We are excited to announce that Chess Kids and Chess Power have merged together as of February 1st, 2011. We will continue trading as Chess Power Ltd and the Chess Kids brand will no longer be used. We will slowly be phasing out the Chess Kids brand and website — please refer to the ChessPower.co.nz site for all current information!

You can still expect the same service excellence, passion and commitment from us with our new name. In addition to the usual contact channels you can also contact:

Paul Macdonald

PHONE:    (021) 0271 5577

paul@chesspower.co.nz

Brett Rider

PHONE:    (09) 8260797

MOBILE:   (022) 681 1757

brett@chesspower.co.nz

Somerville Intermediate School, which, in October, became back-to-back winners of the Super 14 Interschool Chess Intermediate Division took their skills on the road to Melbourne and came out on top of the best Australian school teams in their division. The success was all the sweeter for having finished a narrow second in Melbourne last year. The team was led by Luke Li, who was the only player in the three divisions contested by New Zealand teams (Primary, Intermediate & Open Secondary: NZ was not represented in the Girls Only competition) who managed a perfect score of 7 wins from 7 games over 2 days of competition.

Despite Li’s efforts Somerville trailed Melbourne’s Mazenod College for much of the event, but Li’s team-mates Leo Zhu, Byron Lam, Cameron Low and Danny Chan all contributed, and a maximum last round score of 4 points enabled Somerville to overtake their rivals in a thrilling finish. Leading final scores were: Somerville Intermediate 21.5 out of a possible 28; Mazenod College (Melbourne) & Scotch College (Melbourne) 19.5.

Somerville Intermediate top scorers Luke Li (left) and Leo Zhu

Heartbreak for Milford

In the Primary Division Milford Primary from Auckland’s North Shore was involved in a three-way tussle with two Melbourne Schools, Deepdene Primary and Spensely Street Primary, throughout the two days. Last year Milford finished 8th in the competition and had real chances for top spot this year, but just faded in the finish and had to settle for second place.  Milford had good even contributions from all team members with William Zhang scoring 6 out of a possible 7, Bella Qian, Martin Zhu and Winston Yao 5, while Crystal Zhu contributed 4 points.

The leading final scores were Deepdene Primary 23.5 (out of a possible 28); Milford 21; Spensely Street Primary 20.

Tokoroa Show Teeth On Day 2

With Auckland Grammar, who won the Open Secondary competition in Melbourne in 2009, not defending their title, New Zealand was represented by Tokoroa High School, who won the NZ Secondary Super 14 final in October. Their relative inexperience showed on day 1 when just 4 points were accumulated, but all five members of their team put in a better showing on day 2, and by competition end Tokoroa had risen to a creditable =11th place with 11.5 points out of a possible 28.

Leading scores in the Open Secondary competition were: Brighton Grammar 22; Melbourne High School 21; Ivanhoe Grammar School 19.5. All three are Melbourne schools, with Ivanhoe edging out The Tasmanian Academy for bronze medals on tie-break.

The New Zealand National Finals of the Super 14 Interschool Chess took place on Monday 18 October at Pigeon Mountain Primary School in three divisions: Secondary, Intermediate and Primary. The Secondary competition was tight all day, with all three participants still able to win the event going into the last round. Tokoroa High School had led most of the day, but Hauraki Plains College had surged in round 8 to take a narrow lead into the final round. They failed to add to their score in the final round, however, and final round wins by Christopher Meyers, Ranginui Paparoa and Saige McMahon got Tokoroa over the line. Final scores in the Secondary Division: Tokoroa High School 19.5; Hauraki Plains College 18.5; Tauhara College 14.5.

Tokoroa High School - Champions

In the Intermediate division Bucklands Beach Intermediate kept the pressure on defending champions Somerville Intermediate for much of the day, but Somerville took a handy, though not insurmountable lead into the final round. Just as they had done all day, however, Leo Zhu and Luke Li came through for Somerville to wrap up the title, both completing outstanding 9/9 days in the process. Bucklands Beach Intermediate did enough to keep second place, while Rosehill Intermediate put in a big final round to take bronze. Final scores: Somerville 29.5; Bucklands Beach 25; Rosehill 23.5; The Cathedral Grammar School Christchurch 21.5; Waikowhai 20; Stanley Avenue 17.5; Kimihia 13.

Somerville Intermediate - champions

Last year Milford Primary edged out Pigeon Mountain Primary to take the title, and these two were the main favourites again in the Primary Division. With Milford’s top player away at the World Youth Championships, and a team of only 4 players entered for the day, they were going to need all 4 to play at their best to retain their title. Milford made a fast start, scoring 14 out of a possible 16 in the first 4 rounds, to open up a gap of 2.5 points over Hillsborough with Pigeon Mountain half a point further back. Then Pigeon Mountain put on a spurt, and when 3 of the 4 Milford players lost their round 7 games both teams were locked together on 20 points. With a perfect score in round 8 Pigeon Mountain edged ahead, taking a 1 point lead into the final round. When Pigeon Mountain’s top scorer Richard Jiang lost his final round game it became clear that the match-up between Milford’s Bella Qian and Pigeon Mountain’s Yiwei Qi was going to decide the title. A draw would have been enough for Pigeon Mountain, but Bella won that crucial game to swing things Milford’s way. Final scores: Milford 26.5; Pigeon Mountain 26; Hillsborough 24; Helensville 20.5; Papatoetoe Central, View Road 18.5; Brockville, Opaheke, Stanley Avenue, Bucklands Beach Primary 16.5; Parakai 14.5, Ardgowan, Waiuku 13.5; Lincoln 6, Tokoroa 2.

Milford Primary School - champions

That final round win enabled Bella Qian to edge out team-mate Crystal Zhu by half a point for the top girl prize on the day. With 7/9 Bella finished in a tie for third place overall in the individual standings. Individual gold went to Leo Zhu (Somerville, 9/9) on tie-break from Luke Li (Somerville, 9/9) with Richard Jiang (Pigeon Mountain, 7/9) taking the bronze on tie-break from 4 other players who scored 7.

For all results, details and updated ratings from the event go to our results page here.

We congratulate all who took part on the day, as even qualifying for the National final is no mean feat, and hope that Tokoroa High, Somerville Intermediate and Milford Primary will represent us well at the Australian National finals on 29/30 November in Melbourne, the full details of which are here.

We are running school holiday programs in Auckland from 27 September to 1 October. Click on the link opposite for full details, or click here.

Chess is Big News!

Fifteen schools and more than 130 kids participated in Super 14 Interschool Chess around the Waikato region this week. From Taupo in the South to Whakatane in the east, and further north to Huntly and Ngatea all had a wonderful time. This comment, from one of the schools that participated at Ngatea was typical:

“What a wonderful tournament yesterday.  The children came back buzzing about the day.  We will definitely be attending again!  It is great to have a tournament for students to play this great game.”

The week started at Taupo, where Tokoroa High School edged out the hosts by just one point, to take the gold medals in the Secondary competition. Taupo Intermediate and Waipahihi were the qualifiers for the national finals in the other divisions.

On to Huntly where Helensville Primary, who had already qualified for the National finals, took a punt on making the long road trip to try to qualify an extra player. They blitzed the field for their third zone win, ensuring they will have a team of 7 at Pigeon Mountain on October 18. In the battle for the other qualifying spot behind Helensville only half a point separated three teams: Huntly College, Kimihia School and St Andrew’s School. In the end Kimihia prevailed on tie-break. Where the scores of the top 4 players in two teams are the same, the tie-breaker is the score of the fifth-highest scorer for each team. Unfortunately for Huntly College they had entered a team of only 4!

The event at Ngatea saw the host school Hauraki Plains College take the Secondary competition, with Stanley Avenue School grabbing both the Intermediate and Primary qualifying spots.

Finally we went to Whakatane where the Sonny Bill Williams of Super 14 Interschool chess was unearthed. Fernanda Sirvian, a foreign exchange student from Brazil, swept the field with 7/7 and led her school to a qualifying spot over hosts Trident High School. Perhaps this will start a trend of schools recruiting internationally for the 2011 edition of Super 14 Interschool Chess!

All the results are at our results page here.

The Long and the Short of it...

The Christchurch earthquake played havoc with everything in that city recently, and Super 14 Interschool Chess was not immune. Our intended venue, the hall at The Cathedral Grammar School was damaged and unavailable. Thanks to Kaye Royle and the team at Windsor School the event was able to go ahead, but all the ructions and the late change in venue saw numbers down on last term. But on to the chess.

The long and the short of it is that the mighty midgets from Lincoln Primary School did it again! Just as they had done in June they outdid the Intermediate team from Cathedral Grammar by 2 clear points. Whereas last time the star of the show was Farhana Halim, who managed 7/7, this time she suffered a defeat and managed “only” 6/7. Her sister Izzah, however, went through undefeated for the top score on the day of 6.5/7. The girls were helped out by younger brother Aiman scoring 5 and Christian Smith 4.5, including a vital last round win against Felix Ellerm-Norton. Had Felix prevailed Cathedral Grammar would have snatched gold on tie-break! As it was Cathedral Grammar Intermediate had to settle for silver, while their Primary team took bronze.

For full details go to our results page here.

Ardgowan Primary School Team

Ardgowan School is the latest school to qualify for the New Zealand National Finals of Super 14 Interschool Chess, after winning the Oamaru Zone held at Weston School on 14 September.

In a tight tussle Ardgowan held a slender lead all day over the host school, and triumphed by 2.5 points. For full details of the National Finals go here.

Weston did not go home empty-handed, however, taking the silver and bronze medals in the team competition, as well as providing the individual gold medallist on the day, in Shane Armstrong, who edged out Ardgowan’s Zac Lay on tie-break. For full scores and details of the Oamaru event go here.

Individual medal winners in Dunedin

Maori Hill School qualified for the Primary Division of the Chess Kids Super 14 Interschool Chess championships by edging out hosts Brockville Primary School in the Dunedin Zone on Monday 13 September.

In the last game to finish in the final round Maori Hill’s Ben Mason defied all attempts from Akatere Atariki (Brockville) to force a draw by perpetual check in a complicated queen endgame. A draw would have been enough for Brockville to hold on to the slender lead they had taken in round 1 and held (nearly) all day.

This was an outstanding effort by Maori Hill, who sent only 4 players to the event, but were brilliantly served by Mason and particularly by Max Lough, who scored and outstanding 7/7. Brockville qualified for the Intermediate national finals, where they were unopposed on the day. For all scores and more details go to our results page here.

Helensville medallists with coach Paul Macdonald

A massive 127 players participated in the Rodney Zone of the Super 14 Interschool Championships held at Waioneke School on Friday 10 September. Helensville dominated the event from the outset, failing by just half a point to post a perfect 28/28. Truman Smith, Kumaa Jayachanthiian and Michael McKenzie all managed 7/7, while Brayden Moris rounded out their top 4 with 6.5 points. Helensville also provided the top girl on the day, with Marianne Birt scoring 6/7.

The battle for silver went right down to the wire, with Parakai School edging out Riverhead by just half a point in a nail-biting final round. Huapai were also in the mix, but missed out on medals this time, finishing a further half point behind Riverhead.

For all the details go to our results page here.

Two recent Interschool Zones have seen more qualifiers for the National Finals, which will be held at Pigeon Mountain Primary School on 18 October (full details here).

At Howick on 18 August Bucklands Beach Intermediate won the Intermediate division ahead of Ponsonby Intermediate, while Pigeon Mountain Primary won the Primary division ahead of Hillsborough and Bucklands Beach Primary School.

At Papakura on 31 August hosts Rosehill Intermediate took the gold medals in the Intermediate division, with Pukekohe Intermediate having to settle for silver and bronze. Opaheke won the primary division ahead of Clendon Park School.  Troy Bencich of Rosehill Intermediate was the star of the day, scoring an impressive 7/7.

Full details of these tournaments are at our results page here.