2006+News+Archive

=**2006 News Archive**=

**Otago Chess Club 2006 Championship Winners – 13 December**
1st Richard Sutton 2nd Quentin Johnson 3rd= Luke Lambert & Geoff Aimers || **Senior** 1st Quentin Johnson 2nd Luke Lambert 3rd Duncan Watts || 1st Chris Lydiate 2nd David Reid 3rd= John Armstrong & Stephen Thompson || **Intermediate** 1st David Reid 2nd Don Storey 3rd Alistair Newbould || Not awarded || **Junior** 1st= Chris Lydiate, Muhammad Saib & Ben Watts || 1st Martin Hill 2nd Luke Lambert 3rd Christina Lennartz || **Perpetual Handicap** 1st Don Storey 2nd Muhammad Saib 3rd Ben Watts || 1st Alistair Newbould ||
 * **Standard** || **Rapid** ||
 * **Senior**
 * **Intermediate**
 * **Junior**
 * **Perpetual Handicap**
 * **Blitz**

**Perpetual Handicap Championship – 6 December**
The top improvers in the Standard Handicap over the year were: 1 Martin Hill, 2 Luke Lambert, 3 Christina Lennartz. The top improvers in the Rapid Handicap were: 1 Don Storey, 2 Muhammad Saib, 3 Ben Watts. Congratulations to all six!

**Summer 60-60 – 6 December**
In the final event of the year, first was shared between Duncan Watts and Quentin Johnson on 3½/5 ahead of Hamish Gold on 3.

Cross Table
code No Name                Feder Rtg Total 1   2   3   4   5

1 JOHNSON, QUENTIN J F           3.5   8:D 0:D 4:W 3:W 2:D 2 WATTS, DUNCAN                  3.5   4:W 5:W 0:D 0:D 1:D 3 GOLD, HAMISH R                 3     7:- 4:W 5:W 1:L 6:W 4 SOUTHGATE, BRENT               1.5   2:L 3:L 1:L 6:D 5:W 5 REID, DAVID M                  1     6:W 2:L 3:L 0:L 4:L 6 THOMPSON, STEPHEN              1     5:L 0:D 0:L 4:D 3:L 7 ARMSTRONG, JOHN F              1     3:+ 0:L 0:  0:  0: 8 LYDIATE, CHRISTOPHER           .5    1:D 0:L 0:  0:  0:

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**Otago Club Rapid Championship – 25 October**
With a combined total of 9½/12, Quentin Johnson took out the A-grade championship ahead of Luke Lambert on 6 and Duncan Watts on 5½. The B-grade title went to David Reid on 6&frac;12 ahead of Don Storey on 6. The C-grade was shared 3-ways between Muhammad Saib, Ben watts and Chris Lydiate, each of whom only played a single leg and scored 5/6.

**Otago Club Championship – 20 September**
The early leader in the A-grade, Quentin Johnson, faltered towards the end with a draw against Andrew Stone and a loss to Luke Lambert to finish on 6½/8. Maenwhile Richard Sutton won all his remaining games to pull ahead at the close with 7 points and retain the Otago club championship for 2006. Congratulations Richard! Third place was shared by Lambert and Geoff Aimers on 5 points. Unfortuantely Andrew Stone was obliged to withdraw after playing only 5 games due to study commitments, which had a potential impact on the scoretable.


 * **No** || **Name** || **Feder** || **Rtg** || **Loc** || **Total** || **#1** || **#2** || **#3** || **#4** || **#5** || **#6** || **#7** || **#8** || **#9** || **#10** ||
 * 1 || SUTTON, RICHARD J || NZL || 2307 || 2263 || 7 || * || 0 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || + || 1 || 1 || - ||
 * 2 || JOHNSON, QUENTIN J F || NZL || 2171 || 2065 || 6.5 || 1 || * || 0 || 1 || 1 || 1 || ½ || 1 || 1 || - ||
 * 3 || LAMBERT, LUKE || NZL ||  || 1754 || 5 || 0 || 1 || * || 0 || 1 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 1 || - ||
 * 4 || AIMERS, GEOFFREY || NZL || 1830 || 1762 || 5 || 0 || 0 || 1 || * || 0 || 1 || + || 1 || 1 || - ||
 * 5 || HILL, MARTIN || NZL ||  || 1802 || 4.5 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1 || * || 1 || 1 || ½ || 1 || - ||
 * 6 || GOLD, HAMISH R || NZL || 1867 || 1633 || 3 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || * || 1 || 1 || 1 || - ||
 * 7 || STONE, ANDREW || NZL || 2000 || 1800 || 2.5 || - || ½ || 1 || - || 0 || 0 || * || - || 1 || - ||
 * 8 || SOUTHGATE, BRENT || NZL || 1661 || 1609 || 1.5 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || ½ || 0 || + || * || 0 || - ||
 * 9 || DUFFIELD, TERENCE || NZL ||  || 1634 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1 || * || - ||
 * 10 || WITHDREW, ||  ||   ||   || 0 || - || - || - || - || - || - || - || - || - || * ||

Chris Lydiate shared the B grade 2nd leg with David Reid on 5/6, to easily take out the overall B grade title on a combined total of 11/12, 3 points clear of Reid in 2nd place.

Cross Table
code No Name                Loc  Total 1   2   3   4   5   6

1 LYDIATE, CHRISTOPHER 1475 5     4:W 7:W 0:W 2:L 3:W 0:W 2 REID, DAVID M        1591 5     7:W 3:W 5:W 1:W 0:L 4:W 3 THOMPSON, STEPHEN         3     0:  2:L 6:W 4:W 1:L 0:L 4 COOPER, TEATUA            2     1:L 0:W 0:L 3:L 0:W 2:L 5 SAIB, MUHAMMAD       1248 0     0:  0:  2:L 0:L 0:L 0:L 6 SAIB, NABEELAH       1164 0     0:  0:  3:L 0:L 0:L 0:L 7 ARMSTRONG, JOHN F    1382 0     2:L 1:L 0:  0:  0:  0:

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**Otago Spring Rapid – 2 September**
A modest field of eight compted in this year's event - only half that of last year. Favourite Luke Lambert managed a clean sweep on 6/6 to take first place, though his closest rival, Hamish Gold did not give his best in their mutual encounter. Hamish won all his other games to finish 2nd on 5 ahead of newcomer Stephen Thompson and Muhammad Saib tied for 3rd on 3½. Muhammad took the best junior prize. The event was useful training for 3 of the 4 player team from Kings HS in preparation for the national Secondary School teams finals in Hamilton later in the month.

Cross Table
code No Name                Feder Rtg Loc  Title Club Total 1   2   3   4   5   6

1 LAMBERT, LUKE                  1723       OT   6     4:W 6:W 2:W 5:W 7:W 3:W 2 GOLD, HAMISH R                 1664       OT   5     7:W 3:W 1:L 4:W 8:W 6:W 3 THOMPSON, STEPHEN                         OT   3.5   5:W 2:L 4:D 8:W 6:W 1:L 4 SAIB, MUHAMMAD                 1273       OT   3.5   1:L 8:W 3:D 2:L 5:W 7:W 5 HOOPER, KARL                   1102       OT   3     3:L 7:W 6:W 1:L 4:L 8:W 6 LYDIATE, CHRISTOPHER           1496       OT   2     8:W 1:L 5:L 7:W 3:L 2:L 7 FAVEL, JONATHAN                1223       OT   1     2:L 5:L 8:W 6:L 1:L 4:L 8 LAURINSON, JARED                               0     6:L 4:L 7:L 3:L 2:L 5:L

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**South Island Junior Championship – 26 August**
Clear favourite for this event was Canterbury student Andy Machdoem (20) who is also the reigning South Island Open Champion. However, after racking up 5/5 he blundered his queen in the final round against Otago student Leo Ding (17), who went on to checkmate Machdoem, allowing Jeremy Watson (13) of Canterbury to catch the leader and share the title on 5/6. Leo came clear 3rd on 4½ and took the J.J. Marlowe trophy for the Otago Junior Champion 2006, as the highest placed Otago player. Tying for 4th place on 4 points were Muhammad Saib (16, OBHS), Patrick Dawson (13, DNI) and Josh Gardyne (14, Dunstan HS), with Patrick taking the prize for highest placed Primary/Intermediate schoolpupil. The two female players Rosie Browne (13, Kirkwood Int) and Nabeelah Saib (12, Tahuna Normal) finished tied for 8th on 3 points to split the best female prize. The team prize was collected by Kings HS whose three members, Daniel Thomas, Jared Laurinson and Karl Hooper also finished on 3 points.

Cross Table
code No Name               Loc  Total  1    2    3    4    5    6

1 MACHDOEM, ANDY      1879 5     11:W  8:W  4:W  2:W  7:W  3:L 2 WATSON, JEREMY      1765 5     14:W 10:W  5:W  1:L  3:W  7:W 3 DING, LEO           1521 4.5    9:W  7:D  8:W  4:W  2:L  1:W 4 SAIB, MUHAMMAD      1273 4      6:W 15:W  1:L  3:L 10:W 11:W 5 DAWSON, PATRICK     1300 4     20:W 12:W  2:L  7:L  9:W  8:W 6 GARDYNE, JOSH            4      4:L 13:W  9:W 11:W  8:L 14:W 7 FAVEL, JONATHAN     1223 3.5   19:W  3:D 10:W  5:W  1:L  2:L 8 BROWNE, ROSIE       1271 3     16:W  1:L  3:L 20:W  6:W  5:L 9 HOLVEY, JOHN             3      3:L 19:W  6:L 15:W  5:L 18:W 10 SAIB, NABEELAH     1192 3     17:W  2:L  7:L 16:W  4:L 15:W 11 THOMAS, DANIEL          3      1:L 16:W 20:W  6:L 15:W  4:L 12 LAURINSON, JARED        3     13:W  5:L 15:L 17:W 14:L 20:W 13 HOOPER, KARL       1356 3     12:L  6:L 19:L 18:W 16:W 17:W 14 WIJAYASINGHE, KAVI      2.5    2:L 17:L 18:D 19:W 12:W  6:L 15 KOHLER, DOMINIK         2     18:W  4:L 12:W  9:L 11:L 10:L 16 BRACEY-BROWN, GRANT     2      8:L 11:L 17:W 10:L 13:L  0:W 17 CALVERLEY, CAMPBELL     2     10:L 14:W 16:L 12:L 20:W 13:L 18 GOODWIN, SIMON          1.5   15:L 20:L 14:D 13:L  0:W  9:L 19 ROBINS, ALLYN           1      7:L  9:L 13:W 14:L  0:L  0:L 20 ANDERSON, SIMON         1      5:L 18:W 11:L  8:L 17:L 12:L 21 GILLARD, GARETH         1      0:W  0:   0:   0:   0:   0:

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**Otago Queen's Birthday Open – 24 August**
For the second year running the Otago Easter Tournament was held over Queen's Birthday weekend and was rewarded with strong representation from outside Dunedin. The field of 21 included players from Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Ashburton, Queenstown and Invercargill. For once Open and Senior section points were available in this Class 3, NZCF Grand Prix event, with a total prize fund of $540. Last year's winner, Wellington's Nic Croad, looked to have a much tougher task this year, with five players rated over 2000, headed by FM Richard Sutton. In fact most of the field was capable of taking points off the top players on their day, so a close contest was in prospect.

**Round 1** Chris Benson avoided his usual round one pairing to Sutton, but did not manage to take advantage against Croad – a passive handling of the Kings Indian lead to the Black king being evicted from the kingside and hunted down with the aid of an exchange sac by Croad. Veteran Arie Nijman had 3rd seed Quentin Johnson in some bother, but an exchange sac leading to a tactical melee and a blunder by Nijman came to Johnson's rescue. There were already two upsets: Simon Ward – Ross Jackson and Paul Spiller – Amy Cater-Milano both solid draws, showing the sort of stout resistance the top half could expect from the bottom half. Amazingly Mark van der Hoorn's 'Vanderlizer' (1 f3, 2 Kf2 etc.) opening against Hamish Gold did not lead to an upset, though Hamish had reason to reproach himself for not taking the winning chances offered.

Croad, N - Benson, C [R1] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 d6 3. d4 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. e4 O-O 6. Be2 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. Be3 exd4 9. Nxd4 Re8 10. f3 Ne5 11. Qd2 a6 12. Rfd1 Qe7 13. Rac1 Bd7 14. Bg5 Qf8 15. Qf4 Nh5 16. Qh4 h6 17. Be3 Bf6 18. Qf2 g5 19. Nd5 Bd8 20. g4 Ng7 21. h4 c6 22. Nc3 c5 23. Nf5 Nxf5 24. gxf5 Bc6 25. Kh2 f6 26. Rg1 Kf7 27. f4 gxf4 28. Qxf4 Ke7 29. Rcd1 Bc7 30. Bh5 Rec8 31. b3 d5 32. Bxc5+ Bd6 33. Nxd5+ Bxd5 34. Bxd6+ Kxd6 35. Rxd5+ Kc6 36. Rxe5! fxe5 37. Rg6+ Kd7 38. Qxe5 Rc6 39. Rg7+ Kd8 40. Qd5+ 1-0

**Round 2** The top four seeds all won to make it to 2 points. Sutton mated McKerras quickly on the dark squares when Black's key defensive bishop went awol. Bruce Donaldson turned down Croad's pawn offer in a Sicilian Dragon, only to get a miserable position for no material compensation. Duncan Watts succumbed quickly to Johnson in a QGD. While van der Hoorn was paired against the 1st round receiver of the bye, Jonathan Riley and was not inconvenienced in a very short game. Otherwise ratings and reputation received short shrift: Spiller's piece sac proved only good enough for a perpetual against Michael Nyberg; Cater-Milano missed winning opportunities in her draw with Ward; Jackson, Benson and Nijman were upset by Geoff Aimers, Bruce Gloistein and Rex Scarf respectively; and Gold was lucky to escape with a win against Muhammad Saib.

Benson, C - Gloistein, B [R2]

1 e4 d6 2 d4 g6 3 f4 Bg7 4 Nf3 c6 5 Nc3 e6 6 Bd3 Ne7 7 O-O O-O 8 Be3 f5 9 e5 Nd5 10 Nxd5 cxd5 11 c4 dxe5 12 dxe5 Qe7 13 cxd5 exd5 14 Rc1 Rd8 15 Qb3 Kh8 16 Bc5 Qe8 17 Rfe1 Nc6 18 Bd6 h6 19 Bb5 a6 20 Bxc6 bxc6 21 Nd4? Rxd6! 22 exd6 Bxd4+ 23 Kh1 Qd7 24 Qb4 Bf6 25 Re2 a5 26 Qc5 Ba6 27 Rec2 Bb5 28 b3 a4 29 g3 axb3 30 axb3 Qe6 31 Kg2 Qe4+ 32 Kh3 Be2 33 Rxe2 Qxe2 34 d7 g5 0-1

Sutton, R - McKerras, R [R2]

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Nxe4 6 d4 b5 7 Bb3 d5 8 dxe5 Be6 9 Nbd2 Bc5 10 Qe2 Nxd2 11 Bxd2 O-O 12 Rad1 Ne7 13 c3 c6 14 Nd4 Qd7 15 Be3 Ba7 16 Bc2 Nf5 17 Qd3 g6 18 Bg5 Bb8 19 Bf6 Bc7 20 Qd2 Ng7 21 Qh6 Ne8 22 Nf3 1-0

**Round 3** It was apparent some time after the start of this round that many of the Wellington visitors had neglected to calibrate their sundials to the South-Westward aspect of Dunedin, consequently arriving late. The snow overnight probably didn't help either. When play got under way, Sutton withstood sustained pressure from van der Hoorn, only to inexplicably lose on time in a position where the worst was over. Johnson held the upper hand for a time after Croad sacced a piece for insufficient compensation out of the opening. However, a couple of missed tactics eventually handed the piece back with interest for an easy endgame win for Croad. Nyberg persevered a piece down against McKerras and was rewarded when the latter lost his queen, to stay half a point off the lead. Among the group to make it to 2 was Gloistein, who was out of seat for much of the game – first with agitation after he had left Gold with a forced mate in 3, then with elation as Hamish passed up the opportunity and went on to lose.

Croad, N - Johnson, Q [R3] 1 Nf3 d5 2 d4 Nf6 3 c4 e6 4 Nc3 Bb4 5 Bg5 h6 6 Bh4 g5 7 Bg3 Ne4 8 Rc1 Nc6 9 e3 Qe7 10 Be2 h5 11 Be5 f6 12 Nxg5 Bxc3+ 13 bxc3 Nxg5 14 Bxh5+ Nf7 15 Bg3 dxc4 16 O-O b6 17 e4 Bb7 18 d5 O-O-O 19 Bg4 f5 20 exf5 exf5 21 Bxf5+ Kb8 22 Qa4 Rxd5 23 Rfe1 Qf6 24 Be4 Rd2 25 Qxc4 Nce5 26 Qa4 Bxe4 27 Qxe4 Nd3 28 Rcd1 Nxf2 29 Bxc7+ Kxc7 30 Qc4+ Kb8 31 Rxd2 Nd6 32 Qd4 Qxd4 33 Rxd4 Nfe4 34 Rdxe4 Nxe4 35 Rxe4 Rc8 36 c4 Kc7 37 h4 Kd6 38 Kh2 a6 39 h5 b5 40 cxb5 axb5 41 Kh3 Rc2 42 a4 bxa4 43 Rxa4 Ke5 44 Ra6 Kf4 45 g3+ Kg5 46 Ra5+ Kh6 47 g4 Rc1 48 Kg3 Rf1 49 Ra6+ Kh7 50 Kh4 Rb1 51 Ra7+ Kh8 52 h6 Rb5 53 g5 1-0

**Round 4** Van der Hoorn placed a knight offside on c7 against Croad and soon lost material, allowing Croad to take the sole lead on 4/4. Watts punished Nyberg's pawn-grabbing to fight his way up to board 1, as Sutton blundered near the end of a long game with Spiller coming away with a draw. Johnson won a pawn early on against Gloistein, who then displayed great ingenuity in developing a dangerous kingside attack. After some defensive errors, this should have won, but Bruce unfortunately sacrificed unsoundly looking for mate. Donaldson came back from falling into a Noah's Ark trap to defeat Aimers and join the chasing group on 3.

**Nyberg, M - Watts, D [R4]** **1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 exd5 exd5 4 Bd3 Nc6 5 c3 Bd6 6 Ne2 Bg4!?** (Getting out of 'book' lines at an early stage and offering White the win of a pawn by 7 Qb3 forking b7 and d5) **7 Be3 Nge7 8 Qc2 Ng6 9 Nd2 Qf6 10 Qb3?!** (White finally takes up the offer, but this way loses time with his queen, which now has already moved once) **Nce7! 11 Qxb7 O-O 12 Qb3 Rab8 13 Qc2 Nf5** (White has spent 4 moves to capture the pawn and the queen back on c2. Black meanwhile has castled and his pieces are marauding around the white king which now has no safe place to go) **14 Nf1 Nfh4 15 g3?** (Allowing free access to the kingside light squares and losing the right to castle. 15 Rg1 holding g2 and f3 was required) **Ng2+ 16 Kd2 Nxe3 17 Nxe3 Bf3 18 Rhf1 c5!** (Black thematically prises open the centre to get at the white king) **19 dxc5 Bxc5 20 Ng1 Be4 21 Bxe4 dxe4 22 Qxe4?** (Opening the gate to the Black hoard for yet another mere pawn) **Rxb2+ 23 Nc2 Rd8+ 24 Ke2 Qxc3** (25 Qe3 {25 Rac1 Rd2+ 26 Ke1 Rxf2+ and Qd2#} Rxc2+ 26 Kf3 Rxf2+ 27 Rxf2 Qxe3+ 28 Kg4 Rd4+ 29 Rf4 f5+ 30 Kh5 Nxf4+ 31 gxf4 g6+ 32 Kg5 Be7+ 33 Kh6 Qxf4#) **0-1**

Johnson, Q - Gloistein, B [R4] 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 g3 Be7 5 Bg2 O-O 6 O-O c5 7 dxc5 Bxc5 8 Bg5 h6 9 Bxf6 Qxf6 10 Nc3 Rd8 11 cxd5 exd5 12 Nxd5 Qd6 13 Nd2 Na6 14 Ne4 Qf8 15 Nxc5 Nxc5 16 b4 Ne6 17 Qd2 Rb8 18 Rac1 b6 19 Rfd1 Bb7 20 e4 Kh8 21 Qb2 Re8 22 a3 f5 23 e5 f4 24 Rc3 fxg3 25 hxg3 Qf7 26 Re3 Ng5 27 f4 Qh5 28 Qe2 Nh3+! (D) 29 Bxh3 (If 29 Kf1? to trap the knight then Ba6!) Qxh3 30 g4 Qh4 31 Qf3 Rbd8 32 Red3 Rd7 33 R1d2? (R3d2) Rc8! 34 Rd1 Rc2 35 e6 Qh2+? (35 ... Rxd5! 36 e7 Re5 forces mate) 36 Kf1 Ba6? (36 ... Rd6 37 f5 Ba6 wins the exchange) 37 exd7 Bxd3+ 38 Rxd3 Rc1+ 39 Rd1 Rxd1+ 40 Qxd1 Qh1+ 41 Ke2 Qg2+ 42 Ke1 Qg1+ 43 Kd2 Qd4+ 44 Kc2 1-0 **Round 5** Watts' stay on top board was curtailed by a smooth performance from Croad, who thus ensured himself of at least first equal. Johnson meekly succumbed to van der Hoorn's attack, leaving the latter as the only player who could catch Croad, as Donaldson drew with Spiller. Sutton conceded another draw after Nyberg sacced the exchange to liquidate pawns in a N + B vs R ending. Joining the group on 3 were Gloistein and Aimers with respective wins over Jackson and Gold.

Croad, N – Watts, D [R5] **1 Nf3 d5 2 d4 e6 3 c4 Nf6 4 Nc3 Be7 5 Bg5 O-O 6 e3 h6 7 Bh4 Ne4 8 Bxe7 Qxe7 9 Rc1 Nxc3 10 Rxc3 c6 11 Bd3 Nd7** (Though this has been played many times, it allows White to adopt the easy plan of a queenside minority pawn attack, which is all the more powerful for the piece exchanges that have already taken place. An alternative was 11 — dxc4, 12 Bxc4 Nd7, with the idea of challenging in the centre by 13 —b6 and 14 — c5.) **12 cxd5 exd5 13 O-O Nf6 14 Ne5 Ne4?!** (White’s knight should be challenged with 14 — Nd7. After the following exchange White’s knight easily outperforms the black bishop.) **15 Bxe4! dxe4 16 Qc2 Re8 17 Rb1** (Black’s e-pawn is indirectly defended, so White prepares the classic minority attack pawn thrust b4-b5 to weaken the black queenside pawns. **17 — f6 18 Nc4 Bg4 19 b4 Rad8 20 Na5 Be6** (Missing an opportunity to play for kingside counterchances via 20 — Rd5! holding up b5 and with the idea of attacking g2 with 21 — Rg5.) **21 a4 Bd5 22 b5 cxb5 23 Rxb5 Rd7 24 h3** (White takes a sensible precaution against back-row mates before proceeding.) **24 — Qd8 25 Qb2 b6?!** (More determined was keeping the white pieces out by 23 — Qe7. Now White is able to infiltrate and tie the black pieces down to the defence of his last queenside pawn.) **26 Nc6 Bxc6 27 Rxc6 Rc7 28 Rxc7 Qxc7 29 a5! bxa5?!** (The last hope to hang on was 29 — Re6.) **30 Rb7 Qc4 31 Rxa7 a4? 32 Qb7** (Instead of losing the a-pawn with slow but sure death in the endgame, Black suddenly cannot prevent mate.) **1-0**

Johnson, Q - van der Hoorn, M [R5] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. Nf3 b4 5. Nbd2 d6 6. e4 g6 7. b3 Bg7 8. Bb2 O-O 9. Qc2 e5 10. dxe6 fxe6 11. Be2 Nc6 12. O-O e5 13. Ne1 Bh6 14. Rd1 Ng4 15. Bxg4 Bxg4 16. Ndf3 Nd4 17. Nxd4 Bxd1 18. Qxd1 exd4 19. Nd3 Qh4 20. e5 dxe5 21. Nxc5 Rae8 22. g3 Qh3 23. Ne4 Rf5 24. Bc1 Ref8 25. g4 Bf4 26. Ng3 Bxg3 27. hxg3 Rf3 28. g5 e4 29. Bf4 R8xf4 0-1 **Round 6** In the final round Croad had a far from easy task in that he had to play Sutton with Black. Indeed Richard gradually appeared to be getting the upper hand in a classical fianchetto KID, when he suddenly dropped a rook and resigned. Thus Nic took first place with a convincing score of 6/6, a point ahead of van der Hoorn, who extracted a win over Donaldson in an opposite-bishop ending that was the last game to finish. In the fight for minor placings Watts and Spiller opted out early with a short draw, but Aimers' drawing combination versus Johnson had a fatal flaw placing the latter on 4 in 3rd place. Nyberg's piece offer to Gloistein was similarly unsound and Bruce went on to win to join Johnson in 3rd and take 1st in the U1700 grade. Benson beat Scarf in a double-rook ending to take the 2nd grade prize on 3½, as did Cater-Milano over Muhammad Saib to take 3rd on 3. The Junior prize was shared by Muhammad Saib and Jonathan Riley, as Nabeelah Saib withdrew ill during the tournament. The unfortunate presence of a bye in the early rounds meant that none of the juniors played each other.

Sutton, R - Croad, N [R6] 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nf3 Bg7 4 g3 O-O 5 Bg2 d6 6 O-O Nc6 7 Nc3 e5 8 d5 Ne7 9 e4 Nd7 10 Ne1 f5 11 exf5 Nxf5 12 Nc2 h6 13 Be3 Nf6 14 f3 Nxe3 15 Nxe3 h5 16 Qd3 Kh7 17 Rae1 Bh6 18 Rf2 h4 19 Bf1 hxg3 20 hxg3 Kg7 21 Be2 Nh5 22 Ne4 Bf5 23 Rg2 Qe8 24 Ng4 Bxe4 25 Qxe4 Nf6 26 Nxf6 Rxf6 27 Rh2 Qf7 28 Kg2 Rf5 29 Reh1 Rh5 30 Rxh5 gxh5 31 Bd3 Rh8 32 b4 Bg5 33 c5 Kf8 34 a4 Qf6 35 c6 b6 36 a5 h4 37 axb6 axb6 38 Ra1 hxg3 39 Qg4? (Ra8+) Rh2+ 0-1

Donaldson, B - van der Hoorn, M [R6] 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 exd5 cxd5 4 c4 e6 5 Nf3 Nf6 6 Nc3 Be7 7 cxd5 Nxd5 8 Bd3 O-O 9 O-O Nc6 10 Re1 Bf6 11 Be3 b6 12 Qe2 Ndb4 13 Be4 Ba6 14 Qd2 Rc8 15 Rac1 Ne7 16 Bb1 Bb7 17 Ne5 Nbd5 18 Qd3 g6 19 Qe2 Nxc3 20 bxc3 Qd5 21 Nf3 Nf5 22 c4 Qa5 23 Red1 Nxe3 24 fxe3 Rc7 25 e4 Qh5 26 Bd3 Rfc8 27 e5 Bxf3 28 Qxf3 Qxf3 29 gxf3 Bg5 30 Rc2 Be3+ 31 Kg2 Bxd4 32 f4 b5 33 c5 Rxc5 34 Rdc1 Bc3 35 a3 a6 36 Kf3 Bd4 37 Ke4 Rxc2 38 Rxc2 Rxc2 39 Bxc2 Bc5 40 a4 bxa4 41 Bxa4 Kg7 42 Kf3 f6 43 exf6+ Kxf6 44 Ke4 Bd6 45 h3 a5 46 Bb3 Bb4 47 Ba4 Ke7 48 Ke5 Bc3+ 49 Ke4 Kd6 50 Bb3 Ke7 51 Ba4 Kf6 52 Bb3 Bd2 53 Bc2 h6 54 Bb3 g5 55 fxg5+ Bxg5 56 Bd1 Ke7 57 Ke5 Bf6+ 58 Ke4 Kd6 59 Bb3 Bb2 60 Kd3 Ke5 61 Ke3 Bd4+ 62 Kf3 Kf5 63 Bc2+ Kg5 64 Bb3 e5 65 Ba4 Kf5 66 Bc2+ Ke6 67 Ke4 Kd6 68 Kd3 Kc5 69 Bb3 Kb4 70 Bd5 a4 71 Kc2 Kc5 72 Bf7 Kd6 73 Kd3 Ke7 74 Bc4 Kf6 75 Ke4 Kg5 76 Be6 a3 77 Kf3 Kh4 78 Ke4 Kg3 79 Kd3 Kf3 80 Bg4+ Kf4 81 Be6 Bb2 82 Ke2 Ke4 83 Bf7 Kd4 84 Kd2 e4 85 Ke2 e3 86 Bg8 Bc1 87 Kd1 Kc3 88 Be6 Bd2 89 Bf7 Kb2 0-1 While Nic Croad allowed some opponents chances, his 100% result is a testament to his consistency and cool head. Mark van der Hoorn could also be satisfied with his result, some useful help from his opponents notwithstanding. Bruce Gloistein also rode close to the edge in a number of games but was unlucky against Johnson in what was a fine performance overall. Amy Cater-Milano showed she has made considerable progress since returning to competitive play. Two players may wish to forget this year's tournament: Top seed Richard Sutton was plagued by uncharacteristic time-trouble errors in a number of key games, while it seemed that last years runner-up Ross Jackson simply forgot to pack his A-game for ths trip. There's always next year!

Final scores: 1 N. Croad (WE) 6/6; 2 M. van der Hoorn (WE) 5; 3-4 Q. Johnson (OT) & B. Gloistein (CA) 4; 5-9 B. Donaldson (CA), D. Watts (OT), C. Benson (CA), P. Spiller (HP) & R. McKerras (CA) 3½; 10-13 R. Sutton (OT), M. Nyberg (WE), G. Aimers (CA) & A. Cater-Milano (QN) 3; 14-18 H. Gold (OT), A. Nijman (CA), R. Scarf (AS), S. Ward (CA) & R. Jackson (WE) 2½; 19-21 J. Riley (IN), M. Saib (OT) & N. Saib (OT) 1.

Cross Table
code No Name                 Feder Rtg  Loc  Title Club Total  1    2    3    4    5    6

1 CROAD, NICHOLAS       NZL   2243 2229       WE   6      7:W  5:W  3:W  2:W  6:W 10:W 2 VAN DER HOORN, MARK W NZL   2105 2103       WE   5     14:W 19:W 10:W  1:L  3:W  5:W 3 JOHNSON, QUENTIN J F  NZL   2171 2115       OT   4     15:W  6:W  1:L  4:W  2:L 12:W 4 GLOISTEIN, BRUCE N    NZL        1601       CA   4      5:L  7:W 14:W  3:L 18:W 11:W 5 DONALDSON, BRUCE      NZL   2062 2028       CA   3.5    4:W  1:L 21:W 12:W  8:D  2:L 6 WATTS, DUNCAN         NZL   2012 1810       OT   3.5   21:W  3:L 13:W 11:W  1:L  8:D 7 BENSON, CHRISTOPHER   NZL   1937 1691       CA   3.5    1:L  4:L 17:W 21:W  9:D 16:W 8 SPILLER, PAUL S       NZL   2073 1865       HP   3.5   13:D 11:D 16:W 10:D  5:D  6:D 9 MCKERRAS, ROSS        NZL   2026 1889       CA   3.5   16:W 10:L 11:L 13:W  7:D 15:W 10 SUTTON, RICHARD J    NZL   2307 2253 fm    OT   3     12:W  9:W  2:L  8:D 11:D  1:L 11 NYBERG, MICHAEL      NZL   1970 1830       WE   3     20:W  8:D  9:W  6:L 10:D  4:L 12 AIMERS, GEOFFREY     NZL   1830 1760       OT   3     10:L 18:W 19:W  5:L 14:W  3:L 13 CATER-MILANO, AMY    NZL        1267       PT   3      8:D 17:D  6:L  9:L 19:W 20:W 14 GOLD, HAMISH R       NZL   1867 1616       OT   2.5    2:L 20:W  4:L 17:W 12:L 18:D 15 NIJMAN, ARIE J       NZL        1691       CA   2.5    3:L 16:L 18:D  0:W 20:W  9:L 16 SCARF, REX           NZL        1588       AS   2.5    9:L 15:W  8:L 19:W 17:D  7:L 17 WARD, SIMON          NZL        1537       CA   2.5   18:D 13:D  7:L 14:L 16:D 19:W 18 JACKSON, L ROSS      NZL   2019 1880       WE   2.5   17:D 12:L 15:D 20:W  4:L 14:D 19 RILEY, JONATHAN A    NZL                        1      0:W  2:L 12:L 16:L 13:L 17:L 20 SAIB, MUHAMMAD       NZL        1252       OT   1     11:L 14:L  0:W 18:L 15:L 13:L 21 SAIB, NABEELAH       NZL        1177       OT   1      6:L  0:W  5:L  7:L  0:   0:

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Games are available in pgn format
    

**Otago Primary/Intermediate Individual Championship – 12 August**
This years event featured a thrilling climax as defending champion Patrick Dawson (DNI) dropped a game early (to Joshua Petermann, George St Normal) and had to risk all to win his 5th round match against leader Alex Ming-Wong (Maori Hill). Patrick swapped into an unusual K and 6Ps vs K, R and P ending and was closing in on mate when the Alex's time expired with just 1 second remaining on Patrick's clock! The result was a four-way tie for the lead going into the final round, where both Alex and Patrick won to share the title on 5/6. The four players in 3rd= can also be very pleased with their performance: Nabeelah Saib (Tahuna Normal), Joshua Petermann, Allyn Robins (DNI) and Dominik Kohler (Tokomairiro) on 4/6. Nabeelah also won the best female prize and the DNI1 team (Patrick, Allyn and Campbell Calverley) won the best team prize.

Cross Table
code No Name                Feder Rtg Loc Club Total  1    2    3    4    5    6

1 Alex Ming-Wong,      MH    254 9   MH   5     12:W  7:W  5:W  3:W  2:L  4:W 2 Patrick Dawson,      DNI   310 13  DNI1 5      4:L  8:W  9:W  7:W  1:W  3:W 3 Nabeelah Saib,       TNS   237 12       4      8:W  4:W  6:W  1:L 11:W  2:L 4 Joshua Peterman,     GSN   135 9        4      2:W  3:L 13:W 11:W  5:W  1:L 5 Allyn Robins,        DNI   220 12  DNI1 4      9:W 13:W  1:L  6:W  4:L  7:W 6 Dominik Kohler,      TOK       12       4     10:W 11:W  3:L  5:L  8:W 12:W 7 Quinn Thorsnes,      DNI   177 12  DNI2 3     15:W  1:L 14:W  2:L 10:W  5:L 8 Simon Goodwin,       MH    130 7   MH   3      3:L  2:L  0:W 15:W  6:L 14:W 9 Colin Jacquiery,     LCS   111 12       3      5:L 10:W  2:L 13:W 15:L  0:W 10 Campbell Calverley, DNI   171 13  DNI1 3      6:L  9:L 12:W 14:W  7:L 11:W 11 Grant Bracey-Brown, DNI   210 12  DNI2 2     14:W  6:L 15:W  4:L  3:L 10:L 12 Caitlin Fitchett,   DNI   130 12  DNI2 2      1:L 14:L 10:L  0:W 13:W  6:L 13 Joshua Thompson,    PHCS      12       2      0:W  5:L  4:L  9:L 12:L 15:W 14 Andrew Kim,         MH    100 9   MH   2     11:L 12:W  7:L 10:L  0:W  8:L 15 Rebecca Favel,      McA       13       2      7:L  0:W 11:L  8:L  9:W 13:L

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Club Standings
code Place Name Score

1  DNI1 12 2  MH   10 3  DNI2 7

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**Otago Club Championship – 9 August**
In the A-grade after 5 rounds the front-runner is still Quentin Johnson, with 4/4 who increased his lead with a win over his closes challenger Martin Hill, still 2nd on 2½/4. Defending champion Richard Sutton is staying in touch on 2/3. Chris Lydiate convincingly took out the B grade 1st leg with 6/6, ahead of John Armstrong and David Reid on 3/6.

Cross Table
code No Name                Loc  Total 1   2   3   4   5   6

1 LYDIATE, CHRISTOPHER 1475 6     6:W 2:W 5:W 3:W 0:W 2:W 2 ARMSTRONG, JOHN F    1382 3     3:W 1:L 0:W 5:W 0:L 1:L 3 REID, DAVID M        1591 3     2:L 7:W 0:L 1:L 5:W 5:W 4 WATTS, DUNCAN        1775 .5    0:D 0:L 0:L 0:L 0:L 0:L 5 COOPER, TEATUA            0     0:  0:  1:L 2:L 3:L 3:L 6 WATTS, BENJAMIN      1369 0     1:L 0:L 0:L 0:L 0:L 0:L 7 SAIB, MUHAMMAD       1248 0     0:  3:L 0:L 0:L 0:L 0:L

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**Dunedin Under 10 Individual Championship – 5 August**
Alex Ming-Wong (Maori Hill) yet again dominated this event for his third win in three years, with a picket fence 6/6 result. White the turnout of 11 players was down on previous years, the strength of the field and quality of the chess was high. The four players Andrew Kim & Simon Goodwin (both Maori Hill) and Joshua Petermann & Hayden Bosworth (both George St Normal) tied for second on 4 points can be very proud of their efforts.

Cross Table
code No Name             Sch   Rtg Age Total  1    2    3    4    5    6

1 Ming-Wong, Alex   MH    250 9   6     11:W  5:W  3:W  2:W  4:W  7:W 2 Kim, Andrew       MH        9   4      7:W  4:W  5:W  1:L  3:L  8:W 3 Petermann, Joshua GSN   143 9   4      6:W 10:W  1:L  9:W  2:W  4:L 4 Goodwin, Simon    MH    135 7   4      9:W  2:L  8:W  7:W  1:L  3:W 5 Bosworth, Hayden  GSN       8   4      8:W  1:L  2:L 10:W  0:W  9:W 6 Lee, Kevin        OPO       9   3.5    3:L  8:D  9:W 11:W  7:L  0:W 7 Smith, Joel       KAI   165 9   3      2:L 11:W 10:W  4:L  6:W  1:L 8 Denys, Matthew    OPO       9   2      5:L  6:D  4:L  0:W 10:D  2:L 9 Purdie, Daniel    OPO       9   2      4:L  0:W  6:L  3:L 11:W  5:L 10 Scott, Ben       MIL       7   2      0:W  3:L  7:L  5:L  8:D 11:D 11 Evington, Nick   OPO       9   1.5    1:L  7:L  0:W  6:L  9:L 10:D

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**Otago Daily Times School Teams Chess Championship final – 3 August**
In the grand final held at the Otago Chess Club, the top two qualifiers from each grade meet head to head to decide the 1st and 2nd placings: In the Secondary grade Kings HS A pulled the narrowest of victories out of the bag, winning 2½-1½ to edge out the favourites OBHS A and retain the trophy. OBHS A only need half a point more to win as they had the best countback score, but will have to wait again until next year. In the Intermediate A grade DNI Black' experienced team proved to good for Tahuna Normal Int A in winning by a convincing 3½-½ to also retain the trophy they won last year. Both DNI and Kings HS have earned the right to represent Otago at the national School Teams finals in Hamilton on 23 and 24 September. The Intermediate B grade nearly saw a tremendous upset as the young team from George St Normal A held the hot favourites DNI Red to a 2-2 draw. However, the countback rule saw DNI deservedly win the grade by virtue of their overwhelming score in the round-robin qualifiers.

**Secondary Grade** Kings High School A beat Otago Boys High School A 2½ - 1½ (First named player Kings HS) Philip Vogel drew Sean Wilson Karl Hooper lost to Muhammad Saib Jonathan Favel beat Kavi Wijayasinghe Jarrod Laurinsen beat Gareth Gillard Kings HS retain the Secondary championship trophy and earn the right to represent Otago at the national finals in Hamilton in September

**Intermediate grade A section** Dunedin North Intermediate Black beat Tahuna Normal Intermediate A 3½ - ½ (First named player DNI) Patrick Dawson beat Cheng Ju Allyn Robins drew Nabeelah Saib Campbell Calverley beat Sam Dosan Grant Bracey-Brown beat Zebulun Laqekoro DNI retain the Intermediate championship trophy and earn the right to represent Otago at the national finals in Hamilton in September.

**Intermediate grade B section** Dunedin North Intermediate Red drew George Street Normal School A 2 - 2 (First named player DNI) Caitlin Fitchett beat Logan Xu Quinn Thorsness lost to Joshua Petermann Giles Graham lost to Haydyn Bosworth Renee Hodginson beat Tarryn Brunton DNI win the section on countback due to winning the qualifier tournament. George St earn the right to represent Otago at the national finals in Hamilton in September in the Primary School section as the highest placed eligible team.

**Otago Daily Times School Teams Chess Championship – 1 August**
As the second term drew to a close, six teams emerged to claim spots in the final of each of the three grades: In the Secondary grade the two finalists from 2005, OBHS A and Kings HS A, again proved their dominance. This time however, it was OBHS who took out the round-robin event with a magnificent 21/24 ahead of 2nd placed Kings on 19½ and thus took the advantage of draw odds into the final. In the Intermediate A grade Tahuna Normal Int A held on to a place in the final with a very respectable 19½/24. However, DNI Black, the defending champions, more than caught up to win the group on 21/24. The Intermediate B grade had the most convincing result of all, DNI Red taking first with an incredible 23/24. The other final spot went to George St Normal A on 16/24 - an excellent performance for such a young team./P>
 * ** Otago Daily Times School Teams Chess Championships 2006 ** ||
 * || ** As At ** || ** 31-Jul ** ||  ||||||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * |||| ** Secondary Grade ** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** No ** || ** Team ** || ** Teacher in Charge ** || ** 1 ** || ** 2 ** || ** 3 ** || ** 4 ** || ** 5 ** || ** 6 ** || ** 7 ** || ** 8 ** || ** Total ** || ** Tie Br ** || ** Place ** ||
 * 1 || Kings HS A || Noel Johnston ||  || 1/2 || 4 || 3 || 4 || 4 || 4 ||   || ** 19 1/2 ** || ** 5 ** || 2nd ||
 * 2 || OBHS A || Pete Odgers || 3 1/2 ||  || 3 1/2 || 3 || 4 || 4 || 3 ||   || ** 21 ** || ** 6 ** || 1st ||
 * 3 || Kings HS B || Noel Johnston || 0 || 1/2 ||  || 1 || 4 || 4 || 2 ||   || ** 11 1/2 ** || ** 2 1/2 ** || 4th ||
 * 4 || OBHS B || Pete Odgers || 1 || 1 || 3 ||  || 4 || 1 || 4 ||   || ** 14 ** || ** 3 ** || 3rd ||
 * 5 || Columba College || Janet Dysart || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 ||  || 0 || 1/2 ||   || ** 1/2 ** || ** 0 ** || 7th ||
 * 6 || Logan Park HS || Roger Tobin || 0 || 0 || 0 || 3 || 4 ||  || 3 ||   || ** 10 ** || ** 3 ** || 5th ||
 * 7 || Bayfield HS || Ray Spence || 0 || 1 || 2 || 0 || 3 1/2 || 1 ||  ||   || ** 7 1/2 ** || ** 1 1/2 ** || 6th ||
 * 8 || BYE ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** A ** |||| ** Intermediate Grade ** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** No ** || ** Team ** || ** Teacher in Charge ** || ** 1 ** || ** 2 ** || ** 3 ** || ** 4 ** || ** 5 ** || ** 6 ** || ** 7 ** || ** 8 ** || ** Total ** || ** Tie Br ** || ** Place ** ||
 * 1 || Arthur Street A || Neil Clayton ||  || 1 || 1/2 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 ||   || ** 1 1/2 ** || ** 0 ** || 6th ||
 * 2 || Brockville Full Primary || Phil Wheeler || 3 ||  || 0 || 3 || 1 || 2 || 1 1/2 ||   || ** 10 1/2 ** || ** 2 1/2 ** || 3rd ||
 * 3 || Tahuna Normal Int A || Keith Hutton || 3 1/2 || 4 ||  || 4 || 1 || 3 || 4 ||   || ** 19 1/2 ** || ** 5 ** || 2nd ||
 * 4 || Sawyers Bay A || Matt Taylor || 0 || 1 || 0 ||  || 0 || 0 || 0 ||   || ** 1 ** || ** 0 ** || 7th ||
 * 5 || DNI Black || Matthew Tofia || 4 || 3 || 3 || 4 ||  || 3 || 4 ||   || ** 21 ** || ** 6 ** || 1st ||
 * 6 || Balmacewen Int || Andrew Hunter || 0 || 2 || 1 || 0 || 1 ||  || 0 ||   || ** 4 ** || ** 1/2 ** || 5th ||
 * 7 || St Clair Primary || Chantal Mortimer || 0 || 2 1/2 || 0 || 4 || 0 || 0 ||  ||   || ** 6 1/2 ** || ** 2 ** || 4th ||
 * 8 || BYE ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** B ** |||| ** Intermediate Grade ** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * ** No ** || ** Team ** || ** Teacher in Charge ** || ** 1 ** || ** 2 ** || ** 3 ** || ** 4 ** || ** 5 ** || ** 6 ** || ** 7 ** || ** 8 ** || ** Total ** || ** Tie Br ** || ** Place ** ||
 * 1 || Arthur Street B || Neil Clayton ||  || 1/2 || 1 || 1/2 || 4 || 0 ||   || 2 || ** 8 ** || ** 1 1/2 ** || 6th ||
 * 2 || Tahuna Normal Int B || Keith Hutton || 3 1/2 ||  || 1/2 || 1/2 || 3 1/2 || 0 ||   || 2 1/2 || ** 10 1/2 ** || ** 3 ** || 4th ||
 * 3 || George St Normal A || Leanne Hill || 3 || 3 1/2 ||  || 3 1/2 || 4 || 1 ||   || 1 || ** 16 ** || ** 4 ** || 2nd ||
 * 4 || Tahuna Normal Int C || Keith Hutton || 3 1/2 || 3 1/2 || 1/2 ||  || 3 || 0 ||   || 0 || ** 10 1/2 ** || ** 3 ** || 3rd ||
 * 5 || George St Normal B || Leanne Hill || 0 || 1/2 || 0 || 1 ||  || 0 ||   || 1/2 || ** 2 ** || ** 0 ** || 7th ||
 * 6 || DNI Red || Stephanie Hobbs || 4 || 4 || 3 || 4 || 4 ||  ||   || 4 || ** 23 ** || ** 6 ** || 1st ||
 * 7 || BYE ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * 8 || Arthur Street C || Neil Clayton || 2 || 1 1/2 || 3 || 0 || 3 1/2 || 0 ||  ||   || ** 10 ** || ** 2 1/2 ** || 5th ||

**Otago Club Championship – 27 July**
In the A-grade after 3 rounds the front-runner is Quentin Johnson, with 3/3 incuding a win over defending champion FM Richard Sutton. He is closely followed by newcomer Martin Hill on 2½/3 and Geoff Aimers and Hamish Gold on 2. Chris Lydiate has established a 1 point lead in the B grade 1st leg with 4/4 so far, ahead of John Armstrong on 3/4.

**Otago Queen's Birthday Open – 5 June**
Defending Champion, Nic croad of Wellington, followed up his convincing victory of last year with an even more convincing whitewash of this years event. In a strong field of 21 players, Croad scored 6/6 to take first ahead of fellow traveller (from Wellington) Mark van der Hoorn on 5, whose only loss was to the winner. Organiser Quentin Johnson headed the home contingent on 4, sharing 3rd with resurgent Cantabrian Bruce Gloistein, who also won the U1700 grade. 2nd U1700 was Chris Benson, also of Canterbury, on 3½ and 3rd U1700 went to a fine performance from Queenstown's Amy Cater-Milano on 3. The Junior prize was shared between Jonathan Riley (Invercargill) and Muhammad Saib (Otago). Thank you to all those who played, and particularly those that came from outside Dunedin, for making the event such a success. Watch this space for a fuller report in due course...

**Otago Daily Times School Teams Chess Championship – 28 May**
With games from 3 of the scheduled 7 rounds mostly completed, several teams are emerging as early leaders in each of the three grades: In the Secondary grade both OBHS teams have started well, with 6½/8 for OBHS A and 9/12 for OBHS B. However with most teams having only played one or two matches it is still early days. The Intermediate A grade Tahuna Normal Int A has stormed out to 10½/12 to make a strong claim for the final. DNI Black, the defending champions, will have their work cut out to match the pace, having played just one match so far to be on 3 points. In the Intermediate B grade all the teams have completed two matches, DNI Red leading on a perfect 8/8 so far, ahead of George St Normal A on 6½ and Tahuna Normal Int B & Arthur St C on both on 5 points.

**Cleland Trophy – 24 May**
Top seed, Quentin Johnson retained the Cleland trophy for another year with an unbeaten 5/6 for clear first, with draws against John Armstrong and Duncan Watts. Watts was also unbeaten on 4½ with 2 draws, but his electing to take a bye in round 3 meant he finished 2nd. Hamish Gold played well against a strong field, but a bye and a final round loss to Johnson meant he finished tied for 3rd with the strongly finishing Terry Duffield on 3½.

Cross Table
code No Name                Loc  Total  1    2    3    4    5    6

1 JOHNSON, QUENTIN J F 2115 5      7:D  8:W 10:W  2:D  5:W  3:W 2 WATTS, DUNCAN        1810 4.5    9:W  4:W  0:D  1:D  3:D  5:W 3 GOLD, HAMISH R       1616 3.5   12:W  0:D  5:D  6:W  2:D  1:L 4 DUFFIELD, TERENCE    1765 3.5   18:W  2:L  0:D  5:L 12:W  8:W 5 HILL, MARTIN         1793 3     11:W  6:D  3:D  4:W  1:L  2:L 6 STOREY, DONALD J H   1789 3      0:D  5:D  9:W  3:L  7:W 13:L 7 ARMSTRONG, JOHN F    1414 3      1:D  9:L  8:D 11:W  6:L 19:W 8 SOUTHGATE, BRENT     1615 2.5    0:D  1:L  7:D 16:W  9:D  4:L 9 LYDIATE, CHRISTOPHER 1400 2.5    2:L  7:W  6:L  0:W  8:D  0:L 10 REID, DAVID M       1547 2.5    0:   0:   1:L  0:L 19:W 12:D 11 WATTS, BENJAMIN          2.5    5:L 17:D 19:W  7:L  0:W 15:L 12 ADAMS, GEOFFREY     1336 2      3:L 14:L  0:D 19:W  4:L 10:D 13 LENNARTZ, CHRISTINA      1      0:   0:   0:   0:   0:   6:W 14 SAIB, MUHAMMAD      1252 1      0:  12:W  0:L  0:L  0:L  0:L 15 PONCHIO, MATEUS          1      0:   0:   0:   0:   0:  11:W 16 MING-WONG, ALEXANDER 1369 1     0:  19:W  0:L  8:L  0:L  0:L 17 SAIB, NABEELAH      1177 .5     0:  11:D  0:L  0:L  0:L  0:L 18 FAIFAI, JESSE            0      4:L  0:L  0:L  0:L  0:L  0:L 19 COOPER, TEATUA           0      0:  16:L 11:L 12:L 10:L  7:L

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**Cleland Trophy – 5 May**
Duncan Watts leads the Cleland Trophy after taking a half-point bye in the 3rd round to add to his two wins so far. Level with him on 2½/3 is Quentin Johnson whose draw with John Armstrong in the first round was followed by two wins. The chasing group on 2 points comprises new member Martin Hill, back in NZ after some years in the US, Don Storey and Hamish Gold.

**Blitz tournament 1 – 12 April**
Richard Sutton dominated as could be expected, finishing clear 1st. But he dropped a couple of games to newcomers Christina Lennartz and Jesse Faifai - no mean feat, even at this time limit.

**Swiss Standard – 5 April**
Richard Sutton proved his superiority by grinding down Quentin Johnson and Duncan Watts in successive endgames to finish with 5/5 in first place. Tied for 2nd a point behind were Johnson and Christina Lennartz.

Cross Table
code No Name                Feder Rtg Total  1    2    3    4    5

1 SUTTON, RICHARD J              5     16:W  6:W  4:W  2:W  5:W 2 JOHNSON, QUENTIN J F           4     13:W  7:W  3:W  1:L  4:W 3 LENNARTZ, CHRISTINA            4     20:W  9:W  2:L  6:W 10:W 4 STOREY, DONALD J H             3     15:W  8:W  1:L 10:W  2:L 5 WATTS, DUNCAN                  3     10:D 12:D 17:W  7:W  1:L 6 DUFFIELD, TERENCE              3     22:W  1:L 19:W  3:L 14:W 7 AIMERS, GEOFFREY               3     23:W  2:L 15:W  5:L 16:W 8 GOLD, HAMISH R                 3     21:W  4:L  9:L 15:W 17:W 9 STONE, ANDREW                  2.5   17:W  3:L  8:W  0:D  0:L 10 CHANDRA, SANDEEP              2.5    5:D 16:W 18:W  4:L  3:L 11 RILEY, TIM                    2.5    0:   0:   0:  18:W  0:L 12 NEWBOULD, ALISTAIR R          2.5    0:   5:D  0:D  0:L 22:W 13 REID, DAVID M                 2.5    2:L 22:W  0:D  0:L 18:W 14 ADAMS, GEOFFREY               2.5    0:D 18:L 21:W 19:W  6:L 15 FAIFAI, JESSE                 2      4:L 20:W  7:L  8:L 19:W 16 SOUTHGATE, BRENT              2      1:L 10:L 23:W 20:W  7:L 17 LYDIATE, CHRISTOPHER          2      9:L 23:W  5:L 22:W  8:L 18 PONCHIO, MATEUS               1.5   19:D 14:W 10:L 11:L 13:L 19 ARMSTRONG, JOHN F             1     18:D  0:D  6:L 14:L 15:L 20 WATTS, BENJAMIN               1      3:L 15:L 22:W 16:L  0:L 21 SAIB, NABEELAH                .5     8:L  0:D 14:L  0:L  0:L 22 MING-WONG, ALEXANDER          0      6:L 13:L 20:L 17:L 12:L 23 SAIB, MUHAMMAD                0      7:L 17:L 16:L  0:L  0:L

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**Swiss Standard – 22 March**
After three rounds the lead is shared by favourites FM Richard Sutton and Quentin Johnson on 3/3. Sandy Chandra is alone in 3rd on 2½ in a very strong performance so far.

**Swiss Rapid – 1 March**
Honours were shared in the first event for the year between Don Storey and Andrew Stone on 4½/6. With byes freely available few players completed all six rounds, however it was pleasing to see four new faces to the club: Ben Watts, Christina Lannartz, Jesse Faifai & Mateus Ponchio.

Cross Table
code No Name                Feder Rtg Total  1    2    3    4    5    6

1 STOREY, DONALD J H             4.5   17:W 16:W  3:D  2:W  6:W  4:L 2 STONE, ANDREW                  4.5    0:  17:W 11:W  1:L  8:W  3:W 3 JOHNSON, QUENTIN J F           4     15:W  9:W  1:D  8:W  0:D  2:L 4 SUTTON, RICHARD J              4      0:D  0:D  0:D  0:D 10:W  1:W 5 PONCHIO, MATEUS                4      0:   0:   0:   0:   0:  18:W 6 AIMERS, GEOFFREY               4     20:W 13:W  8:L 16:W  1:L  9:W 7 ARMSTRONG, JOHN F              4      9:L 10:L 21:W 20:W 12:W  8:W 8 WATTS, DUNCAN                  3     12:W 18:W  6:W  3:L  2:L  7:L 9 LENNARTZ, CHRISTINA            3      7:W  3:L  0:D  0:D 18:W  6:L 10 CHANDRA, SANDEEP              3     18:L  7:W  0:D  0:D  4:L 16:W 11 DUFFIELD, TERENCE             3      0:D  0:D  2:L 12:L 16:W 17:W 12 WATTS, BENJAMIN               3      8:  14:W 19:L 11:W  7:L 20:W 13 HAASE, GRAHAM G               2.5   14:W  6:L  0:D  0:D  0:D  0:L 14 FAIFAI, JESSE                 2.5   13:L 12:L  0:D  0:L 20:W 19:W 15 SOUTHGATE, BRENT              2.5    3:L 20:W 16:L 17:W  0:D  0:L 16 LYDIATE, CHRISTOPHER          2     19:W  1:L 15:W  6:L 11:L 10:L 17 REID, DAVID M                 2      1:L  2:L 20:W 15:L 19:W 11:L 18 GOLD, HAMISH R                2     10:W  8:L  0:D  0:D  9:L  5:L 19 SAIB, MUHAMMAD                1.5   16:L  0:D 12:W  0:L 17:L 14:L 20 MING-WONG, ALEXANDER          0      6:L 15:L 17:L  7:L 14:L 12:L 21 SAIB, NABEELAH                0      0:   0:   7:L  0:L  0:L  0:L

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**2006 Otago chess club AGM – 8 February**
The 2005 committee consists of : President: Alistair Newbould; Vice President: Geoff Aimers; Secretary: Duncan Watts; Treasurer: Quentin Johnson; Past-President: Graham Haase; Committee members: Terry Duffield, Hamish Gold, Chris Lydiate & Brent Southgate. Bob Glass was elected as Patron and honorary Auditor.