The Club has been very busy in the School holidays with 6 tournaments for the New Zealand Junior and North Island Championships.
A reminder to let Simon know if you are unable to play during the holidays. All it takes is a text.
A draft list of rules has been published for the Monday Night. Feedback is welcome.
Round 5 PGN by Ewan Green with help from Tim Ha.
A Grade
Duneas vs Zhang – White got a little off-opening after a few moves and black ended up slightly better in the early middle game. White was looking in a bit or trouble but managed to force a draw with a perpetual check. Draw
Morrell vs Hague – A fairly even looking game for the first 30 moves. White’s Queen got a little cramped but he was able to swap the attacking pieces. White made an error on move 35 when he allowed a tactic which one a piece. 0-1
Goodhue vs Gong – Whites flank openings again got him a good position. After pawn and piece swaps the position was still fairly even with two rooks, a bishop and 3 pawns each by move 35. However Black picked up a pawn and then white lost the exchange getting it back. With rook+pawn vs Bishop+pawn black carefully timed giving up his rook for whites bishop and pawn to leave himself with a winning king+pawn position. 0-1
Steadman vs Fan – Black got a bishop sidelined and then trapped and capture soon after the opening. Black got a Rook back but his pieces were blocked or undeveloped while white was charging down the center. 1-0
Ang vs Watson – A very sharp game with a pieces hanging on both sides. Black got a rook ahead. However White managed to get it back and then force a perpetual check. Draw
Ben Hague is still leading with 5 out of 5.
B Grade
Brimble vs Ha – A fairly even game but a couple of miscalculations by Black allowed white to pick up a couple of pawns during piece swaps. The endgame was fairly simple after that. 1-0
Nagorski vs Ward – A straightforward game was briefly exciting when White dropped his Queen into Black’s back rank. But this was swapped off. Things looked even but black made a mistake and allowed white to get an attack and then resigned when he was losing material. 1-0
Lyall vs C Yan – White tried to invade blacks position with a Knight but when it became trapped game up his Queen for 2 pieces. Black then carefully attacked White’s uncoordinated position and was on the verge of winning with a huge advantage. White tried a desperation attack which Black ignored and to the surprise of both players White’s attack checkmated. 1-0
Eade vs Peak – Black lost a piece for two pawns to a tactic. Things swapped down to white being a piece up in an endgame and eventually won. 1-0
Alex Nagorski is currently leading the Grade on 3.5 points with 3 players on 3.0.
C Grade
Seabrook vs S Yan – After an unusual opening ( 1. d4 d5 2. e3 ) white was better for most of the middle game. White game up two pieces for a rook and two pawns, but white one one back and swapped to two bishops plus 4 pawns vs white’s rook and 5 pawns in a very open position. Black then swapped things down nicely to two bishops and a pawn vs a rook and pushed the pawn to the 8th rank. 0-1
Xinyang Li vs O Qin – White misplayed the opening a little and Black was better. Around move 20 black picked up a bishop for 2 pawns. Play continued for a while. The pgn isn’t complete but shortly after the end of it White allow a fork to take his last piece. 0-1
Burrows vs Michael – A very long game with each player ahead in places although generally black was better. Eventually drawn after 71 moves. Draw
Aaron Wang vs Rodney Li – A fairly even game but White picked up a couple of pawns which was enough.
Major Upsets in Round 5
Leo Li beat Wayne McDougall
Sarah Yan beat Roy Seabrook
Isabelle Ning beat John Liu
Tobdy Zhang beat David Xu
The Grade is led by Sarah Yan and Oscar Qin on 4.5 points with 3 others just behind on 4.0 points