Round 2 of the Autumn Cup was still a little mixed up due to the large number of players who took byes in Round 1.
PGN for Autumn Cup round 2 by Ewan Green and Tim Ha
A Grade
Goodhue v Hague – A very strange early game, Queens and a rook were swapped and then black attacked with two Knights supported by his bishops. The game ended abruptly when Black mated with the bishops supported by rook and Knight. 0-1
Watson v Wells – Initially fairly even but White got the initiative. He gave up the exchange for a couple of pawns and after swaps ended up with the Two bishops and a Rook vs two Rooks and a Knight. But the tight mass of central pawns and Bishops left little room for black to play in. Eventually one of Blacks rooks was trapped. 1-0
Jasmine Zhang vs Garbett – Got an exposed King early in the game and after some swaps was a pawn down. Black then creped his pawns forward and swapped down to opposite bishops endgame but with black two pawns up. This was enough to win. 0-1
Gong vs Eade – After a very book Spanish black played some sub-optimal moves to get a little down. There were some interesting swaps with black being a couple of pieces up at one point on the board, unfortunately for him he had a severe back rank weakness and white had a unstoppable pawn. 1-0
Fan vs Lyall – Black blundered a pawn early on but white played passively and he was able to get it back. A few moves later Black allowed white to charge two supported pawns at a group of pieces and pin two however. The extra piece was enough to settle matters. 1-0
Nagorski vs Leo Zhang – After looking in a bit of trouble early in the game White got a nice attack on Blacks central King and force black to swap to survive. White was Queen and Bishop vs 2 rooks (and 4 pawns each). A few moves later black resigned as White threatened to win an additional exchange. 1-0
Nicole Qin vs Mike Steadman – A good start by Black out of the opening, he got a pawn and white’s central bishops were not great compensation. He pushed White back with pieces and pawns until she ran out of room. 0-1
Peak vs Ang – Black gave up a pawn for an aggressive Kingside push (and Whites Queen stuck on a Queenside). White managed to stop it but he missed a mate threat a few moves later. 0-1
Rodney Li vs Morrell – Black came up with a fast attack right out of the opening and white incorrectly defended. 0-1
Euan McDougall vs Duneas – Black won and early exchange. He then swapped off pieces and chased white around to eventually get a mate. 0-1
Macdonald vs Wayne McDougall – Black got in early trouble with White’s Queen chasing his King into the middle of the board. White missed a mate but black resigned in the face of imminent loss of at least a couple of pieces. 1-0
Ward vs Jacobs – White looked very good at the start after Black played a dubious line in the opening. However he got boggled down and made mistake in a cramped position to allow black to win 2 pieces. White tried some aggressive tactics to catch black’s exposed king and/or win material back but was unsuccessful. 0-1
Caroline Yan vs Andrew Michael – Black lost a piece to a fork and gave up another for an attack. White was forced to give one piece back but swapped down to be 2 rooks plus a bishops vs 2 rooks. She maintained the material advantage. 1-0
Milne vs Ha – White missed a fork early in the game and went an exchange down. Black then swapped pieces but made a misstep and lost one piece to a tactical threat. Both players agreed on a draw in a position where it was difficult for either to make progress. Draw
Wu vs Steiner – The players castled opposite sides and attacked each others Kings. Game ended rather abruptly with an agreed draw.
Sarah Yan vs Burrows – The game fairly quickly swapped to an endgame with 6 pawns and one rook each. White played it much better and force two pawns though the middle with a king supporting them. 1-0
After 2 rounds there are 6 players on 2.0 and another 6 on 1.5 points.
B Grade
A few upsets.
- Tom Fu beat Brian Zhao
- Eric Hu drew with Mathew Steadman
- Kelvin Xiao beat Leo Li
- Sylvia McDougall drew with Renae Ghadiali.
4 players are leading on 2 points.
Below is the potential draws for round 3. Subject to change due to byes etc.
