New Plymouth Chess Club

The New Plymouth Chess Club are hosting the Taranaki Open Rapid on Sunday 20th September 2026 at the Vogeltown Bowling Club. The event will be FIDE and NZCF rated with a minimum prize fund of $1500. Entries are limited so get yours in ASAP using this google link https://forms.gle/5bJiq6dtR974HUEx9

Entry fee $60 Adults, $45 Juniors Under 20. Entries close on 17th September. For timetable and other details please refer to the flyer. Attached are a couple of photos from the past event with pic credits to Dili Wijesinghe and Jonny Kennedy.

We hosted the Taranaki Regional Interschool Chess Competition at the Oakura Village Hall. 21 Intermediate teams and 15 Primary teams participated in the event with the top 2 intermediate teams and the top primary team winning the right to represent Taranaki at the National Finals to be held in Auckland on 26-27th September.
The top 3 teams in both categories were presented with medals. These were the podium finishers.

Intermediate
🥇 1st place - Highlands A
🥈 2nd place - Devon A
🥉 3rd place - Highlands B

Primary
🥇 1st place - Mangorei
🥈 2nd place - Woodleigh A
🥉 3rd place - Merrilands

Congratulations to all the place winners and participants.

We have two new tournaments starting on Tuesday 30th June:

1. 25m+5s Junior tournament starting 6.30pm.
2. 75m+20s Senior tournament starting 7.30pm.

Please arrive 10mins early if you haven't registered with us.

See you at the club room @ 11 Gilbert Street.

26.05.26
It's a wrap.
Today we all depart from Sri Lanka a bit more wiser and content. While we all look for happiness from the outside world, real and lasting happiness comes from within. Just like a game of chess, all the answers are in our beautiful mind, we just need to find them.

25.05.26
Going into the final round today, Geetham was still hopeful of 3rd place (Bronz) if he could win the final round and all other results came out in his favour.
Geetham won his game, but unfortunately not all of the other results came out in his favour. Although he was tied for 3rd place (2 players finishing with 8.5 points and 6 players finishing with 6 points), the tiebreak rules meant that he was placed 4th, narrowly missing out on the Bronz.
Aarush unfortunately had another loss today.

24.05.26
Fun Fact:
The 2nd book ever printed in the English language was a book on chess called "The Game and Playe of the Chesse". Translated and printed by England's first printer, William Caxton, the book was published in 1476 in Bruges, Belgium.
The work is an allegorical look at human society based on the game of chess.

Today was a tough day for Team NZ. Both our boys lost their games today. Both the games very really tough and the boys fought hard to save the day, but their opponents had other plans. Geetham remains on 5/8, and Aarush on 3.5/8 as we enter the final round tomorrow.

Sharing some photos from our excursion yesterday.

23.05.26
Fun fact:
There are more potential variations of a chess game than there are atoms in the observable universe.

Both boys managed to win their respective games today. Geetham went up an exchange in the middle game which was converted into a win. Aarush found a tactic to gain control of an open file, which created a strong attack and allowed him to trap the opponent's queen. The opponent had to sac his rook for two pawns to save his queen. This was converted into a win.
Geetham is now on 5/7 while Aarush is on 3.5/7. Just two more rounds to go.

After the games the boys had a quick lunch, and left for an afternoon excursion. First a boat ride to watch diverse flora and fauna, that included crocodiles, snakes, water monitor, bats, mangroves etc.
Following this they visited a turtle conservation center to study conservation efforts and different species of sea turtles in Sri Lanka. They released several baby turtles into the ocean.
Finally they visited an ancient Buddha temple to understand the spiritual side of Sri Lanka.

22.05.26
Weather here today reminded us of back home. Unpredictable and lots of rain, but it cooled down the mercury a little bit.

We took some team photos today.

The talk here is that the competition and the level of play is higher than previous years. Most games are going for longer than 2 hours, and some even beyond 4 hours. There are hardly any one sided easy wins, and players are having to fight it out till the very end, and a lot of results being determined by who does time management better.

Geetham lost his game today, and Aarush agreed for a draw in what was a fairly equal position although he did have significant time advantage this time. Geetham is on 4/6 while Aarush on 2.5/6. 3 more rounds to go.

This is teaching the kids a lot of lessons like self-belief, dealing with setbacks, handling pressure, managing time etc.

21.05.26
Answer to yesterday's fun question:
It was Maldives, that came here by boat! The lengths people go to for love of the game.

Today the boys had only their classical game to worry about. Aarush ran into time trouble with a pawn up, and blundered under time pressure in the late middle game. Geetham made an early pawn sacrifice for piece development, creating pressure on the opponent as the opening unfolded, which led to a tactical opportunity to win a rook for a minor piece. This was converted into a win in the endgame.
Aarush is now on 2/5 and Geetham 4/5. 4 more rounds to go.

Late afternoon the boys took a dip in the pool followed by some carrom for a change.

20.05.26
Fun Question: There is one delegation that has come to Sri Lanka quite literally by a boat, can you guess which one it is?
I will answer tomorrow if you can't.

As usual, the boys headed into their classical games after breakfast. Geetham came on top with an emphatic win moving onto 3 out of 4 games. Aarush had a very close game with a very equal late middle game position with the opponent's clock running at less than 1min, while Aarush had 10mins on the clock. But the opponent held their nerve for several moves with the clock running down to 11sec at one point, pushing Aarush's clock down to 2mins - it is at this point that Aarush made a mistake that the opponent jumped on to forcing a regretful loss on Aarush. The game lasted close to 4hours!

The blitz in the afternoon wasn't particularly great for either as Geetham finished on 3/7 and Aarush on 2/7. Good thing about blitz is you have no time to ponder about the past game or worry about future ones - it happens all so quickly with a 3m + 2sec time control that you have to stay in the present moment.

We are about to enter the 5th round of the classical tomorrow which is roughly midway into the event.