Club Championship 2014 Begins

First of all, congratulations to Beate Aumeier on her new role as head chocolatier at the Chocolate Factory in Eva Street.

To celebrate, Beate brought in a load of the nicest chocolate coated coffee beans I have ever tasted. We are very lucky to have someone so talented, kind and generous at the club.

A warm welcome to Hamish Dixon, who has taken a break of some 12 years, and returns to competitive chess in the C grade of the club championship. Welcome also to Aran Mol from the Netherlands, playing in the same grade.
Nice to see the return of Al Nicholls, and the A grade players Russell Dive, Anthony Ker, Brian Nijman and Layla Timergazi.

Club president Ross Jackson very generously gave up his place in the A grade (which he earned by winning the B grade last year), which means that all the A grade players are above the 2000 mark. The A grade was keenly fought last night, with both Brian Nijman and Bill Forster earning draws against higher rated opposition.

Mark Wilkins and Peter Stoeveken take the early lead in the B grade, winning against Al Nicholls and Alan Aldridge respectively.

The C grade looks particularly interesting to me, as there are a number of players whose strength I haven't been able to fully ascertain. All the games played were decisive.

And in the D grade, which is a Swiss, all the games went to the higher seeded player. Jack Baker is easily the favourite here, but I hope he gets some challenging games nonetheless.

Here are the results:

Club Championship A grade

No Name          Loc   Result   Name             Loc 

 1 Perry, Roger  2098    1:0    Timergazi, Layla 2071
 2 Sellen, Ian   2075    ½:½    Nyberg, Michael  2081
 3 Forster, Bill 2081    ½:½    Croad, Nic       2368
 4 Nijman, Brian 2180    ½:½    Ker, Anthony     2435
 5 Dive, Russell 2440    1:0    Stone, Andrew    2058

Club Championship B grade

No Name          Loc   Result   Name                Loc 

 1 Don Stracy    1855     :     Andrew Brockway     1784
 2 Ross Jackson  1984    ½:½    Philip Rossiter     1922
 3 Mike Roberts  1761    ½:½    Lawrence Farrington 1852
 4 Mark Wilkins  1886    1:0    Al Nicholls         1850
 5 Alan Aldridge 1951    0:1    Peter Stoeveken     1856

Club Championship C grade

No Name         Loc   Result   Name               Loc 

 1 Michael Sole 1746     :     Phillip Coghini    1747
 2 Aran Mol     1700    1:0    Troy Lamerton      1731
 3 Josh Wight   1204    0:1    Patrick Cunningham 1734
 4 Mike Asplet  1566    1:0    Robert List        1724
 5 Nick Barr    1482    1:0    Hamish Dixon       1500

Club Championship D Grade

No Name               Loc  Total  Result   Name              Loc  Total

 1 Baker, Jack        1396 [0]      1:0    Collings, Alex    1203 [0]  
 2 Bailey, Daniel     1200 [0]      0:1    Scarlett, William 1255 [0]  
 3 Meravanage, Satwik 1238 [0]      1:0    Phillips, Cameron 1192 [0]  
 4 Sknar, Andriy      1039 [0]      0:1    Bennett, Sarah    1236 [0]  
 5 Aumeier, Beate     1228 [0]      1:0    Sole, Chris       953  [0]  
 6 Strokov, Philipp   900  [0]      0:1    Patuwai, Bubbles  1280 [0]  
 7 Allsop, Lachlan    900  [0]     .5:.5   BYE                         
 8 Galacgac, Jacob    900  [0]     .5:.5   BYE