The capital of New Zealand is Wellington and as the crow flies it’s 8,590 miles away from where I live. Of course, a crow couldn’t fly from here to there, but if they could, they commonly fly only 6 to 12 miles a day as they stop to feed and roost and at that rate, for a crow, a trip to Wellington would take 2-4 years. You can make the trip in an airplane in about 23 hours which is still a long time.
Back in 1958 the North Island’s championship was held in New Plymouth, a city on the west coast of North Island. It’s known for its coastal walkway, a park that has botanical gardens and bird life while sub-alpine forests and waterfalls characterize the Egmont National Park to the south.
It sounds like a nice place to live. The average temperature for the year is 56.0°F (13.3°C). The warmest month, on average, is February with an average temperature of 63.0°F (17.2°C). The coolest month on average is July, with an average temperature of 49.0°F (9.4°C). The highest recorded temperature in New Plymouth is 86.0°F (30°C), The lowest recorded temperature is 29.0°F (-1.7°C), which was recorded in June.
The 1958 North Island Championship was a tie between J.R. Phillips and Ortvin Sarapu with Phillips getting the title on tiebreaks.
The two players in this game both met tragic ends. 
James Rodney Phillips (1942 - September 19, 1969) became the youngest player ever to win New Zealand’s national championship when he captured the title in January 1957 at age 14, a record that stands to this day.
He was coached by the Estonian born master Ortvin Sarapu, who spotted his talent at the age of 10.
Phillips played in the World Junior Championship in The Hague in 1961 and finished fourth in his preliminary group, thereby missing out on a place in the final group of 12. However he won the reserve group to finish 13th overall.
Phillips competed in the 1967 British championship which was won by Jonathan Penrose; Phillips finished in a tie for 10th place out of the 36 competitors with a score of 6-6.
He was found drowned in Wellington Harbor on September 19, 1969...suicide was suspected.
Roger A. Court was the North Island co-champion in 1956 and 1963. He was New Zealand champion in 1963/64. He won or tied for the NZ Correspondence Championship four times (1958, 1959, 1962 and 1966). Court tragically died of an asthma attack in 1962 at the age of 32.
[Event "N. Island Champ, New Plymouth, NZ"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1958.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Rodney Philips"]
[Black "Roger A. Court"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C41"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "1958.??.??"]
{C41: Philidor Defense} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 {Today this old defense is known as
a solid defense, but it's seldom seen at the top level because not only is it
heavily analyzed, but it is too passive.} 3. d4 Nf6 {Statistically speaking
the much more popular 3...exd4 tends to strongly favor white.} 4. Nc3 (4. dxe5
{is best met by} Nxe4 (4... dxe5 5. Qxd8+ Kxd8 6. Nxe5 {and the threat to f7
means white has won a P and has a clear advantage}) 5. Qd5 Nc5 {with full
equality for black.}) 4... Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Qe2 c6 8. a4 Qc7 9. h3
h6 10. dxe5 (10. Ba2 a5 11. Be3 Re8 12. Qc4 Rf8 13. Rfd1 {with equal chances.
Smejkal,J (2570)-Rukavina,J (2460) Leningrad 1973}) 10... dxe5 (10... Nxe5 {
is equally playable.} 11. Bb3 Re8 12. Nd4 Bf8 13. f4 Ng6 14. Qf3 Bd7 15. Be3
Rad8 {with equal chances. Ginzburg,Y (2356)-Kodinets,K (2409) Internet 2004})
11. Nh4 Nc5 {Ignoring the pin on the f-Pawn is going to cause problems for
black as white now concentrates his attention on it.} (11... Kh7 12. Nf5 Nc5
13. Nxe7 Qxe7 14. f4 Be6 15. f5 Bxc4 16. Qxc4 a5 17. b4 Na6 18. bxa5 Qb4 19.
Qxb4 Nxb4 20. Ba3 {Draw agreed. Kurajica,B-Penrose,J Hastings 1966}) 12. Ng6
Rd8 13. f4 {White is better.} Bd6 14. f5 {Preventing ...Be6 but offering black
a chance to get back into the game.} (14. Be3 {is preferred by engines, but
threading through a messy tactical situation at the board could prove quite
difficult!} exf4 15. Nxf4 Be6 16. Nxe6 Nxe6 17. Rxf6 (17. Bxe6 fxe6 18. Bxh6
Bh2+ 19. Kh1 Qe5 20. g4 Bg3 (20... gxh6 21. Qxh2) 21. Bd2 {is equal.}) 17...
gxf6 18. Rf1 Be5 19. Qg4+ Kf8 20. Bxe6 fxe6 21. Ne2 {with unclear
complications. In Shootouts using Stockfish white scored +2 -0 =3, but the
endings were long and tricky.} (21. Qxe6 Kg7 {is equal.})) 14... Kh7 15. Nh4 {
Black has succeeded in forcing back the N and defend his f-Pawn and so he has
managed to equalize} Qe7 {But this passive defense is unsatisfactory.} (15...
b5 {This strong counterattacking move keeps him in the game.} 16. axb5 Bb7 17.
bxc6 Bxc6 18. Bd5 Rab8 {with an equal opportunityy position.}) 16. Nf3 b6 {
Again, too passive. 16...b5 is less good than last move, but it would still
give white something to think about.} 17. g4 {[%mdl 32] This signals the
beginning of a decisive attack.} Ng8 18. h4 Nd7 {Better was 18...Kg8} (18...
Kh8 19. g5 Nb7) 19. Qg2 {Not bad, but better and more spectacular was 19.Ng5+!
To be fair making all the necessary calculations OTB would not be easy nor
practical!} (19. Ng5+ hxg5 20. hxg5 Bc5+ 21. Kh1 Nh6 22. Qh2 {Better than the
immediate capture of the N} Rh8 23. gxh6 Bb7 (23... g6 24. fxg6+ fxg6 25. Bg5 {
wins...the B is untouchable,,,} Qxg5 26. Rf7+ Kg8 27. h7+ Rxh7 28. Qxh7#) 24.
g5 Raf8 25. g6+ fxg6 26. Rf3 Qe8 27. Rg3 Rf6 28. Bg5 Rff8 29. Bd2 Rf6 30. Rf1
Nf8 31. Rh3 Bc8 32. hxg7+ Kxg7 33. Rxh8 {wins} Qe6 34. Qh6+ Kf7 35. fxe6+ Ke8
36. Rxf6 Bxe6 37. Qg7 Be7 38. Rhxf8+ Kd7 39. Rxe6 Kc7 40. Qxe7#) 19... Nf8 20.
g5 Kh8 21. Nh2 {Black puts up a chivalrous defense, but in the end white's
attack is just too strong.} h5 22. Ne2 g6 23. Ng3 Bc5+ 24. Kh1 Rd4 25. Qe2 a5
26. b3 b5 27. axb5 cxb5 28. Bd5 Bb7 (28... Rxd5 {makes things a bit more
difficult for white.} 29. exd5 Bd4 30. fxg6 fxg6 (30... Bxa1 31. Rxf7) 31. Ra2
b4 32. Nf3 Bc3 {and white still has some work to do.}) 29. fxg6 Rxd5 {Of
course 29...gxg6 first was better...still hopeless, but better.} 30. Qxh5+ Kg7
31. Nf5# {Philips conducted a nearly flawless attack.} 1-0
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