Hawke's Bay Chess Club Inc.

The Fifth Hawke's Bay Rapid

Sunday, 12 February 2017

At the Napier Sailing Club
off West Quay, Ahuriri NAPIER

A-Grade
B-Grade
Junior

Hawke's Bay Chess: Different roads both lead to success

Ben Hague and Bob Smith took different paths through the Hawke's Bay Rapid chess tournament today but ended up together as first equal.
“I beat Bob in our game but I had three draws,” Aucklander Hague, who also won the tournament last year, said after the two had both scored 4.5 points from their six games at the Napier Sailing Club.
“I wanted to win in the final game against James Jack and I had some pressure but he is dangerous tactically so I played cautiously. I'm happy with the result.” Hague won the 2016 Poison Pawn Grand Prix series, of which the Napier tournament is one round.
“I think I played better than the last time I was here,” Hague added. “I was a bit lucky then.”
Bay of Plenty player Smith described his tournament as “mixed but not too bad”. He made up for his loss to Hague by winning more games.
“I was a bit lucky once or twice, for example when defending a bad position I made it as hard as possible for my opponent to win.”
“I lost to Ben when I was distracted by annoying music coming from a boat outside, but I probably would have lost anyway.”
The tournament was special for the Smith family as Bob's wife Viv won the B Grade with 5.5 points from the six rounds.
“We did that once before, at Waitakere, but that was before living memory,” Viv Smith, a former New Zealand women's champion, said.
“I'm pretty much retired now but if Bob's going away I'll keep him company. Actually I'm disappointed because I won my first five games and I was aiming for a ‘picket fence’ [a row of six ones]. In the last round I could have won a rook but I didn't see it and only drew.”
Finley Duncan won the Junior section with a perfect score of six from six. Bernard Carpinter won the prize for top Hawke's Bay player in the A Grade.

Results -
A Grade: 1 equal Ben Hague and Bob Smith, 4.5 points; 3 equal Layla Timergazi and James Jack, 4.0.
B Grade: 1 Viv Smith, 5.5; 2 Dion Charles, 4.5; 3 equal Colin Albert and Charlie Li, 4.0.
Junior: 1 Finley Duncan, 6.0; 2 Z'Am Payne, 4.5; 3 William Duncan, 4.0.

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Entry Form (pdf)

Links

The Fourth Hawke's Bay Rapid

The Third Hawke's Bay Rapid

The Second Hawke's Bay Rapid

The First Hawke's Bay Rapid

See New Zealand Chess for more information.