bruce Watson, and Brandon Clarke

Winners of 2022 chess at ACC

Here is the list of winners and runner-up players of 2022 (click the tournament titles for detailed results).

Congratulations also to the Auckland Chess Centre team (Alphaeus Ang, Bruce Wheeler, Jasmine Zhang, and Jordan Lewis) who won the Auckland Interclub Blitz on the 18th of December.

If your name is in bold letters below, please contact Timothy to get a Chessable course!

ACC Autumn Cup A 2022

Alphaeus Ang – 5.5/6
Isabelle Ning – 5.0/6
Justin Wang – 5.0/6

ACC Autumn Cup B 2022

Alex Pan – 5.0/6
Virginia Milne – 4.5/6
Pranav Shenoy – 4.5/6

ACC Winter Cup A 2022

Euan McDougall – 6.0/7
Philli Park-Tamati – 5.5/7
Hao Tang – 5.0/7
Alex Nagorski – 5.0/7

ACC Winter Cup B 2022

Luna Xu – 6.0/7
Sai Somaraju – 5.5/7

ACC Club Championships A 2022

Alphaeus Ang – 8.0/9
Isabelle Ning – 7.0/9 – special upset prize for beating Alphaeus
Daqi Mao – 6.5/9

ACC Club Championships B 2022

Nikita Lobanov – 7.5/9
Eric Wu – 6.5/9

ACC Spring Cup 2022 A-Grade

Alphaeus Ang – 5.5/6
William Liu – 5.0/6

ACC Spring Cup 2022 B-Grade

Lucas Zhang – 5.0/6
Nahuel Lino Serron – 5.0/6
Adele Zhou – 5.0/6

ACC Spring Rapid 2022

Alex Nagorski – 5.5/6

ACC Autumn Blitz 2022

Philli Park-Tamati – 8.0/9
Daniel Gong – 7.0/9
Gino Thornton – 6.5/9
Jordan Lewis – 6.5/9

19/12 – last Monday night of the year

19th of December is the last club night of the year when we’ll do prizegiving, hold an AGM, eat pizza together, and do some fun chess.

All club members are welcome!

The club will resume on 30/01/2023, and registration will be open in mid-January.

Spring Cup A & B start Nov 7

The Spring Cup (only NZCF-rated, classical 75+30, six rounds) starts on Nov 7 and will finish on Dec 12.

The A- and B-grades have been divided. Some were promoted to A- from B-, and some were moved down to B, either based on recent performance or on their own request.

A-grade, https://www.aucklandchess.nz/vega/2022/wwwACCSpringCupA/playersname.html

B-grade, https://www.aucklandchess.nz/vega/2022/wwwACCSpringCupB/playersname.html

Please check your names. If you’re NOT playing in this tournament, please let us know immediately. If you cannot come on any Monday, please text the captain before 6:30 pm as usual.

Please note that our club has only 80 seats, so some new members may not get a game if everybody else shows up.

Auckland Teams Arena back on Nov 12-13

The last event of the 2022 Auckland Teams Arena (we’re back in 2023, too) will be held during the upcoming weekend, the 12th and 13th of November.

Register online here: https://newzealandchess.nz/auckland-teams-arena-november-2022/

The tournament is held as an individual Swiss with a team twist, where you can build teams and get team standings. Teammates are not paired against each other during the tournament. ATA is also the cheapest way to get FIDE-rated games under your belt, 20 NZD for six classical games in just two days of a normal weekend.

More details about the series: https://www.aucklandchess.nz/auckland-teams-arena/