Round 4 of the Autumn Cup saw several upsets in A Grade and the grade is now much closer. B Grade on the other hand has one player by themselves in the lead.
A reminder about upcoming tournaments. The Trust Open is on Queen’s Birthday Weekend (starting June 3rd). The Interclub Junior Rapid is on June 25th and the North Island Champs and NZ Junior Champs will be held at the club in July.
Autumn Cup round 4 PGN by Ewen Green with help from Tim Ha.
A Grade
Watson vs Ang – White sacrificed a Knight for 1 pawn and an attack. Black responded by aggressively swapping pieces (in not always the best way) until it was just 2:1 pieces left. White was unable to break though with his extra pawns and once he last them resigned. 0-1
Hague vs Nagorski – White got a little more initiative out of the opening and picked up a rook for a bishop and a pawn. However Black had some mobility to compensate. White managed to outplay Black in the endgame however. 1-0
Gong vs Duneas – White was ahead from early and looked in a winning position on on but missed a tactic around move 25 that allowed black to counterattack and pick up material. Black managed to win the Queen vs 2 rooks endgame by taking white’s pawns and forcing a swap of the Queen and rooks.
Macdonald vs Fan – Whites opening left him well down and things did not improved as both players maneuvered pieces around. Eventually White made a tactical mistake. 0-1
Jasmine Zhang vs Eade – Black walked into a mating trap early in the game. 1-0
Caroline Yan vs Mike Steadman – Black push against White but ended up with his pieces in poor positions and resigned after her counter-attack was about to win one or two. 1-0
Morrell vs Ha- The opening left black cramped and on the defensive. Black tried to break out but trapped his Queen in the process. 1-0
Milne vs Nicole Qin – Black got off to a good start winning a pawn. However White pushed pawns against Black’s castled King and black made enough mistakes to get checkmated. 1-0
Peak vs Goodhue – White had a good start but allowed Black to undermine his centre and get ahead. Eventually White made a tactical mistake and Black won. 0-1
Wu vs Jacobs – A strange symmetrical opening. Soon after white picked up a pawn and an attack but lacked the right pieces to break though. Black gained an exchange back the players agreed on a draw in a position which was hard for either to make progress. Draw
Liu vs Wang – Black fell for an opening trap and lost his Queen. 1-0
Ward vs Wells – Nice middlegame play by White to undermine Black’s position. 1-0
Wayne McDougall vs Andrew Michael – Dubious opening play by both players (which is saying something in this tournament). Black got a better position and eventually converted. 0-1
Euan McDougall vs Mike Steiner – Black got a better position early in the game and managed a pawn push against White’s King plus other threats. White managed to swap to an even position however. However black ended up with an endgame win. 0-1
Major upsets in Round 4:
- Caroline Yan beat Mike Steadman
- John Duneas beat Daniel Gong
- Alphaeus Ang beat Bruce Watson
The grade is now a 3-way tie for first with Ben Hague, Alphaeus Ang and John Duneas on 3.5 points. 4 other players are on 3.0
B Grade
Major Upsets:
- Erica Hu beat John Liu
- Uday Jain beat Isabelle Ning
- Saasha Ghadiali beat Jacob Barry
Toby Zhang is now by himself in 1st on 4 points. Behind him there are 6 players on 3.0 points.
Possible draws for round 5 are below, subject with byes and other changes.
