Chess Meets Art in Cuba Street

 Apologies for the poor quality pictures. Much better photos are here


A really enjoyable, and challenging, time was had by everyone at the Enjoy Art Gallery where an Asian chess variants tournament took place on Cuba Street on Saturday. Present were the elite of the Wellington chess scene, Russell, Scott and Anthony, along with a few other people, and me. Just over half of the entrants were from the chess club, and predictably we dominated the top half of the table. In fact, in every game between a member and a non-member, Wellington Chess Club came out on top!

L-R Peter Stoeveken, Simon Palenski, Alan Aldridge, Nova Jiang

The tournament was the brainchild of Nova Jiang, a New Zealand artist based in Los Angeles, whose idea it was to design pieces that reflect the power of the pieces and the different ways in which they move. The idea originated in an examination of Artificial Intelligence and computer based methods of thinking as opposed to human ones.
The pieces were designed on a computer and brought to life with a 3-D printer. The tables were put together manually just before the exhibition.
The tournament was scheduled for 4 hours on Saturday afternoon, and it was hoped that all competitors would be able to try out each variant once, and play for 8 rounds.  Nobody could work how to schedule this, so we just organised an ordinary Swiss and as far as possible players selected variants they hadn't already tried. This worked quite well, and, as far as I am aware, nobody did play the same variant twice.
The time control was set for 15 minutes each to complete all one's moves. There was a lot of sitting down before games working out all the rules, so we only had 6 rounds, with all the non-chess club competitors leaving after 5.

xiangqi, or Chinese chess, reputedly the most popular board game in the world

 The 8 variants were Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Burmese, Thai, Mongolian, ancient (Western) and modern Western.

Alan and Russell in round 1

Before the tournament I was widely tipping Anthony Ker to be the favourite, as he has such a wide range of gaming abilities. (He is also an international standard bridge player, for example.) However just before the tournament Scott revealed that he was quite an experienced xiangqi (Chinese chess) player, and had even played the game online. He was lucky enough to get to choose the variant (one person had to choose each round) against both Anthony and Russell, and he chose xiangqi for Anthony, and Korean chess for Russell, which is quite similar. He won both these games and looked set to win the tournament.

HOWEVER! -

Scott and Peter struggling with shogi

Along comes our very own Peter Stoeveken, the hero of the Johnsonville Mall tournament a week earlier, who had also won his first 3 games - he challenged Scott to a game of shogi, Japanese chess, arguably the most complex and difficult of all the variants. One of the complicated things about this game is that if you capture an opponent's piece, you can turn it round and put it back on the board as one of your own pieces. This makes the board incredibly confusing (and full!). Scott totally dominated in his game against Peter, but he thought for too long and lost on time! This basically decided the tournament.

Peter won his first 5 games, then drew with me at shatranj (ancient chess), so finished half a point ahead of Scott and Anthony. A slightly unexpected result, but a totally worthy winner! Congratulations Peter, second time in a week.


Many many thanks to Nova Jiang, and to the Enjoy art gallery for organising this tournament. It was quite hard on the grey matter, but brilliant fun to play. It has certainly given me the urge to explore further these fascinating variants of our beloved game.

Final Cross Table

No Name             Loc Total  1    2    3    4    5   6  

1  Stoeveken, Peter     5.5    7:W  8:W  9:W  2:W  4:W 6:D
2  Wastney, Scott       5      3:W  9:W  4:W  1:L  6:W 5:W
3  Ker, Anthony         5      2:L  0:W  5:W  6:W  8:W 4:W
4  Dive, Russell        3      5:W  6:W  2:L  7:W  1:L 3:L
5  Aldridge, Alan       3      4:L 10:W  3:L  9:W 10:W 2:L
6  Sellen, Ian          2.5   11:W  4:L  8:W  3:L  2:L 1:D
7  Trevelyan, Peter     2.5    1:L 11:W 10:W  4:L  9:D 0: 
8  Cauchi, David        2      0:W  1:L  6:L 11:W  3:L 0: 
9  Palenski, Simon      1.5   10:W  2:L  1:L  5:L  7:D 0: 
10 Klein, David         1      9:L  5:L  7:L  0:W  5:L 0: 
11 Fraser, Matilda      1      6:L  7:L  0:W  8:L  0:  0: 

David Klein vs Peter Trevelyan

Nova demonstrates Thai chess to some visitors

David Cauchi vs Matilda Fraser

Club Rapid 2014 Begins

Welcome back to New Zealand, and to Wellington chess, Jeff Boardman. For those who don't know him, Jeff is a strong 2000+ player who has been living in England for a few years. As a baptism of fire, he got to play Russell Dive on his first day. He didn't win that one, but he did pretty well in his friendly blitz games against Nic Croad after play had finished.

All the first round games went to the higher seed, but there were some keenly fought games. I struggled a bit against Karthik Konakanchi and probably should have lost.
In round 2 there were some interesting results. I was lucky to draw against Lawrence, whom I always seem to have difficulty against. Layla upset number 4 seed Brian Nijman, who is just back from a rather long break, but is over 200 points higher rated. Further down the list, another brilliant result for Pramodh Konakanchi, beating Fabrizio Facchini, and an equally impressive achievement by Alex Collings, who got the better of Nathan Rose.
I'm sorry I cannot comment on any of the games, as I was busy concentrating on my own, and, being a Rapid, people are not obliged to record their moves.

Here are the results

Club Rapid 2014 - Round 1

Results

No Name                 Loc  Total  Result   Name                Loc  Total

 1 Dive, Russell        2384 [0]      1:0    Brockway, Andrew    1654 [0]  
 2 Cunningham, Pat      1563 [0]      0:1    Ker, Anthony        2361 [0]  
 3 Croad, Nic           2345 [0]      1:0    List, Robert        1561 [0]  
 4 MacDonald, John      1561 [0]      0:1    Nijman, Brian       2067 [0]  
 5 Nyberg, Michael      2041 [0]      1:0    Sole, Michael       1500 [0]  
 6 Facchini, Fabrizio   1445 [0]      0:1    Jackson, Ross       1965 [0]  
 7 Stone, Andrew        1919 [0]      1:0    Rose, Nathan        1300 [0]  
 8 Konakanchi, Karthik  1288 [0]      0:1    Sellen, Ian         1911 [0]  
 9 Aldridge, Alan       1907 [0]      1:0    Wight, Joshua       1204 [0]  
10 Aumeier, Beate       1090 [0]      0:1    Boardman, Jeff      1900 [0]  
11 Timergazi, Layla     1826 [0]      1:0    Sknar, Andriy       940  [0]  
12 Bennett, Sarah       901  [0]      0:1    Perry, Roger        1808 [0]  
13 Wilkins, Mark        1750 [0]      1:0    Bailey, Daniel           [0]  
14 Collings, Alex            [0]      0:1    Rossiter, Philip    1700 [0]  
15 Farrington, Lawrence 1683 [0]      1:0    Konakanchi, Pramodh      [0]  
16 Scarlett, William         [0]      0:1    Kay, Bruce          1681 [0]  
17 Stoeveken, Peter     1662 [0]      1:0    Sole, Chris              [0]  
18 Anderson, Gordon     1647 [0]      =:=    BYE                           
19 Meravanage, Satwik        [0]      =:=    BYE                           

 Round 2

Results

No Name                Loc  Total  Result   Name                 Loc  Total

 1 Boardman, Jeff      1900 [1]      0:1    Dive, Russell        2384 [1]  
 2 Ker, Anthony        2361 [1]      1:0    Aldridge, Alan       1907 [1]  
 3 Perry, Roger        1808 [1]      0:1    Croad, Nic           2345 [1]  
 4 Nijman, Brian       2067 [1]      0:1    Timergazi, Layla     1826 [1]  
 5 Rossiter, Philip    1700 [1]      0:1    Nyberg, Michael      2041 [1]  
 6 Jackson, Ross       1965 [1]      1:0    Wilkins, Mark        1750 [1]  
 7 Kay, Bruce          1681 [1]      0:1    Stone, Andrew        1919 [1]  
 8 Sellen, Ian         1911 [1]      =:=    Farrington, Lawrence 1683 [1]  
 9 Brockway, Andrew    1654 [0]      0:1    Stoeveken, Peter     1662 [1]  
10 Sknar, Andriy       940  [0]      0:1    Cunningham, Pat      1563 [0]  
11 List, Robert        1561 [0]      1:0    Aumeier, Beate       1090 [0]  
12 Bailey, Daniel           [0]      0:1    MacDonald, John      1561 [0]  
13 Sole, Michael       1500 [0]      1:0    Bennett, Sarah       901  [0]  
14 Konakanchi, Pramodh      [0]      1:0    Facchini, Fabrizio   1445 [0]  
15 Rose, Nathan        1300 [0]      0:1    Collings, Alex            [0]  
16 Sole, Chris              [0]      0:1    Konakanchi, Karthik  1288 [0]  
17 Wight, Joshua       1204 [0]      =:=    Scarlett, William         [0]  
18 Anderson, Gordon    1647 [.5]     =:=    BYE                            
19 Meravanage, Satwik       [.5]     =:=    BYE                            

Cross Table

No Name                 Rtg Loc  Total  1    2  

1  Ker, Anthony             2361 2     20:W 13:W
2  Croad, Nic               2345 2     21:W 16:W
3  Nyberg, Michael          2041 2     22:W 12:W
4  Dive, Russell            2384 2     29:W 15:W
5  Jackson, Ross            1965 2     30:W 17:W
6  Stone, Andrew            1919 2     31:W 14:W
7  Timergazi, Layla         1826 2     32:W 11:W
8  Stoeveken, Peter         1662 2     33:W 29:W
9  Sellen, Ian              1911 1.5   23:W 10:D
10 Farrington, Lawrence     1683 1.5   24:W  9:D
11 Nijman, Brian            2067 1     25:W  7:L
12 Rossiter, Philip         1700 1     26:W  3:L
13 Aldridge, Alan           1907 1     27:W  1:L
14 Kay, Bruce               1681 1     28:W  6:L
15 Boardman, Jeff           1900 1     34:W  4:L
16 Perry, Roger             1808 1     35:W  2:L
17 Wilkins, Mark            1750 1     36:W  5:L
18 Anderson, Gordon         1647 1      0:D  0:D
19 Meravanage, Satwik            1      0:D  0:D
20 Cunningham, Pat          1563 1      1:L 32:W
21 List, Robert             1561 1      2:L 34:W
22 Sole, Michael            1500 1      3:L 35:W
23 Konakanchi, Karthik      1288 1      9:L 33:W
24 Konakanchi, Pramodh           1     10:L 30:W
25 MacDonald, John          1561 1     11:L 36:W
26 Collings, Alex                1     12:L 31:W
27 Wight, Joshua            1204 .5    13:L 28:D
28 Scarlett, William             .5    14:L 27:D
29 Brockway, Andrew         1654 0      4:L  8:L
30 Facchini, Fabrizio       1445 0      5:L 24:L
31 Rose, Nathan             1300 0      6:L 26:L
32 Sknar, Andriy            940  0      7:L 20:L
33 Sole, Chris                   0      8:L 23:L
34 Aumeier, Beate           1090 0     15:L 21:L
35 Bennett, Sarah           901  0     16:L 22:L
36 Bailey, Daniel                0     17:L 25:L

Provisional Pairings - Round 3

No Name                 Loc  Total  Result   Name                Loc  Total

 1 Dive, Russell        2384 [2]       :     Jackson, Ross       1965 [2]  
 2 Stone, Andrew        1919 [2]       :     Ker, Anthony        2361 [2]  
 3 Croad, Nic           2345 [2]       :     Timergazi, Layla    1826 [2]  
 4 Nyberg, Michael      2041 [2]       :     Stoeveken, Peter    1662 [2]  
 5 Farrington, Lawrence 1683 [1.5]     :     Nijman, Brian       2067 [1]  
 6 Aldridge, Alan       1907 [1]       :     Sellen, Ian         1911 [1.5]
 7 MacDonald, John      1561 [1]       :     Boardman, Jeff      1900 [1]  
 8 Konakanchi, Karthik  1288 [1]       :     Perry, Roger        1808 [1]  
 9 Wilkins, Mark        1750 [1]       :     List, Robert        1561 [1]  
10 Meravanage, Satwik        [1]       :     Rossiter, Philip    1700 [1]  
11 Collings, Alex            [1]       :     Kay, Bruce          1681 [1]  
12 Anderson, Gordon     1647 [1]       :     Sole, Michael       1500 [1]  
13 Cunningham, Pat      1563 [1]       :     Konakanchi, Pramodh      [1]  
14 Facchini, Fabrizio   1445 [0]       :     Wight, Joshua       1204 [.5] 
15 Scarlett, William         [.5]      :     Rose, Nathan        1300 [0]  
16 Bennett, Sarah       901  [0]       :     Brockway, Andrew    1654 [0]  
17 Aumeier, Beate       1090 [0]       :     Bailey, Daniel           [0]  
18 Sole, Chris               [0]       :     Sknar, Andriy       940  [0]  

Chaos at the Johnsonville Mall

It was noisy, unpredictable, chaotic.... but it was a brilliant success, thanks to Scott's authoritative, calm, stewardship of the Johnsonville chess tournament initiated by Chris from Village Gifts and supported by the Johnsonville Mall.
The interest was phenomenal, we could have filled many more tables if we had had the space. In the event, we managed to squeeze in an extra five tables, and increased the number of players from 48 to 58. Passing shoppers were still asking me if they could join in as we were just finishing the final games!
Scott had projected 6 rounds, but because of natural delays this was reduced to 5. There was a clear winner - Peter Stoeveken won all his games, but he graciously forewent the trophy, insisting that it be awarded instead to the youngest of the cluster of players on 4/5. This happened to be our very own Karthik Konakanchi, so in a sense the Club scored a double triumph at this tournament.
In short, this was a memorable occasion, and a terrific piece of publicity for the Wellington Chess Club. It was exciting to see so many talented players out there who OUGHT to be coming to our Club. All the flyers that Andrew Brockway brought along disappeared, so I would be surprised if we didn't get at least one new member out of this.

Thanks to everyone who made this happen!

Autumn Cup 2014 Winners

The Autumn Cup is nearly finished, and all the winners are decided apart from the E grade.
So, congratulations to:

Anthony Ker 4.5/5 - A Grade
Michael Nyberg 4/5 - B Grade
Efrain Tionko 4/5 - C Grade
Lawrence Farrington, Andrew Brockway, Bob List 3/5 - D Grade
Michael Sole - 5.5/6 - F Grade

Anthony seems to be winning everything in sight at the moment!
It was a very impressive debut by Michael Sole in the Swiss, I'm looking forward to more great results from him in the future..

Fabrizio is leading in the E Grade, but if Gordon wins his last game next week, then he will come top.

Catch-up results:

Van der Hoorn 0 Dive 1
Aldridge 0 Nyberg 1
Tionko 1 Stracy 0
Nicholls 0 Rossiter 1
Facchini 1 McDonald 0
Konakanchi 0 Anderson 1

Autumn Cup A Grade

No
Name
Loc
Total
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6


1
Ker, Anthony
2420
4.5
*
½
1
1
1
1


2
Croad, Nic
2357
4
½
*
½
1
1
1


3
Dive, Russell
2451
3.5
0
½
*
1
1
1


4
Van der Hoorn, Mark
2250
1
0
0
0
*
1
-


5
Sellen, Ian
2093
1
0
0
0
0
*
1


6
Stone, Andrew
2075
1
0
0
0
+
0
*

Autumn Cup B Grade

No
Name
Loc
Total
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6


1
Nyberg, Michael
2030
4
*
0
1
1
1
1


2
Perry, Roger
2074
3
1
*
0
1
½
½


3
Timergazi, Layla
1957
3
0
1
*
0
1
1


4
Jackson, Ross
2013
2.5
0
0
1
*
½
1


5
Aldridge, Alan
1980
1.5
0
½
0
½
*
½


6
Wilkins, Mark
1898
1
0
½
0
0
½
*

Autumn Cup C Grade

No
Name
Loc
Total
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6


1
Tionko, Efrain
1891
4
*
0
1
1
1
1


2
Rossiter, Philip
1831
2.5
1
*
0
½
0
1


3
Stoeveken, Peter
1886
2.5
0
1
*
0
1
½


4
Stracy, Don
1854
2
0
½
1
*
½
 


5
Frost, Paul
1814
1.5
0
1
0
½
*
0


6
Nicholls, Al
1848
1.5
0
0
½
 
1
*

Autumn Cup D Grade

No
Name
Loc
Total
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6


1
Farrington, Lawrence
1733
3
*
½
1
½
0
1


2
Brockway, Andrew
1769
3
½
*
½
0
1
1


3
List, Bob
1661
3
0
½
*
1
1
½


4
Roberts, Michael
1759
2
½
1
0
*
½
0


5
Cunningham, Pat
1766
2
1
0
0
½
*
½


6
Kay, Bruce
1755
2
0
0
½
1
½
*

Autumn Cup E Grade

No
Name
Loc
Total
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6


1
Facchini, Fabrizio
1288
3.5
*
0
1
½
1
1


2
Anderson, Gordon
1615
3
1
*
1
1
0
 


3
Asplet, Mike
1358
3
0
0
*
1
1
1


4
Konakanchi, Karthik
1308
2.5
½
0
0
*
1
1


5
MacDonald, John
1505
2
0
1
0
0
*
1


6
Meravanage, Satwik
1316
0
0
 
0
0
0
*

Autumn Cup F Grade

Results

No Name                Loc  Total  Result   Name                Loc  Total

 1 Baker, Jack              [4]      0:1    Sole, Michael            [4.5]
 2 Lamerton, Troy           [4]      -:+    Konakanchi, Pramodh 1380 [3.5]
 3 Wight, Joshua       1267 [2.5]    1:0    Collings, Alex           [3]  
 4 Scarlett, William        [2.5]    1:0    Rose, Nathan             [2.5]
 5 Aumeier, Beate      1110 [2]      1:0    Kierstead, James    1177 [1.5]
 6 Carey, Bruce        889  [1.5]    1:0    Sknar, Andriy       918  [1.5]
 7 Sole, Chris              [1]      1:0    BYE                           
 8 Theodosiou, Andreas 1364 [2.5]   .5:.5   BYE                           
 9 Bennett, Sarah      935  [1.5]   .5:.5   BYE                           

Cross Table

No Name                Loc  Total  1    2    3    4    5    6  

1  Sole, Michael            5.5   11:W  5:W  8:W  2:W  3:D  4:W
2  Konakanchi, Pramodh 1380 4.5    4:W 12:D 14:+  1:L  6:W  3:+
3  Lamerton, Troy           4      0:D  9:W 12:W 10:W  1:D  2:-
4  Baker, Jack              4      2:L 13:W 15:W 14:W 10:W  1:L
5  Wight, Joshua       1267 3.5    0:D  1:L  6:L 15:W 14:W  7:W
6  Scarlett, William        3.5   12:L 11:D  5:W 13:W  2:L 10:W
7  Collings, Alex           3      0:D  0:D 10:L 11:W  8:W  5:L
8  Theodosiou, Andreas 1364 3     13:W 10:D  1:L 12:W  7:L  0:D
9  Aumeier, Beate      1110 3     10:L  3:L  0:D  0:D 12:W 14:W
10 Rose, Nathan             2.5    9:W  8:D  7:W  3:L  4:L  6:L
11 Carey, Bruce        889  2.5    1:L  6:D 13:L  7:L  0:W 15:W
12 Bennett, Sarah      935  2      6:W  2:D  3:L  8:L  9:L  0:D
13 Sole, Chris              2      8:L  4:L 11:W  6:L 15:L  0:W
14 Kierstead, James    1177 1.5    0:D 15:W  2:-  4:L  5:L  9:L
15 Sknar, Andriy       918  1.5    0:D 14:L  4:L  5:L 13:W 11:L

Free Tournament This Sunday With Prizes

There may be still time to enter for the free tournament in Johnsonville Mall this Sunday 8th June from 1-3 pm.
Please contact Scott Wastney at kiwichess@xtra.co.nz if you would like to join in.

A Grade Games and More!

Thanks Nic Croad and Michael Sole for annotating and sending their games, which means that I have enough material to publish a second batch. I have included the other two A grade games, for completeness. Enjoy!

Autumn Cup 2014 Round 5 Games

We are lucky to have such talented chess writers at the club, who also happen to be very good sports! Here are some round 5 games presented by the players involved, in 2 out of the 3 cases annotated by the player on the losing side.
I'm feeling lazy today, but I may put up my embarrassment, and also Ker v Dive, later in the week. Meanwhile, my gratitude goes out to Andrew Brockway, Mike Asplet and Nathan Rose.