Dramatic checkmate in Kaikohe

In winning a sudden-death showdown in dramatic come-from-behind fashion, Northland College has earned the right to represent the province at this national secondary schools' teams chess championships in Auckland in September.

The outcome was cemented in a fitting and dramatic finale which saw Northland College captain and No 1 Te Haki Busby losing his queen early on to Paddy Bryan before recovering to checkmate his Kaitaia College counterpart in the deciding match of the Northland qualifiers in Kaikohe last Saturday.

As Northland champions and with previous nationals experience, Kaitaia dominated the early rounds of the re-animated tournament, accumulating 20 points with 10 wins and two losses from 12 games, while the Northland College seniors went into the final round with 18 points from eight wins, two draws and two losses. This left Kaitaia needing just two wins from the fourth and final round while Northland needed three, noted tournament organiser Harko Brown.

Kaitaia No 4 Lambourn took a quick win over Northland counterpart Qianna Titore, leaving Kaitaia needing just one win from the remaining three games. But the local players had other ideas and began to dig deep. Firstly, Northland No 3 Caylyn Titore (Qianna's sister) had her best game of the tournament to defeat Arthur Salele, while No 2 Kauwiti Selwyn dispatched Kaitaia's Zaine May, leaving the title to hinge on the outcome of the showdown between the two captains, Busby and Bryan, the Northland and Kaitaia No 1s.

A match to the death then with Harko Brown - yes, the man more known for his work promoting traditional Maori sports games - providing a blow-by-blow commentary with Busby owning the early exchanges to take a slight ascendancy when he captured his opponent's rook for a bishop.

"But, after 10 minutes, Bryan hit back with a near knockout blow when he captured his opponent's queen! From then on

the game was packed with tension as Busby used every ounce of his ability to stay in the fight

, using all of his pieces in a full press attack to stage a comeback," said Brown, adding that after 30 minutes and a series of exchanges, Busby was still in serious trouble with just two rooks and a knight up against Bryan's queen, knight, bishop and rook.

With five minutes left on the clock, the Northland College senior managed to fork both Bryan's queen and king before forcing an unlikely checkmate with just 60 seconds left to secure the title for his school, and thus the right to represent the province at the nationals at St Paul's in Auckland on September 27-28.

Brown said it was a thrilling and fitting final to a long day of chess and captured the attention of everyone in the room, who crowded around the board before erupting in boisterous applause at the game's dramatic conclusion.

A total of only five teams contested the Northland championships which were held in the Northland College library on Saturday. This included three sides from the hosting school - where chess is burgeoning apparently under principal Jim Luders - including senior (coached by Harko Brown), intermediate and junior teams; along with Kaitaia College, coached by stalwart chess advocate and science teacher Mike Bryan. The Anne Taute-coached Opononi Area School is also joining the fray.

Brown described the turnout - which included two last-minute withdrawals - as disappointing considering the lengths he had gone to to promote the event to every eligible school in the province. Each team was made up of four students who played a round-robin format, with each game being played over a maximum 40 minutes.

Other highlights were having several parents in attendance, everyone bringing food for a shared kai, and the gracious comment by Kaitaia captain Paddy Bryan who noted, "Te Haki deserved to win our match after coming back from a queen down."

The winning team received trophies, the runners-up team medals, and the remaining teams confectionary as prizes, while the two visiting college coaches - Taute and Bryan - both received beautiful roses.

The final results were, Northland College seniors 24 points (e.g. 1st), Kaitaia College 22, Northland College juniors 13, Northland College intermediates 12, Opononi Area School 5; with Te Haki Busby, Caylyn Titore and Roger Lambourn the only undefeated players during the tournament.