Upper Hutt Rapid Ends with Dive Success

Thanks very much to Roger Smith and the Upper Hutt Chess Club for the efficient running of their annual Rapid tournament, attended by most of the brightest stars in the Lower North Island chess scene! There were 30 players in all, the highest turnout for some years in a tournament which used to be the biggest in New Zealand, I am told.
A strong Wellington Chess Club contingent included our 4 top active players, IMs Dive and Ker, FM Scott Wastney, and Brian Nijman.
The tournament was won outright by Russell Dive, who scored an unbeaten 5.5/6 - congratulations to him. Scott came 2nd with 5 points and correspondence grandmaster Mark Noble, who now plays in Levin, was third on 4.5.

A revelation of the tournament, to me at least, was someone I had never heard of, Jeremy Knowles, who I believe lives in Upper Hutt but who isn't a member of the club. He had some amazing results including a fine win against Anthony Ker.
Congratulations yet again to Layla Timergazi. She won the under 1400 rated group, with a higher score than the joint winners of the under 1700 group.

Upper Hutt 25+5 2012

Cross Table

No Name                   Feder Rtg Loc  Total  1    2    3    4    5    6  

1  Dive, Russell                    2356 5.5   16:W  8:W  6:W  3:W  2:D  4:W
2  Wastney, Scott                   2278 5     25:W  5:W  4:W  6:W  1:D  3:D
3  Noble, Mark                      2313 4.5   24:W 14:W  7:W  1:L 15:W  2:D
4  Knowles, Jeremy                  1946 4     26:W 10:W  2:L  7:W 14:W  1:L
5  Sellen, Ian                      1926 4     19:W  2:L 24:W  8:W  9:W  7:L
6  Nijman, Brian                    2080 4     20:W 18:W  1:L  2:L 16:W 14:W
7  Nyberg, Michael                  2039 4     23:W 21:W  3:L  4:L 10:W  5:W
8  Thomas, Ben                      2016 4     15:W  1:L 11:W  5:L 23:W 13:W
9  Davis, Justin                    1993 4     11:D 13:W 10:D 23:W  5:L 18:W
10 Ker, Anthony                     2378 3.5   12:W  4:L  9:D 20:W  7:L 15:W
11 Timergazi, Layla                 1399 3.5    9:D 22:W  8:L 12:L 24:W 20:W
12 Holdaway, Stewart                1713 3.5   10:L 17:D 22:W 11:W 13:L 21:W
13 Stewart, James                   1781 3     30:W  9:L 15:L 19:W 12:W  8:L
14 Jackson, Ross                    1881 3     27:W  3:L 25:W 17:W  4:L  6:L
15 List, Robert                     1456 3      8:L 28:W 13:W 21:W  3:L 10:L
16 Stoeveken, Peter                 1671 3      1:L 19:W 17:L 26:W  6:L 23:W
17 Farrington, Lawrence B           1794 3     22:D 12:D 16:W 14:L 18:L 24:W
18 Sims, Martin (I M)               1809 3     28:W  6:L 23:L 25:W 17:W  9:L
19 Frater, Dylan                    1259 3      5:L 16:L 28:W 13:L 27:W 26:W
20 Shierlaw, Hamish                 1483 2.5    6:L 27:W 21:D 10:L 22:W 11:L
21 McGowan, Alistair                1838 2.5   29:W  7:L 20:D 15:L 25:W 12:L
22 Li, Henry                        1391 2.5   17:D 11:L 12:L 29:W 20:L 28:W
23 Cunningham, Pat                  1477 2      7:L 30:W 18:W  9:L  8:L 16:L
24 Brockway, Andrew                 1648 2      3:L 26:W  5:L 27:W 11:L 17:L
25 Stevens, Mike                    1527 2      2:L 29:W 14:L 18:L 21:L 30:W
26 Thomas, Dominic                  1319 2      4:L 24:L 29:W 16:L 28:W 19:L
27 O'Kane, Nick                     1205 2     14:L 20:L 30:W 24:L 19:L 29:W
28 Heaton, Ken                      1550 1     18:L 15:L 19:L 30:W 26:L 22:L
29 Federhof, Marcus                 1000 1     21:L 25:L 26:L 22:L 30:W 27:L
30 Carr, Christopher                977  0     13:L 23:L 27:L 28:L 29:L 25:L

As a form of catharsis I am afraid I have to share the end of my last game. I was on 4 out of 5 and I just needed to beat Michael Nyberg to secure (joint) 2nd place. This is what happened: