Author: Simon

2018 Summer Cup – Round 4

Signups for the Autumn Rapid are now at the club. Please enter via sign-in there or a text to Simon Lyall. A reminder that Club fees will go up soon to if they are not paid.

 

2018 Summer Cup, Round 4 PGN by Tim Ha

 

A Grade

Draw between Paul Garbett and Mike Steadman (Game not in PGN) while Gino forfeited his game against Alexei Kulashko.

Daniel Gong made one bad move against Ben Hague and allowed Ben a winning attack.

In Alphaeus Ang vs Bruce Watson, Alphaeus got an exchange and swapped into an endgame and then spotted a quick mate for a win.

After 4 rounds Alexei Kulashko is in the lead on 3.5 with Ben Hague in second on 3.

B Grade

See the PGN for Paul Macdonald’s Full Analysis of his game against Erwin Koestano. Erwin looked good for much of the game before a couple of mistakes lost material and allowed Paul a winning counter-attack.

Leon Zhang and Nathan Goodhue drew

Qi Le Kong-Lim vs John Duneas saw John unsoundly sacrifice a piece. However John managed to win a piece back during the endgame (when players were short on time) and win the game.

Alex Nagorski vs Allen Fan. This game is annotated by Alex in the PGN. Alex won by pushing a passed pawn in the late middle-game. Alex’s summary: White played recklessly in the opening reacting not really well to the Black’s novelty Rf7 (Opening theory). Later on, maneuvering, White missed a couple of tactical chances to get advantage of the position (missed Ke6 and g4). (Improve tactics! Count!) I assume that Black felt the White’s pressure throughout the whole game though and struggled to find the correct way to organise counterplay (e.g. Kb6?). In the endgame Black missed the saving move 29…c6 (which can be psychologically justified). White shouldn’t have jumped for the obvious but carefully evaluate and play correctly (Qd7?) Moreover, there was no significant time pressure (11:18 v 20:00). Things to work on: 1) Opening theory, review KI games 2) Tactics, counting improvement

Alex is leading on 3.5 ahead of Paul on 3.

C Grade

Joy Qin and Caroline Yan drew later in the week in a catchup game.

Nicole Qin won by default against Keith Ward.

Simon Lyall beat Don Eade after Don made a mistake in the opening and allowed Simon to cramp Don’s position and bring up a dangerous attack.

Tim Ha’s good start against Roy Seabrook went downhill after he got a rook pinned and then he resigned after Roy won it for nothing.

Nicole Qin leads the Grade on 4/4 while Simon Lyall is second on 3.5.

D Grade

Euan MacDougall is the only undefeated player after a narrow win against Abraham Deng.

Jame Liu, Sarah Yan and Owen Jin are on 3.5

Upsets in round 4:

Brian Zhao beat Rodney Li
Boyuan Zhang Philip Te Whata
Felix Xie beat Stephen Peak
Jeffrey Yu beat David Xu
Anya Thurner beat Leo Li
Mathew Steadman beat Aaron Wang

2018 Summer Cup – Round 3

B grade has been a bit disrupted up following the withdrawal of Brett Rider and Alex Huang. They have been replaced by Erwin Koestano and Qi Le Kong-Lim. I hope to catchup with results later this week.

PGN of round 3 by Ewen Green

A Grade

Alexei Kulashko had a straight-forward win over Paul Garbett after Paul got a little behind out of the opening and Alexei put on pressure with an attack.

Alpheaus Ang and Gino Thornton played a complicated game of sacrifices and exchanges. After the dust settled Alphaeus was an exchange up in an endgame and Gino resigned.

Bruce Watson mis-calculated and material to Ben Hague and resigned early.

Danial Gong sacrificed a piece for 3 pawns and an attack against Mike Steadman. His attack was slowing down when Mike missed a tactic which allowed Daniel to gain material and initiative.

After 3 rounds Alexei Kulashko is on first place on 2.5 points.

B Grade

Alex Nagorski vs Paul Macdonald – Black got a little ahead in the opening but White equalized. The players then swapped pieces into a drawn King and pawn endgame, although the computer says both players had chances at times.

Nathan Goodhue vs Edwin Koestanto – White picked up two pawns and then a Queen for a rook and Bishop. This was enough to win.

The other two games were unplayed.

C Grade

Tim Ha vs Joy Qin – White managed to come a piece up after an attack but took a draw.

Keith Ward vs Caroline Yan – After a lot of back and forth Black won.

Roy Seabrook vs Simon Lyall – Black picked up a piece during a dangerous attack and then blundered it straight back. Eventually Black won.

Don Eade vs Nicole Qin – White went a pawn down and then sacrificed a piece but this was unsuccessful and Black won easily with her extra piece.

D Grade

Upsets:

Boyuan Zhang beat David Ansell
Abraham Deng beat Andrew Michael
Brian Zhao beat Leo Li

 

2018 Summer Cup – Round 2

There are a large number of postponed games in the top grades for various reasons. They will usually be updated in Vega but often won’t be played until after these posts.

2018 Summer Cup R2 PGN by Tim Ha

A Grade

Paul Garbett vs Daniel Gong – After Black allowed white to push his centre pawns Paul ended up with a huge attack and mate in a few moves.

Mike Steadman tried an attack against Bruce Watson but Bruce defended accurately and a draw was agreed.

Gino opted not to try and hold a lost endgame against Ben. Alphaeus and Alexi had a long game in which both players had chances but was draw,

B Grade

Paul Macdonald and Nathan Goodhue (see for notes in the PGN) drew after swaps took the interest out of the position.

Allen Fan managed to pick up a draw against Leo Zhang after being behind for much of the game.

C Grade

Joy Qin and Keith Ward had exciting game. Joy was playing in increment for the last 10 moves and ended up with a draw after being better.

The following position occurred at the end of Nicole Qin vs Roy Seabrook. Nicole was half awake and found a good but not the best move.

D Grade

Upsets in Round 2:

Isabelle Ning beat Virginia Milne
Abraham Deng beat Aaron Wang
Uday Jain beat Erica Hu
Anya Thurner drew with Xinyang Liu

 

2018 Summer Cup – Round 1

Apologies for getting a little behind with rounds. I hope to catchup in the next few days.

2018 Summer Cup Round 1 PGN by Ewen Green

A Grade

No real upsets, although Gong was lucky to escape with a draw after being a passed pawn down in the endgame, luckily for him he was able to round it up.

In Alphaeus Ang vs Paul Garbett – Black sacrificed the exchange for a huge attack that quickly won. See the diagram for the deadly attack.

B Grade

Once again see Paul Macdonald’s commentary on his game against Brett Rider. He prepared an opening move against Brett’s opening and was able to put Brett on the back foot and win.

Alex Nagorski had a good win against Leo Zhang after a pawn push opened up Leo’s position.

C Grade

Simon Lyall vs Joy Qin was a French, Joy wasted time in the opening and allowed Simon to get a winning attack.

Tim Ha vs Nicole Qin was also a French, in the case White made some incorrect moves and lost a pawn and the initiative.

Another French in Roy Seabrook vs Caroline Yan. White played some unlikely moves ( 5. Be2 6. O-O 7. Re1 8. Bf1 ) but Black failed to take real advantage and the game evened up and White eventually won.

Don Eade had some chances against Keith Ward but settled for a draw.

D Grade

Upsets were:

  • Abraham Deng beat Xinyang Liu (via a lucky fork after being behind the whole game)
  • Kendrick Zhang beat David Ansell
  • Brian Zhao beat Winston Weng

 

Summer Cup 2018 – C Grade Draw

Draw for the C Grade in the 2018 Summer Cup

ACC Summer Cup 2018 - C Grade : Round 1
=====================================================
1 = 1 Lyall, Simon         -   8 Qin, Joy Shu Yan    
2 = 2 Ha, Huy Minh (Timoth -   7 Qin, Nicole Shu Yu  
3 = 3 Seabrook, Roy        -   6 Yan, Caroline       
4 = 4 Eade, Don            -   5 Ward, Keith         


ACC Summer Cup 2018 - C Grade : Round 2
=====================================================
1 = 8 Qin, Joy Shu Yan     -   5 Ward, Keith         
2 = 6 Yan, Caroline        -   4 Eade, Don           
3 = 7 Qin, Nicole Shu Yu   -   3 Seabrook, Roy       
4 = 1 Lyall, Simon         -   2 Ha, Huy Minh (Timoth


ACC Summer Cup 2018 - C Grade : Round 3
=====================================================
1 = 2 Ha, Huy Minh (Timoth -   8 Qin, Joy Shu Yan    
2 = 3 Seabrook, Roy        -   1 Lyall, Simon        
3 = 4 Eade, Don            -   7 Qin, Nicole Shu Yu  
4 = 5 Ward, Keith          -   6 Yan, Caroline       


ACC Summer Cup 2018 - C Grade : Round 4
=====================================================
1 = 8 Qin, Joy Shu Yan     -   6 Yan, Caroline       
2 = 7 Qin, Nicole Shu Yu   -   5 Ward, Keith         
3 = 1 Lyall, Simon         -   4 Eade, Don           
4 = 2 Ha, Huy Minh (Timoth -   3 Seabrook, Roy       


ACC Summer Cup 2018 - C Grade : Round 5
=====================================================
1 = 3 Seabrook, Roy        -   8 Qin, Joy Shu Yan    
2 = 4 Eade, Don            -   2 Ha, Huy Minh (Timoth
3 = 5 Ward, Keith          -   1 Lyall, Simon        
4 = 6 Yan, Caroline        -   7 Qin, Nicole Shu Yu  


ACC Summer Cup 2018 - C Grade : Round 6
=====================================================
1 = 8 Qin, Joy Shu Yan     -   7 Qin, Nicole Shu Yu  
2 = 1 Lyall, Simon         -   6 Yan, Caroline       
3 = 2 Ha, Huy Minh (Timoth -   5 Ward, Keith         
4 = 3 Seabrook, Roy        -   4 Eade, Don           


ACC Summer Cup 2018 - C Grade : Round 7
=====================================================
1 = 4 Eade, Don            -   8 Qin, Joy Shu Yan    
2 = 5 Ward, Keith          -   3 Seabrook, Roy       
3 = 6 Yan, Caroline        -   2 Ha, Huy Minh (Timoth
4 = 7 Qin, Nicole Shu Yu   -   1 Lyall, Simon

Summer Cup 2018 – B Grade Draw

Draw for the B Grade in the 2018 Summer Cup

ACC Summer Cup 2018 - B Grade : Round 1
=====================================================
1 = 1 Rider, Brett         -   8 Macdonald, Paul     
2 = 2 Nagorski, Alex       -   7 Zhang, Leo          
3 = 3 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou  -   6 Huang, Alex         
4 = 4 Duneas, John         -   5 Goodhue, Nathan     


ACC Summer Cup 2018 - B Grade : Round 2
=====================================================
1 = 8 Macdonald, Paul      -   5 Goodhue, Nathan     
2 = 6 Huang, Alex          -   4 Duneas, John        
3 = 7 Zhang, Leo           -   3 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou 
4 = 1 Rider, Brett         -   2 Nagorski, Alex      


ACC Summer Cup 2018 - B Grade : Round 3
=====================================================
1 = 2 Nagorski, Alex       -   8 Macdonald, Paul     
2 = 3 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou  -   1 Rider, Brett        
3 = 4 Duneas, John         -   7 Zhang, Leo          
4 = 5 Goodhue, Nathan      -   6 Huang, Alex         


ACC Summer Cup 2018 - B Grade : Round 4
=====================================================
1 = 8 Macdonald, Paul      -   6 Koestano, Erwin        
2 = 7 Zhang, Leo           -   5 Goodhue, Nathan     
3 = 1 Kong-Lim, Qi Le      -   4 Duneas, John        
4 = 2 Nagorski, Alex       -   3 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou 


ACC Summer Cup 2018 - B Grade : Round 5
=====================================================
1 = 3 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou  -   8 Macdonald, Paul     
2 = 4 Duneas, John         -   2 Nagorski, Alex      
3 = 5 Goodhue, Nathan      -   1 Kong-Lim, Qi Le      
4 = 6 Koestano, Erwin      -   7 Zhang, Leo          


ACC Summer Cup 2018 - B Grade : Round 6
=====================================================
1 = 8 Macdonald, Paul      -   7 Zhang, Leo          
2 = 1 Kong-Lim, Qi Lee     -   6 Koestano, Erwin       
3 = 2 Nagorski, Alex       -   5 Goodhue, Nathan     
4 = 3 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou  -   4 Duneas, John        


ACC Summer Cup 2018 - B Grade : Round 7
=====================================================
1 = 4 Duneas, John         -   8 Macdonald, Paul     
2 = 5 Goodhue, Nathan      -   3 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou 
3 = 6 Koestano, Erwin        -   2 Nagorski, Alex      
4 = 7 Zhang, Leo           -   1 Kong-Lim, Qi Le

 

Summer Cup 2018 – A Grade Draw

Draw for the 2018 Summer Cup – A Grade


ACC Summer Cup 2018 - A Grade : Round 1
=====================================================
1 = 1 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er -   8 Garbett, Paul A     
2 = 2 Kulashko, Alexei     -   7 Hague, Ben          
3 = 3 Thornton, Giovanni A -   6 Steadman, Michael V 
4 = 4 Watson, Bruce R      -   5 Gong, Daniel Hanwen 


ACC Summer Cup 2018 - A Grade : Round 2
=====================================================
1 = 8 Garbett, Paul A      -   5 Gong, Daniel Hanwen 
2 = 6 Steadman, Michael V  -   4 Watson, Bruce R     
3 = 7 Hague, Ben           -   3 Thornton, Giovanni A
4 = 1 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er -   2 Kulashko, Alexei    


ACC Summer Cup 2018 - A Grade : Round 3
=====================================================
1 = 2 Kulashko, Alexei     -   8 Garbett, Paul A     
2 = 3 Thornton, Giovanni A -   1 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er
3 = 4 Watson, Bruce R      -   7 Hague, Ben          
4 = 5 Gong, Daniel Hanwen  -   6 Steadman, Michael V 


ACC Summer Cup 2018 - A Grade : Round 4
=====================================================
1 = 8 Garbett, Paul A      -   6 Steadman, Michael V 
2 = 7 Hague, Ben           -   5 Gong, Daniel Hanwen 
3 = 1 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er -   4 Watson, Bruce R     
4 = 2 Kulashko, Alexei     -   3 Thornton, Giovanni A


ACC Summer Cup 2018 - A Grade : Round 5
=====================================================
1 = 3 Thornton, Giovanni A -   8 Garbett, Paul A     
2 = 4 Watson, Bruce R      -   2 Kulashko, Alexei    
3 = 5 Gong, Daniel Hanwen  -   1 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er
4 = 6 Steadman, Michael V  -   7 Hague, Ben          


ACC Summer Cup 2018 - A Grade : Round 6
=====================================================
1 = 8 Garbett, Paul A      -   7 Hague, Ben          
2 = 1 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er -   6 Steadman, Michael V 
3 = 2 Kulashko, Alexei     -   5 Gong, Daniel Hanwen 
4 = 3 Thornton, Giovanni A -   4 Watson, Bruce R     


ACC Summer Cup 2018 - A Grade : Round 7
=====================================================
1 = 4 Watson, Bruce R      -   8 Garbett, Paul A     
2 = 5 Gong, Daniel Hanwen  -   3 Thornton, Giovanni A
3 = 6 Steadman, Michael V  -   2 Kulashko, Alexei    
4 = 7 Hague, Ben           -   1 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er

Simil and Summer Cup Entries

We will be having a Simil at the Club on February 5th. Current NZ Champion Alphaeus Ang and ACC Club Champion Ben Hague will play against a group of other players.

The Summer will be over 7 weeks starting from February 12th. Some round-robin and then Swiss grades.  Note: I called this this “Spring Cup” in the txt I sent to some people.

Simul Entries (Limit around 30)

Rosa Ryu
Kendrick Zhang
Louie Wei
Leo and Rodney Li
Leo and Toby Zhang
Boyuan Zhang
Caroline and Sarah Yan
Saasha and Renae Ghadialli
Leo Liu
Jordan Lewis
Uday Jain
Tracey Liu
James Liu
Xinyang Liu
Jacob Narry
Anya Thurner
Karl Holdo
Tim Ha
Tom Fu
John Liu
Charlotte Wen
Winston Weng
David Xu
Charlotte Ray
Brian Zhao
Joy, Nicole, Oscar Qin
Erica and Selena Hu
Hannah Xu

Summer Cup entries

Note: Full, definately no further entries rated below 1500 and possibly none over that rating.

Vega links on the 2018 Tournaments page

Ben Hague
Paul Garbett
Mike Steadman
Gino Thornton
Daniel Gong
Alphaeus Ang
Bruce Watson
Alexei Kulashko

Allen Fan
John Duneas
Alex Huang
Brett Rider
Nathan Goodhue
Leo Zhang
Alex Nagorski
Paul Macdonald

Caroline Yan
Nicole Qin
Tim Ha
Keith Ward
Joy Qin
Simon Lyall
Roy Seabrook
Don Eade

Euan Mcdougal
Virginia Milne
David Xu
Xinyang Liu
Sarah Yan
Stephen Peak
Oscar Qin
Wayne Mcdougal
Sylvia McDougal
Toby Zhang
Silie Wang
Saasha Ghadialli
Renae Ghadialli
Mathew Steadman
Philip Te Whata
Rosa Ryu
John Liu
Leo Liu
Tracey Liu
James Liu
Abraham Deng
Jeffrey Yu
Jordan Lewis
Owen Jin
Brian Zhao
Jason Huang
David Ansell
Kendrick Zhang
Leo Li
Rodney Li
Winston Weng
Louie Wei
Hannah Xu
Kelvin Xiao
Aaron Wang
Boyuan Zhang
Isabelle Ning
Erica Hu
Selena Hu
Anya Thurner
Jacob Barry
Tom Fu
Shawn Hui
Philbert Zhai
Arkadi Poliakevitch
Nicholas McKinlay
Longbin Bi
Felix Xie
Andrew Michael

Backup List

Charlotte Wen
Charlotte Ray
Joe Wang
Ying Wang
Jacob Chai
Karl Holdo
Edward Zhang
Everett Bishop

 

Welcome to 2018

I hope you all had a good break over Christmas and New Year.  As usual it will be a slow start to the year due to various holidays. The 2018 Calendar is online but here is what is happening the next few weeks:

Monday Jan 22      Casual night

Saturday Jan 27 – Monday Jan 29     The Auckland Anniversary Weekender will be held at the Club. To enter see The NZChess Calendar

Monday Jan 29     No Club Night due to Holiday

Monday Feb 5       Simil Display. Note Tuesday is a Public Holiday

Monday Feb 12     First Round of the Spring Cup. Enter via email, Txt or signup sheet at Club.

Spring Cup 2017 – Round 7

Monday December the 18th is the last day for the Auckland Chess centre for 2018. We are planning the following:

  • Annual general meeting
  • Prize Giving
  • Committee meeting
  • Food and drinks
  • Informal tournament

Due to some byes by top players the last round was mostly un-equal contests at the top.

Games

Alexei Kulashko vs Don Eade – Black dropped a piece to a mate threat and resigned shortly afterwards. 1-0

Alex Nagorski vs Bruce Watson –  White forgot his opening and gave Black a better position. White tried pushing the h-pawn but Black picked it up and swapped down to a king-and-pawn endgame where his extra pawn was decisive. 0-1

Simon Lyall vs Allen Fan – Black got a better opening and charged his pawns against White’s castled King. Eventually White failed to find a correct move to hold the attack. 0-1

Keith Ward vs Nathan Goodhue – A strange looking position as both players like their own opening lines. White had a good start but ended up poorly placing his pieces and allowed Black to pickup and exchange and more dominant position. White attempted a King side pawn push and Black moved his King from the g to a-file. Black then attacked White though the holes White had opened up in the Kingside pawns. 0-1

Ben Hague vs Virginia Milne – Straightforward win for White as he piled on the attack. 1-0

Mark Brimble vs Daniel Gong – White got his pieces a little and game up a Bishop for two pawns. The game ended abruptly white Black ahead but not completely winning. 0-1

Clinton Wells vs Tim Ha – A very passive Modern variation by Black gave White the initiative. Black resigned after losing a piece. 1-0

Paul Macdonald vs Euan McDougall – White had a good start against Black’s Slav. Hi fianchetto’ed his kingside Bishop and did scope up the c4 pawn as he pressed an attack. But his attack slowed and he allowed Black a counter-attack that put Black a Knight and pawn ahead. 0-1

Stephen Peak vs Tom Fu – A fairly even game. But on move 35 Black miscalculated some exchanges and ended up a piece down after the swaps. 1-0

Aaron Wang vs Xinyang Liu –  Black lost a piece fairly early. White eventually managed to invade his position and win. 1-0

Philip Te Whata vs Roy Seabrook – White’s development left his pieces on worse squares. He tried a Bxh6 sacrifice but it wasn’t enough and he lost further material. 0-1

Upsets

  • Euan McDougall beat Paul Macdonald
  • Isabelle Ning beat David Ansell
  • Jeffrey Yu beat Leo Li
  • Uday Jain beat Ying Wang
  • Toby Zhang beat Jason Huang

Final Result

  • 1st Alexei Kulashko 6.5
  • 2nd= Bruce Watson, Alphaeus Ang, Allen Fan 5.5
  • under-1800 – Stephen Peak, Euan McDougall 4.5
  • under-1500 – Hugh Gao  4.5