ÿþ<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en"> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <title>Canterbury Inter-School Chess Competitions</title> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="styles/basic.css" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="scripts/global.js"></script> </head> <body> <div id="navigation"> <ul> <li><a href="index.html">Home</a></li> <li><a href="calendar.html">Calendar</a></li> <li><a href="results.html">Results</a></li> <li><a href="champions.html">Champions</a></li> <li><a href="history.html">History</a></li> <li><a href="about.html">About</a></li> <li><a href="links.html">Links</a></li> </ul> </div> <div id="header"> <img id = "logo" src="images/whiteknight.jpg" alt="Logo" /> <h1>Canterbury Inter-School Chess Competitions</h1> <h2>Brief History of the Inter-School Competitions</h2> </div> <div id="content"> <h3>1970</h3> <p> The Canterbury competitions started in Christchurch possibly by the New Zealand Chess Association, now called the New Zealand Chess Federation. The competitions are unique in New Zealand. They are long-running and are mostly run and organised by local schools. Elsewhere in New Zealand it is the local chess clubs that run the competitions. </p> <h3>1971</h3> <p> Alvin Hollander, President of the NZ Chess Association, approached The Press to take over and sponsor the competition. The Press agreed and Bob Schumacher of the sports section was appointed to organise it. 12 teams entered. There was one grade made up of all the big high schools, Heaton Intermediate and St Margaret s. The top four placings in the first year went to Shirley Boys , Christchurch Boys , St Bede s then Cashmere. Long standing high schools taking part since the competitions began have been Burnside, Christchurch Boys , Christ s College, Shirley Boys St Andrew s and St Bede s. </p> <p> <h3>Late 1970s to early 80s</h3> <p> With an increase in teams the A & B grades were introduced. 40 teams regularly entered the competitions. </p> <h3>1979</h3> <p> The C grade made up of intermediates only was introduced. The first two placings went to Heaton and Cobham, with Cobham being the longest playing intermediate since. </p> <p> <h3>1985 to 1988</h3> <p> The girls grade was introduced. In the inaugural year St Margaret s had the top placing. At least four schools were needed for a separate grade so girls schools entered in the B grade in subsequent years. </p> <h3>1999</h3> <p> After a twenty-eight year relationship, sponsorship of the competitions moved from Bob Schumacher, Sports to Press Newspapers in Education (NIE). </p> <p> The Girls competition was re-introduced and open to schools at primary, intermediate and high school level. The top placing in the first year went to Burnside High with four teams entering. </p> <h3>2000</h3> <p> The Primary competition was introduced although some primary schools were able to compete in the intermediate competition in previous years. Twenty-four teams entered in this first year with Ilam taking the title. </p> <h3>2001</h3> <p> The primary and intermediate level saw entrants from all over Canterbury plus Nelson/Marlborough taking part. Interest was so high that most schools could only put in one team and schools that entered late missed out. </p> <ul id="historylist"> <li>Primary competition (24 teams entered)</li> <li>Intermediate competition (24 teams entered)</li> <li>Secondary competition (16 teams entered)</li> <li>School Girls competition (16 teams entered)</li> </ul> <br> <p> The Girls competition was separated into primary, intermediate and high school competitions with three shields for the winners and a cup for the overall champion. Kirkwood was overall champion and the intermediate winner, Ilam the primary winner and Burnside the high school winner. </p> <p> The NZ Chess Federation commenced national competitions. Chess clubs organised Primary, Intermediate and Secondary competitions in their districts to get regional champions who then played each other for the North and South Island titles. The North and South Island champions played each other for the NZ titles at primary and intermediate level. </p> <p> As there were no other South Island inter school competitions, The Canterbury competition winners represented the South Island at the NZ Championship. </p> <h3>2002</h3> <p> Zones were introduced to the Primary, Intermediate & Secondary competitions with a full day zone event, half day zone semi final and then a full day final. </p> <ul id="historylist"> <li>Primary competition (89 teams entered)</li> <li>Intermediate competition (76 teams entered)</li> <li>Girls Primary competition (18 teams entered)</li> <li>Girls Intermediate competition (22 teams entered)</li> <li>Girls Secondary competition (2 teams entered)</li> </ul> <h3>2003</h3> <p> The competitions names changed from Primary, Intermediate & Secondary to Years 1 to 6, Years 7 to 8 and Years 9 to 13. After a five year involvement, at the end of 2003, Jacinta Buist stood down from organising the Years 1 to 6, Years 7 to 8 and Girls Competitions. </p> <h3>2004</h3> <p> The Inter School Chess Charitable Trust took over the running of the competitions for Years 1 to 6 and Years 7 to 8. </p> <p> <h3>2005</h3> <p> The Press Chess Girls' Competition was discontinued. A separate girls' competition was run by Jacinta Buist as part of the NZ Chess Federation Girls' Chess Week. </p> <p> Year 7 to 8 inter school competitions were run in Otago. Cobham Intermediate beat Dunedin North Intermediate to win the South Island final. </p> <h3>2006</h3> <p> Home schooled pupils entered the competition for the first time. The size for primary and intermediate competitions was contained at 8 competitive teams per zone and 8 social teams per zone. </p> <p> Separate North and South Island finals were discontinued. Regional teams travelled to Hamilton to compete for the NZ title. The highest placed teams from each island were awarded the North and South Island titles. Our Windsor and Cobham teams were awarded the South Island titles. </p> <h3>2010</h3> <p> Separate South Island finals were re-introduced, and were well supported. Multiple teams from Canterbury, Otago and Southland travelled to Ashburton to compete. </p> <p> The National finals were hosted at Christchurch Boys' High School, a few weeks after the 7.1 Canterbury earthquake.. </p> <h3>2011</h3> <p> The earthquakes continued, thousands of them, including the devastating quake of February 22. Schools continued to strongly support the chess competitions. Unfortunately some events ended up being cancelled due to facilities and to snow! </p> </div> </body> </html>