After the first night there were three players on 3 points, Ben Hague, Bruce Watson and Allen Fan. There were another 6 on 2.5 points.
Rounds 4 and 5 had two upsets that the top with Leo Zhang beating first Allen Fan and then Bruce Watson to go into the lead in the last round (with 4.5 points). However Leo decided to take a half point bye in the last round which gave a chance for some of the 6 players on 4 points to catch up to him.
Final result was 4 players sharing 1st place on 5 points out of 6
Bruce Watson
Leo Zhang
Ben Hague
Gordon Morrell
with John Duneas 4th on 4.5 points and 13 players on 4.0 points (including 1139 rated Winston Weng who beat 3 players rated in the 1500s)
We also had some problems with the Vega software on both nights. This has now been updated and will hopefully behave itself.
Coming Up:
A reminder that the club is closed on Easter Friday and Easter Monday.
The first round of the Autumn cup is on April 24th
The ACC will be running a tournament over ANZAC weekend. Entry forms are here and Vega link is here.
Leo Zhang (left) vs Bruce Watson (both 1st equal)Ben Hague (1st equal)Bruce Watson and Gordon Morrell (both 1st equal)
Club members watch Don Eade (playing black) vs Abraham Deng
The Summer Cup was the first tournament in the Auckland Chess Centre calender for 2017. A total of 77 players players across 5 grades played 7 rounds during February, March and (for one game) April.
Steadman vs Hague – Black gave up a pawn for a good centre early in the game but his compensation declined. However black regrouped his attack and white was soon in trouble. However black missed two winning moves (one of which Ben posted to facebook) and had to settle for perpetual check. Draw
Garbett vs Duneas – A slightly better opening for white but black equalised with some swaps. There was a tense position around moved 23-30 but both players found the safe moves and things swapped to a draw.
Ang v Watson – White seemed to get lost after the opening and gave black lots of room to advance and put pressure on his position. A couple of swaps later black had a past pawn. 0-1
Gong vs Kulashko – White made a mistake and gave up a pawn. He got it back and had a small attack with the Queen shortly afterwards but was unable to get his other pieces to help. There were some sharp tactics as the players reduced the number of pieces on the board. However Black ended up an exchange plus a pawn ahead and kept up the pressure until he had a win. 0-1
B Grade
Wells vs MacDonald. Paul has once again extensively annotated his game. See the pgn for the whole thing. The opening left Black in a slightly better position. After much Knight maneuvering blacks position was the better and he was able to win and then two pawns leaving White with no chance with just a piece each in the end. 0-1
Morrell vs Fan – This is also annotated in the PGN. Black played a inferior line in the opening, leaving himself with a pawn on h6 that served as a nice target for white (who built up all his pieces for a king side attack). Black had a small chance of a Queenside push against whites king but was too slow. When Whites eventual push came Black had little chance. 1-0
Nagorski vs Wang – A kings Gambit declined!? But by move 16 Black was still two pawns up. Sloppy moves by black gave white a chance a few moves later which he missed and black was an even exchange up. He was eventually able to turn this into a winning endgame. 0-1
Goodhue vs Jasmine Zhang – Black had some chances but eventually things evened out to a draw.
C1 Grade
Ward vs Milne – Black came out of the opening a little better but gradually got worse as her better pieces were swapped off. Black resigned when white was three pawns up. 1-0
Burrows vs Song – A bit of inattention by Black allowed white to sacrifice a Bishop on h7 and threaten a mate follow-up which force black to give up her Queen for two pieces. White was unable to follow-up correctly though and lost and exchange, then a pawn and eventually resigned while under pressure. A lucky escape for Black. 0-1
Lyall vs Nicole Qin – White unwisely castled into a pawn storm and spent the rest of the game under a lot of pressure. Black tried find a way though for about 20 moves before giving up and agreeing on a draw.
Wu vs Kozakevych – Players swapped pieces until that had opposite coloured bishops and white was a pawn up. Not enough to force things however. Draw
C2 Grade
Joy Qin vs Peak – The players open with the Spanish which while it may be popular elsewhere in the world is not at the club. We even go the “Spanish Knight” going to g3. Things were fairly even before black allowed a tactic which led to a crushing attack. 1-0
Jacobs vs Euan MacDougall – A even looking opening and early game. Black moved most of his pieces to the Queen side which gave white pressure allowing the half-open F-file. It all came to an end when black overloaded a defender and forgot it was stopping mate. 1-0
Bishop vs Ha – Black got off to a good start, swapped a Night for a Bishop and leaving white with doubled pawns and a blocked in Bishop. After some swaps black was still a little ahead but didn’t take a free pawn and the players were in an endgame with 7 pawns each and White’s bishop vs Black’s Knight. 30 moves later with the position still even (and fewer pawns) Black lost on time. 1-0
Yan vs Eade – Black got into a great position with a dangerous attack. However he missed the best follow-up and the blundered into a mate-in-one. 1-0
D Grade
Wayne MacDougall vs Rodney Li – After some sharp tactics both players decided to call it a night and took the draw.
Andrew Michael vs Xinyang Liu – A very long game that looked like being a drawn endgame but Xinyang eventually won.
Upsets this round:
Renae Ghadiali winning against Mike Steiner (576 points rating difference!)
A reminder that if you wish to play in the Autumn Rapid you need to sign-up immediately. The field is limited to 70 players and we currently have 65 entries.
Check your name on the list of entries and if it is missing and you want to play then email or text Simon.
Similarly there are only around 10 places left for the Autumn Cup. Entries are online for A Grade and B Grade.
Next week is the last round of the Summer Cup, after which we have the Autumn Rapid and then the Autumn Cup. We have almost reach the player limit of 70 for the Autumn rapid so if you want to enter you should do so straight away via email or txt.
There is a signup sheet for the Autumn Cup at the Club or you can enter via email or txt. The Autumn Cup will be two Swiss grades. The cutoff will be 1500 but please discuss with Simon if you want to go up (or down) a grade.
Finally a reminder that March 27th is the final night for discounted Subscriptions. If you pay after then it will cost you more. Also if you have not payed your subscription you may not be able to play in future tournaments.
Hague vs Gong – Black was a little slow to castle which let White’s center attack have some extra bite. A couple of mistakes later and it was all over. 1-0
Kulashko v Ang – A very even looking game with White a little better. Things swapped down to a rook and pawn endgame and then white got an advantage, picked up a pawn and swapped to a Lucena Postion. 1-0
Watson vs Garbett – An unusual opening that led to a strange looking position with White’s pieces on strange squares. White picked up a pawn and got a winning endgame. 1-0
Duneas vs Steadman – A more conventional opening. Black got a nice position by move 20, threatening to push down the board. He was even up a pawn for a few moves but White managed to get it back and even things with a queen, rook and some pawns each. Black missed a promotion chance and white was RPP vs RP. However Black defended well. Draw
Going into the last round Watson and Hague are on 4.5 while Kulashko is on 4.0
B Grade
MacDonald vs Goodhue – The PGN has extensive analysis by Paul. A fairly even game with some chances for White. Draw
Zhang vs Nagorski – White played her usual London System and Black got himself in early trouble. By move 13 White was 2 pawns up with more threatened. Unfortunately she missed the best lines and after a few swaps was only a pawn up. Final position was opposite coloured bishops and pawns. A lucky escape for Alex. Draw
Tony Wang vs Morrell – After some problems in the opening, White halted Black’s attack and tried a counter-attack, sacrificing the exchange to get a rook and then a pawn on the 7th rank. However his attack ran out of steam and he lost on time. 0-1
Fan vs Wells – Despite missing some simple tactics a few times White managed to stay ahead. Eventually he saw one of the tactics and picked up a piece. After he got another black gave up. 1-0
Allen Fan is in first place on 4.5 ahead of Nathan on 4.0.
C1 Grade
Milne vs Wu postponed till Thursday. Updated: Just out of the opening black lost a piece to a tactic and then a couple of pawns. But White made a mistake and lost the piece back. After Black made an attack on White’s King, white made a mistake and allowed checkmate. 0-1
Kozakevych vs Lyall – Black managed to find the correct moves (this time) in the same opening as game 4 and was slightly ahead after the opening. After some swaps Black tried to find a hole in White’s position but couldn’t find the correct line and the players agreed on a draw after a dozen moves of shuffling – Draw
Nicole Qin vs Burrows – Black missed a mate threat and lost a rook and pawn for a Knight. A few moves later & another tactic he lost a Knight. Then after the next piece was lost Black gave up.
Song vs Ward – White got a cramped position at the start and after some swaps Black had a better position. After some maneuvering Black picked up a pawn. White made a mistake in the endgame and resigned as Black was about to go a Queen up. 0-1
Kieth Ward is 1.5 points ahead of Kate Song and Nicole Qin.
C2 Grade
Peak vs Caroline Yan – A fairly standard looking game until Black pushed all her pieces to the Queenside and left her Kingside unguarded. A pawn push later the whole position fell apart and White had a mating attack. 1-0
Eade vs Bishop – Black got in trouble early with white having a good attack against his King. See diagram below for the position after Black’s 11th move with White to play (find the best move). But White made a mistake, lost the exchange and Black was ahead. A few move later White got the exchange back and then black made a miscalculation and lost a piece
Ha vs Jacobs – Jacobs look better for most of the game but eventually the players evened up with the entire position blocked by pawns. Draw
Euan McDougall vs Joy Qin – After the position bounced between the players White lost a piece in the endgame and resigned. 0-1
Stephen Peak and Everett Bishop are half a point ahead of two other players.
D Grade
The Top four board were all upsets:
On Board one previously undefeated Wayne McDougall lost to Xinyang Lin
Andrew Michael upset Oliver Picken
Leo Li drew with Aaron Wang
Daniel Morrin beat Sarah Yan
Further down the field Hugh Gao upset Mike Steiner and Sylvia McDougal beat Pahuja Gaurav,
Andrew Michael, Wayne McDougall and Xinyang Lin are now on 5.0 points while 3 players are just behind them on 4.5
Below is the possible draw for D grade in round 7.
There is a sign-up sheet now in place for the Autumn Rapid. Places are limited so please either signup on the sheet or contact Simon Lyall via email or txt.
Daniel Gong and John Duneas played a catchup game from Round 2 early in the week. Daniel looked good at the start of the game but didn’t exploit his advantage and then blundered a piece. A win for John. I have added this game to the Round 2 PGN file.
Now for the round 5 games:
Duneas v Hague – White missed a good move on move 14 (see diagram below and see if you can find it) and a similar move on move 18. Black did not give him a 3rd chance and swapped into an attack and a quick win. 0-1
Steadman vs Watson – A very exciting game. Black gave up a rook for 3 pawns, a passed pawn and attacking chances. White made a couple of bad moves and the attack turned overwhelming. White resigned on move 22. 0-1
Garbett vs Kulashko – Black miscalculated a push and ended up a pawn down after some swaps. Shoartly afterwards white pushed forward and Black ended up with poorly placed pieces which alled white to break though and get a winning attack. 1-0
Ang vs Gong – Black was a little ahead and picked up a pawn but the position swapped down to a opposite colored bishop ended that gave black no chance of breaking though. Draw
After 5 rounds Watson is half a point ahead of 3 other players.
B Grade
Fan vs MacDonald – White played a strange maneuverer early in the game to kindly give black the A file. Later swaps left black up a pawn and white in a lot of trouble. Black kept up the pressure but made a couple of mistakes and ended up losing a rook. A lucky escape for Allen 1-0
Wells vs Wang – White gave up the exchange is a complex position and eventually game up any advantage from it. Black eventually won – 0-1
Morrell vs Zhang – Black tried a pawn storm but white calmly blocked it, picked up a pawn and pushed back. White got an open file and a mating attack. 1-0
Nagorski vs Goodhue – After a good start white got a bishop stuck behind some pawns and black was able to swap down to a pawn and 2 rook endgame with black a pawn ahead. But white got the pawn back and forced a repetition. Draw
Goodhue and Fan are now 1st equal on 3.5 with 2 others just behind.
C1 Grade
Song vs Milne – White got a piece for a pawn shortly after the opening and looked to be in control. Then white swapped to consolidate but left herself with 3 undeveloped (and stuck) pieces and an exposed king. Black used her active pieces to harass white. One mistake later and black had a mate. 0-1
Ward vs Nicole Qin – White picked up an exchange and then picked off Blacks pawns in a Rook vs Bishop endgame. 1-0
Burrows vs Kozakevych – White lost a pawn and then made a speculative bishop sacrifice on h7. Black gave the pice back for a 3-pawn advantage and eventually pushed though his pawns in the endgame. 0-1
Lyall vs Wu – White swapped his knights for black’s bishops but didn’t get any advantage in the closed position. Black then swapped the Queens and rooks. In the endgame black made a mistake to give white the winning chance but white missed the right move and took a draw in a better position while under time pressure. Draw
Keith Ward is on 4 points ahead of Kate Wong on 3.5. Five of the other players are on 2.5
C2 Grade
Euan McDougall vs Peak – White made a mistake and let black pick up a pawn (although black missed the line that would have won the Queen for a Knight). White got it back in a rook and pawn endgame and the players settled for a draw.
Joy Qin vs Ha – Black got himself very tied up after the opening while White had a lot of space. Black then got his Knight trapped in the corner and resigned with too many threats to defend against. 1-0
Jacobs vs Eade – Black blundered a piece for a couple of pawns and white never looked back. 1-0
Bishop vs Caroline Yan – White gave up an exchange for two passed pawns and Black was unable to correct defend against them. 1-0
Everett Bishop is leading on 4 points, Stephen Peak is second on 3.0 and most of the others players are on 2.5
D Grade
On Board one Oscar Qin got a good opening against Wayne MacDougall but failed to push his attack correctly and Wayne was ahead after swaps.
Top upsets were by Tom Fu, Daniel Morrin and Jain Uday.
Wayne MacDougall is is now on 5 out of 5. A full point ahead of 4 other players.
Hague vs Ang – A fairly quiet game until move 24 when White tries some tricks. A few moves later the computer says he is completely lost but Black misses the correct moves and the game is a draw.
Gong vs Garbett – A fairly even game, neither player really seemed to get ahead. Draw
Kulashko vs Steadman – White game up an exchange but got some pressure as compensation and won it back. Both players pushed pawns and threatened to promote but ended up swapped to a rook plus pawn endgame which they eventually draw.
Watson vs Duneas – A fairly even opening and then White got some pressure but Black managed to equalize and White game up the exchange. Black’s good position went downhill when White used his two bishops to push some pawns and Black ended up very cramped. Eventually Black game up a rook to prevent a pawn from promoting. 1-0
The grade has 3 players on 2.5 points and another 2 on 2.0, although Kulashko has a game in hand.
B Grade
MacDonald vs Nagorski (commentary based on that by Paul Macdonald, see the PGN for the whole thing) – The Opening transposed to a Slav-Reti setup (Slav with white fianchettoed on the King side). White dropped a Knight into e5 supported by 2 pawns and after some swaps the position was fairly even. Black swapped to opposite-coloured bishops and offered a draw but White decided to play on. An error by White ( 22 Qf3) gave Black some pressure, however, against White’s exposed centre pawn, although Black wasted some moves and may have left it too late to grab. The end of the game had White in a laying a trap, the correct move by Black would have given Black a better but slightly drawn endgame. Instead he played the wrong move and was left a queen down and resigned. 1-0
Goodhue vs Morrell – Black made a series of sub-par moves to leave White in complete control of the position. He eventually resigned shortly before White’s unstoppable steamroller started. 1-0
Jasmine Zhang vs Wells – A fairly even game until White trapped Black’s Queen. 1-0
Tony Wang vs Fan – Fairly even until Black got a big attack and picked up two pawns. White resigned when he was about to lose a rook. 0-1
Jasmine Zhang and Nathan Goodhue lead the Grade on 3 points, but 3 players are on 2.5
C1 Grade
Milne vs Lyall – After a series of bad moves (mainly by Black), White took a draw in a winning position (two pieces down but mate threats would have got them back) after just 14 moves. Draw.
Eric Wu vs Burrows – White was a little ahead and swapped everything down to a winning endgame – 1-0
Kozakevych vs Ward – An interesting move early on by White when he moved a pinned queen from d1 to e2 towards the pinned f3 Knight, but it seemed to nicely support e4. However, a swap-off of pieces allowed Black to equalize. Black got two pawns up and eventually swapped all the pieces to give himself the win. 0-1
Nicole Qin vs Song – White made some miss-timed swaps and opened up the position with her King in the centre. Eventually Black won a piece – 0-1
Kate Song is in 1st place on 3.5 with Keith Ward on 3.0 and Nicole Qin on 2.5.
C2 Grade
Peak vs Bishop – White played a little slowly and Black was slightly ahead for most of the game before breaking through around move 35. The players swapped down to an endgame where Black had and extra pawn and a Bishop vs a Knight. After Black missed a lot of chances (and White did an illegal move neither player noticed) the game was drawn.
Caroline Yan vs Jacobs – White won an exchange fairly early and Black resigned after she was about to win more material (and not because his phone went off as a few had guessed). 1-0
Eade vs Joy Qin – Fairly even until White got a tactic and won the Queen/Checkmate – 1-0
Ha vs Euan McDougall – Fairly even with both players aggressively swapping down to a single rook and 6 pawns by move 22. White made an ill-timed swap of rooks and left himself in a King and Pawn endgame where Black had a couple of spare moves to get opposition and break through.
Everett Bishop leads the grade on 3 points while 3 players are on 2.5
D Grade
At the top, Wayne McDougall is in the first place as the only player on 4 points. Three are on 3.5 however.
Major upsets were Felix Xei beating Gaurav Pahuja, Eric Liang beating Neil Sonnekus, Uday Jain beating Marcus Pooley and Oscar Qin beating Rodney Li.
Watson vs Hague – A fairly quiet game ending in a draw.
Duneas vs Kulashko – An even looking game but White pushed in the centre and gave Black a pawn. After some maneuvering with queens and rooks White made a mistake and lost a piece. 0-1
Steadman vs Gong – (Note: move 21 for white is Rfa1 not Rfd1 as in the PGN) – After Black took Bh3 with some follow-up pieces White missed the correct defense and resigned due to imminent loss of lots of material. 0-1
Garbett vs Ang – White got a very nice position by move 25 with Black looking in a lot of trouble. He was unable to find the best continuations however and settled for a draw.
Current placings are Alexei Kulashko and Alphaeus Ang are in 1st place on 2 points but Alexei has a game in hand.
B Grade
Tony Wang vs MacDonald – Black sacrificed a piece for a pawn early in the game which looked a little dubious. White then worked to swap pieces while holding off Black’s attacks. In the end, Black managed a perpetual check. Draw.
Allen Fan vs Jasmine Zhang – White had a series of sub-optimal moves and his position got worse until it was completely lost. 0-1
Wells vs Goodhue – A very long game. Early on White looked good with a big pawn-push in the centre. After some swaps, the position was very even with 6 pawns each and White having a bishop to Black’s Knight. However, White made several mistakes in the endgame and lost. 0-1
Morrell vs Nagorski – After a fairly even game, Black had a slightly better endgame but White lost on time. 0-1
Alex Nagorski is leading the grade with 2.5 against 3 higher-rated players.
C1 Grade
Nicole Qin vs Milne – Black played the opening incorrectly and ended up down a pawn and the initiative. White then picked up a few more pawns as the game progressed until Black resigned. 1-0
Song vs Kozakevych – White kept a lot of pressure on Black though slowly pushing pawns and trying different attacks. Eventually Black gave up his queen for two pieces and some hope of attack but nothing came of it. 1-0
Ward vs Wu – White missed a tactic and resigned as he was about to lose a piece – 0-1
Burrows v Lyall – Black played a little passively at the start but White ended up with an advanced pawn he would have trouble keeping. Even after Black declined to take an en prise piece (due to an exaggerated fear of a counter-attack) he got lucky when White gave away the piece a couple of moves later. 0-1
Kate Song and Nicole Qin are in 1st-equal on 2.5 points.
C2 Grade
Ha vs Peak – This was played later in the week – after indifferent play by both sides White won an exchange with a knight fork only to lose a whole rook back a couple of moves later to a similar fork. 0-1
Euan MacDougall vs Eade – After retreating all his good pieces White gobbled up some pawns that Black gave up in return for a 6-piece attack on White’s king. 0-1
Joy Qin vs Caroline Yan – A very even middle-game left White a little better (although she missed a couple of chances). The endgame was eventually drawn although White played it out to make sure. Draw
Jacobs vs Bishop – After getting a little ahead White allowed Black a counter-attack. Luckily for White, Black missed a mate-in-2 and then missed a piece win! After some swaps the position was even. Black had some chances but the game was drawn. Draw
The grade is led by Everett Bishop on 2.5 with the next players on 1.5
D Grade
Major upsets this week were:
Oscar Qin beat David Ansell
Wayne McDougall beat Andrew Michael
Toby Zhang beat Mathew Steadman
Jennifer Zhang beat Ying Wang
Shawn Hui beat Isabelle Ning
Tom Fu beat Hugh Gao
The Grade is led by Aaron Wang and Wayne McDougall on 3 points.
Below is the potential draw for round 4 of D grade. Subject to change due to byes etc.
Apologies for the delay getting this published. I’ll try and catchup over the next few days. A reminder that we have expanded Friday and are holding regular casual tournaments from 6:30 to approx 8:30pm at the Club.
Alexei Kulashko vs Bruce Watson – After Bruce played an unusual e5 in the Pirc the position favour white who swapped pieces to get a nice endgame which he won. 1-0
Hague vs Garbett – A dull opening left Black a little ahead but he failed to exploit it and soon after white picked up 2 pawns and soon-after the game. 1-0
Ang vs Steadman – A very strange looking game with most of the Queenside pawns being swapped while pieces were still on the board. A mistake by Mike let Alphaeus get the advantage but he settled for a perpetual check. Draw.
B Grade
MacDonald vs Morrell – A fork threat allowed Black to pick up 3 (or 4) pawns with no compensation and White resigned. 0-1
Nagorski vs Wells – Black lost a piece but the attack he got in compensation fizzled out. 1-0
Goodhue vs Fan – White gave up an early pawn and was on the back foot for the rest of the game. Black eventually won in the endgame. 0-1
Jasmine Zhang vs Tony Wang – A fairly even game before black blundered a Queen on move 30. 1-0
C1 Grade
Milne vs Burrows – a couple of early blunders saw Bklack resign on move 13. 1-0
Lyall vs Ward – White played too passively and Black found a tactic to pickup two (outside passwed) pawns and kept on the pressure until he won. 0-1
Wu vs Song – Black looked good for most of the game but squandered her advantage at in the early middle game. However white failed to handle her threats and allowed two passed pawns. 0-1
Kozakevuch vs Nicole Qin – White lost a pawn but came back with a strong attack. In the final position White has a very nice attack but a draw was agreed. Draw.
C2 Grade
Peak vs Jacobs – White missed a nice tactic on moves 29-31, and after blocking off a good piece allowed black to get a passed pawn on the 7th. 0-1
Everett Bishop vs Joy Qin – Black had the led though most of the game but the final exchange of pieces left her with her king stranded on the wrong side of the board as white picked off her pawns with his King. 1-0
Caroline Yan vs Euan MacDougall – After getting ahead in the opening White played passively and let black equalise. White resigned after missing a tactic and ended up with a lost endgame. 0-1
Eade vs Ha – Both players had mating attacks but Tim went for the sure thing of the perpetual. Draw
