The Seconds last round of the Winter Cup was played this week. Like last week numbers were down at the Club due to School Holidays and other tournaments going on. A reminder to enter the Spring Cup soon if you haven’t already.
Winter Cup 2017 Round 6 PGN by Tim Ha
A Grade
Michael Steadman vs Alexei Kulashko – This game was actually played a couple of weeks ago. White makes a couple of errors out of the opening and resigns on move 15 in a lost position. 0-1
Gordon Morrell vs Allen Fan – The players lock the position up with pawn chains and well defended position. Neither has a safe way of breaking though so they repeat positions and agree on a draw.
Daniel Gong vs Ben Hague – White tried an aggressive pawn push on the King side but Black forces swapped down to a Queen pawns each with Black having the better position. Black picks up a couple of pawns and forces a passed pawn. 0-1
Alexei Kulashko is leading on 5 points ahead of Ben Hague on 3.5. Ben has a game in but it will be difficult to catch Alexei.
B Grade
Caroline Yan vs Roy Seabrook – Blacks Opening (Budapest Defense: Fajarowicz Variation) seemed to give up a pawn for little compensation. White elected to swap off material quickly to maintain her lead and by move 40 it was just a rook each with White having a pawn lead. She was eventually able to win the endgame despite Blacks dogged defense. 1-0
Nathan Goodhue vs Mark Brimble – A strange looking start, both players crept their pawns forward while their pieces hid behind. Between move 20 and 30 the players swapped down material to a Queen, piece and pawns each and just a piece and 7 pawns on move 37. White’s Knight was better than Black’s Bishop however and he got a position where White would have to soon give up his piece to stop a promotion. 1-0
Paul Macdonald vs Alex Nagorski – Once again the game is well annotated by Paul in the PGN – White played and unorthodox Queen’s Gambit Accepted line in which the correct moves were hard to find. Black did fairly well apart from a sidelined Knight. However he castled Kingside which was risky due to the open g-file with a white rook on it. By move 20 White was able to exploit this along with his two Bishops to make a series of dangerous threats which Black was unable to counter. 1-0
Paul Macdonald stays on a perfect score of 6/6 and is now uncatchable. Alex Nagorski is 2nd on 4.0 with Nathan Goodhue on 3.5 with a game in hand.
C Grade
Aaron Wang vs Tim Ha – Black got a great attack but missed the best line and ended up and exchange down. White swapped down to a 3-pawn vs 2-pawn endgame but made the wrong move and ended up with a draw.
Grant Burrows vs Isabelle Ning – White was slightly better most of the game and eventually swapped into a Rook and pawn endgame and then a pawn endgame a pawn up. My engine shows both players had winning positions at various times over the next few moves. Eventually White won however. 1-0
Simon Lyall vs Tom Fu – White developed a little slowly and allowed Black to gain equality. His push on the Kingside put Black under pressure and Black blundered to allow a mate in two. 1-0
Euan McDougall vs Stephen Peak – Dubious opening play by both players left White with a pawn and well placed Bishops. Black tried sacrificing a piece to get back into the game but it was no help. 1-0
Louie Wei vs Winyang Liu – White attempted an attack against Blacks Queen but Black was able to defend. In a tight position Black picked up a pawn but it wasn’t enough to be worth playing out an opposite coloured-bishop endgame. Draw
Virginia Milne vs Felix Xie – White tried an early unsound attact Against Black’s King that gave up two pieces for a rook and a pawn. She was luckily when Black missed the move that would have won her Queen. Black unwisely then made the same exchange back and the positions were even. The players agreed on a draw in an unclear King and pawn endgame. Draw
Kelvin Xiao vs Daniel Morrin – Black adequately defended an attack on his Queen and then gave up more material. 1-0
Upsets in Round 6
Kelvin Xiao beat Daniel Morrin
Jeffery Yu beat Jame Liu
The leader Everett Bishop took a half point bye this round which gave the other players a chance to catchup but the 3 players in second drew or lost.
Going into the last round Everett is on 5.5 while five players are on 4.5