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.
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.
A reminder to enter soon for the Spring Cup. The format will be similar to the Winter Cup. There will be 2 rated Swiss grades. However the A Grade will be smaller with around 25 players.
The ACC Winter Cup is two rated Swiss grades over 7 rounds.
John Duneas vs Gordon Morrell – A draw agreed on move 21 in an equal position. Draw
Tim Ha vs Nathan Goodhue – Black got a better position in the opening and kept White on the ropes. 0-1
Aaron Wang vs Paul Macdonald – See Paul’s annotations in the PGN. Black took advantage of a series of second best moves by White and was eventually 3 pawns up. 0-1
Abraham Deng vs Alex Nagorski – A long game. White was better out of the opening but Black equalised and then picked up a pawn. The players swapped to an opposite bishop ending with Black still a pawn up. White failed to defend accurately and had to give up his bishop to stop a passed pawn which gave black a win. 0-1
Akshay Sharma vs William Undy – Black gave up a piece for 2 pawns. A few moves later White returned the sacrifice and played some move good moves to leave himself with a rook and two pawns vs a rook which he won. 1-0
Don Eade vs Alphaeus Ang – Black picked up a pawn in the opening and then two pieces for a rook. He was was able to convert without too much trouble. 0-1
Roy Seabrook vs Philli Park-Tamati – Yes, we do have chess during the school holidays. 1-0
Andrew Michael vs Simon Lyall – White got better of the opening and middle game but black managed to come back when White ignored a threat to press his attack. Both players made errors in the endgame which was eventually a draw.
Rodney Li vs Felix Xie – Black swapped Queen’s on d1 which left White’s King stuck in the centre with no pawn cover. Mate on move 26. 0-1
Janitha Mullage vs Caroline Yan – Black with a little better for most of the game. The players steadily swapped down to position where Black had a Bishop + 3 pawns vs a Knight and 2 pawns. Black was unable to find the win and the the game was Drawn.
Sarah Yan vs Virginia Milne – Black made a couple of mistakes and lost material just after the opening. 1-0
Stephen Peak vs Jordon Lewis – draw agreed in a fairly equal position on more 27. Draw
Arkadi Polyakevich vs John McClory – Black missed his opening theory and lost a piece. White eventually won. 1-0
John Pakenham vs Xinyang Liu – Black picked up an exchange and a pawn which was enough. 0-1
John Duneas is still in the lead. He is half a point ahead of Paul Macdonald, Alex Nagorski and Nathan Goodhue.
Upsets in Round 5:
Arkadi Polyakevich beat John McClory
Janitha Mullage drew with Carloline Yan
Andrew Michael drew with Simon Lyall
B Grade
Jeffrey Yu vs Joe Wang – Black made a mistake which allowed an attack from White. Black survived but ended up with a lost King and Pawn endgame. 1-0
Leo Li vs Anya Thurner – White gave up a pawn, then a piece and then his Queen. 0-1
Brian Zhao vs Kenny Zhang – Black picked up an exchange, then a pawn and then a piece. 0-1
Jacob Chai vs Jason Huang – White gave up two pawns for an attack but the attack was stopped by Black. White resigned after one of his attacking pieces was trapped. 0-1
Upsets in round 5
Charlotte Wen beat Kelvin Xiao
Rosa Ryu beat Ethan Liu
Priyanshu Pattani beat Scott Jones
A reminder to enter soon for the Sprign Cup. The format will be similar to the Winter Cup. There will be 2 rated Swiss grades. However the A Grade will be smaller with around 25 players.
The ACC Winter Cup is two rated Swiss grades over 7 rounds.
Allen Fan vs John Duneas – The only two undefeated players at the start of the round and the last game to finish. White got a piece trapped and lost around move 20. Black then swapped down to having a rook and bishop vs a rook with white having extra pawns. But after swaps black had a KRB v KRP and a tablebase draw (see digram). After defending sucessfully white made an error on move 89 allowing Black to safely take the pawn and quickly win. 0-1
Fan vs Duneas after 57. ..Rxa4
Paul Macdonald vs Gordon Morrell – Paul has some in-depth analysis in the PGN. The game was very close. Draw
Mike Steadman vs Aaron Wang – Black came out better in the unusual opening. Pawns were exchanged and the position was very open with lots of tactics and chances for both players. However White blundering into a fork and resigned. 0-1
Steadman vs Fan after 21 ..Kd8 . The computer finds a winning move for White.
Winston Weng vs Nathan Goodhue – A straightforward win for Black. 0-1
Alex Nagorski vs Rodney Li – Black came under pressure, missed some tactics and ended up a piece down. 1-0
Andrew Michael vs Tim Ha – Annotated in the PGN by Tim – White was better but miscalculated a tactic and lost a piece. Black pulled ahead but “got stuck” and sacrificed the piece back for two pawns. White held on and the game came down to White with a rook and a pawn vs Black with a rook and 2 pawns. White made a mistake and lost. 0-1
Don Eade vs Abraham Deng – White game up a pawn and then an exchange. Black then pressed his advantage. 0-1
Alphaeus Ang vs Sarah Yan – White picked up a pawn in the opening and then swapped down to a better endgame and won. 1-0
Caroline Yan vs Akshay Sharma – White ended up with a bad pawn structure going into the endgame which left her with no real chance. 0-1
William Undy vs John McClory – Black lost time in the opening and white exploited it to develop. A few more mistakes and White was able to promote and win. 1-0
Roy Seabrook vs Xinyang Liu – Black brought out his Queen but it lacked support and white was able to develop and push his pawns though the centre. Black game up an exchange but a mistake a couple of moves later lost the game. 1-0
Simon Lyall vs Mathew Steadman – Black tried an unusual opening line which threw White a little. However White found an attack and Black made a couple of fatal errors defending. 1-0
Felix Xie vs Jardon Lewis – A fairly even game until Black swapped into a completely winning King and pawn ending for White! 1-0
Philli Park-Tamati vs John Pakenham – White picked up a couple of pawns after out-playing Black. 1-0
Virginia Milne vs A Sriram – Black pushed a couple of pawns against White’s castled Queen. White defended okay and made a strong counter-attack which caused Black to quickly resign as he was unable to stop it. 1-0
Stephen Peak vs David Ansell – White built up an attack against Black’s castled Queen. Black made an error and resigned with White winning a piece or two. 1-0
Upsets:
Aaron Wang beat Mike Steadman
Abraham Deng beat Don Eade
Akshay Sharma beat Caroline Yan
Philli Park-Tamati beat John Pakenham
Felix Xie beat Jordan Lewis
John Duneas beat Allen Fan
John Duneas is by himself on 4 points. There are 8 players in 2nd-equal on 3/4.
B Grade
Only 9 games played in the B Grade due to a large number of players taking byes.
Upsets:
Adam Hasan-Stein beat Isabelle Ning
Anya Thurner beat Hugh Gao
Priyanshu Pattani beat Uday Jain
Current leader is Joe Wang on 4. Boyuan Zhang is second on 3.5 and 4 players are on 3/4.
Nathan Goodhue vs Allen Fan – White got a space advantage in the middle game but swapped into a slightly worse endgame. White made a mistake which allowed Black to Queen. 0-1
John Duneas vs Alex Nagorski – The players swapped down to a Queen and pawn endgame with White a pawn up on move 27. After a lot of Queen checks and maneuvering Black resigned on move 124. 1-0
Gordon Morrell vs Alphaeus Ang – Black picked up a pawn and then an exchange. But white then mounted an attack with all his pieces that Black couldn’t stop. See diagram 1-0
Morrell vs Ang after 31.. Qd8. White is down an exchange and a pawn but Stockfish rates his position at +7.0
Felix Xie vs Mike Steadman – White gave up a piece in the opening. 0-1
Xingyang Liu vs Don Eade – White made a mistake in the opening but managed to find his way though a series of tactical threats. However Black was better and gradually picked up more material. 0-1
Rodney Li vs Simon Lyall – Black made a mistake in the openign and ended up two pawns worse. He was not able to recover. 1-0
John McClory vs Winston Weng – White mis-remember the opening and then got a piece trapped. Black upgraded this to a full rook soon-after. 0-1
Jordan Lewis vs Andrew Michael – White missed a win and then a few moves later allowed a fatal attack. 0-1
Lewis vs Michael. White played 18. Nc3 and lost. What should he have played instead to win?
Aaron Wang vs A Sriram – White picked up an exchange and a pawn. Both players missed chances after that but White stayed ahead. 1-0
William Undy vs Stephen Peak – White got an attack on the castled King and Black made a mistake. 1-0
Virgina Milne vs Roy Seabrook – White gave up two pawns but was able to get them back. Black then invaded with his King to pick up another two. White missed the best move and then tried for a tactic which Black saw though. 0-1
John Pakenham vs Arkadi Polyakevich – A even looking game and then Black missed the level of threat against his castled King. Mate 4 moves later. 1-0
Upsets this round:
Rodney Li beat Simon Lyall
Gordon Morrell beat Alphaeus Ang
Andrew Michael beat Jordan Lewis
Only Allen Fan and John Duneas are on 3/3. Paul Macdonald and Gordon Morrell are on 2.5 points followed by 11 players on 2.
B Grade
Just three upsets in this round:
Brian Zhao beat Tom Fu
Hannah Xu beat Kelvin Xiao
Boyuan Zhang drew with Olivia Dong
The sole leader with 3 points after 3 rounds is Joe Wang. Just behind him are 7 players on 2.5 points.
Possible Draws in round 4:
Some people like these. Use at own risk, may contain nuts.
A reminder that Monday Night Chess still happen during school Holidays. If players are away they need to let Simon Lyall know so they can be given a bye those nights (and others don’t miss out on games).
Events Coming Up:
Several Club members are representing New Zealand at the World Chess Olympiad 23 September – 7 October
The New Zealand Junior Chess Championship and NZ Senior Champs in Palmerston North 1-5 October
Rapid events in Palmerston North the weekend of 6-7 October
The North Island Champs 8-11 October in Palmerston North
ACC Junior Rapid 13 October at the Club
Merv Morrison tournament 20-22 October (Labour Weekend) at the Club
The important Mondays are:
1st October – 1st day of Holidays – 5th Round of Winter Cup
8th October – 2nd week Holidays – 6th Round of Winter Cup
15 October – 1st day back at school – 7th Round of Winter Cup
22 October – Labour Weekend – No Monday Evening Chess
29 October – Normal Week – 1st Round of Spring Cup
Please Text Simon with days you are not playing or return the printed form that was handed out last week.
A reminder about the September Weekend on the 15th and 16th of September. There are 9 Games of Rapid and 9 games of Blitz over 2 days. Entry and more information is online
The ACC Winter Cup is two rated Swiss grades over 7 rounds.
Winter Cup 2018 Round 2 PGN by Alex Nagorski and Tim Ha, with help from Simon Lyall and plus a game from Paul Macdonald annotated by Paul himself.
A Grade
The rating gaps were still several hundred points in most games so a lot of quick wins. But there were several upsets.
Mike Steadman vs Alex Nagorski – Black carefully handled White’s 1. b4 opening and then got a nice discovered attack down the e-file when White’s Queen was sidelined. White active pieces were then swapped away and Black got a winner attack. 0-1
Paul Macdonald vs Daniel Gong – See the PGN for Paul’s full annotation. White got a passed A-pawn and pushed it through to Queen. 1-0
Allen Fan vs Jordon Lewis – Black lost a piece to a tactic and resigned on move 16. 1-0
Akshay Sharma vs John Duneas – Similarly to the last game, White lost a piece to a tactic and resign a few moves later. 0-1
A Sriram vs Nathan Goodhue – Black poked some holes in front of White’s castled King and then won a piece as White tried to defend. 0-1
Alphaeus Ang vs Rodney Li – Black played 11 moves of theory but White started turning up the pressure. A missed tactic by Black and it was all over. 1-0
Gordon Morrell vs Virginia Milne – Black lost a piece in the opening. 1-0
Mathew Steadman vs Tim Ha – White played fairly well but allowed Black to pick up a couple of pawns. He then resigned. 0-1
Simon Lyall vs Xinyang Liu – White got a slightly better position but missed the continuation. The game swapped to a drawn endgame which White almost lost under time pressure. – Draw
Abraham Deng vs Bill Undy – Black was winning but made one little slip and allowed White to get a piece. 1-0
Roy Seabrook vs Felix Xie – Black got a big attack and squeezed White. White sacrificed a rook but Black brought more pieces into the attack. 0-1
Don Eade vs Arkadi Polyakevich – Some pretty pawn chains in the early game (see diagram). White broke through an attack against Black’s King and won enough material to win the game. 1-0
Eade vs Polyakevich after 16 f5
Andrew Michael vs John Pakenham – White had a good position with a mean looking group of pawns going through Black’s position but swapped into an even King and Pawns endgame. Black missed the best moves however. 1-0
David Ansell vs Aaron Wang – The players castled on opposite sites and attacked each others King. White looked better but wasn’t able to finish his attack in time. White mad a mistake in the endgame and lost. 0-1
Winston Weng vs Philli Park-Tamati – Black neglected his defence to attack White. When the dust cleared White was a piece up. 1-0
Upsets in Round 2:
Alex Nagorski beat Mike Steadman
Felix Xie beat Roy Seabrook
Abraham Deng beat William Undy
Paul Macdonald beat Daniel Gong.
5 players are in the lead on 2 points – Allen Fan, John Duneas, Nathan Goodhue, Alex Nagorski and Paul Macdonald
B Grade
Kelvin Xiao vs Olivia Dong – A lot of errors by both players but Black was ahead most of the time and ended up two pawns better in the endgame. 0-1
Joe Wang vs Anya Thurner – After a very locked up game White picked up 3 pawns and Black resigned. 1-0
Compared to A Grade there were relatively few upsets in B Grade.
Philbert Zhai beat Stephen Peters
Hannah Xu beat Uday Jain
5 players are undefeated in 1st place – Joe Wang, Hugh Gao, Boyuan Zhang, Olivia Dong, and Kenny Zhang.
A reminder about the September Weekend on the 15th and 16th of September. There are 9 Games of Rapid and 9 games of Blitz over 2 days. Entry and more information is online
The ACC Winter Cup is two rated Swiss grades over 7 rounds.
Most games in round 1 had a large rating difference so were straightforward wins for the stronger player.
Round 2 possible draw is at the bottom of this post.
A Grade
John Pakenham vs Mike Steadman – Black exploited holes in White’s pawn structure and created too many threats for White to handle. 0-1
Daniel Gong vs Winston Weng – 1-0
Aaron Wang vs Allen Fan – 0-1
John Duneas vs Felix Xie – Note the last move in the game is Bxc4 not Bxc5 (which allows a passed pawn). 1-0
Xinyang Liu vs Gordon Morrell – White played an unusual c3 then Na3->c2 line in the Caro-Kann to defend d4 and get a pawn chain. He then completed blocked all lines with pawn chains and Black settled for a draw.
Ntahn Goodhue vs Andrew Michael – White picked up a pawn and kept it into a rook and pawn endgame. He eventually pushed the pawn though to win. 1-0
Arkadi Polyakevich vs Paul Macdonald – Black got a better position and kept up the pressure for 40 moves until White cracked. 0-1
Alex Nagorski vs Stephen Peak – White picked up a couple of pawns. 1-0
A Sriram vs Roy Seabrook – 19 moves of theory. Black missed a tactic and White picked up material with a mate threat. 1-0
Tim Ha vs Abraham Deng – Black got a better position but settled for a draw.
Rodney Li vs Don Eade – Despite being an exchange down Black passed up the chance of a perpetual check but ended up in a worse endgame. 1-0
Lewis Jordon vs JC Mullage – White game up a piece and ignore and attack on his Queen to attack Black’s exposed King. 1-0
Philli Park-Tamati vs Akshey Sharma – After a good start White made some tactical mistakes and Black was able to get ahead and win. 0-1
James Liu vs David Ansell – Black feel for an opening trap and resigned a little later (although the computer says he still had chances) 1-0
Upsets:
A Sriram beat Roy Seabrook
Rodney Li beat Don Eade
Xinyang Liu drew with Gordon Morrell
Abraham Deng drew with Tim Ha
B Grade
Olivia Dong returns to chess after a break. She is top rated in the grade.
Upsets this round:
Adam Hasan-Stien beat Ying Wang
Lakshmi Ravi beat Isabelle Ning
The Spring Rapid was held over 6 rounds across two nights ( the 20ths and 27th of August). Time control was 25+5 and there was a single grade for the whole club (just over 70 players).
This year was notable for the larger than usual number of players taking a half point bye in the 3rd and 6th round. Less than 20 players out of the field of 70 played all rounds.
After three rounds only Alexei Kulashko and newcomer Stephen Peters were on 3 points. Alexei won in their game in round 4 but lost to Ben Hague in round 5.
Going into round 6, there were 3 players on 4.5 ( Ben Hague, Mike Steadman and Alphaeus Ang) but they all went home and took half point byes.
Alexei Kulaskho, Philli Park-Tamati and Boyuan Zhang were the only ones on 4 points but Alexei also took a bye.
That left Philli Park-Tamati (ranked 29th) and Boyuan Zhang (ranked 44th) to play on board one for a chance at 1st-equal. Both had upset higher rated players.
The result was a win for Philli after a close endgame.
Biggest upsets in Spring Rapid (with rating difference)
Yolanda Chang beat John Pakenham 618
Lakshmi Ravi beat Bill Undy 581
Charlotte Wen beat Winston Weng 537
Jordan Lewis beat Nathan Goohue 489
Wayne McDougall beat Alex Nagorski 461
Sylvia McDougall beat JC Mullage 426
Tracey Liu beat William Undy 414
Final Results
1st= on 5 points: Mike Steadman, Alphaeus Ang, Ben Hague, Philli Park-Tamati
5th= on 4.5 points: Alexei Kulashko, Danial Gong, Allen Fan and Jordan Lewis
The 2018 Auckland Chess Centre Club Champs is across 9 rounds in June though August. The A and B grades were 10 player round robins while the C grade was a Swiss ( with just over 60 players). All Grades NZCF rated while the A and B grades are FIDE rated.
