The Final Round of the Winter Cup was played on September 30th.
Winter Cup Vega Links: A Grade , B Grade
A Grade
Nigel Metge vs Mike Steadman – A fairly even game. White was better out of the opening while Black was better in the middle game. However White threatened a discoved check and Black failed to find the move that blocked all tricks and lost a piece. 1-0
Alphaeus Ang vs Bruce Watson – White picked up a pawn in the at the end of the middle game and with another it became two connected passed pawns which Black was unable to stop. 1-0
Simon Lyall vs Ajit Pendharkar – After an even game, Black allowed White a couple of tempo to invade his position and was quickly mated. 1-0
Kenny Zhang vs Euan McDougall – white got into a good position and got a good attack against Black’s Castled King. But he overreached and was an exchange down when the attacking pieces were exchanged off. He tried a tactic to get back in the game but missed a mate threat by Black and ended up well down. 0-1
Andrew Michael vs Danial Runcan – White miss-calculated and lost a piece. He resigned after losing another. 0-1
Felix Xie vs Isabelle Ning – A pawn push and a mate threat by White forced Black to give up a rook. White was then able to win easily. 1-0
Clinton Wells vs Lakshmi Ravi – Black looked very good as he pushed White backwards and cramped all his pieces. But after most pieces were swapped the position was back to even. White then got an almost winning endgame but went wrong in time trouble and ended up losing. 0-1
Yolanda Chang vs Joe Wang – White pulled her pieces back in the middle game giving Black chances to run over her position. 0-1
Grant Burrows vs Karl Holdo – White left a piece en prise. Black took it. 0-1
Alex Nagorski vs Don Eade – 15 moves of theory and then Black pushed forward his pawns against White’s King. After opening up a hole Black sacrificed a piece in the attack. But White was able to defend and Black was left down a piece. 1-0
Erwin Koestanto vs Jack Chen – Black trapped his Queen in front of his castled King and was unable to escape a series of discovered attacks. 1-0
Tim Ha vs Boyuan Zhang – White allowed Black to get an outpost Knight. He was then scrabling to defend against a series of threats until Black was a piece up. 0-1
Arkadi Polyakvich vs Jordan Lewis – Black did a pawn a piece push against White’s castled King. White failed to find the correct moves to hold the position. 0-1
Scott Treanor vs Abraham Deng – Black picked up a couple of pawns and was then able to force a win 0-1
Virginia Milne vs Stephen Peak – White tried an early attack against the King but quickly got in trouble and lost a pawn and then a Knight. 0-1
Upsets in A Grade Round 7
Lakshmi Ravi beat Clinton Wells
Nigel Metge beat Mike Steadman
A Grade Winter Cup Final Result
Aftering leading the tournament for 6 rounds Mike Steadman’s loss in the last round dropped him to second place. Final Placings were:
1st: Alphaeus Ang 6.0
2nd: Mike Steadman 5.5
3rd= Nigel Metge, Nathan Goodhue, Euan McDougall, Simon Lyall 5 points.
B Grade Round 7
A Sriram vs Wayne McDougall – Black was far too keen to Castle Queenside which allowed White to attack his exposed position. White picked up a piece and easily won. 1-0
Ethan Liu vs Mike Steiner – White found a tactic to win a piece and Black resigned. 1-0
Erica Hi vs Lucas Xiao – White forked Black’s King and Rook but a couple of moves later allowed Black to fork her King and Queen. 0-1
Upsets in B Grade Round 7
Eden Oshi beat Bobby Peoples
Ethan Liu beat Mike Steiner
B Grade Winter Cup Final Result
1st: A Sriham 6.5
2nd: Neil Sonnekus 5.5
3rd=: Maybe McDougall, Grayson Po’e-Tofaeono, Alan Leach and Ethan Liu on 5.0