Author: Simon

Final Auckland tournament for this year is the Papatoetoe Rapid. There is Rapid on Saturday the 1st of December and another Junior Rapid on the Sunday. Entries online here.

Vega Links:  A Grade , B Grade

2018 Spring Cup R5 PGN by Ewen Green and Alex Nagorski.

A Grade

Alphaeus Ang vs Paul Garbett – White pushed all four of his centre pawns early while black hung back. The position mostly favour Black but was a dead draw once the players swapped to a rook and pawn endgame. Draw

Mike Steadman vs Daniel Gong – White played 1. e4 for a change and got an equal opening and picked up a pawn in the middle game. But he was unable to find the correct move to open up Black’s position and settled for a draw.

Alex Huang vs Alexei Kulaskho – White picked up a great outpost Knight and pushed a rook though to the 7th. But Black swapped out the attackers to equalise. The position finished with neither player able to break though a wall of pawns though the middle of the board. Draw.

Ben Hague vs Tim Ha – Black lost a piece in the openign and resigned. 1-0

Lewis Jordan vs Bruce Watson – White castled the wrong way into an attack and lost a piece to a tactic a few moves later. 0-1

Paul Macdonald vs John Duneas – Black gave up a pawn for little compensation on move 3. He mounted an attack but didn’t make a lot of progress and lost another pawn. However somehow black got back both the pawns going into the endgame. The players drew with equal endgame.

Don Eade vs Nathan Goodhue – White’s position and material went steadily worse. Although Black missed the best move a couple of times. 0-1

Allen Fan vs Alex Nagorski – Fairly even until Black got his Queen trapped. He got a Rook, Night and Pawn for it but the resulting position forced him into a desperate defence. White advanced some pawns to punch in some more holes and it collapsed. 1-0

Simon Lyall vs Clinton Wells – A fairly even game, neither player managed to get significantly ahead. A draw agreed in an even endgame.

Upsets in Round 5

Alex Huang drew with Alexei Kulashko.

Draws on the top three boards left the placings the same. Ang, Garbett and Gong on 4 with Steadman on 3.5. 5 players are on 3 points.

 

B Grade

Stephen Peters vs Isabelle Ning – White played the Morra Gambit which Black safely navigated. Both players blundered around until White won. 1-0

Stephen Peak vs Sarah Yan – Black gave up an early pawn almost the same way as the Macdonald/Duneas game. White was going well until they put a piece en prise. Black swapped down to a winning endgame. 0-1

Ravi Lakshmi vs Arkadi Polyakevich – White picked up two pawns. However black piled up 4 pieces against White’s king and white made a mistake that allowed mate. 0-1

Upsets in Round 5

Rosa Ryu beat Toby Zhang
Charlotte Wen beat Kelvin Xiao
Rodney Li beat John McClory

With his win Stephen Peters is in Sole lead on 4.5 points. In 2nd eual on 4.0 points are Arkadi Polyakevich, Sarah Yan, Jeffrey Yu and Virginia Milne.

The field is starting the spread out in both grades.

Vega Links:  A Grade , B Grade

Spring Cup 2018 R4 PGN entered by Ewen Green

A Grade

Daniel Gong vs Paul Garbett – The two leaders. White got an attack and a pawn after the opening but failed to find the best moves and black equalised. The players agreed on a draw with Black better but with White able to defend. Draw

Bruce Watson vs Alphaeus Ang – Black played some interesting tactics and ended with an unbalanced position when he  took a rook and two pawns (plus 2 passed pawns) for two pieces. Further Swaps left Black with 2 rooks and white with a Knight and two bishops, plus 6 pawns each. Black put pressure on White until he eventually lost a piece. 0-1

Mike Steadman vs Nathan Goodhue – Black handled Whites “1. b4” well enough but White was better afterwards, getting a protected fawn-pawn on h6 with background mate threats. Eventually black slipped up and allowed the threat of Qg7 to happen which forced him to give up material to prevent it. 1-0

Alex Huang vs Allen Fan – A fairly even game until Black slipped up and lost a couple of pawns. 1-0

Tim Ha vs Paul Macdonald – Black played the dubious ‘Rat Defence’ ( 1.d4 d6 2. c4 e5 ) and came out of the opening equal to better. Pieces were changed to get down to an equal Bishop v Knight endgame (with 6 pawns each). The players repeated positions. Draw

Alex Nagorski vs Lewis Jordon – Black forgot his lines to give White a  better opening and White was ahead and attacking. But White miscalculated and lost an exchange. He was able able to defend his position and Black settled for a draw.

John Duneas vs Simon Lyall – A fairly even start, Black got a little better at one point but didn’t know how to handle the position and white came out ahead after a series of threats and swaps. 1-0

Don Eade vs Akshay Sharma – Black missed a tactic and lost an exchange. He made a mate-threat that Black failed to accurately defend. 1-0

Clinton Wells vs Winston Weng – White picked up a couple of pawns and that was enough. 1-0

Upsets in round 4:

Alex Hung beat Allen Fan

Paul Garbett, Daniel Gong and Alphaeus Ang lead the grade on 3.5 points. Mike Steadman is just behind on 3.

B Grade

Arkadi Polyakevich vs Stephen Peters – The players swapped to an even position and took a draw.

Stephen Peak vs Ravi Lakshmi – The players swapped to an even position and took a draw.

Upsets in Round 4:

Jacob Chai beat John McCory (700 point rating difference)
Silei Wang beat Parthi Partheepan
Jeffrey Yu beat Andrew Michael
Ying Wang beat Rodney Li

Stephan Peters and Isabelle Ning are 1st on 3.5. 7 players are in third-equal on 3.0

 

The Summit Rapid Chess Open is on Sunday the 18th of November. See the Entry form for details.

Lots of people were away this week, mainly due to school exams.

Vega Links:  A Grade , B Grade

Spring Cup 2018 R3 PGN by Ewen Green with help from Alex Nagorski.

A Grade

Daniel Gong vs Bruce Watson – White launched a very early (move 7) pawn storm against Black’s castled King. Black lost an exchange under the attack and resigned as he was about to lose another. 1-0

Paul Garbett vs Mike Steadman – After 9 exf6 gxf6 black was left with a big hole on f7/g7 and all his pieces on the Queenside. White was able to exploit this fast enough to win material and Black resigned. 1-0

Alphaeus Ang vs Ben Hague – White got a strong centre while Black worked around the sides. Black was unable to equalise and after White gave up his rooks for a Queen and pawn White was able to dominate with a mobile Queen. 1-0

Simon Lyall vs Alexei Kulashko – White got an isolated and difficult to defend pawn out of the opening. Black pushed until White made bigger slip-ups and lost material. 0-1

Nathan Goodhue vs Don Eade – Black went well for about 25 moves but a misjudge pawn push gave White an open file for a rook with threats. White picked up a couple of pawns and Black’s attempt to get one back allowed a mate. 0-1

Winston Weng vs Alex Huang – A very long game. After 30 moves the players had swapped to a rook, opposite coloured bishop and 5 pawns each. White picked up a pawn. The players swapped pawns into a draw although the computer claims that at one point White had a win if he’d seen the right move. Draw

Jordan Lewis vs John Duneas – The players swapped down to an unbalanced but even endgame. White had a chance but missed it and the game was drawn.

Akshay Sharma vs Alex Nagorski – White got a little lost in the opening and Black came out better, especially after White missed a tactic and lost an exchange. White tried complications to get it back but ended a piece and a pawn down. 0-1

Paul Macdonald vs Clinton Wells – See Pauls extensive notes. White did a pawn push and Black gave up a piece (that he probably didn’t have to) to stop it. Black resigned a piece down and with little counter-play. 1-0

Upsets:

Winston Weng drew with Alex Huang
Jordan Lewis drew with John Duneas
Alphaeus Ang beat Ben Hague
Daniel Gong beat Bruce Watson

Daniel Gong and Paul Garbett lead the grade on 3/3 with Alphaeus Ang just behind on 2.5.

B Grade

Stephen Peters vs Ariel Padhu – Black got his Queen trapped and was lucky to come out only down a rook, he then lost another piece. 1-0

Sarah Yan vs Rosa Ryu – Black missed a tactic and lost her Queen. 1-0

Hannah Xu vs Arkadi Polyakevich – White allowed black to get two advanced pawns. He was able to Queen one. 0-1

Vincent Cai vs Stephen Peak – White got a good position out of the opening but gave away a couple of pawns and then a piece. 0-1

Upsets in round 3:

Narasimhan Lakshmi Ravi beat Tom Fu
Philbert Zhai drew with Jeffrey Yu
Stephen Peters beat Ariel Patdu

Stephens Peters is in first places as the only player on 3 points. Just behind him 6 players are on 2.5 and 7 on 2.0.

The Summit Rapid Chess Open is on Sunday the 18th of November. See the Entry form for details.

The A-Grade saw a lot fewer upsets in round 2 but there were still plenty in B Grade.

Vega Links:  A Grade , B Grade

2018 Spring Cup R2 PGN by Ewan Green

A Grade

Bruce Watson vs Nathan Goodhue – The players swapped to a endgame with White a little better. After White picked up a pawn he had little trouble. 1-0

Alex Huang vs Paul Garbett – White had an attack but a few moves later Black was completely winning after a few choice swaps. 0-1

Michael Steadman vs German Giuliani – Mike was unphased by black’s “1. c4 g4” and got a quick win. “Boom, that’s how to deal to that g5 rubbish!” . 1-0

Don Eade vs Daniel Gong – White made an error in the opening that lost a pawn and cramped his position. Black was able to quickly exploit this.

Ben Hague vs Akshay Sharma – Black made a few tactical errors and lost quickly 1-0

John Duneas vs Alphaeus Ang – White missed a tactic from Black (see diagram) and lost. 1-0

Alexei Kulashko vs Alex Nagorski – The position was almost locked up and the players did around 20 moves of shuffling. However Black made a mistake and White was able to invade and win. 1-0

Caroline Yan vs Paul Macdonald – White picked up a pawn and Black took a draw in the face of an imminent exchange of the major pieces. Draw

Winston Weng vs Tim Ha –   White lost two pawns but got them back in a flurry of tactical miscalculations by both players. However stepped into a mate. 0-1

Clinton Wells vs Jordan Lewis – White got some pieces in bad positions and gave up and exchange. Black was able to convert from there. 0-1

Only 2 upsets this round.

The underrated Lewis Jordan beat Clinton Wells.
Caroline Yan drew with Paul Macdonald

B Grade

Ariel Patdu vs Andrew Michael – White attacked Black’s castled King and Black miscalculated the defense. 1-0

Arkadi Polyakevich vs Tom Fu – The players took and early draw. The final position however appears to be close to winning for Black. Draw

Abraham Deng vs Stephen Peters – White miscalculated and lost a piece. 0-1

Narasimhan Ravi vs Isabelle Ning –  White was better at several points but wasted moves and lost his advantage. The game was eventually drawn.

Sarah Yan vs Erica Hu – Black lots an exchange and then key pawns in front of her King. 1-0

Upsets

Hannah Xu beat John McClory
Yolanda Chang beat Huge Gao
Stephen Peters beat Abraham Deng
Eugene Wang drew with Joe Wang
Vincent Cai beat Saasha Ghadiali
Philbert Zhai beat Renae Ghadiali

Due to the large number of draws only 2 players are undefeated. Stephan Peters and Ariel Patdu.

 

Round one of the Spring Cup had mostly large rating gaps but there were big upsets in both Grades.

Vega Links:  A Grade , B Grade

2018 Spring Cup – R1 PGN by Alex Nagorski and Tim Ha

A Grade

Alex Nagorski vs Ben Hague – 15 moves of Kings Indian theory before black heads down a sideline. White had the better run but the psotion swapped to a draw.

Alexei Kulashko vs German Giulani – The opening was 1. d4 h6 2. e4 g5 3. h4 g4 which is the “Borg Defense: Troon Gambit” , Black gives up a pawn and develops while he kick’s White’s Queen around. Black gained a lot of threats which White kept on top of until he missed on his position fell apart. 0-1

Paul Garbett vs Clinton Wells – White built up a nice position, countered black’s threats and picked up a pawn. Black resigned as white’s attack started to gather steam. 1-0

Winston Weng vs Bruce Watson – White was going well but pushed a pawn in front of his King which allowed Black in for a mating attack. 0-1

Daniel Gong vs Roy Seabrook – Black tried a new defense against the London System ( 1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 f6 ) but lost a pawn for little compensation. White picked up another pawn and swapped pieces for a winning endgame. 1-0

Tim Ha vs Nathan Goodhue – More opening innovations, this time from White in the c3 Sicilian which got him an even opening. Black picked up a pawn and white resigned in a lost endgame position. 0-1

Paul Macdonald vs Don Eade – White played 1. b3 “continuing the clubs’ pursuit of ridiculous openings”. White looked okay until he blundered into a back-rank mate. 0-1

Allen Fan vs John Duneas – White looked better but black managed to come back with some favorable swaps and the players agreed on a draw in am even endgame position. Draw

Caroline Yan vs Mike Steadman – Whites position went steadily downhill. 0-1

Lew is Jordan vs Alex Huang – More dubious openings ( 1. Nc3 c5 2. g3 Nc6 ). Black pushed white back and eventually black made some mistakes and lost material. 0-1

Upsets in Round 1

German Giuliani beat Alexei Kulashko
Don Ease beat Paul Macdonald
Alex Nagorski drew with Ben Hague
John Duneas drew with Allen Fan

B Grade

A huge number of upsets. Around 11 games out of 17!

The major upsets were:

Silei Wang beat Priyanshu Pattani
Jeffrey Yu beat John McClory
Stephen Peters beat A Sriham
Narasimhan Lakshimi Ravi beat Mike Steiner
Uday Jain beat Virginia Milne

Winter Cup

The ACC Winter Cup was 2 Swiss Grades played over 7 rounds in September and October

Vega Links: A Grade, B Grade

A Grade

1st equal: Allen Fan, Paul Macdonald and Nathan Goodhue (5.5/7)
4th: John Duneas (5)
5th equal: Alex Nagorski, Alphaeus Ang, Winston Weng (4.5)

B Grade

1st: Anya Thurner (5.5/7)
2nd = : Joe Wang, Boyuan Zhang, Ariel Patdu and Tom Fu (5)

The Merv Morrision

This was Played over Labour Weekend ( October 20-22nd ) at the Club. Vega Link

Open

1st=: FM Alexei Kulashko, FM Ben Hague.
3rd: CM John Duneas.

Under 2100

1st=: CM Alphaeus Ang, CM Helen Milligan, David Weegenaar, Daniel Runcan, Laurens Goormachtigh, Richard Dare.

Under 1800

1st=: Roy Seabrook (trophy winner), Simon Lyall, Timothy Ha, Philli Park-Tamati, Andrew Li, WCM Nadia Braganza, Jeffrey Yu, Grant Burrows, William Crombie.

Vega with final entries and grades for the Spring Cup which starts on October 29th is now online:

A Grade
B Grade

Note that we have a lot of entries so may be short of boards on some nights. Some players may have delayed starts.

Reminder that if you are not playing on an evening (perhaps due to exams) then you must let Simon know. Players who turn up or whom notify when they won’t be coming in will be prioritised.

Coming up:

October 20-22 – Merv Morrison weekend tournament
October 22 – No Monday Club Night
October 29 – Round 1 of the Spring Cup

The ACC Winter Cup is two rated Swiss grades over 7 rounds.

Vega Links: A Grade, B Grade

2018 Winter CUP R7 PGN by Alex Nagorski and Ewan Green with help from Paul and Simon.

A Grade

Paul Macdonald vs John Duneas – See Paul’s annotated in the PGN for the full details. White got a huge attack against Black’s King and accurate play by White and some inaccuracies by Black secured the win. 1-0

Allen Fan vs Alex Nagorski – White picked up an early pawn and after some swaps ended up with a mate threat which forced Black to give up a piece. 1-0

Gordon Morrell vs Nathan Goodhue – White was a little better though most of the game. He resigned when Black got a breakthrough in the endgame, although the computer claims the position is a draw. 0-1

Alphaeus Ang vs Roy Seabrook –  Pieces and pawns were exchanged as the players sent expeditions into each others ranks. Black missed a tactic and resigned when he lost a piece (see diagram). 0-1

Tim Ha vs Sarah Yan – White got some pressure but missed the best continuation and Black locked the position. White then sacrificed a piece for two pawns but gained nothing. Unfortunately Black allowed a perpetual check in an otherwise won position. Draw

James Liu vs Simon Lyall – Both players played a little passively. Black tried an attack but it petered out and they agreed on a draw.

Winston Weng vs Abraham Deng – A fairly even game with. Black resigned when he had a piece trapped. However he had a way to escape and keep himself in the game. 1-0

Daniel Gong vs Arkadi Polyakevich – White launched an attack against Black’s Castled King and Black made a couple of mistakes. 1-0

Aaron Wang vs Rodney Li –  The players agreed on a draw in a sharp position. Draw

Andrew Michael vs Caroline Yan – White launched an aggressive attack but over-reached and trapped a piece. 0-1

Don Eade vs JC Mullage – A natural looking move by Black allowed White to threaten a pin on Black’s Queen. White picked up two pawns and Black resigned a few moves later with more loss imminent. 1-0

Jordon Lewis vs Philli Park-Tamati – White got a pawn down an offered a repeat of moves, Black accepted. Draw

Stephen Peak vs John Packenham – White kept up a steady pressure and eventually picked up a couple of pawns and then a piece. 1-0

Virginia Milne vs David Ansell – White got away with some unsound tactics when Black missed the best replies. 1-0

The final result was:

1st equal on 5.5: Allen Fan, Paul Macdonald and Nathan Goodhue
4th on 5.0: John Duneas
5th equal on 4.5: Alex Nagorski, Alphaeus Ang, Winston Weng.

B Grade

Anya Thurner vs Boyuan Zhang – After quickly swapping material the players agreed on a draw in an equal endgame.

Jason Huang vs Ariel Patdu – White resigned after losing a couple of pawns. 0-1

Upsets in Round 7:

Erica Hu beat Ying Wang
Hanna Xu beat N L Ravi

Final Result:

1st on 5.5 points: Anya Thurner
2nd = on 5 points: Joe Wang, Boyuan Zhang, Ariel Patdu and Tom Fu.

 

The Spring Cup will be held over 7 weeks starting on Monday the 29th of October. Like the Winter Cup it will be a 2 grade Swiss but the cut-off for the A Grade has been increased to 1800.

We are at 76 entries across both grades so the tournament is closed and no further entries will be accepted. The only exceptions are players who have been accidentally left out and one player who has yet to confirm entry.

Please check online to make sure you are entered and contact Simon Lyall if you have been missed.

Vega Links: A Grade, B Grade

Please also contact Simon if you would like to change grades. Players under 1800 who have been playing over that level recently may be promoted.

Entries for the Spring Cup are now closed since we have over 70 players. Coming up we have:

October 15 – Last round of the Winter Cup
October 22 – No Club Night, Merv Morrison tournament during the day
October 29 – Round 1 of the Spring Cup

The ACC Winter Cup is two rated Swiss grades over 7 rounds.

Vega Links: A Grade, B Grade

Winter Cup 2018 Rd 6 PGN by Ewen Green with help from Paul, Alex and Simon

A Grade

Nathan Goodhue vs John Duneas – Black was slightly better but white was able to contain him. The players swapped down to a drawn endgame. Draw.

Alex Nagorski vs Pail Macdonald – The PGN this week has two copies of this game, one annotated by Alex and one by Paul. I recommend checking out both of them. Alex was better out of the opening but made a mistake and allowed Paul an advantage. However the game swapped down to a draw (although not trivial) rook and pawn endgame. Draw

Alphaeus Ang vs Allen Fan – White was a little better from out of the opening, but after swapping off his good rook he seemed to decide to try and force a draw. Black avoided the draw and activated his pieces to push White into a corner. Black navigated some tricks by White and it was all over. 0-1

Roy Seabrook vs Akshay Sharma – Black blundered an exchange out of the opening. Pieces were swapped and white had few further problems. 1-0

Abraham Deng vs Jame Liu – The players agreed a draw on move 27 in an equal position. Draw

Simon Lyall vs Aaron Wang – Black tried a dubious opening line which allowed White a winning attack. A few annotations in the PGN. 1-0

William Undy vs Winston Weng – White lost an exchange and two pawns early in the game and decided to call it quits. 0-1

Sarah Yan vs Andrew Michael – Black got the better of some shape play and ended up with 2 passed pawns by move 26. But he made some mistakes and ended up with a drawn endgame, at least is was drawn until black lost his queen. 1-0

Caroline Yan vs Don Eade – Black mounted an aggressive attack which White accurately defended. A draw was agreed soon-after. Draw

Arkadi Polyakevich vs Stephen Peak – White left a hole in his position which Black exploited with a sacrifice and a few moves later White was two pawns down. But black lost a piece to leave a BB+2p vs B+4p endgame. White was able to win. 1-0

David Ansell vs Rodney Li – White lost a piece early on. 0-1

Lewis Jordan vs Virginia Milne – The advantage switch back and forth a few times. However Black tried an unsound piece sacrifice which lost when it failed. 1-0

John Duneas is still in the lead. He is half a point ahead of Allen Fan, Paul Macdonald, Alex Nagorski and Nathan Goodhue.

Upsets in Round 6:

John Pakenham beat John McClory
Winston Weng beat William Undy
Allen Fan beat Alphaeus Ang

B Grade

Anya Thurner beat Priyanshu Pattanito grab 1st place by herself while many other players took byes due to the School Holidays.

Anya is half a point ahead of Boyuan Zhang and Jason Huang.

Upsets in round 6:

Jacob Chai beat Scott Jones

Imaginary Draws in Round 7