BTW did your brother ever live in Glendowie? I was at Glendowie College with Jacky and Kevin Taylor. Your niece and nephew perhaps?

My brother was at Tamaki as I was. There are no Jackys or Kevins!

My cousins etc were mostly in the SI or Aussie (via England).

There is another Jenkins trophy match at ACC in a few weeks. David my namesake ! is trying to get more for the tourney at MIT but my chess is bit shaky lately.

I recall in the 50s it was big news when there was a murder. The Bassett Road machine gun murder was the famous one...but then in the 1800s NZ's first Capital in Northland was called "the hell hole of the Pacific". The Pacific nations and also Maori were not treated that well by colonialists (NZ soldiers actually committed some atrocities in Samoa): but I think it is world wide phenomena.

The US seems to be fascinated by violence to a degree not known elsewhere. Someone just joked about sniper feeling only the gun recoil when shooting someone in Afghanistan but this is the reaction of a right winger who really (deep down) knows the whole adventure is wrong.

Sadly it is not new.

But I think the problems world wide are those of the working people and inequalities. These can translate into actions against women as in India (and India while it is getting better (and more sophisticated technologically etc) doesn't yet have as good a justice system as we do or even the US). I ehrd an Indian woman say (rightly) it is hard to cahne peppls minds. And changing people and developing a more equitable society is the challenge.

I see a lot of people round here, and while there are some dubious cases! There are also a lot of really basically good people.

The young bloke may have got into a fight over his ex wife or something, or he was in a a gang. Or someone used knife at the wrong moment.

Usually there are about 3 games live every day.

You might be able to get the tourney "listed"...as you are an honourary CG.com executive!! Lol...

120th New Zealand Championship (2012)

In Rd 1 Wastney played a bit lazily against Stuart although he still won. But then he played some very good games as did Smith and Green. Also one Athula (?) Russell who I don't know. Steadman played a weak version of the Vienna and was punished.

Good to see E. Green playing again and doing well (considering he is near myown venerable age) and making good positional and tactical judgements (and knowing when to take draws).

No, I'm not keen on Rapids and I am moving out of OTB chess in any case..

This year I was hurled into the B Grade again (from the A Grade although I have played in ACC's B before).

Again I am losing about 50% - 80% of my games. I won 1 and drew one out of 6. So I lost 4. One game to go. Lat year much the same happened. I was even winning against Luke Li and also Steadman (and others) but I lost the thread. Then I overlooked simple skewers and forks etc. Blah!!

I missed an easy way to win in two games. I blundered against Don Eade and Simon Lyall. The only game I won with some luck!

So I am clearly losing the plot at 65. I'm becoming target practice for Ewen Green's juniors.

So it is over and out soon.

But I will continue to take an interest in playing over games, doing puzzles etc

Not sure if I will stay on here.

But all the best for you.

I had a draw and two wins against Bobby but I recall when you played against Short, Nigel Short mentioned Bobby (and one other) as kids to watch. Now I think that was about 2005 so he was about 8. So I was struggling against him (but doing better than most A grade players as I think his style suited mine. But he was very alert, very hard to stop.

I misplayed the opening of the Sveshnikov against him and he own in a Rapid (I think it was at the H-Pak Latvian), and things didn't go well then.

Luke Li was coached by Tony Booth and then Leonard McClaren. He is a little more laid back as I had completely won position vs. him only last game but inexplicably blundered (I lost a lot of games to such disasters last year). But all said he is very good and improving.

Kingscrusher has a game by Bobby on his YouTube project, which is very good.

I played over a game by Bobby against (Russian woman player) and his tactical calculations were completely correct.

I also saw Bobby beat poor old Mike Steadman with a great game in the George Trundle (a year or so ago I think)....

I do read your posts regularly, or should I say your eternal conversation with <Benzol> on New Zealand chess activities.

I was looking at <Bobby Cheng> recently thanks to your heads up- an interesting player to say the least, who I wouldn't have heard about without you guys flying the New Zealand chess flag over our website.

Yes Bobby Cheng. He's leaping ahead... I was one of the few A Grade players to have a + score versus him!* But he is very good. Maybe he will be a GM and vie for a top place. Hard to say.

Yes, NZ Chess is interesting to us. To me because it links me to memories of learning and playing with my father. I liked the old days with steam driven clocks and adjournments and the dingy but Dickensian old Auckland Chess Club in the quite old His Majesty's Arcade and all the characters who played chess...Now I've become an old "character"!

All the best to you!

Just a brief note, but I get the impression that the New Zealand chess scene is one of the most active and vibrant these days.

Thanks for your comments.

Chess is more active here than it was when I started playing in the 60s. Although there were a lot of keen players then, and some very good. Of course no one of great stature but some good players considering NZ is or was more keen on rugby and cricket - but there has always been a lot more going on which I suppose is true of most countries.

The literary trope here is of being an Island etc and of NZ being an "empty land" but that is of course (partly) a white European view. Maori tribes (they didn't call themselves Maori) had lived here for about 1000 years I think (and people have lived about 40,000 years in Aussie. But no chess!

So Chess was mainly a European thing (to get back to chess) with Dutch immigrants and so on.

When I was about 12 - 18 I was very keen and my father and I liked the way the NZ Chess scene was full of characters and (more or less) laid back.

It has changed as Chinese immigrants here are very ki on many things including chess. Not all are good! Bobby Cheng is and also Puchen Wang but I think he is probably studying business or something useful but boring!

I am more or less just a Club player but from about 2004 - 2011 I was pretty keen and learnt or re-learnt a lot, and I improved. Now I am just a weekly player but I play over master games etc most days, or try to solve problems.

But chess is not my main interest.

I haven't seen that film but I saw 'The Piano'. It was good. I'm not big on films but I do get videos out from time to time.

Strangely, one of the best things I saw was 'End of the Golden Weather' by Bruce Mason (originally it was kind of play or story he performed or read by narrating it himself and it was hugely popular). The film is somewhat representative but it is a mix to the real and the near-weird. Very good. Forget who did it. But the book or 'play' is worth reading. (The title he got from Tomas Wolfe's 'The Web and the Rock'...