Kapiti Chess News Letter - 12 February 2019

♖♘♗♔♕♗♘♖♜♞♝♚♛♝♞♜♖♘♗♔♕♗♘♖♜♞♝♚♛♝♞♜      ♙♙♙♙♙♙♙♙♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♙♙♙♙♙♙♙♙♙♙♟♟♟♟♟♟

Greetings Chess Lovers, Kapiti Chess News Blog.  Catch up with what is happening at the Club  and see how the regions best players play, plus tips on how to improve your game and much more.....

* See our website at Kapiti Chess Club for Contact Details - Joining Fees and much more.

* For Information on Chess matters in Wellington Click Here Wgtn Chess News

* For Information on Chess matters in New Zealand Click Here: NZCF Web Site

Links for Chess Training

*  For Beginners and Novice players, Click Here Chess for Beginners with International Grand Master Yasser Seirawan (USA), to learn the basic set up positions of good development of pieces when starting a game of Chess.

- STOP PRESS - NEWSFLASH -

Words getting around and Chess is on the Up!! Tune in to Beach FM (FM106.3) this Saturday at 8.20am, as the club has been invited to have a chat about what's happening on the local Chess scene.

We start this weeks Newsletter with a welcome back to Sean Doyle who took a year off last year, good to see you back playing Sean, and a catch-up with the results from last week which saw a few stronger match-ups in Rd 2 of the John Kingston Memorial Trophy.

Round 2

          David Paul                 0 - 1   Ross Jackson

          Alan Winfield            1 - 0   David Scott

          Guy Burns                 0 - 1   Gordon Lyall

          Hamish Lester           0 - 1   Alistair McGowan

          Sean Doyle                 1 - 0   Mark Summers

          Geoffrey Gunawan   1 - 0   Savannah Edwards

          Asher Te Whaaro      0 - 1  Rick Lowe

As could be expected the results from the first two rounds went according to seedings, though David had the rough end of the draw, being paired with No1 seed Ross Jackson.   After two rounds, the top 3 seeds held the top 3 placings.

Round 3

          Ross Jackson             0 - 1   Alan Winfield

          Gordon Lyall              1 - 0   David Paul

          Alistair Mc Gowan    1 - 0   Geoffry Gunawan

          David Scott                 1 - 0   Brandon Holman

          Rick Lowe                   0 - 1   Guy Burns

          Valera Bonyushkin    0 - 1   Mark Woodwood

          Savannah Edwards   0 - 1   Hamish Lester

          Mark Summers         1 - 0   Asher Te Whaaro

The third round saw the top 4 seedings paired against each other for the 1st time.  Alan's match-up with Ross looked like a mouth watering tie however due to Ross running late, the 1st move was not made until almost 30 minutes had passed.  With his clock ticking down, Ross sacrificed a Bishop for two pawns but Alan was able to stem the attack and Ross' flag eventually fell.

The game between Club Champion Gordon Lyall and David Paul also looked like a tough one, however Gordon adopted a very aggressive opening against David's "Black Lion" defence with 4.g4!?    A rare response but one that certainly paid off as Gordon took advantage of Davids uncertainty and comfortably claimed the win.   

Both games shown below.

There were no major surprises with the other results with all games going to the higher rated player.

The standings after three rounds are:

1 Winfield, Alan W       1932       3.0  

2 Lyall, Gordon             1923       3.0   

3 Jackson, L Ross         1955       2.0  

4 Burns, Guy                  1626       2.0  

5 McGowan, Alistair     1762       2.0

6 Scott, David                 1651       2.0
7 Lester, Hamish            1184       1.0

8 Paul, David                  1884       1.0

9 Lowe, Rick                   1219      1.0
10 Gunawan, Geoffrey   1445      1.0

11 Doyle, Sean                1540       1.0

12 Holman, Brandon     1475       1.0

13 Woodward, Mark      1462      1.0

14 Summers, Mark        1176       1.0

15 Bonyushkin, Valera   1320       0.5

16 Edwards, Savannah   935        0.0 

17 Te Whaaro, Asher      500        0.0   

John Kingston Memorial - Rd 3

Ross Jackson v Alan Winfield

Gordon Lyall v David Paul

 7TH HAWKES BAY RAPID - SAT 9 FEB 2019

Last Saturday two club members (Alan and David Scott) took the weekend off and and entered the 7th Hawkes Bay Rapid, held in Havelock North.

26 entries were received with the top 10 rated players forming the "A" grade section and the remainder together in a separate "B"grade/Junior section.

With a Rapid rating of 1992 Alan was the 7th seed of the "A" Group and certainly found himself mixing it with some of the best players in the country.   Of his 6 games, 5 were against opposition rated over 2000. (3 being "Titled" players).

With this in mind Alan felt his score of 2.5/6 not too bad. He had an engrossing game with Fide Master Bob Smith 2260 where a speculative Knight sacrifice was given its due respect when it was immediately returned by FM Smith.  The game itself eventually went down to K+N+3P v K+B+3P. Alan's draw offer was declined and FM Smith used his experience in pressure end games, to seal the victory, when in time trouble Alan allowed his K and B to be forked with check.   

 FM Robert Smith 2060 v Alan Winfield 1992 




Alans' results came from a good win over WFM Vyanla Punsalan 2033, from Malaysia. where surprisingly WFM Punsalan erred in the opening of the Black Lion Defence, Sacrificing a Bishop on f7 but not following up correctly.  This error seemed to affect her whole game and shortly afterwards, allowed her Queen to be pinned against a Knight, bringing about her resignation.

WFM Vyanla Punsalan 2033 v Alan Winfield 1992 (0-1)



Following a win over the lowest rated player in the group James Benson 1572, Alan's final game was against WIM Layla Timergazi 2071 of Wellington.

Being the last round and nothing to play for, both players missed opportunities to securing strong positions and though some fireworks were possible, both were keen to get something from the last game and so a draw seemed a fair result overall.

WIM Layla Timergazi 2071 v Alan Winfield 1992 (.5 -.5)




Whilst Alan was battling away in the A Grade, David Scott was doing the same in his section.   Seeded 7th in a field of 16 his score of 3.5/6 gave him a share of =4th (7th on count-back). A very commendable performance. 

Two of David's selected games are shown below:

Dave Smith c David Scott



David Scott v Felix Xie




14th Western Bay of Plenty Rapid 

For anyone planning a weekend in the Tauranga area over 23/24th February. Still time to enter and be part of an exciting day of Chess on Saturday 23rd.   Details can be obtained from the NZCF website (Chess Calendar) from the link above.

A.G.M - TUESDAY 19 FEB 19

You should all be aware that there's no competition this Tuesday with much of the night taken up with the AGM.  Providing it doesn't finish too late, there should be time to play some social games afterwards.

And before we close, just a reminder to all, that though we all play in a competitive but friendly spirit, the club does follow the rules of chess.    You all should know that if a piece is touched, if it can legally be moved, it must be, and if an opponents piece is touch, if it can legally be taken, it must be, irrespective of consequences.  Your opponent isn't the bad guy if this is enforced!!

So always Remember - Keep your King Safe and your Fingers to yourself.

Yours InChess

Alan Winfield

To Receive a copy of our Weekly News Letter "Hit" the "Subscribe" button at the top and fill in your email details or email me at:- alanwinfield1@gmail.com