January 13th was not just any night for Papatoetoe Chess Club  but for the club members  and any body else that did  turn up,  they had a night to remember.

Sue plays number 2 for the English Women’s Team and she was in NZ for the NZ Rapid Tournament.

She started off  telling us about what it was like being a young person  in England playing chess and working,  also being to married  to British Grandmaster Gawain Jones. This was followed by questions from  the Juniors of the club. Sue also told us that in 2016  she would  take up playing chess as a  full time job.

Sue then played 14  Simultaneous matches with 14 juniors. Later  she was joined by Hans Goa (rating 2303) – a star of Papatoetoe.

All the juniors that played said they had a great time as they would  not get to play these two under normal  conditions.

A big thank you Sue & Hans  for taking the time out  to come and play at your old club. We wish Sue well in her new chosen career.

Then Gawain arrived. He had won the N.Z. Open a couple of days before and is in the top 100 players in the world. He talked about what it was like being a player travelling round Europe playing as a full time job.  Gawain told us his next big  match was in Gibraltar. If you go line www.world chess .com, you might get to see him play live.

This was followed by questions. He spent about an hour with us. This was appreciated by all who attended.

Papatoetoe Chess Club would like  to thank Sue, Gawain and  Hans