After 3 rounds we are starting to see some leaders emerge in the various grades. For example, in D Grade there are now only 2 unbeaten players.
If you are interested in the Friday chess then more information is on the website. Both new and experienced players are welcome.
- Vega Links: A Grade, B Grade, C1 Grade, C2 Grade, D Grade
- Draw Links: A Grade, B Grade, C1 Grade, C2 Grade
PGN for A though C2 Grades by Tim Ha and Ewen Green
A Grade
Watson vs Hague – A fairly quiet game ending in a draw.
Duneas vs Kulashko – An even looking game but White pushed in the centre and gave Black a pawn. After some maneuvering with queens and rooks White made a mistake and lost a piece. 0-1
Steadman vs Gong – (Note: move 21 for white is Rfa1 not Rfd1 as in the PGN) – After Black took Bh3 with some follow-up pieces White missed the correct defense and resigned due to imminent loss of lots of material. 0-1
Garbett vs Ang – White got a very nice position by move 25 with Black looking in a lot of trouble. He was unable to find the best continuations however and settled for a draw.
Current placings are Alexei Kulashko and Alphaeus Ang are in 1st place on 2 points but Alexei has a game in hand.
B Grade
Tony Wang vs MacDonald – Black sacrificed a piece for a pawn early in the game which looked a little dubious. White then worked to swap pieces while holding off Black’s attacks. In the end, Black managed a perpetual check. Draw.
Allen Fan vs Jasmine Zhang – White had a series of sub-optimal moves and his position got worse until it was completely lost. 0-1
Wells vs Goodhue – A very long game. Early on White looked good with a big pawn-push in the centre. After some swaps, the position was very even with 6 pawns each and White having a bishop to Black’s Knight. However, White made several mistakes in the endgame and lost. 0-1
Morrell vs Nagorski – After a fairly even game, Black had a slightly better endgame but White lost on time. 0-1
Alex Nagorski is leading the grade with 2.5 against 3 higher-rated players.
C1 Grade
Nicole Qin vs Milne – Black played the opening incorrectly and ended up down a pawn and the initiative. White then picked up a few more pawns as the game progressed until Black resigned. 1-0
Song vs Kozakevych – White kept a lot of pressure on Black though slowly pushing pawns and trying different attacks. Eventually Black gave up his queen for two pieces and some hope of attack but nothing came of it. 1-0
Ward vs Wu – White missed a tactic and resigned as he was about to lose a piece – 0-1
Burrows v Lyall – Black played a little passively at the start but White ended up with an advanced pawn he would have trouble keeping. Even after Black declined to take an en prise piece (due to an exaggerated fear of a counter-attack) he got lucky when White gave away the piece a couple of moves later. 0-1
Kate Song and Nicole Qin are in 1st-equal on 2.5 points.
C2 Grade
Ha vs Peak – This was played later in the week – after indifferent play by both sides White won an exchange with a knight fork only to lose a whole rook back a couple of moves later to a similar fork. 0-1
Euan MacDougall vs Eade – After retreating all his good pieces White gobbled up some pawns that Black gave up in return for a 6-piece attack on White’s king. 0-1
Joy Qin vs Caroline Yan – A very even middle-game left White a little better (although she missed a couple of chances). The endgame was eventually drawn although White played it out to make sure. Draw
Jacobs vs Bishop – After getting a little ahead White allowed Black a counter-attack. Luckily for White, Black missed a mate-in-2 and then missed a piece win! After some swaps the position was even. Black had some chances but the game was drawn. Draw
The grade is led by Everett Bishop on 2.5 with the next players on 1.5
D Grade
Major upsets this week were:
- Oscar Qin beat David Ansell
- Wayne McDougall beat Andrew Michael
- Toby Zhang beat Mathew Steadman
- Jennifer Zhang beat Ying Wang
- Shawn Hui beat Isabelle Ning
- Tom Fu beat Hugh Gao
The Grade is led by Aaron Wang and Wayne McDougall on 3 points.
Below is the potential draw for round 4 of D grade. Subject to change due to byes etc.
