Another Reminder that School Holidays are coming up so if you are away please let Simon know and you can be given a bye for those rounds. Also signup for the Spring Cup has now started.
Winter Cup round 3 PGN by Tim Ha
A Grade
Morrell vs Steadman – Black’s opening goes completely wrong and he’s left with giant holes in his Kingside and undeveloped pieces. Spends the next 20 moves continuously pushing until Black throws in the towel. 1-0
Gong vs Ang – Both players castle Queen side but White’s position appears more vulnerable. After a few exchanges the position is more even, with black giving up 2 Knights for a rook and a pawn. Black uses his extra rook well in an open position and after swaps is a Rook and 3 pawns vs 2 Knights and a pawn. He then overwhelms White with threats. 0-1
Hague vs Kulashko – White came out of the opening a little better. However he was unable to maintain his advantage and eventually the game was even. At move 40 both players had three pawns each on opposites sides of the board. However White quickly mad a mis-step and resigned with Black soon to promote. 0-1
Fan vs Watson – A fairly even start but Black got a little better as white’s best pieces were changed off. The game swapped down to a rook each plus several pawns and black went a pawn ahead and then two. White resigned in a rook vs rook and two pawns endgame that he couldn’t hold. 0-1
After 3 rounds Alexei Kulashko is in first place on 2.5 but 3 players are just behind on 2.0
B Grade
Goodhue vs Yang was postponed
Macdonald vs Ward – Once again Paul has extensively annotated the PGN, see that for full details of the game. A fairly even start but Black got a little ahead. After some exciting play Black had a won game but blundered a piece and resigned. 1-0
Nagorski vs Seabrook – A good start for Black with White’s pieces being badly coordination and underdeveloped. Black was able to get an exchange up and then got an additional rook ahead. But White’s remaining pieces were able to combine for an attack while Black’s we uncoordinated. He swapped off one piece and mated with a Queen and Bishop while Black’s pieces were on the other side of the board. 1-0
Brimble vs Eade – An unusual opening led to some quick swaps and a very open position. But Black missed a tactic and ended up an exchange and a pawn down with no hope. 1-0
Alex Nagorski and Paul Macdonald are on three out of three. However Nathan Goodhue is just a point behind and has a game in hand.
C Grade
Everett Bishop vs James Liu – Black missed a threat, gave up a piece and resigned a few moves later. 1-0
Xinyang Liu vs Kelvin Xiao – White got a good outpost Night followed by a very good position. He almost blew it when he allowed Black an attack but he survived this and had checkmate a couple of moves later. 1-0
Felix Xie vs Louie Wei – A quick departure from opening theory. The players quickly swapped their pieces into a rook and pawn endgame and then took the draw rather than fight it out. – Draw
Mathew Steadman vs Simon Lyall – Black misplayed the opening and early middle game and allowed which two strong central pawns with rooks behind. He then advanced these and Black’s position fell apart. 1-0
Jason Huang vs Tim Ha – White aggressive pushed forward his pawns and pieces but his position was only equal. Then White missed a tactic and went a piece down. Black cruised to the win. 0-1
Upsets this round:
Mathew Steadman beat Simon Lyall
Winston Weng beat Grant Burrows
Isabelle Ning beat Ying Wang
Everett Bishop and Xinyang Liu are the only players left on a perfect score. But there are 7 players just behind on 2.5