Author: Simon

Club Champs A 2017 : Round 1  : June 19
=====================================================
1 = 1 Gong, Daniel Hanwen  -  10 Duneas, John        
2 = 2 Hague, Ben           -   9 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou 
3 = 3 Zhang, Leo           -   8 Watson, Bruce R     
4 = 4 Morrell, Gordon      -   7 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er
5 = 5 Goodhue, Nathan      -   6 Steadman, Michael V 


Club Champs A 2017 : Round 2  : June 26
=====================================================
1 =10 Duneas, John         -   6 Steadman, Michael V 
2 = 7 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er -   5 Goodhue, Nathan     
3 = 8 Watson, Bruce R      -   4 Morrell, Gordon     
4 = 9 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou  -   3 Zhang, Leo          
5 = 1 Gong, Daniel Hanwen  -   2 Hague, Ben          


Club Champs A 2017 : Round 3  : July 3
=====================================================
1 = 2 Hague, Ben           -  10 Duneas, John        
2 = 3 Zhang, Leo           -   1 Gong, Daniel Hanwen 
3 = 4 Morrell, Gordon      -   9 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou 
4 = 5 Goodhue, Nathan      -   8 Watson, Bruce R     
5 = 6 Steadman, Michael V  -   7 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er


Club Champs A 2017 : Round 4  : July 10
=====================================================
1 =10 Duneas, John         -   7 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er
2 = 8 Watson, Bruce R      -   6 Steadman, Michael V 
3 = 9 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou  -   5 Goodhue, Nathan     
4 = 1 Gong, Daniel Hanwen  -   4 Morrell, Gordon     
5 = 2 Hague, Ben           -   3 Zhang, Leo          


Club Champs A 2017 : Round 5  : July 17
=====================================================
1 = 3 Zhang, Leo           -  10 Duneas, John        
2 = 4 Morrell, Gordon      -   2 Hague, Ben          
3 = 5 Goodhue, Nathan      -   1 Gong, Daniel Hanwen 
4 = 6 Steadman, Michael V  -   9 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou 
5 = 7 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er -   8 Watson, Bruce R     


Club Champs A 2017 : Round 6   : July 24
=====================================================
1 =10 Duneas, John         -   8 Watson, Bruce R     
2 = 9 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou  -   7 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er
3 = 1 Gong, Daniel Hanwen  -   6 Steadman, Michael V 
4 = 2 Hague, Ben           -   5 Goodhue, Nathan     
5 = 3 Zhang, Leo           -   4 Morrell, Gordon     


Club Champs A 2017 : Round 7   : July 31
=====================================================
1 = 4 Morrell, Gordon      -  10 Duneas, John        
2 = 5 Goodhue, Nathan      -   3 Zhang, Leo          
3 = 6 Steadman, Michael V  -   2 Hague, Ben          
4 = 7 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er -   1 Gong, Daniel Hanwen 
5 = 8 Watson, Bruce R      -   9 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou 


Club Champs A 2017 : Round 8   : August 7
=====================================================
1 =10 Duneas, John         -   9 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou 
2 = 1 Gong, Daniel Hanwen  -   8 Watson, Bruce R     
3 = 2 Hague, Ben           -   7 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er
4 = 3 Zhang, Leo           -   6 Steadman, Michael V 
5 = 4 Morrell, Gordon      -   5 Goodhue, Nathan     


Club Champs A 2017 : Round 9   : August 14
=====================================================
1 = 5 Goodhue, Nathan      -  10 Duneas, John        
2 = 6 Steadman, Michael V  -   4 Morrell, Gordon     
3 = 7 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er -   3 Zhang, Leo          
4 = 8 Watson, Bruce R      -   2 Hague, Ben          
5 = 9 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou  -   1 Gong, Daniel Hanwen 

 

 

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.

Vega Links: A Grade, B Grade

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

 

The Auckland Chess Centre Club Champs will be starting on June the 19th and round for 9 weeks. There will be 10-player A and B Round-robin grades and a C-Grade Swiss.

Vega Links for the Grades are below. They are not quite final but should be close. Please contact Simon if your name is missing or you’d prefer to play in another grade.

A Grade, B Grade , C Grade

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

Vega Links: A Grade, B Grade

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.

Both A and B grade saw fewer upsets than in previous round but things are still close. Coming up round 6 will be played on May 29th but the club will be closed on June 5th for Queens birthday, round 7 will be on June 12th.

A reminder that the signup sheets are in place for the Junior Interclub on June 25th and for the Club Champs from mid-June onwards. The Trusts Open will also be on Queens Birthday weekend. More details in the Entry form.

Autumn Cup round 5 PGN by Ewen Green and Tim Ha

Vega Links: A Grade, B Grade

A Grade

Ang vs Hague –  Black got off to a good start and seemed a little ahead for much of the game. White’s H-Rook was stuck in the corner and his other pieces imperfectly placed. Black got a pawn ahead but a complicated swap left an unbalanced endgame. White had 2 rooks & 3 pawns vs a rook, a bishop & 5 pawns. Black push his centre pawns white White pushed his H-pawn. White put on pressure and black missed some good moves and eventually the (very hard to find) drawing line. 1-0

Duneas vs Watson – After an even start White made a tactical error and then compounded it trying to save it. He resigned a few moves later. 0-1

Fan vs Caroline Yan –  A fairly even game though to about move 20 before white picked up 2 pawns and then swapped to an single rook each endgame with 2 extra pawns. 1-0

Jasmine Zhang vs Leo Zhang – Black got under early pressure (I suspect the Gruenfeld is not a good opening if you are rough on theory) and miscalculated some tactics to leave himself well down in material. 1-0

Milne vs Gong – White was looking good until she got her Queen trapped. 0-1

Nagorski vs Macdonald – This game has extensive analysis by Paul Macdonald in the PGN – I very much recommend reading it. Paul summarizes the game as “This game was special in my mind because it was played generally at to a very high standard. What was significant was that the endgame was played well by both sides with no major errors despite there being significant time trouble. I felt both players could be proud of this game.” – Draw

Eade vs Morrell – Black got his pieces on great squares and restricted White. He then sacrificed an exchange to bust open the position. White resign as he was about to lose material. 0-1

Goodhue vs Liu – Black failed to take advantages of White’s slow start. As White turned up the pressure Black lost a piece. 1-0

Steadman vs Peak – Mike is having a rough tournament and this game was no better. – The game started evenly but white got the imitative with a pawn storm on the kingside. But Black was able to hold it off due to central pawns blocking white’s other pieces. Tactical chances were missed by both players but black managed to get a perpetual check. Draw.

Sarah Yan vs Ward – An obscure opening. The game got very tactical for many moves before black made the last mistake. 1-0

Jacobs vs Lyall – Passive play by black allowed white to push 4 supported pawns against Black’s King. Mate followed. 1-0

Nicole Qin vs Steiner – White got a good position out of the opening and Black went downhill from there. 1-0

Ha vs Oscar Qin – White won a piece, then another. 1-0

Michael vs Wu – White sacrificed a knight for two pawns and a pawn storm against Black’s king. He looked quite good after that but in a complex position as the players swapped pieces he fell for a pin of his Queen against his King. 0-1

Wells vs Burrows – Nobody expects you to accept the Queen’s Gambit. However white recovered and was winning. Black eventually left a piece en prise.  1-0

Ewen McDougall vs Aaron Wang – The places seem to have accidentally played with wrong colors from the draw. White (McDougall) was ahead early on after black failed to quickly develop. After white got a pawn up he swapped to an endgame. The position was draw but black made a mistake in a King and pawn endgame. 1-0

Yu vs McDougall – White got into a good position after blacks dubious opening but missed a tactic and lost a piece. Both players when swapped pieces with white trying various ways to get his piece back. Eventually Black managed to come out ahead. 0-1

With his win against Ben Hague; Alphaeus Ang is now in first place on 4.5 ahead of Bruce Watson. Jasmine Zhang and Allen Fan on 4 points.

B Grade

Upsets in Round 5

• Winston Weng beat Renae Ghadiali
• Kelvin Xiao beat Isabelle Ning
• Jeffery Yu beat Jacob Chai
• Rosa Ryu beat Zi Hao Lin

Current leader after 5 rounds is Toby Zhang on 4.5, ahead of Erica Hu on 4.0 . 5 players are just behind on 3.5

Round 6

The draft draws for round six are below. Subject to usual changes.

Round 4 of the Autumn Cup saw several upsets in A Grade and the grade is now much closer.  B Grade on the other hand has one player by themselves in the lead.

A reminder about upcoming tournaments. The Trust Open is on Queen’s Birthday Weekend (starting June 3rd). The Interclub Junior Rapid is on June 25th and the North Island Champs and NZ Junior Champs will be held at the club in July.

Vega Links: A Grade, B Grade

Autumn Cup round 4 PGN by Ewen Green with help from Tim Ha.

A Grade

Watson vs Ang – White sacrificed a Knight for 1 pawn and an attack. Black responded by aggressively swapping pieces (in not always the best way) until it was just 2:1 pieces left. White was unable to break though with his extra pawns and once he last them resigned. 0-1

Hague vs Nagorski – White got a little more initiative out of the opening and picked up a rook for a bishop and a pawn. However Black had some mobility to compensate. White managed to outplay Black in the endgame however. 1-0

Gong vs Duneas – White was ahead from early and looked in a winning position on on but missed a tactic around move 25 that allowed black to counterattack and pick up material. Black managed to win the Queen vs 2 rooks endgame by taking white’s pawns and forcing a swap of the Queen and rooks.

Macdonald vs Fan – Whites opening left him well down and things did not improved as both players maneuvered pieces around. Eventually White made a tactical mistake. 0-1

Jasmine Zhang vs Eade – Black walked into a mating trap early in the game. 1-0

Caroline Yan vs Mike Steadman – Black push against White but ended up with his pieces in poor positions and resigned after her counter-attack was about to win one or two. 1-0

Morrell vs Ha- The opening left black cramped and on the defensive. Black tried to break out but trapped his Queen in the process. 1-0

Milne vs Nicole Qin – Black got off to a good start winning a pawn. However White pushed pawns against Black’s castled King and black made enough mistakes to get checkmated. 1-0

Peak vs Goodhue – White had a good start but allowed Black to undermine his centre and get ahead. Eventually White made a tactical mistake and Black won. 0-1

Wu vs Jacobs – A strange symmetrical opening. Soon after white picked up a pawn and an attack but lacked the right pieces to break though. Black gained an exchange back the players agreed on a draw in a position which was hard for either to make progress. Draw

Liu vs Wang – Black fell for an opening trap and lost his Queen. 1-0

Ward vs Wells – Nice middlegame play by White to undermine Black’s position. 1-0

Wayne McDougall vs Andrew Michael – Dubious opening play by both players (which is saying something in this tournament). Black got a better position and eventually converted. 0-1

Euan McDougall vs Mike Steiner – Black got a better position early in the game and managed a pawn push against White’s King plus other threats. White managed to swap to an even position however. However black ended up with an endgame win. 0-1

Major upsets in Round 4:

• Caroline Yan beat Mike Steadman
• John Duneas beat Daniel Gong
• Alphaeus Ang beat Bruce Watson

The grade is now a 3-way tie for first with Ben Hague, Alphaeus Ang and John Duneas on 3.5 points. 4 other players are on 3.0

B Grade

Major Upsets:

• Erica Hu beat John Liu
• Uday Jain beat Isabelle Ning
• Saasha Ghadiali beat Jacob Barry

Toby Zhang is now by himself in 1st on 4 points. Behind him there are 6 players on 3.0 points.

Possible draws for round 5 are below, subject with byes and other changes.

 

Round 3 of the Autumn Cup saw large number of upsets in both grades. There is now only one player left on a perfect score in A Grade and just two leaders in B Grade.

Vega Links: A Grade, B Grade

Autumn Cup Round 3 PGN by Tim Ha, Alex Nagorski and Simon Lyall.

A Grade

Fan v Watson – A good start by White but he managed to get two pieces forked and quickly ran out of threats. He resigned with once Black swapped off his threatening pieces. 0-1

Nagorski vs Gong – Shortly out of the opening black found a tactic to line out 3 undefended white pieces (see diagram). But instead of a simple piece advantage Black took two pieces for his Rook.  However White managed to create a passed pawn and then chewed up blacks pawns while black maneuverer to stop it. At the end with 3 pawns and a rook vs a Bishop, Knight and pawn white gave up his rook for the pawn leaving black short of material once he gave up a piece to stop white queening. Draw

Steadman v Macdonald – Black got better out of the opening with pawns and Knights in the centre having prevented White from getting out. A few moves later White resigned when he was faced with the loss of material plus a follow-up attack. 0-1

Duneas vs Morrell – Black was intent on an attack and fail to notice a white tactic that won a piece and more. He resigned when the trap was sprung. 1-0

Ang vs Oscar Qin – After a good start Black played a couple of passive moves and allowed White to make threats which black had to scramble to counter. Eventually he missed one and White picked up a piece. 1-0

Leo Zhang vs Sarah Yan – Black made a simple tactical mistake and lost a piece. White then swapped down to a Night plus 4 pawns vs 6 pawns. He scooped up enough of the pawns with the Night to Win. 1-0

Eade vs Goodhue – Black pushed his pawns in the centre and queen-side but after pawn chains locked together white tried and attack on the King side in the cramped position. Black missed a tactic which gave white an attack and then under pressure black got his queen trapped. 1-0

Lyall vs Jasmine Zhang – White made a mistake just out of the opening and lost two centre pawns. Black pressed her advantage to win. 0-1

Wells vs Caroline Yan – A standard opening follow by rooks and Queens maneuvering and threatening each other in the enter of the board. White pressed a little hard, made a couple  of mistakes and got checkmated. 0-1

Jacobs vis Nicole Qin -After Black got off to a good start when made a few tactical mistakes and white picked up a pawn. However White missed a fork and lost a rook . 0-1

Ha vs Euan McDougall –  Black had some problems in the opening and ended up a pawn down. White then started to swap down but black walked into a fork and resigned. 1-0

Aaron Wang vs Wu – Passive opening play by Black left White with a good attack early in the game. But he allowed it to peter out. Black was then a pawn up and started swapping. However he gave the pawn back and was left with nothing better than a draw. Draw

Steiner vs Peak – White resigned on move 10 after a miscalculation in the opening left Black a piece up.

Wayne McDougall vs Rodney Li – After An Italian Four Knights opening a a lot of standard looking swaps Black picked up a pawn. After he got 2 others his position was completely winning. 0-1

Burrows vs Milne – After a Quiet opening Black launched a dubious attack, however it payed off when White failed to defend a complex position correctly. 0-1

Andrew Michael vs Ward – After an even start White lost a piece. Black then had a strong attack but failed to find the correct winning lines. After Black gave up his piece for the attack White managed to swap down things down to a even position. Draw

Out of the 16 games in round 3 exactly half were upsets. with the biggest being Paul MacDonald beating Mike Steadman, Alex Nagorski drawing with Daniel Gong and Caroline Yan beating Clinton Wells.

With various byes and upsets combining Bruce Watson is now the only player on 3 points. He is followed by 6 players on 2.5

B Grade

B Grade also saw around half the games being upsets especially on the top boards.

• Tom Fu beat John Liu
• Winston Wng beat Ying Wang
• Toby Zhang beat Louie Wei
• Uday Jain beat Hugh Gao

Players in the lead are Tom Fu and Toby Zhang on 3 points with Felix Xie just being on 2.5.

Round 4

Provisional draws for round 4 are below, subject to byes etc.

Round 2 of the Autumn Cup was still a little mixed up due to the large number of players who took byes in Round 1.

Vega Links: A Grade, B Grade

PGN for Autumn Cup round 2 by Ewan Green and Tim Ha

A Grade

Goodhue v Hague – A very strange early game, Queens and a rook were swapped and then black attacked with two Knights supported by his bishops. The game ended abruptly when Black mated with the bishops supported by rook and Knight. 0-1

Watson v Wells – Initially fairly even but White got the initiative. He gave up the exchange for a couple of pawns and after swaps ended up with the Two bishops and a Rook vs two Rooks and a Knight. But the tight mass of central pawns and Bishops left little room for black to play in. Eventually one of Blacks rooks was trapped. 1-0

Jasmine Zhang vs Garbett – Got an exposed King early in the game and after some swaps was a pawn down. Black then creped his pawns forward and swapped down to opposite bishops endgame but with black two pawns up. This was enough to win. 0-1

Gong vs Eade – After a very book Spanish black played some sub-optimal moves to get a little down. There were some interesting swaps with black being a couple of pieces up at one point on the board, unfortunately for him he had a severe back rank weakness and white had a unstoppable pawn. 1-0

Fan vs Lyall – Black blundered a pawn early on but white played passively and he was able to get it back. A few moves later Black allowed white to charge two supported pawns at a group of pieces and pin two however. The extra piece was enough to settle matters. 1-0

Nagorski vs Leo Zhang – After looking in a bit of trouble early in the game White got a nice attack on Blacks central King and force black to swap to survive. White was Queen and Bishop vs 2 rooks (and 4 pawns each). A few moves later black resigned as White threatened to win an additional exchange. 1-0

Nicole Qin vs Mike Steadman – A good start by Black out of the opening, he got a pawn and white’s central bishops were not great compensation. He pushed White back with pieces and pawns until she ran out of room. 0-1

Peak vs Ang – Black gave up a pawn for an aggressive Kingside push (and Whites Queen stuck on a Queenside). White managed to stop it but he missed a mate threat a few moves later. 0-1

Rodney Li vs Morrell – Black came up with a fast attack right out of the opening and white incorrectly defended. 0-1

Euan McDougall vs Duneas – Black won and early exchange. He then swapped off pieces and chased white around to eventually get a mate. 0-1

Macdonald vs Wayne McDougall – Black got in early trouble with White’s Queen chasing his King into the middle of the board. White missed a mate but black resigned in the face of imminent loss of at least a couple of pieces. 1-0

Ward vs Jacobs – White looked very good at the start after Black played a dubious line in the opening. However he got boggled down and made mistake in a cramped position to allow black to win 2 pieces. White tried some aggressive tactics to catch black’s exposed king and/or win material back but was unsuccessful. 0-1

Caroline Yan vs Andrew Michael – Black lost a piece to a fork and gave up another for an attack. White was forced to give one piece back but swapped down to be 2 rooks plus a bishops vs 2 rooks. She maintained the material advantage. 1-0

Milne vs Ha – White missed a fork early in the game and went an exchange down. Black then swapped pieces but made a misstep and lost one piece to a tactical threat. Both players agreed on a draw in a position where it was difficult for either to make progress. Draw

Wu vs Steiner – The players castled opposite sides and attacked each others Kings. Game ended rather abruptly with an agreed draw.

Sarah Yan vs Burrows – The game fairly quickly swapped to an endgame with 6 pawns and one rook each. White played it much better and force two pawns though the middle with a king supporting them. 1-0

After 2 rounds there are 6 players on 2.0 and another 6 on 1.5 points.

B Grade

A few upsets.

• Tom Fu beat Brian Zhao
• Eric Hu drew with Mathew Steadman
• Kelvin Xiao beat Leo Li
• Sylvia McDougall drew with Renae Ghadiali.

4 players are leading on 2 points.

Below is the potential draws for round 3. Subject to change due to byes etc.

A reminder that the ACC May weekender starts on Saturday May 6th. It is played across 3 days over 2 weekends.See the NZCF calendar page for details.

The 2017 Autumn Cup started on April 24th. It is a two 7-round swiss tournaments, each with just over 30 players.

For the first round a larger number of people took byes due to school holidays and also playing in the ANZAC weekender that took place that weekend  and following day

We unfortunately also had around 7 players from B Grade ( Zi Hao Lin, Zyre Milina, Jason Huang, Hugh Gao, Isaac Yuan, Jacob Chai, Jeffrey Yu and Shawn Hui) not bother turning up without telling us beforehand. This meant that their opponents had a wait around for 15 minutes until another opponent could be found. A reminder that players who do this repeatedly will be withdrawn from tournaments.

PGN for Round 1 of the Autumn Cup by Ewan Green

A Grade

The fist round saw the usual mismatches with only one upset.

Hague v Caroline Yan – fairly even as players exchanged pieces, but black allowed a tactic that White didn’t miss. 1-0

Tim Ha vs Watson – White castled without covering pieces on his King side & Black threatened mate to win a piece. Win in 13 moves. 0-1

Garbett vs Eric Wu – White poked some holes in Blacks defense with some swaps and then pushed in with a couple of supported Knights with too many threats to for black to block. 1-0

Burrows vs Gong – after a dubious opening and cramped looking position White found a nice tactic to break out for a slight advantage. But he made a tactical error a few moves later and resigned. 0-1

Morrell vs Peak – A Slav which White played strangely and allowed Black to quickly equalize. Black then took advantage of Whites poor pawn structure and swapped down to a rook each and a pawn advantage. 30 moves later with a rook and 3 pawns vs a rook and pawn. But Black missed a couple of winning moves and had to settle for a draw. Draw

Jacobs vs Fan – After a good start by White he allowed a tactic by Black & lost a piece. Black took another 20 moves to mop up – 0-1

Leo Zhang vs Milne – Some sharp tactics with a web of pieces guarding each other in an open position. But Black eventually made a mistake and dropped a piece. 1-0

Andrew Michael vs Jasmine Zhang – White miscalculated a pawn swap and left some pieces under threat. He lost a pawn and got a stranded Knight that Black took a few moves later.  Black opened up the position and created too many threats to handle. 0-1

Wells vs Sarah Yan – Black played will against White’s dubious opening before the game evened out with Black in a solid defensive position. White managed to punch a hole in and won and exchange and then a pawn which he swapped down to a won endgame. 1-0

Steiner vs Nagorski – White made some tactical mistakes and resigned a pawn and an imminent exchange down. 0-1

Eade vs Aaron Wang – Black attempted a tactical trick and got a Queen and Knight stuck. Eventually White allowed him to extract them and after a few missed moves the position was close to even. However Black made a slip-up and allowed a mate in 1. 1-0

Goodhue vs Ward – A slow game with 8 interlocked pawns in chains in the middle of the board and both players maneuvering behind them. Black eventually (on move 50) opening a break which looked good until he blundered a piece. 1-0

Lyall vs Liu – A fairly even game with the players slowly trading down pieces. Eventually they were left with 2 Knights and six pawns each. Black tried a trap which White saw and ended up a little better, A small mistake later by Black saw White with an extra pawn and opposition in a King and pawn endgame. 1-0

B Grade

There were upsets on the top 3 boards with Tom Fu beatign Ying Wang, Winston Weng beating Jocob Barry and Erica Hu winnign against Isabelle Night. Then on board 4 Selena Hu drew with Renae Ghadiali.

Vega Links: A Grade, B Grade

A reminder that the first round of  the Autumn Cup is on the 24th of April. Both grades are full so we unfortunately cannot accept new players into the competition.

Vega Links: A Grade, B Grade

If you are going to miss a round please remember to email contact@aucklandchess.nz or send a text to Simon on 021 575 233.