Junior Chess Stars

Alan Ansell (left) and Andy Chen (right).

During terms two and three many local and regional chess tournaments are held throughout NZ, culminating in a  national school tournament for primary, intermediate and secondary school teams, to be held at Palmerston North Boys’ High School on 26-27 September.

These tournaments involve hundreds of school chess players, at all levels. For example, 288 student chessplayers, from throughout the Wellington region, participated in a school tournament held at Hutt Intermediate Boys’ School.

NZ has a number of strong junior players. Leading them is IM (International Master) Puchen Wang, who last year embarked on a programme, supported by the NZ Chess Federation, to become only the second Grandmaster produced by NZ.

Progess has been steady and Puchen’s FIDE rating has increased to an impressive 2465, 53  rating points behind NZ’s only grandmaster, GM Murray Chandler.

Other top emerging juniors include Daniel Shen, Daniel Baider, Alan Ansell, Mario Krstev and Andy Chen while the current NZ Women’s title is held by top junior, Judy Gao. Most of these juniors were joined by many others from around NZ seeking to win the coveted NZ Junior Champion title at Elm Park School in early July.

The seven-round tournament was eventually won by 12-year-old Alan Ansell (New Plymouth Boys’ High School) and 16-year-old Andy Chen (Macleans College), each winning six games and drawing the game between them. The six-round Rapid Championship title was also shared in a three-way tie by Mario Krstev, Daniel Shen and Andy Chen with 5.5/6.

These championship tournaments are co-sponsored by Quality Student Diaries and EDUVAC – The Education Weekly.

Author, John Francis, is a very average club chess player but has a passion for the game, despite losing many times to rapidly improving juniors, a fifth of his age!