National Finals 2016 Info

Overview

The Chess Power National Interschool Finals is being held on Sunday 16 October at Newlands College, 68-82 Bracken Road, Newlands, Wellington from 9:00am - 5:30pm.

Attire

The Chess Power National Interschool Finals is a team event where you are representing your school. Therefore all players are required to wear school uniform. Given this is a national event, students should be encouraged to look smart and professional.

Getting to the venue

From the Airport or Wellington Central

Head north on SH1.

Take the Newlands exit.

Follow Newlands Road to Bracken Road.

Continue on Bracken Road until you reach the college on the right at 68 Bracken Road.

From the North

Head south on SH1.

Take the Johnsonville/Khandallah exit.

At the roundabout take the 4th exit to Moorfield Road

At the next roundabout take the 3rd exit onto Helston Road

Turn right onto Stewart Drive

At the end of Stewart Drive, turn left onto Bracken Road 

Continue on Bracken Road until you reach the college on the right at 68 Bracken Road.

Late Arrival?

If you are running late, please send a text message to 021 0271 5577 with your school name and expected arrival time.

Parking and finding the Playing Hall

The map below shows parking and the playing hall location in relation to roading.

Tournament Format

The Chess Power National Interschool Finals tournament is 9 rounds. Each player will play 9 games of Chess. If there is an odd number of players, a player may get a bye and awarded a full point for that round. A player cannot receive more than one bye in the tournament.

The clocks are set to 15 minutes flat. This means you have a total of 15 minutes for the game. You do not receive any bonus time.

The tournament is run as a Swiss format which means that you will be paired against someone on a similar score to you in each round. There are three separate divisions, Junior (years 1-6), Intermediate (years 7-8) and Senior (years 9-13).

Each player is a member of a team of 5 up to a maximum of 8 players. Your team score is what counts and is calculated by summing your top four players scores in your team.

The team with the highest score will become the 2016 Champions.

Tournament Rules

Standard chess rules apply such as touch move, touch take etc. You are not required to write down your moves. Detailed rules can be found on our FAQ.

Day Schedule

8.30am Guests Arrival
9.30am Opening Announcements
10.00am Start Round1
10.35am Start Round2
11.00am MORNING TEA BREAK
11.20am Start Round3
11.55am Start Round4
12.30pm Start Round5
1.00pm LUNCH BREAK
1.30pm Start Round6
2.05pm Start Round7
2.30pm AFTERNOON TEA BREAK
2.50pm Start Round8
3.25pm Start Round9
4.00pm Chocolate Chess Fun!
4.30pm Prize Giving
5.30pm Tournament Close & Farewell

Food/refreshments

Each player will be provided with a Goodie Bag on arrival with a Just Juice. At morning tea, players will be given a Food bag. The food bag will contain morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.

Morning tea - Apple cinnamon muffins
Lunch - Bacon and egg pie, yoghurt fruit cup
Afternoon tea - Chocolate brownies

We recommend players bring a drink bottle.

Parents will have access to tea and coffee throughout the day. Food can be obtained from the Johnsonville Shopping Centre which is just 5 minutes for Newlands College.

Prizes

The ultimate prize is the Chess Power Interschool National Champions. This prize is award to the first-placed team in each division. To win this prize your team has to get the highest points in the tournament. If two or more teams have the same score, we will use a tie-break to determine the winner. The tie-break used is the sum of the top-four players opponents scores.

Each player in the top 3 teams in each division will be given a Nationals medal:

1st-placed team : Gold Medal

2nd-placed team : Silver Medal

3rd-placed team : Bronze Medal

Additional medals are awarded for the best individual players and the best girl.

In addition, the top individual player in each division will be awarded the Junior Master™ title.

Each player in the event will receive a certificate based on their overall score as follows:

Distinction 6.5 points or more
Excellence 5.5 or 6 points
Credit 4.5 or 5 points
Merit 4 points or below

Seeing the Competition

You can see all the players that will be competing in this event through our tournament page 

Fun Activities

There will be a number of fun activities through the day including puzzles, master challenges culminating in the ultimate battle - a game of Chocolate Chess!

Chess Equipment

Chess City will be making available various chess products at the event including chess sets, books, clocks and cool stuff like rating wristbands, chess champs card game, junior scorebooks and more!

Further information can be found on the Nationals tournament page.