Sorry I have been off air for awhile.

Just to catch up, the final round (round 5) of the Autumn Cup was played on the 2nd May. John Worn won outright on 4.5 point followed by Paul Postma and John McRae on 3.5 points.

Again we didn’t have many members turn up so we only had 5 boards playing. On board 1 it was John Worn vs Yash Narayan. They played Giuoco Piano opening and once John started winning pieces he didn’t stop, eventually promoting a pawn and quickly followed with mate.

Board 2 was Barry Hooton vs Paul Norris. White played a quiet queens gambit and it wasn’t until well into the game that white obtained an advantage with a rook on an open file that co-ordinated with the queen and an advanced knight to firstly go a pawn up and then an exchange up. The win should have been simple from here but only for Barry forgeting to protect a pawn which Paul duely took with counterplay. Luckily for Barry, black ran out of time handing him the win.

Other results were –

Dave Misileki v Paul Postma  0-1 default

Pauline Thomas v Greame Coleman  0-1

Temu Maroroa v Steve Singer  1-0

This leaves John Worn and Barry Hooton leading on 3 points. They will be paired for the critical game in the next round.

Please remember that round 4 will be played on Anzac day at 7.30pm and you should be contacting me or the club if you are not going to attend.

The number of players that were unable to attend on Wednesday 11 April was disappointing. We only had 8 out of 18 players turning up.

On the top board it was Paul Norris vs John Worn. After John gained a pawn Paul started sacrificing peices without enough inititive, so John eventually won a full point. Board 2 was Paul Postma vs Barry Hooton. As with board 1 Barry gained a pawn and swapped Queens in the process. It soon headed to an end game where Barry gained 2 more pawns and then promoted one. This soon lead to mate. Yash Narayan beat Greame Coleman on board 3 with the black pieces.

This leaves John Worn, Barry Hooton and Yash Narayan leading on 2 points.

Papatoetoe Chess Club Autumn Cup began on Wednesday 4th April. We had 7 boards playing in one group, under the Swiss format. In the 1st round, under a Swiss format, the top half (highest rated) play the bottom half. All of the higher rated players duely won their game except for board 2 where Temu Maroroa failed to turn up and so lost to Cairo Molesi by default. On the top board John Worn, playing white defeated John McRae.

There are 4 members who have taken half point 1st round byes so I expect more boards playing next Wednesday.

On Wednesday 28 March we played the final 2 rounds of the Papatoetoe Summer Rapid. We saw outright winners in both A and B grades, they are Barry Hooton and Dave Misileki.

In the A grade Barry beat Yash Narayan (from a losing position) and then crucially won against Temu Maroroa. Unfortunately in the B grade I had Paul Postma winning but discovered I had given him 1 point in round 2 when he lost. This meant Dave Misileki won the B grade by winning round 5 against John McRae and in round 6 obtained a crucial half point against Satnam Singh, to win by a half point.

The final standings –

A Grade

Barry Hooton           6

Temu Maroroa          4

John Worn                 4

Cairo Molesi               4

Yash Narayan             3

Paul Norris                  3

Graeme Coleman        3

B Grade

Dave Misileki               3.5

Paul Postma                  3

Krishi Narayan              3

Jagmahan Singh            3

Satnam Singh                 2.5

Solomon Lefe’e               2

John McRae                     2

Gallipoli Misileki             2

Pauline Thomas               1

Ethan Perston                   1

William Lefe’e                   1

Stefan Brzozowski            1

As mentioned in the previous post, the Summer Rapid finishes next Wednesday, 28 March. We will then begin the Autumn Cup on the 4 April. The Autumn Cup is a 5 round single group swiss format competition. The time limits are 60 minutes each + 30 seconds per move from move 1 and there will be 1 round per night. Visitors are welcome by paying $2 per night which will include a cuppa and bickies about 9pm (we stop the clocks for about 15 minutes).

Club members or visitors need to let me know they wish to enter before 7.30pm on the first night. This means you will need to email me [email protected] , text me 0274 506140 or be at the club before 7.30pm. Remember if you are entered and running a bit late you will still have a game if you arrive before 30 minutes are up (we try to get going by 7.40pm). On the other side of the coin please let me know if you are not going to turn up so I can take you out of the draw (for that round) so your opponent won’t be waiting for nothing.

So take note if you haven’t let me know you want to play and we have started the first round I cannot give you a game until the next week! The other point is if I have done the draw (approx. 7.30) and we have a even number of players, it wouldn’t be fair to re-draw if you turn up at this point.

All will run smoothly if you let me know you wish to enter.

A further 2 rounds were played on Wednesday 21 March of the Papatoetoe Summer Rapid. There is now an outright leader in both the A & B grades going into the final 2 rounds next Wednesday.

Round 3 the top 2 boards were John Worn vs Yash Narayan and Paul Norris Vs Barry Hooton. John and Barry came out on top in these games – Barry won on time with a rook down. Barry managed some problem checks with his Queen and remaining rook which ate into Pauls time.

Round 4 the top boards were Barry Hooton Vs John Worn and Cairo Molesi vs Temu Maroroa. Barry and Temu won on these boards.

After 4 rounds the leading scores in the A Grade on 4 points is Barry Hooton, followed on 3 points by John Worn, Paul Norris, Yash Narayan and Temu Maroroa.

In the B Grade, leading on 3 points is Paul Postma followed on 2 points by Solomon Lefe’e, John McRae and Dave Misileki.

We began the Summer Rapid on Wednesday 14 March playing the first two rounds.

Although we are playing as one swiss format group (because there are not enough numbers to split into 2 groups) there is an A & B grade. Using the Papatoetoe Club ratings, A grade are players 1150 and above and B grade have a rating below 1150.

There are 18 entries which are split into 7 A graders and 11 B grades. The A grade top seed is John Worn with a rapid rating of 1547 and B grades top seed is Krishi Narayan with a rapid rating of 1147.

Round 1 began fast and furious. Although the time limit is 30 minutes each, with no move increments, some games were played like they were 5 minute games. The top 2 boards were –

1. John Worn  vs  John McRae

2. Paul Postma  vs  Barry Hooton

These games were won by John Worn and Barry Hooton.

Round 2 was played after a short break with tea and bickies. The top 2 boards were –

1. Jagmahan Singh  vs John Worn

2. Barry Hooton  vs  Dave Misileki

Again these 2 games were won by John and Barry.

Leading scores after the first 2 rounds are –

A Grade

All on 2 points are – John Worn, Barry Hooton, Paul Norris and Yash Narayan.

B Grade

Almost the whole field in the B Grade are on 1 point, they are – Krishi Narayan, Solomon Lefe’e, John McRae, Paul Postma, Jagmahan Singh, Dave Misileki, Satnam Singh, Pauline Thomas and Ethan Perston.

Summer Rapid 30/30 starts Wednesday 14 March 2012 7.30pm. We will be having 2 rounds per night for 3 nights i.e 6 rounds. If you wish to be involved please ring Barry 5277250, the club or arrived before 7.30 on club night. The second round will start ASAP after the first round is completed, probably about 9pm.

Congratulations to John Worn outright winner of the Summer Cup on 4 points.

The top 2 boards were Barry Hooton vs John Worn and Hans Gao vs Paul Norris. Although Barry gained 2 pawns he was unable to maintain them and offered a draw which John accepted. Unfortunately Hans failed to show so Paul won by default.

The final results are –

1. John Worn                   4.0

2. Paul Norris                   3.5

3. Paul Postma                 3.0

4-5. Barry Hooton           2.5

          Yash Narayan         2.5

6-12 Satnam Singh          2.0

           Hans Gao                 2.0

           Solomon Lefe’e      2.0

           Pauline Thomas    2.0

           Jagmahan Singh    2.0

          Dave Misileki            2.0

          Gallipoli Misileki     2.0

13-14  John McRae           1.5

              William Lefe’e        1.5

15-16   Ethan Perston        1.0

               Greame Coleman  1.0

17-18   Cair0 Molesi             0

                Caleb Lefe’e             0