Source: http://www.poisonpawn.co.nz/chess/old-news/
Timestamp: 2019-04-18 22:56:35+00:00

Document:
Open – 1 Bob Smith $600 2 Leonard McLaren $400 3 Michael Steadman $300 4 Paul Garbett $250 5 Nic Croad $200.
Under 2000 – 1 Mario Krstev $350 2 Antonio Krstev $250 3 Fuatai Fuatai $250 4 Bobby Cheng (taking 2nd Junior prize) 5 Jeremy Browne $100.
Under 1700 – 1 Filip Petreski $300 2 Viv Smith (taking Female prize) 3 Simon Ward $200 4 Eachen Chen (taking 2nd Female prize) 5 John Book $150.
Under 1400 – 1 Gary Judkins $200 2 Harry Ruan (taking U14 & U1400 prize) 3 Jack Ruan $150 4 Sharon Wu $100.
Junior – 1 Mario Krstev (taking U2000 prize) 2 Bobby Cheng $200 3 Sue Maroroa $150 4 Filip Petreski (taking U1700 prize) 5 Eachen Chen (taking 2nd Female prize) 6-7 Puchen Wang & Daniel Baider $50 each.
Female – 1 Viv Smith $200 2 Eachen Chen $150 3 Sue Maroroa (taking 2nd Junior prize) 4 Nicole Tsoi (taking 2nd U14 & U1400 prize) 5 Helen Milligan $100.
Senior – 1 William Lynn $200 2 Viv Smith (taking Female prize) 3 Neil Cruden $150 4 Ron Collingwood $100.
Under 14 & Under 1400 – 1 Harry Ruan $150 Nicole Tsoi $100 Alan Ansell $50.
December 1st 2007 – MIT Open 07, Auckland.
NB: Bob’s 30th club championship victory!
Reserve Board: 1st Karl Holdo 6/7, 2 Alex Huang 5, 3 Mark Brimble 5, 4 Edison Yang 4, 5 Brett Rider 4, 6 Thomas Chen 3½, 7 Roy Harish 3½, 8 Bruce Pollard 3, 9 John Shields 3, 10 George Williams 3, 11 Mona Yang 2½, 12 Jacob Sykes 2½, 13 Brian Liu 2½, 14 Martin Seitner 2, 15 Gary Collingwood 2.
C-Grade, Final: 1st I Dorofeev 5/7, 2-3 M Bi & A Chen 4½, 4 LR Rudkins 4, 5 GM Jones 3, 6-7 R de Water & Hao Jia 2½, 8 B Feng 2.
C-Grade, Consolation: 1st T Bi 6½, 2 W Yao 5, 3 JK Earlly 5, 4 B Qian 3, 5 MG So 2½, 6 JQ Cai 2, 7-8 D Cui & E Park 1.
6th equal: Robert Smith, Nicholas Croad, 4.5/9.
1st equal: Nathan Goodhue and Bob Gibbons, 6/9. Nathan Goodhue earns the right to compete in the IM event next year (subject to rating).
3rd equal: Michael Wu and Helen Milligan, 5/9.
5th equal: Bryan Latimer, Roger Perry, and Peter Stuart, 4.5/9.
July 9th 2007 – North Island Rapid Chess Championships, Auckland.
July 5th-8th 2007 – North Island Chess Championship, Auckland.
The 2008 Olympiad was in Dresden, Germany.
The Open team was seeded 72nd out of 154 teams and finished 97th with a +5-6 match record and 18/44 game points.
The Women’s was seeded team 76 out of 114 teams and finished 62nd with a +5=1-5 match record and 23.5/44 game points.
Open – 1 Michael Steadman $750 2 Bob Smith $500 3 Gino Thornton (taking 1st U2000 prize) 4 Anthony Ker $400 5 Nic Croad $300 6 Daniel Han $200.
Under 1700 – 1 Neil Cruden $350 2 Jim Cater $250 3 Devon Smith $150 4 Ron Collingwood (taking 2nd Senior prize) 5 Richard Dare $75.
Under 1400 – 1 Gary Judkins $300 2 Thomas Gothorp $200 3 Alan Ansell (taking 2nd U14 & U1400 prize) 4 Hans Gao (taking 1st U14 & U1400 prize) 5 Ron Collingwood (taking 2nd Senior prize) 6= Vaughan Collingwood, Karl Zhu $75 each.
Junior – 1 Daniel Shen $300 2 Mario Krstev $200 3 Andy Chen $100 4 Alan Ansell (taking 2nd U14 & U1400 prize) 5 Devon Smith (taking 3rd U1700 prize) 6 Sue Maroroa $50.
Female – 1 Helen Milligan $300 2 Viv Smith $200 3 Katy Qiu $100 4 Nicole Tsoi $50.
Senior – 1 Peter Stuart $300 2 Neil Cruden (taking 1st U1700 prize) 3 Jim Cater (taking 2nd U1700 prize) 4 Ron Collingwood $200 5 Viv Smith (taking 2nd Female prize) 6 Bob Mitchell $100 7 Wayne Power $50.
Under 14 & Under 1400 – 1 Hans Gao $150 2 Alan Ansell $100 3 Karl Zhu (taking 3rd= U1400 prize) 4 Alex Pan $50.
MIT A – P. Stuart (5.5/6) 1, M. Krstev (5) 2, G. Thornton (4.5) 3, E. Lee, P. Garbett, M. Steadman (4) 4-6 …19 players.
MIT B – A. Huang (5/6) 1, R. Dare, J. Bryan (4.5) 2-3, L. Zhu, I. Semerdzhieve, N. Cruden (4) 4-6 …20 players.
MIT Junior – D. Goulder-Horobin, L. Leow (5.5/6) 1-2, D. Rong (5) 3, M. Zheng, J. Chen (4.5) 4-5 … 40 players.
Wellington Rapid – N. Croad (5.5/6) 1, A. Ker (5) 2, E. Lee (4.5) 3, M. King, I. Sellen, B. Nijman, N. Myberg, L. Farrington, J. Davis, R. Jackson (4) 4-10 … 27 players.
Merv Morrison Memorial (Class 1) Open – M. Steadman (6/6) 1, R. Smith, D. Han (4.5) 2-3, B. Wheeler, R. Taylor, J. Gao, N. Khan, E. Tanoi (3) 4-8 …11 players.
Kapiti Rapid – R. Dive (6/6) 1, N. Croad (5) 2, A. Ker, D. Baider, C. Burns, M. Sims, Z. Rajcsanyi, M. Hill (4.5) 3-7 49 players.
Puchen Rapid – B. Wheeler (4/5) 1, M. Steadman (3.5) 2, D. Han (3) 3 .. 6 players.
35th North Shore Open (Class 1) M. Steadman, P. Garbett, G. Thornton (4/5) 1-3, R. Hart, M. Krstev (3.5) 4-5, J. Browne, J. Duneas, S. Lukey, Andy Chen, R. Taylor (3) 6-10 …21 players.
B Tournament: D. Johns (4.5/5) 1, I. Semerdzhiev, D. Zhao, B. Wu (3.5) 2-4, M. Arora, R. Mitchell, R. Collingwood (3) 5-7 … 17 players.
C Tournament: K. Zhu, B. Liu (4.5/5) 1-2, S. Lyall (4) 3, V. Collingwood, A. Pan, R. Rider, X. Li, B. Chen, T. Gothorp, M. Nathan (3.5) 4-10.
Howick Pakuranga’s Sutton Rapid (Class 3).R. Taylor (5.5/6) 1, P. Spiller, B. Lim, S. Yee, C. Blaxall (5) 2-5, L. McLaren (4.5) 6, S. Plyler, J. Cater, K. van den Bosch, E. Yip, E. Huang (4) 7-11 … 27 players.
4th Puchen Rapid Open – R. Smith, J. Browne (4.5/6) 1-2, L. McLaren (4) 3, M. Steadman (3.5) 4, E. Lee (3) 5 … 8 players. Under 1700 – X. Li, P. Mukkattu (5/6) 1, J. Cater (4.5) 3, D. Litvinov, S. Lyall, C. Liu (4) 4-6 …17 players.
U1700 – J. Cater (4.5/6) 1, G. Shields, R. Collingwood, R. Dare (4) 2-4, T. Gothorp, A. Tumai (3.5) 5-6 … 15 players.
North Island Rapid Championships (Class 2): A. Ker, H. Bennett (5/6) 1-2, M. Steadman (4.5) 3, B. Rider, J. Duneas, P. Spiller (4) 4-6 …24 players.
NZ Junior Rapid Championship (Class 1): M. Krstev (5.5/6) 1, Andy Chen, D. Shen, E. Yip, J. Gao (5) 2-5, L. Yang, E. Huang, D. Smith, L. Zhang, C. Liu (4.5) 6-10.
Fairhurst Pawn (Class 3): L. McLaren (7.5/9) 1, R. Taylor (7) 2, P. Spiller, S. Yee, C. Blaxall, E. Yip (5.5) 3-6 … 21 players.
A – P. Garbett, M. Steadman, J. McCrone, P. Zhang, G. Thornton (4.5/6) 1-5, R. Dive, D. Han (4) 6-7, B. Smith, M. Brimble, H. Bennett, P. Hair, D. Shen, A. Chen (3.5) 8-13 …30 players.
Junior – H. Gao (5.5/6) 1, J. Lewis (5) 2, H. Cui, Jason Li (4.5) 3-4 … 23 players.
Otago Queen’s Birthday (Class 1) – N. Croad (5.5/6) 1, R. Jackson (4.5) 2, Q. Johnson, M. Nyberg, J. Sutherland (4) 3-5 … 12 players.
B – R. Taylor, N. CRuden, T. Maroroa (5/6) 1-3, D. Smith, V. Collingwood (4.5) 4-5, M. Steiner, K. Zhu, G. Judkins, B. Wu, P. Zhang, Alan Chen (4) 6-11 …35 players.
N. Fairley, J. Gao, H. Milligan (6.5/9) 1-3, E. Charamova (6) 4, V. Smith (5.5) 5, C. Liu, Shirley Wu (3.5) 6-7.
Reserve Championship – J. Wong, J. Li (8/9) 1-2, J. Zhu (6.5) 3, C. Zou, O. Dong (5) 4-5.
St Pauls Rapid – A rested Puchen Wang showed a clean pair of heels to the field in his own fund-raising event, the St Pauls Rapid on April 13, scoring 6 straight wins. A log jam for the minor money resulted in a tie for second between Fuatai Fuatai, Gino Thornton and Daniel Han. Leading results: P. Wang (6/6) 1, F. Fuatai, G. Thornton, D. Han (4) 2-4, R. Smith, J. McDonald (3.5) 5-6, P. Garbett, J. Duneas, P. Spiller (3) 7-9 … 16 players.
B Tournament – A. Ansell, D. Smith, R. Taylor, R. Dare (5/6) 1-4, V. Collingwood (4.5) 5, G. Judkins, I. Kennedy, T. Gothorp, A. Tumai (4) 6-9 … 35 players.
A Tournament – R. Smith, M. Steadman, P. Garbett, G. Thornton (4.5/6) 1-4, J. Duneas, M. Krstev, L. McLaren (3.5) 5-8 …15 players.
A Tournament – M. Steadman (5.5/6) 1, J. Duneas, G. Thornton (4.5) 3-4, H. Marko (4) 4, R. Smith, R. Hart (3.5) 5-6 … 18 players.
B Tournament – R. Collingwood (5/6) 1, N. Cruden, D. Smith (4.5) 2-3, V. Collingwood, D. Taylor, A. Ansell (4) 4-6 … 20 players.
NZ Championship – M. Chandler (9/11) 1, R. Dive & M. Steadman (7.5) 2-3, H. Van Reimsdijk, L. McLaren, G. Spain, R. Hart (6.5) 4-7, A. Ker, S. Lukey, R. Smith, T. Reilly, O. Hartvig (6) 8-12 … 22 players.
NZ Rapid Championship – H. Van Reimdijk (7.5/9) 1, R. Smith, M. Steadman (7) 2-3, A. Ker, P. Wang, G. Thornton, R. Dive (6.5) 4-7, L. McLaren, M. Krstev, N. Goodhue, H. Milligan, J. McDonald, S. Maroroa (6) 8-13 … 58 players.
The final top 10 in each division are listed below. Attendances at Grand Prix tournaments were up by 115 on 2007, with 1207 entries in GP events. 487 players gained GP points (96 more than last year). The number of tournaments increased by 6 to 28, largely because of a series of “one-off” rapids. The full list is at www.newzealandchess.co.nz , where Helen Milligan kindly regularly updates it.
Open – M. Steadman 84.37, R. Smith 69.5, G. Thornton 68.37, A. Ker 64.75, N. Croad 54.5, D. Han 52.5, P. Garbett 51.87, M. Chandler 50, R. Dive 47.75, P. Stuart 37.17.
Under 2000 – G. Thornton 95, B. Wheeler 68.9, R. Taylor 68.4, M. Krstev 68.25, D. Shen 61.5, R. Jackson 58.53, J. Duneas 57.26, F. Fuatai 52.93, E. Tanoi 45.9, J. Browne 45.75.
Under 1700 – N. Cruden 74, J. Cater 61.75, D. Smith 53, R. Collingwood 46.5, R. Dare 37.5, P. Mukkattu 35.25, N. Cooper 35, S. Ward 33, D. Litvinov 32.33, Edward Huang 32.25.
Under 1400 – G. Judkins 65.17, T. Gothorp 61.97, A. Ansell 60, H. Gao 57.5, R. Collingwood 56.33, V. Collingwood, K. Zhu 45.75, S. Lyall 41.25, B. Liu 40.58, S. Plyler 38.17.
Junior – D. Shen 89.5, M. Krstev 87.67, Andy Chen 79.34, A. Ansell 73.5, D. Smith 62.17, S. Maroroa 53.17, B. Wu 51.11, J. Gao 51, H. Gao 48.86, B. Liu 48.5.
Female – H. Milligan 90.5, V. Smith 69, K. Qiu 60.5, N. Tsoi 58.5, M. Yang 57, C. Liu 55.3, S. Maroroa 53.5, J. Zhu 52.7, J. Gao, J. Li 51.
Senior – P. Stuart 100, N. Cruden 92.5, J. Cater 85.5, R. Collingwood 73, V. Smith 71, R. Mitchell 70, W. Power 69, M. Garland 59, A. Booth 46, A. Nijman 42.5.
Under 14 & Under 1400 – H. Gao 94.5, A. Ansell 65.8, K. Zhu 65.5, A. Pan 45, L. Zhu 43.9, G. Chen 39.5, X. Li 39, B. Liu 38.3, J. Lewis 37.5, N. Tsoi 33.
Howick Rapid (Class 3). Leading scores were: B. Lim (6/7) 1, S. Yee (5.5) 2, R. Gibbons, C. Blaxall (5) 3-4, A. Peng, J. Benson (4) 5-6 …16 players.
Kapiti Rapid (Class 2) – D. Baider, S. Lukey, N. Croad (5/6) 1-3, M. van der Hoorn, S. Wastney (4.5) 4-5, R. Dive, M. Hill, A. Ker, M. Post, R. Jackson (4) 6-10 …36 players.
Devonport Rapid (Class 2) – S. Conquest (5/5) 1, L. McLaren, M. Krstev, A. Carpinter (4) 2-4, R. Smith, B. Watson, P. Garbett, P. Stuart (3.5) 5-8, A. Krstev, M. Steadman, F. Fuatai, W. Power, R. Gibbons (3) 9-13 … 32 players.
B Tournament: V. Smith (4.5/5) 1, J. Book, D. Smith (4) 2-3, S. Maroroa, R. Seabrook, G. Pocock (3.5) 4-6, V. Jefferson, S. De Palma, R. Dare (3) 7-9 …24 players.
C Tournament: J. Ruan (5/5) 1, G. Liu, B. Wu, V. Collingwood, X. Li (4) 2-5, M. Bi, D. Zhao, D. Taylor, J. McRae (3.5) 6-9 …36 players.
Fairhurst Rapid (Class 3) – L. McLaren (8.5/9) 1, F. Fuatai (7) 2, S. Yee (6.5) 3, R. Taylor (6) 4, R. Gibbons, P. Spiller, C. Blaxall, S. Plyler (5.5) 5-8 … 27 players.
Junior Tournament – B. Wu (5.5/6) 1, T. Chen, H. Zhang (5) 2-3, M. Jiang, N. Guo (4.5) 4-5, A. Maroroa, C. Chen, O. Dong (4) 6-8 … 32 players.
NZ Women’s Championship (8 player round robin): Shirley Wu (5.5/7) 1, J. Gao, E. Chen, H. Milligan (5) 2-4, V. Smith (4.5) 5, Sharon Wu, E. Otene (1.5) 6-7, H. Courtney (0) 8.
NZ Women’s Reserve: J. Wong, J. Li (10.5) 1-2, N. Tsoi, W. Chen (5) 3-4 … 7 players.
Mount Maunganui RSA CC: R. Smith, M. Steadman (5/6) 1, P. Garbett (4.5) 3, P. Stuart, P.W. Power (4) 4-5. B Tournament (under 1400) – C. Zhai, G. Judkins, T. Gothorp (4.5/6) 1-3, V. Collingwood, A. Ansell, N. Marko, O. Lynn (4) 4-7.
The top 12 in each division are listed below.
Throughout the year 393 players won Grand Prix points, 140 more than in 2005) in 25 events (up two). The full list can be found at http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~kulashko/Chess/grandprix.htm a site kindly maintained by Alexei Kulashko.
Open – P. Wang 80, M. Steadman 77.16, R. Smith 68.66, R. Dive 67.5, N. Croad 51, A. Ker 49.25, L. McLaren 46.4, S. Lukey 37.75, S. Wastney 35.86, P. Garbett 29.4, M. Van der Hoorn, J. McCrone 21.
Under 2000 –P. Godfrey 74, N. Goodhue 57.5, D. Baider 57.23, H. Marko 46.45, M. Sims 45, F. Fuatai 43.4, R. Perry 41.7, W. Forster 38.63, J. Davis 37.5, A. Machdoem 37.4, P. Spiller 37, N. Gunn 35.5.
Under 1700 – M. Krstev 65.2, R. Taylor 58, S. Yee 56.83, J. Davis 46.5, A. Nijman 42.75, M. King 35.5, D. Capper 35, D. Dolejs 32.4, N. Cruden 30.03, V. Smith 29.33, C. Benson 28.4, Jason Wu, M. Zhang 26.16.
Under 1400 – D. Smith 73.67, D. Shen 50.25, V. Collingwood 44.91, E. Yip 40.75, A. Brockway 36, T. Gothorp 32.58, B. De’ath 29.5, Sharon Wu 24.75, H. Shierlaw, D. Burgess 24, E. Tanoi 22.5, J. MacDonald 21.83.
Junior – G. Thornton 91, M. Krstev 80.5, P. Wang 75, D. Baider 63, M. Zhang 60.06, D. Shen 56, B. Cheng, D. Smith 50.5, M. Wu 50.4, Jason Wu 48.66, S. Maroroa 45.5.
Female – V. Smith 77.25, Sharon Wu 62.25, E. Chen 60.75, Shirley Wu 59.75, J. Li 56.16, J. Gao 55.16, H. Courtney 43.5, N. Fairley 40, L. Dare 38.66, S. Maroroa 35, T. Wong 27, N. Tsoi 23.
Senior – V. Smith 89.16, N. Cruden 85, R. Mitchell 65, B. Gloistein 56, R. Collingwood 49.5, D. Taylor 47.5, H. Courtney 47.16, D. Capper 43, Peter Morten 42, A. Booth 39, C. Wilson 38.5, A. Nijman 38.
The NZ Congress in Wanganui had a big impact upon the final placings. Puchen Wang’s convincing wins in both the NZ Championship and the NZ Rapid lifted him to the top spot, while Michael Steadman’s tie with Bob Smith for fourth in the Championship was enough to push him past Smith into second spot overall.
There will be a full report and games in the February “NZ Chess” magazine.
Fairhurst Swiss (Class 3), organised by Howick Pakuranga Chess Club, Fairhurst Swiss leading scores: L. McLaren (7.5/8) 1, P. Spiller, R. Gibbons (7) 2-3, S. Yee (6) 4, J. Chen, A. Booth, K. Burgess (5.5) 5-7 … 24 players. 8 round swiss played over a series of weeks.
Kapiti Rapid leading scores (Class 2) – S. Wastney (5.5/6) 1, N. Croad (5) 2, S. Lukey, R. Dive (4.5) 3-4, D. Baider, J. Davis, C. Burns, B. Cooze (4) 5-8 …29 players.
B Grade – M. Krstev, N. Fairley (4/5) 1-2, J. Vosloo, R. Dare, R. Taylor (3.5) 3-5, R. Mitchell, R. Seabrook, T. Tanoi (3) 6-9 …20 players.
C Grade – J. Ruan (5) 1, D. Taylor (4.5) 2, Sharon Wu (4) 3, H. Ruan, N. Hutton, D. Setka (3.5) 4-6 .. 29 players.
All Canterbury Championships (Class 1) – B. Martin (6/6) 1, N. Croad (5) 2, A. Machdoem, R. Hothersall, C. Benson, A. Nijman, S. Ward (3.5) 3-7 …16 players.
MIT Rapid (Class 1): A Tournament – P. Wang (4.5/5) 1, R. Smith, L. McLaren, A. Krstev, J. McCrone (4) 2-5, P. Godfrey, F. Fuatai (3.5) 6-7, M. Steadman, P. Garbett, G. Thornton, D. Han, S. Yee, F. Petreski, H. Bennett (3) 8-14 …34 players.
B Tournament – R. Mitchell (5/5) 1, Paul Morten, S. Maroroa (4.5) 2-3, A. Maroroa, D. Smith (4) 4-5, D. Goudie, R. Taylor, T. Wong, V. Collingwood, L. Zhang, Peter Morten (3.5) 6-11 …47 players.
GM Murray Chandler has won his 2nd NZ Championship, some 30 years after his first success and a successful career in England. Click the link to see the results and details of the 113th NZ Championship – Queenstown International from 15-24 January 2006.
The winners in the junior age groups were Raymond Song, Junta Ikeda and Daniel Baider who all finished on 6 points and shared the under 12 and under 15 prizes.
Left to right: organiser Paul Spiller, NZCF President Bob Smith and 2006 Champion GM Murray Chandler, holding the famous silver rook trophy.
According to the rules players can win only one prize, so the lists above do not completely show where people finished in the different divisions. For example Eachen Chen actually finished first in three divisions, while Puchen Wang topped both the Open and Junior sections.
The top 20 in each division are listed below, or if fewer, those scoring over 10 points. Throughout the year 253 players won Grand Prix points, in 23 events.
Open – P. Wang 93.5, P. Green 79.4, S. Lukey 77, R. Dive 63, A. Ker 51.75, P. Garbett 50, G. Spain 49.9, R. Smith 49.8, N. Croad 47.25, R. Nokes 26.5, M. Steadman 24.11, B. Watson 21.9, P. Zhang 21.15, B. Martin 20, G. Thornton 17.66, M. McNabb 17.36, A. Kulashko 15, N. Cummings 14.6, A. Krstev 13.5, R. Sutton 12.
Under 1700 – M. Zhang 80.25, Jason Wu 62.5, A. Nijman 56, E. Chen 46.83, V. Smith 34.5, H. Gold 28.58, N. Cruden 26.5, M. Cowen 24.5, S. McChesney 24, D. Dolejs 20.11, C. Smith, M. Wu, D. Shen 20, A. Chen 18, T. Maroroa, A. Maroroa, E. Charomova, R. Mitchell, R. Scarf, A. Mulligan, S. Maroroa 17.5.
Under 1400 – E. Chen 95, M. Krstev 74.17, B. Cheng 47.92, M. Cowen 46.25, B. Dellaca 40.08, S. Yang 35.25, T. Maroroa 32.75, A. Maroroa 28, J. Gao 26.8, D. Fairley 25.3, R. Keeling 24, F. Petreski 23.3, R. Dare 23.25, L. Yang 20.3, M. Wu, D. Shen 20, B. Kluge 17.5, T. Chifu 16.5, Peter Morten 15.67, A. Davies, L. Kopp 13.5.
Junior – P. Wang 85, Jason Wu 73, M. Zhang 72, G. Thornton 71.5, E. Chen 63.67, D. Baider 63.25, A. Chen 52, J. Wilson 49.5, J. Huang 33.17, M. Krstev 32.5, S. Maroroa 29.9, A. Machdoem 29.5, S. McChesney 26.5, T. Chifu 21.58, M. Wu 21, B. Cheng 20.9, D. Shen 20.6, R. Dare 19.4, D. Smith 18.25, J. Watson 18. S. Maroroa 12.4, J. Loo 12, L. Yang, M. Saib, A. Ming-Wong, 10.5.
Female – E. Chen 97.5, V. Smith 83, S. Maroroa 76.84, N. Fairley 70.67, J. Gao 59, E. Charomova 58.67, Shirley Wu 32.20, L. Dare 31.5, Sharon Wu 28.87, H. Courtney 25.5, C. Liu 24.70, J. Nokes 21, N. Tsoi 12.
Senior – N. Cruden 85.17, R. Mitchell 78.67, W. Lynn 37.5, R. Sutton 25, J. Cater 21, C. Wilson, Peter Morten 19.5, B. Kay, B. Gloistein 17.5, P.Young 17.17, S. Varga 15, H. van der Hulst, M. Garland 12, D. Stracy, D. Capper, A. Nijman 10.5.
Under 14 & Under 1400 – E. Chen 97.5, M. Krstev 79, B. Cheng 65.5, J. Gao 54.5, B. Shingade 36.67, L. Yang 30.72, D. Shen 29.05, F. Petreski, Sharon Wu 26.67, A. Lee 25, A. Maroroa 24.98, Shirley Wu 16.67, R. Torrance 14.6, M. Harrison, L. Xiaweng 13.5, A. Ming-Wong, B. Li 12, T. Chifu 10.5.
The hugely successful Queenstown Classic and the NZ Rapid, also in Queenstown, had a big impact upon the final placings, as expected. IM’s Russell Dive and Anthony Ker forced themselves into the Open prize-list, while Puchen Wang’s excellent Rapid result took him to the top spot. There will be a full report and games in an upcoming issue of “NZ Chess” magazine.
“A” Tournament – P. Wang (4/5) 1, D. Han, B. Watson, B. Smith, P. Green, G. Thornton (3.5) 2-6, A. Krstev, J. McCrone (3) 7-8 …18 players.
Junior Tournament – B. Wu (5/5) 1, O. Lynn (4.5) 2, X Li, N. Chen, D. Sanders, E. Luka, J. Li (4) 3-7 …40 players.
All Canterbury Championships: B. Martin (5.5/6) 1, N. Croad (5) 2, B.Whyte, N. Cummings (4) 3-4, R. Nokes, P. Fraemohs, A. Nijman, R. McKerras (3.5) 5-8 … 22 players.
The Waikato Open (Class 1) was played in separate A and Under 1700 tournaments. Leading scores: A Tournament – G. Spain, P. Green (5/6) 1-2, A. Krstev (4.5) 3, R. Jennings (4) 4, R. Smith, R. Gibbons, M. Steadman, G. Thornton, P. Stuart, M. McNabb, J. Huang (3.5) 5-11 … 24 players. U1700 – D. Shen (5.5/6) 1, E. Chen, M. Zhang (4.5) 2-3, O. Martin, V. Smith, H. Courtney, M. Fairley (4) 4-7 … 26 players.
NI Championships (Class 1) leading results: P. Wang (6.5/8) 1, N. Croad (6) 2, R. Smith, G. Spain, G. Thornton, P. Zhang, D. Baider (5.5) 3-7, Caleb Wright, M. Wu (5) 8-9 … 32 players.
NI Rapid (Class 1) leading results: S. Lukey (6/6) 1, P. Green, M. McNabb (5) 2-3, P. Zhang, L. McLaren, N. Croad, R. Smith (4.5) 4-7, M. Post, W. Lynn, H. Gold, B. Robertson, J. Huang, G. Shields, E. Chen, J. Lei (4) 8-15 … 56 players.
B Tournament – M. Zhang (6/6) 1, A. Chen (5.5) 2, V. Smith, F. Petreski, L. Yang (5) 3-6, B. Rider, G. Shields, S. Maroroa, N. Cruden, E. Yip, M. Brimble, M. Krstev (4.5) 6-12 …78 players.
BOP Seniors: The leading scores were: W. Lynn (5/5) 1, R. Mitchell (4) 2, V. Portougal, N. Cruden, K. Van den Bosch, R. Collingwood (3) 3-6.
Women’s Zonal – IM I. Berezina-Feldman (AUS) (8.5/9) 1, WIM A. Sorokina (AUS) (8) 2, WFM N. Szuveges (AUS) (6) 3, A. Song (AUS), V. Reid (AUS), S. Oliver (AUS), E. Charomova, E. Chen, S. Maroroa (5) 4-9 … 17 players.
Place Name               Feder Rtg  Loc  Title Score Progr. Buch.
Place Name                    Feder Rtg  Loc  Title Score Progr. Buch.
Anthony Ker has retained the NZ title, his 4th in succession, and 9th overall.
Championship Final Scores: Wohl 8.5; Ker 8; Civin 7.5; Paul Garbett, Russell Dive 7; Stephen Lukey 6.5; Tim Reilly (Australia), Bob Smith, Spain 6; John McDonald, Chris Burns, Peter Stuart 5.5; Gino Thornton, Hilton Bennett, Nic Croad 4.5; Nathan Goodhue, Mark van der Hoorn 3; Martin Sims .5.
Major Open Final Scores: Forster 8.5; Vetharaniam 8; Nyberg 7.5; Neil Gunn, William Lynn, Andrew Stone 7; Alan Aldridge, Amiel Rosario (Australia), Ross Jackson, David Evans, Sean Watherow (Australia) 6.5; Don Stracy, David Paul, Michael Wu 6; Alistair McGowan, Julian Mazur, Robert Mitchell, Hamish Gold, Mana Garland, John Pakenham 5.5; David Bell, Vivian Smith, Peter Boag 5; Bruce Kay, Gordon Hoskyn, Stewart Holdaway. 4.5; Rex Scarf 4; Mathew King 3.5; John Wilson, Ken Reed 3; Alan Lin 2.5; Oscar Lynn 2.
Congratulations to all the prize-winners listed below (maximum score 80 points).
All prize-winners are invited to a presentation to be held at the conclusion of the 2005 Oceania Zonal at 6pm on Friday, February 4 at the Waipuna Hotel and Conference Centre, Waipuna Rd, Mt Wellington, Auckland. Light refreshments will be provided. Prize-winners who cannot attend please advise your postal addresses for cheques to be forwarded.
P. Garbett 68.5, A. Kulashko 64.5, A. Ker 62.5, S. Lukey 56, L. McLaren 54.5, P. Wang 50.5, G. R. Dive 42.5, Thornton 35, N. Croad 33.85, G. Spain 32.4, R. Smith 32.14, M. Steadman 30.9, P. Green 27, R. Nokes, R. Hart 20, B. Martin 17.5, A. Krstev 15.9, R. Sutton 15, B. Watson, A. Compton, J. Nebel 13.5, P. Stuart 12, H. Bennett 11.14, M. Van der Hoorn 10.5.
G. Thornton 77.5, H. Bennett 55.5, P. Mistry 49.5, M. Nyberg 46.5, M.T. Sims 42, B. Reedy 36, Caleb Wright 33.2, Jason Wu 29.67, R. Jackson 29.4, Q. Johnson 28.83, D. Xu 28.17, J. McCrone 27, B. Donaldson 25, A. Stone 24.54, K. Chibamba 24, C. Burns 22.71, N. Gunn 21.5, R. McKerras 21.4, P. Beach, B. Forster 20, J. Browne 18, P. Vetharaniam 17.71, J. Boardman 17.5, A. Nijman 16.3, R. Gibbons 14, B. Fiedler 13.5, P. King, L. Farrington 13.25, D. Watts 13, G. Davies, J. Van Ginkel 12.4, B. Robertson, H. Gold, R. Perry D. Baider 12, W. Lynn 11.87, A. Aldridge 11.71, C. Hall, P. Hair 10.5.
J. Browne 67.4, Caleb Wright 55.4, A. Stone 53, Jason Wu 49, V. Smith 44.9, H. Gold 44.2, D. Eade 39.4, S. Ward 35.9, M. Zhang 33.2, B. Rider 32.5, N. Cruden 30.3, L. Farrington 29.33, B. Robertson 29, D. Xu 27, M. Wu 25.5, S. McChesney 24.5, D. Dolejs 24.36, H. Marko 23.4, Paul Morten, D. Plumpton, A. Lin, E. Book 20, C. Riding 19.4, J. Lei 18.9, D. Baider 18, G. Shields 17.4, B. Gloistein 16.7, A. McGowan 15.75, P. King 15.33, E. Otene 15, H. Noor 14, N. Fairley 13.6, S. Maroroa, P. Rossiter, E. Chen, A. Chen 12, S. Taylor 11.2, E. Tan, G. Aimers, S. Yang, J. Gao 10.5.
S. Ward 69.5, N. Fairley 61.7, B. Rider 57.5, M. Wu 44.6, S. Yang 43, G. Mulinder 36.5, A. McGowan 32, E. Chen 31, G. Judkins 30.1, A. Lin 29, D. Baider 27, M. Kluge 24.67, D. Pelle 22.1, A. Chen 21.14, S. Maroroa, B. Jones, 20, L. Ding 19.5, O. Lynn 18, J. Gao, P. Deacon 17.5, R. Dare 17.14, C. Bourne 16.75, T. Gothorp 16.5, Shirley Wu 16.27, B. Kluge, S. Paea, G. Shields 15.67, M. Garland 15.65, A. Jones 15.64, A. Maroroa 15.6, T. Maroroa 14.14, J. Burrows 12.5, M. Stevenson 12.25, Peter Morten, D. Wilson, Y. Hou 12, P. Abel 11.25, B. Cheng 11.10, R. Whitehouse 11, D. Smith 10.6, M. Cowen 10.5, M. Saib 10.25.
P. Wang 80, G. Thornton 77.5, N. Fairley 68.17, J. Lei 60.5, M. Zhang 54.67, A. Lin 53, Jason Wu 49.5, B. Robertson 42.67, D. Xu 39, A. Chen 36.15, M. Wu 34.03, R. Dare 33.15, E. Charomova 31.67, S. Yang 30.75, S. McChesney 27, J. Burrows 26.16, R. Whitehouse, G. Mulinder 25.5, Shirley Wu 24.36, O. Lynn 22.5, B. Jones 20, B. Cheng 19.53, M. Saib 16.33, M. Krstev 15.75, D. Baider 14.4, P. Abel 14, A. Maroroa 12.86, S. Maroroa, A. Stone 12, J. Favel, S. Abel, O. Lynn, Y. Hou, L. Ding, C. Deacon 10.5, L. Burrows 10.33.
N. Fairley 77.5, V. Smith 69.5, E. Chen 39, Shirley Wu 37.83, E. Otene 37.3, J. Burrows 36, S. Maroroa 28.5, L. Dare 28, N. Saib 24.3, E. Charomova 24, L. Burrows 20.3, N. Tsoi 19, H. Courtney, L. Goodkind 17.5, A. Brewer 15.33, E. Breska 15, Sharon Wu 14.5, J. Zhou 13.5, J. Fong, C. Liu, D. Cloete 12, J. Nokes, L. Tabitha 10.5, J. Gao 10.
N. Cruden 67.67, B. Mitchell 51.67, P. Morten 35.5, P. Vetharaniam 35, C. Wilson 33.5, M. MacDonald 30, M. Garland 26.17, A. Nijman, B. Gloistein 21, R. Collingwood 17.5, R. Sutton, T. Booth , D. Stracy 15, H. Goekel 12, R. Keeling 11.
A. Chen 73.17, M. Wu 62.5, R. Dare 54.67, A. Maroroa 50, M. Krstev 49.75, S. Maroroa 48.75, Shirley Wu 41.95, E. Chen, B. Cheng 41, J. Burrows 31.33, Y. Hou 29.23, O. Lynn 23.76, Sharon Wu 22.5, S. Tang 21.75, D. Baider 21.07, B. Jones 20, P. Abel 19.5, Jesse Wu 18, N. Saib 16, T. Sellars 15, J. Zhou 14, L. Burrows 13.83, S. Abel 13.5, N. Tsoi 12.86, A. Lau 12, J. Favel, C. Vercoe-Groenen 10.5.
NZ Major Open (Class 1) – B. Forster (8.5/11) 1, P. Vetharaniam (8) 2, M. Nyberg (7.5) 3, N. Gunn, W. Lynn, A. Stone (7) 4-6 … 32 players.
Wellington Rapid (Class 3)– S. Lukey (5.5/6) 1, R. Dive (5) 2, N. Croad (4.5) 3, D. Baider (3.5) 4 …13 players.
MIT Rapid B Tournament – V. Smith (5/5) 1, N. Cruden, G. Shields, S. Paea, J. Lei, B. Kluge (4) 2-6, A. Lin (3.5) 7 … 37 players. An additional 18 players competed in the MIT junior tournament, which was not part of the Grand Prix.
South Island Rapid (Class 3) – R. Dowden (5.5/6) 1, H. Bennett, D. Watts (5) 2-3, H. Gold (4.5) 4, Q. Johnson, L. Ding, G. Mulinder (4) 5-7 … 23 players.
NZ Junior Rapid Under 1400(class 1) – A. Chen (5.5/6) 1, T. Sellars (5) 2, D. Baider, Y. Hou, T. Chao, O. Lynn, R. Dare (4.5) 3-7 … 46 players.
Upper Hutt 30-30 – A. Ker (6/6) 1, M. Van Der Hoorn, M. Noble (4.5) 2-3, P. King, L. Farrington, M. Nyberg, D. Wilson (4) 4-7 .. 23 players.
Mid-Canterbury Rapid – T. Dowden, A. Nijman (5/6) 1-2, N. Cummings, R. McKerras (4.5) 3-4, H. Gold, Z. Urbanski, R. Scarf (4) 5-7 .. 24 players.
North Island Championship – P. Garbett, L. McLaren (6.5/8) 1-2, G. Spain, N. Cummings, M. Steadman, M. Barlow, A. Krstev (5.5) 3-7 … 36 players.
North Island Rapid Championship – A. Kulashko (5.5/6) 1, P. Wang, L. McLaren, M. Steadman, G. Thornton (5) 2- 5, R. Smith, P. Green (4.5) 6-7, P. Garbett, M. Van der Hoorn, M. Barlow, P. Mistry, P. Stuart, A. Krstev, J. Browne, K. Chibamba, J. Robinson (4) 8-16 … 61 players.
Waitakere Licensing Trust Open: A.Ker 4.5/5, A.Kulashko, P. Green 4/5.
Hamilton Junior Tournament, which attracted 68 players. Leading scores: P. Wang (6/6) 1, G. Thornton, B. Robertson, E. Charomova, M. Ryan, M. Wu, S. Yang (5) 2-7, E. Chen (4.5) 8.
Defending champion Viv Smith claimed her 10th NZ Women’s title. It was a close-run fight, with Smith trailing runner-up Evginia Charomova by half a point going into the last round. Leading scores: V. Smith (6/7) 1, E. Charomova (5.5) 2, S. Maroroa (5) 3, E. Otene, Shirley Wu, F. Clark 4-6 … 11 players.
Neil Cruden wins the NZ Seniors Championship.
Otago Easter Open results (OT unless stated): 1st B. Donaldson (CA) 6/6; 2nd= A. Stone, L. Lambert (Waikouaiti) & G. Aimers 4; 5th= B. Reedy (CA), Q. Johnson & H. Gold 3½. Under 1700 grade prize: A. Stone and G. Aimers 4. Best DJCA players: J. Burrows and J. Favel 3.
The Wellington Easter was won by Roger Nokes with 5/6.
Earlier, the Howick-Pakuranga CC’s Latvian Tournament was a testament to the success of the Grand Prix, with a record 98 entries. Leading scores: Open – P. Garbett (5/6) 1, A. Kulashko, P. Green (4.5) 2-3, A. Krstev, G. Thornton (4) 4-5… 22 players. Challengers – Paul Morten (5.5) 1, J. Browne (4.5) 2, E. Tan, J. Lei (4) 3-4 .. 16 players. Reserve – B. Jones (6) 1, R. Dare, T. Maroroa, Peter Morten (5) 2-4 … 60 players.
The first GP event of the year, the Auckland International Open, was a nine round Class One swiss from January 19 to 23, sponsored by the Howick-Pakuranga Times and Global Chess Enterprises.
The NZ Congress has finished. Details, results and games at 2002/03 NZ Congress. The two Australian visitors Alex Wohl and Tim Reilly shared the event with 8/11, with Anthony Ker retaining the NZ Champion title with sole third place on 7.5/11. Tony Dowden gained enough master points to gain the National Master title. John McDonald made no race of the Major Open with a record 11/11.
The NZ Rapid was won by IM Russell Dive from IM Anthony Ker and the NZ Lightning event was won by 13 year old Puchen Wang from Stephen Lukey and Bob Smith.
A new event was the Global Chess Enterprises Auckland International. The event was won by German IM Peter Froehlich with 7.5/9. NZ Champion Anthony Ker was the best NZ’er in 3rd with 6.5/9. Final results and games at:http://www.auschess.org.au/oceania/auckland/.
All Canterbury Open and ‘B’ Tournament, organised by Canterbury Chess Club from 25-27 October.
B Tournament – C. Hall , Regan Jackson (5.5/6) 1-2, S. Stringer (4) 3 … 8 players.
As an overseas visitor IM Guy West was ineligible for GP points, as was joint runner-up Christian Bleis. This left Stephen Lukey to take 15 points in the Open section, catapaulting him into a close second overall behind Alexei Kulashko. Alistair Compton’s good showing has pushed him to second in the Under 2000 division, behind Ben Giles. And another good result has taken Hamish Gold to clear first in the Under 1700 category. Interestingly, all Hamish’s points have come from South Island tournaments.
Prior were the South Island Championship (Class 2) and Rapid (Class 3), run by Ashburton CC. No Open GP events or Female GP points were able to be awarded in these tournaments, but most other categories were represented. Especially pleasing was a good contingent of Seniors. 18 players have now received Senior GP points in 5 events, so this category is developing into another good contest.
30th North Shore Open (class 1). Puchen Wang and Stephen Lukey shared 1st with 4/5, ahead of Michael Steadman, Michael Freeman, Matthew McNabb, C. Wells and Peter Green with 3.5/5. Twenty six played. The ‘B’ grade was shared by W. Gao, D. Xu, and P. Morten with 4.5/5 in a field of 49.
The Papatoetoe Rapid was run in three divisions.
NZ Junior Championship. Puchen Wang (6.5/7), David Xu (6), Daniel Han, Michael Zhang, Gino Thorton, Evgenia Charamova (5.5).
The Maruia Open on 28-29 June, a class 3 7-round rapid (1 hour per game) involving 14 players. Leading scores: R. Smith (7/7) 1, R. Sutton (6) 2, B. Giles, B. Donaldson (4.5) 3-4, P. Spiller, A. Nijman, S. McChesney (4) 5-7.
The men’s team has finished with 27/56 in a tie for 80th-87th place, but 87th on countback, after being seeded 80th out of 136 teams. The women’s team finished with 15/42 for 85th place from a seeding of 82nd out of 92 teams.
These results are on par with previous years: Istanbul 2000 Men 26 points, Women 18.5; Elista 1998 Men 26.5/52 (13 rounds), Women 15.5/26; Yerevan 1996 Men 25.5, Women 18; Moscow 1994 Men 27.5, Women 18.
Australasian State Matches – NZ South WINS!!!
This guarantees the South Island first place in this event, possibly sharing this with the North Island, if they can win their final game.
Games available from the download page.
The web site for the event can be visited by clicking here.
Puchen Wang scored 6.5/11 in the World Under 12 Boys for 25th equal, and 33rd on countback. Evginia Charomova scored 5.5/11 in the Under 12 Girls for 33rd equal and 47th on countback. A full report available in the NZ Team Reports pages.
The 2001 All Canterbury event saw Bruce Anderson head the field with 4.5/5, with Ben Giles second on 4/5. Twelve players took part.
The tenth Waikato Open attracted a field of 32 players for the 6 round swiss format weekender. Half of the field was from outside the Hamilton region including a 5 player Wellington contingent. The pre-tournament favourite was Leonard McLaren, a regular at Waikato tournaments, along with local player Graeme Spain.
Felicity Timings organised a very successful weekend tournament for children under 13, which attracted 108 entrants and was won by Puchen Wang, with Evginia Charamova among those sharing second (she lost only to Puchen). Director of Play was David Shead, while NZCF Coach Ewen Green also assisted.
Another successful event took place last weekend with the Open tournament eventually being won by Bob Smith and Ben Giles (4/5). The outright winner of the “B” Grade tournament was Aaron Cossey.
The Lewis Pass on the way to Maruia Springs, Springs Junction, Maruia, Murchison, and Nelson is a very scenic place to drive through. We drove past Maruia Springs (the initial venue) which is 41 km south of Springs Junction, and Maruia Village is 20 km east of Springs Junction. It took about two and a half hours drive (230 km) to get to Maruia from Christchurch.
Maruia is the midpoint between Nelson and Christchurch. A very picturesque place – a secluded area amongst forest and mountains with snow on them. The air was fresh and crisp. Maruia is a peaceful location.
It was good to catch up with old friends again, and Friday night consisted an evening of 5 minute chess and a Hungarian goulash meal that Pearl Giles had superbly prepared. The venison was delicious! The venue was Reid’s Store, a very famous Backpackers that you would find listed in any Lonely Planet travel guide. A fabulous venue to play chess!
The Maruia Open drew players from Nelson, Wakefield, Maruia, Christchurch, and North Otago. Sadly, Gavin Marner and FM, ICM Mark Noble could not join us, but Maruia still had a strong tournament line-up nonetheless!
The top six seeds in the tournament were past or present chess champions. Scott Wastney (NZ Chess Champion), Ben Giles (South Island Chess Champion), John van Ginkel (Nelson Champion), Shane Hudson (1992 NZ Schoolpupil Champion), Brian Donaldson and Arie Nijman (1999 South Island Champions). There were 16 players at the Maruia Open. Bruce Donaldson, Arie Nijman, Bruce Gloistein, and Dan Dolejs made up the tournament midfield (rating distribution 1786 to 1658).
In the first round I was paired to play Ben Giles. After I thrashed out 31. …Qxf3 I heard a smirk from Scott Wastney who was watching. After the game he showed that I had missed a force win in two! Instead, the result was a draw, but I was happy with that!
In rounds two and four I played white against Bruce Gloistein (North Otago) and Erin Roughton (Wakefield) – I lost both games due to my desire to over-press. I also found out that a free pawn is not always a free pawn!
In round three I got to play Sarah Brown (aged 11). Sarah came 3rd in the Christchurch Schoolgirls Championship on May 30 earlier this year. During analysis with Bruce Gloistein, Bruce said that Sarah had a strong game. Sarah did put me under a lot of pressure in the opening and early middlegame. Embarrassingly, I could have lost my Queen! I must admit, I had more to fear in this game than I did against my easy win against Edith Otene in the Waitemata Major Open!
Sarah is distinct from the other Junior chess players in that she has the concentration and maturity at the chess board to be a good tournament player. In my opinion, and in Ben Giles opinion, she has great potential to be a very strong player. During friendly games, she defeated another promising junior, Shannon Clements (aged 16), from Nelson College. I played two games with Shannon in friendly play, both games were drawn. As for other juniors, Patrick Downey (winner of junior prize at Nelson Cole Cup – 16th June 2001) looks promising but has a lot of work yet to do, and as for Chris Wastney (Scott’s nephew) and Michael Price – Sarah Brown proved that she is clearly the stronger player!
After 3 rounds of chess on the first day of play, Saturday night entailed the playing of trivial pursuit – as relaxation. This was enjoyed after a pasta dish and a cold beer.
Bruce Gloistein (nicknamed Groinstrain) won the Grade 1 prize on countback. Sarah Brown clearly won the Grade 2 prize (despite her not being present for the first two rounds due to a Saturday netball game), and Scott Wastney won the Maruia Open trophy.
Sadly, Ben Giles had a poor tournament, drawing with Chris Wright (I missed a force win in two), and lost to Arie Nijman and Shane Hudson. I do hope that Ben can still make the 2000 qualification mark for the upcoming 109th NZ Chess Congress. Ben and Pearl Giles are to be highly complimented for their generous hospitality and organisation of the Maruia event.
Everyone enjoyed their time in Maruia, and everyone desires to be back next year. See you at the Maruia Open in 2002!
The 2001 North Is. Champion is FM Bruce Watson who scored an impressive 7.5/ 8 to head head off second seed Graeme Spain who finished on 6.5. Despitean increased prize fund, excellent playing conditions, and plenty of advance notice the field was smaller than usual (26), and notable for the absence of many top players. Bruce’s “picket fence” was stopped by Ben Giles in Round 6, with Graeme Spain losing to to the top seed and drawing with Henry Vital in the final round. Henry Vital and Ben Giles finished on 5.5 for 3rd = place. Ben Giles’ efforts to keep contact with the leaders were derailed in Round 4 by a loss to Maciej Wojnar.
One notable feature of the Junior Grade placings was that 1st and 2nd positions were both taken by female competitors in Evgenia Charamova and Dorette Prinsloo.
In a field of 40 players including 15 juniors, the honours were finally shared between top seed Leonard McLaren and Ralph Hart who both finished on 5.5 / 6. Once again there was a shortage of 2000 plus players at the head of the field.
The pairings for the Rapid were done using the SwissPerfect pairing software currently being trialled by NZCF, which passed the test with flying colours.

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