The 6th round of the Autumn Cup saw a larger than usual number of draws. A reminder that the final round 7 will be on June 12th following the Queen’s birthday break.
Don’t forget to sign up for the Club champs which will start on June 19th.
Autumn Cup Round 6 pgn by Ewen Green, Tim Ha and Simon Lyall
A Grade
Ang v Fan – An early repetition with Black in a slightly better position. Draw
Morrell vs Watson – An interesting game. White sacrifices 3 a piece for 3 pawns and gets some chances. Black gets a passed pawn & at one points is A Quuen, 2 pieces and 2 pawns vs a Queen & 6 pawns. Black has to settle for a draw due to the mass for passed pawns. Draw
Hague v Duneas – White picks up a under-guarded pawn and then swaps into an endgame a pawn ahead which he wins. 1-0
Gong vs Macdonald – White aggressive swaps to a rook and pawn endgame. He gradually improves his position and then breaks though and picks up several pawns. 1-0
Caroline Yan vs Goodhue – As often happens, Black gets a little behind in the opening but gets ahead in the tight middle-game positions. White eventually allows a breakthrough against he passive pieces. 0-1
Rodney Li vs Nagorski – Black has most of the play though the game but a slip in the endgame results in a drawn position. Draw
Leo Zhang vs Jacobs – White gets a little lost in his opening and gets a pawn down and very cramped. A few moves later Black is in a commanding position (Computer says +4.5) but the players agree on a draw.
Sarah Yan v Tim Ha – Black pushes against white and eventually picks up a loose pawn. After some piece swaps white tries to push forward some centre pawns but lacks the pieces. Black counter-attacks and wins with an unexpected checkmate. 0-1
Wu v Milne – White gets into trouble aftre he improvises in the opening but luckily for him black missed the best line. However Black pushes hard and white is on the back foot for the next 20 moves. Eventually they agree on a draw in a close endgame. Draw
Peak v Wells – A messy opening gives white a bad pawn structure ( tripled pawns plus 3 isolated pawns) but better placed pieces. Black develops and gets two pawns up before Queening. 0-1
Liu vs Eade – A fairly uneventful game. They players maneuver around before agreeing on a draw at move 32. Draw
Ward vs Euan MacDougall – A careless move by Black gives white a huge attack out of nowhere. 1-0
Lyall vs Wayne MacDougall – White gets an attack out of the opening and eventually black makes a fatal mistake or two. 1-0
Steiner vs Michael – A very even looking game. The game goes through several phases and very different series of positions as each player gets ahead for a bit. Eventually they agree on a draw.
Burrows vs Aaron Wang – Black gets a better opening and picks up a pawn and a better position in the middle game. However White manages to get into a drawn endgame position. Draw
With just one round to go Alphaeus Ang is in first place on 5 points ahead of 5 players on 4.5.
B Grade
Only a few upsets this round. Saasha Ghadiali drew with Ying Wang and Tom Fu drew with Leo Li.
The Grade is led by Toby Zhang on 5.5 and Erica Hu on 5.0 who are playing well ahead of their rating.
Round 7
The draft draws for round seven are below. Subject to usual changes.
