The last round of the 2017 Autumn Cup was played on June 12th. Going into the round A grade had 6 players in contention (Alphaeus Ang half a point ahead of 5 others), while in B grade just two players had a chance of winning. Next week the Club Champs will start.
I’ll post a summary of the Autumn Cup results in another post.
Autumn Cup round 7 PGN by Ewen Green and Tim Ha.
A Grade
Gong v Ang – After a sedate start White tries 7 d4 to liven things up without success, however a few moves later Black allows white some play and white sacrifices and exchange for good mobility and threats. After 20 movies of maneuvering black makes a mistake and allows and mating net. 1-0
Fan vs Hague – Black gets a huge attack in the middle which white somehow manages to survive. They swap to an endgame with Black having a Rook vs Whites with 2 Knights (plus some pawns each). Then Black gives up his Rook to leave Black with just won pawn and White with 2 Knights. Close to the end White even had a theoretical win but played a different move and the players took the draw.
Watson vs Jasmine Zhang – After coming under pressure Black lost her Queen and two pawns for 2 rooks. White swapped Queen and rooks back but blew his advantage. However after a miscalculation Black was in a King and pawn endgame with her King on the wrong side of the board. 1-0
Goodhue v Morrell – A complicated game. White had a cramped position that Black took a while to crack. 0-1
Duneas vs Rodney Li – While lost a pawn in the early middle-game and was working to hold the game after giving up another and then a third. White missed a chance to force a draw but Black kept swapping material until his pawn advantage allowed him to promote. 0-1
Ha vs Nagorski – Black picked up a couple of pawns early in the game though holes in White’s defense. Black sacrificed a rook for a mate but took a draw when it didn’t quite work. Draw
Nicole Qin vs Leo Zhang – After an even looking opening Black picked up a pawn and then pushed a passed pawn which won pieces. 0-1
Wells vs Wu – Black mounted an attack down the C-file which picked up a pawn and then a piece. 0-1
Jacobs vs Caroline Yan – A color-reversed Queens Gambit. Black pushed hard to get an advantage and wore white down till he crumbled. 0-1
Milne vs Ward – A good opening from black picked up a pawn although white was better developed. After a tactic white got a huge attack however which escalated into a mate. 1-0
Eade vs Sarah Yan – Black got better of the opening, picking up a pawn. White played a tactic which got it back though the tactic was unsound so he was a little lucky. Both players then missed some tactics and eventually agree on a draw.
Michael vs Lui – White had a good start but lost a pawn in the early-middle game. Black maintained a slight lead after that and when things eventually swapped in the endgame was enough ahead to win. 0-1
Oscar Qin vs Peak – Black improvised in the opening but came out okay. White pushed his kingside pawns but left his position a little vulnerable while black’s Queenside pawn push cramped White. Black picked up an exchange and his advanced pawns caused problems for White until he was a piece ahead. 0-1
Wang vs Steiner – A lot of tactical threats and mistakes throughout the game. Eventually Black won. 0-1
Euan McDougall vs Yu – Black made an error in the opening and lost a pawn. Some slow play by both players afterwards until Black got the pawn back. The players swapped to an even rook and pawn endgame but Black made a couple of mistakes and lost. 1-0
B Grade
One the top board the Leaders Erica Hu and Toby Zhang drew.
Top upsets were
- Jeffery Yu beating Abraham Deng
- Shawn Hui drew with Jacob Chai
- Erica Hu drew with Tobdy Zhang
- Winson Weng beat Felix Xie