Palmerston North Chess Club Championship

The Palmerston North Club welcomes it's newest member FM Ben Hague who has a FIDE rating of 2292 which makes him the highest rated member in the club. Winner of the Waikato Open last year he will definitely add to the Palmy Club's prestige. The Strongest ever Palmerston North Chess Championship just got stronger!

Latest result's

21/09/2011

FM Mark Noble 2300 - Justin Davis 2082 1-0
Jack James 1784 - Mathew King 1990 0-1
James Stewart 1890 - Chris Burns 2119 0-1

28/09/2011

Justin Davis 2082 - FM Ben Hague 0-1
Mathew King 1990 - James Stewart 1890 1-0
Jack James 1784 - John McDonald 2114 0-1


Current Standings

1. Chris Burns 2119 5/5
2. Mathew King 1990 3.5/6
3. John McDonald 2114 3/5
4. Justin Davis 2082 2.5/6
5. Jack James 1784 2/6
FM Mark Noble 2300 2/2
6. FM Ben Hague 2292 1/1
7. James Stewart 1890 0/7



The B grade is being led by Club President Dennis Davey who has been a member of the club for 30 years!

*Please note all rating's are NZCF except for FM Ben Hague which is FIDE

Palmerston North Club Championship Round 5

Results

FM Mark Noble 2300 - James Stewart 1890 1-0
Chris Burns 2119 - Justin Davis 2082 1-0
John McDonald 2114 - Jack James 1784 0-1

Palmerston North Club Championship Round 4

Results

Mathew King 1990 - Chris Burns 2119 0-1

Justin Davis 2082 - John McDonald 2114 1-0

James Stewart 1890 - Jack James 1784 0-1

Club Championship Round Three

Results

Chris Burns 2119 - FM Mark Noble 2300 Postponed

James Stewart 1890 - Mathew King 1990 0-1

Jack James 1784 - Justin Davis 2082 0-1

Death of the "Dark Horse" Star - Genesis Potini (1965 - 2011)‏

Star of the award winning 2001 documentary "Dark Horse" - Genesis Potini has died of a Heart Attack aged 46 on the 15th August 2011

Genesis Potini - Gisborne's speed chess maestro, specialized in running opponents up against the clock, often trash-talking his way to victory. He was also known as a formidable communicator, a teacher , chess coach and up-front advocate for Mental Health issues.

Widely respected for his phenomenal achievements in promoting the educational benefits of chess, particularly in the poor communities.

Genesis' thoughts on the benefits of chess in education at

Dark Horse Star in action !

Genesis Potini (1613) vs Justin Davis (1647)
Waitakere 2006
White to Play

Black concerned at White's forces aiming at his King, decides to play it safe with 13...h6
but Genesis has seen further and unleashes a nasty surprise ......

The World Championship Cycle

Today the 2011 FIDE World Cup was officially opened by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Tomorrow the first round is scheduled at 15:00 local time (11:00 CET). 128 participants from all over the world will fight in a knock-out that will last more than three weeks and should deliver three participants for the next Candidates tournament/matches, as part of the new World Championship cycle.
Rotorua hosted the Oceania Zonal which was won by Australian Zhao, Zong-Yuan . This enabled him to compete in the World Cup, there is a extensive interview on him here. Unfortunately no New Zealand players managed to qualify for the full list of participants here is the official site

Club Championship Round Two

Results

Justin Davis 2082 - FM Mark Noble 2300 Postponed

Chris Burns 2119 - James Stewart 1890 1-0

John McDonald 2114 - Mathew King 1990 1-0

Jack James 1784 -Bye

Chess at the Square

Below is part of a recent article from the Mawatu Standard. Palmerston North Club official's helped set this up in the square.

Chess pieces a good Start


After spending millions of dollars making Palmerston North’s Square attractive, it’s time to look to the details that will make people want to linger there.
Visiting urban design guru David Engwicht said without things that encouraged people to participate in the life of the space, The Square would be ‘‘used as a corridor, to get from one place to another’’

A International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster for Manawatu

Mark Noble (pictured below) has currently moved to the Manawatu area and is currently playing in the Palmerston North Club Championships. He is best known as a International Correspondence chess Grandmaster and has recently qualified for two world finals where he will try and battle his way to becoming World Champion! Both of these are outstanding achievements.

More information can be found here and a radio interview here.

His over the board play also put's him at the top New Zealand chess. He is a former New Zealand Junior champion 1981-2, former 2 time North Island champion, he achieved his FIDE master title in 1992, represented New Zealand at the 1996 Yerevan Olympiad and played in two New Zealand championship's.

Outside of the major cities Palmerston North must now be the strongest club in New Zealand. A good club needs strong organisers as well as strong players to make it successful, hopefully we can attract more master strength players to our region to encourage this growth.

Club Championship's Round One

The A grade had a last minute entry in FM Mark Noble which was a welcome surprise.

Round One results

A Grade
Chris Burns 2119 - Jack James 1784 1-0
James Stewart 1890 - John McDonald 2114 0-1
Mathew King 1990 - Justin Davis 2082 1/2-1/2
FM Mark Noble 2300 - Bye

A Grade Draw Round 2 24th August

Justin Davis 2082 - FM Mark Noble 2300
Chris Burns 2119 - James Stewart 1890
John McDonald 2114 - Mathew King 1990
Jack James 1784 -Bye



B Grade Results
Martin - Dennis 1-0
Stewart - Yuri 1-0
David- Cedric 0-1