Spring Cup Round 5 PGN by Ewen Green
A Grade
Alphaeus Ang vs John Duneas – White was slightly better though most of the game. Black managed to get an even endgame but then made a mistake and White had a win. 1-0
Daniel Runcan vs Alex Nagorski – Black made a mistake in the opening and lost a piece. 1-0
Philli Park-Tamati vs Scott Treanor – Black lost a piece.
Mike Steadman vs Paul Garbett – Black got a pawn storm against White but miscalculated and lost two pawns. White was then able to counter-attack and swap pieces to a win. 1-0
Tim Ha vs Nigel Metge – After Black got the better opening White missed his chance to win a Queen (see diagram) and instead ended a piece down. 0-1
Isabelle Ning vs Bruce Watson – Black swapped to a slightly better ended game and then was able to outplay White. 0-1
Jasmine Zhang vs Joe Wang – White picked up an exchange and then swapped to a won-endgame. She picked up a bonus piece on the way.
Felix Xie vs Ajit Pendharkar – White was able to squeeze Black’s position until he eventually trapped and won Black’s Queen.
Jeffrey Yu vs Don Eade – Black blew a hole in front of White’s king and then was able to attack it with a horde of pieces
Rauen Le Grange vs Simon Lyall – A fairly even game with both neither player getting ahead. Draw agreed in an even endgame. Draw
Hao Tang vs Karl Holdo – An even game until at the end White had a Queen vs a Rook and Knight and Black made some errors and was quickly lost. 1-0
Daqi Mao vs Aaron Wang – Black was slightly better most of the time and managed to get a better endgame and then convert it into a win. 0-1
Jordan Lewis vs Stephen Peak – A Quick draw.
Andrew Michael vs Erwin Koestanto – Opposite side castling and both players attacked. But White missed his chances and allowed black to overwhelm him. 0-1
Grant Burrows vs Arkadi Polyakevich – After some chances for each playing the the early middle-game White picked up a pawn and then swapped down to a won endgame. 1-0
Kenny Zhang vs Hugh Gao – The game swapped to a drawn king-and-pawn endgame but Black pushed the wrong pawn. 1-0
Lakshmi Ravi vs Virginia Milne – Black allowed Bxh6 and a quick mate. 1-0
Upsets in A Grade Round 5
Danial Runcan beat Alex Nagorski
Ben Hague is leading with 4.5 while 4 players are on 4 points.
B Grade
Baraa Al-Afaghani vs David Zhu – White gave up a piece for a couple of pawns but Black quickly went on the offensive and then won another piece. 1-0
Ying Wang vs Saheb Saahir – White got a piece up but then gave it back, she managed to just hold the draw.
Tracey Tang vs Ethan Liu – A complicated game with lots of tactics. Black eventually made a big mistake and White was material ahead. 1-0
Eric Fan vs Mike Steiner – White got an attack but failed to find the best continuation. The payers swapped down to a draw.
Upsets in B Grade Round 5
Grayson Po’e-Tofaeono beat John Liu
Michael Malcolm beat Neil Sonnekus
David Zhu beat Barra Al-Afaghani
Pranav Shenoy beat Maxwell Xiao
After 5 rounds Thomas Zheng leads on 4 points with Jacob Barry on 3.5.