News

The Final Round of the Winter Cup was on October 15th.

Remember to get in your entries for the Spring Cup as soon as possible as we are almost full

A reminder that the New Zealand Chess congress is on in the New Year in Palmerston North. If you want to play you need to plan you holidays, travel and accommodation soon.

• Draw: A Grade, B Grade
• Vega Links: A Grade, B Grade, C Grade

Round 7 PGN by Ewan Green

A Grade

Ben Hague vs Mike Steadman – Black swapped down the pieces but ended up with a bad position where White could just pick off his pawns. 1-0

Allen Fan vs Danial Gong – Black tried a pawn push against White’s King but White nicely broke it up. White then kept a slightly lead with better placed pieces. After a swap black bad a bad move and resigned after white mate threat allowed him win material. 1-0

Bruce Watson vs Gordon Morrell – White got control of a file and then another and pushed Black steadily. After another threat along a diagonal was created Black was unable to defend them all. 1-0

Alexei Kulashko vs Alphaeus Ang – An early draw after most of the interest was swapped out of the game. Draw

Final result was Alexei Kulashko and Ben Hague were 1st equal on 5.2 points. Alphaeus Ang was 3rd on 3.5

B Grade

Alex Nagorski vs Caroline Yan –  Black made a mistake out of the opening and left her castled King under-defended. She gave up a piece to avoid White’s attack. White used his extra piece to win fairly easily. 1-0

Don Eade vs Nathan Goodhue – White went a little wrong in the opening and Black was able to improve his position with threats wot Whit’s over-extended pieces. Black then broke up White’s pawn structure and picked off the isolated pawns. 0-1

Mark Brimble vs Paul Macdonald – See the PGN for Paul’s full analysis – Paul played the Petroff to reduce White’s winning chances. His 8. ..f5 was a dubious line however. White’s good start gradually went away as he was unable to find the best move to maintain the pressure and a draw was agreed on move 29. Draw

Roy Seabrook vs Keith Ward – White won by default

Final result was a very good first place to Paul Macdonald with 6.5 ( 6 wins and one draw). Second was Nathan Goodhue on 5.5 and third Alex Nagorski on 5.0

C Grade

Simon Lyall vs Everett Bishop – A long game as both players pushed for an advantage in a even position. Eventually everything was swapped down to a draw,

Tim Ha vs Euan McDougall – A very long game. White pciked up a pawn in the middle-game and things swapped to a Queen and Pawn endgame. after much play and many checks Black exchanged the Queens favorably. 0-1

Grant Burrows vs Aaron Wang – Black made an error in the opening and after pieces were swapped made a passive move to give White control of the center. White used the advantage to pick up Black’s Queen. 1-0

Xinyang Liu vs Winston Weng – After the opening went from a c3-sicilian to an advanced French white showed he had a better understanding of the position. Black was unable to castle and white eventually picked up a piece. 1-0

Isabelle Ning vs Louie Wei – Black gained the advantage and then it was all over when White dropped a piece. 0-1

Stephen Peak vs Kelvin Xiao – An exciting game of tactics, it swapped to a pawn endgame which ended up being winning for Black. 0-1

David Ansell vs Virginia Milne – White lost a piece after miscalculating a sequence of exchanges. 0-1

Felix Xie vs Andrew Michael – White had an awkward opening but Black made a careless move and allowed white a tactic from which he eventually got 2 pawns. But as White pressed his advantage Black found his tactic and picked up a piece. 0-1

The C-Grade winner was Everett Bishop on 6.0/7 with Grant Burrows and Euan MacDougall 2nd-equal on 5.5.

 

 

The Seconds last round of the Winter Cup was played this week. Like last week numbers were down at the Club due to School Holidays and other tournaments going on. A reminder to enter the Spring Cup soon if you haven’t already.

 

• Draw: A Grade, B Grade
• Vega Links: A Grade, B Grade, C Grade

Winter Cup 2017 Round 6 PGN by Tim Ha

 

A Grade

Michael Steadman vs Alexei Kulashko – This game was actually played a couple of weeks ago. White makes a couple of errors out of the opening and resigns on move 15 in a lost position. 0-1

Gordon Morrell vs Allen Fan – The players lock the position up with pawn chains and well defended position. Neither has a safe way of breaking though so they repeat positions and agree on a draw.

Daniel Gong vs Ben Hague – White tried an aggressive pawn push on the King side but Black forces swapped down to a Queen pawns each with Black having the better position.  Black picks up a couple of pawns and forces a passed pawn. 0-1

Alexei Kulashko is leading on 5 points ahead of Ben Hague on 3.5. Ben has a game in but it will be difficult to catch Alexei.

B Grade

Caroline Yan vs Roy Seabrook – Blacks Opening (Budapest Defense: Fajarowicz Variation) seemed to give up a pawn for little compensation. White elected to swap off material quickly to maintain her lead and by move 40 it was just a rook each with White having a pawn lead. She was eventually able to win the endgame despite Blacks dogged defense. 1-0

Nathan Goodhue vs Mark Brimble – A strange looking start, both players crept their pawns forward while their pieces hid behind.  Between move 20 and 30 the players swapped down material to a Queen, piece and pawns each and just a piece and 7 pawns on move 37. White’s Knight was better than Black’s Bishop however and he got a position where White would have to soon give up his piece to stop a promotion.  1-0

Paul Macdonald vs Alex Nagorski – Once again the game is well annotated by Paul in the PGN – White played and unorthodox Queen’s Gambit Accepted line in which the correct moves were hard to find. Black did fairly well apart from a sidelined Knight. However he castled Kingside which was risky due to the open g-file with a white rook on it. By move 20 White was able to exploit this along with his two Bishops to make a series of dangerous threats  which Black was unable to counter. 1-0

Paul Macdonald stays on a perfect score of 6/6 and is now uncatchable. Alex Nagorski is 2nd on 4.0 with Nathan Goodhue on 3.5 with a game in hand.

C Grade

Aaron Wang vs Tim Ha – Black got a great attack but missed the best line and ended up and exchange down. White swapped down to a 3-pawn vs 2-pawn endgame but made the wrong move and ended up with a draw.

Grant Burrows vs Isabelle Ning – White was slightly better most of the game and eventually swapped into a Rook and pawn endgame and then a pawn endgame a pawn up. My engine shows both players had winning positions at various times over the next few moves. Eventually White won however. 1-0

Simon Lyall vs Tom Fu – White developed a little slowly and allowed Black to gain equality. His push on the Kingside put Black under pressure and Black blundered to allow a mate in two. 1-0

Euan McDougall vs Stephen Peak – Dubious opening play by both players left White with a pawn and well placed Bishops. Black tried sacrificing a piece to get back into the game but it was no help. 1-0

Louie Wei vs Winyang Liu – White attempted an attack against Blacks Queen but Black was able to defend. In a tight position Black picked up a pawn but it wasn’t enough to be worth playing out an opposite coloured-bishop endgame. Draw

Virginia Milne vs Felix Xie – White tried an early unsound attact Against Black’s King that gave up two pieces for a rook and a pawn. She was luckily when Black missed the move that would have won her Queen. Black unwisely then made the same exchange back and the positions were even. The players agreed on a draw in an unclear King and pawn endgame. Draw

Kelvin Xiao vs Daniel Morrin – Black adequately defended an attack on his Queen and then gave up more material. 1-0

Upsets in Round 6

Kelvin Xiao beat Daniel Morrin
Jeffery Yu beat Jame Liu

The leader Everett Bishop took a half point bye this round which gave the other players a chance to catchup but the 3 players in second drew or lost.

Going into the last round Everett is on 5.5 while five players are on 4.5

A reduced number of games played this week due to the George Trundle Tournaments and School Holidays.

A reminder to players that the Merv Morrison tournament will be played over Labour Weekend (Oct 21-23) at the Club. See the NZ Chess Calendar page for an entry form.

• Draw: A Grade, B Grade
• Vega Links: A Grade, B Grade, C Grade

Winter Cup Rd5 PGN by Ewan Green

A Grade

Just two games played this week.

Allen Fan vs Alphaeus Ang – Around 12 moves or theory although the move order was a little unusual. The game was fairly even until White blundered with 18. Nc2 which allowed Black to win material and force the win. 0-1

Bruce Watson vs Alexei Kulashko – The Game got messy early on with Queens swapped and broken pawn structures on both sides. White game up 3 pawns for an attack and Black handed back a piece. However when White was unable to force mate Black managed to push his pawns for a Queen. 0-1

Alexei Kulashko is in the sole lead on 4.0/5 but some of the players behind him have a game or two in hand.

B Grade

Paul Macdonald vs Caroline Yan – The PGN has extensive comments from Paul – After giving up a pawn to leave holes in Black’s position though which he bounced his Knight(s) (supported by his other pieces) and gave Black a serious of threat which she scrambled to counter. Black resigned when he position became unholdable. 1-0

Alex Nagorski vs Nathan Goodhue – A fairly even looking opening and middle game swung towards white when he picked up a passed pawn in the endgame. But white was unable to find his way passed Black and settled for a draw.

Mark Brimble vs Keith Ward – After an interesting early middle game the players elected for a draw.

Don Eade vs Roy Seabrook – White overlook a move and Black was able to drop his Queen into the middle of Whites position and pick up a piece. White had little chance after that although he tried a desperation attack which at one point allowed him a perpetual check. However his missed this and resigned a few moves later. 0-1

Paul Macdonald leads with 5/5 and Alex Nagorski is 2nd on 4 points. Nathan Goodhue is on 2.5 with a game in hand. The rest of the field is on just 0.5 points against the 3 leaders.

C Grade

Everett Bishop vs Euan McDougall – Black was force to give up a Knight after getting his Rook unexpectedly trapped. White used his material advantage to press and force a win. 1-0

Stephen Peak vs Xinyang Liu – White miscalculated and allowed a mate threat to tie up his pieces which Black exploited. Black swapped down to a rook and pawn endgame two pawns ahead but White was compensated with more intuitive. The players agreed on a Draw.

Rodney Li vs Isabelle Ning – After an even start Black found a tactic in the middle game to pick up an exchange an initiative. White was able to pull things back but then launched an attack which left his King Fatally under-defended. 0-1

James Liu vs Simon Lyall – Black played a little passively but the game was fairly even. However White resigned after he allowed a tactic that allowed Black to win an exchange. 0-1

Winston Weng vs Wayne McDougall – Black got off to a good start after a push against White’s king yielded an exchange. White’s counter attacks didn’t seem enough but Black made a mistake and gave back a rook. White was able to cruise to a win. 1-0

Upsets Round 5:

• Isabelle Ning beat Rodney Li
• Winston Weng beat Wayne McDougall
• Selena Hu beat Eric Liang
• Kelvin Xiao beat Leo Li
• Hugh Gao drew with Virginia Milne

The Grade is led by Everett Bishop with 5/5 . 3 players are 2nd-equal on 4 points Aaron Wang, Tim Ha and Isabelle Ning.

 

Next week will be the start of the school holidays. A reminder to let Simon know if you cannot play. If you let him know you get a half point bye. If you don’t then zero points and somebody else may miss out on a game.

Over the next week several Club members are playing in the George Trundle tournaments at the Club, the Interschools Final in Christchurch and Asia Seniors championship. Good luck to all.

• Draw: A Grade, B Grade
• Vega Links: A Grade, B Grade, C Grade

Winter Cup Round 4 PGN by Tim Ha

A Grade

Steadman vs Watson – A even opening but Black blundered a Night on move 20 (with two pawns as small compensation). White got the pawns back and swapped to BNNpp vs BBpp by move 46. 30 moves later he broke through Blacks dogged defense & Black resigned. 1-0

Kulashko vs Fan – Another long game. White had a good start with a well placed Bishop on d6 and an active Queen but he missed the best lines and then sacrificed his Queen for a Rook and a Bishop. However Black returned the sac and the players were at move 35 with a rook each and 5 or so pawns. Black got a slightly better position & decline a repetition, but White turned the tables and Black was forced to carefully defend to force the draw. Draw

Ang vs Hague – White made a small mistake which snowballed when he tried to compensate by complicating the position. Black Checkmated on move 26 while a piece up. 0-1

Morrell vs Gong – White resigned after a complicated sequence ended with him about to lose a piece. 0-1

Steadman and Kulashko lead on 3 points while Watson is 3rd just half a point behind.

B Grade

Yan vs Eade – Black got some pressure on Whites exposed King after gxf3. White incorrectly defended and then faced overwhelming threats. 0-1

Seabrook vs Brimble –  The players played a very sharp series of moves in the opening and early middle game. Black ended up getting the worst and resigned due many threats. 1-0

Ward vs Nagorski – Black was better for much of the game going one and then two pawns up. He swapped to a rook and pawn endgame but made a couple of incorrect moves and the game was drawn.

Goodhue vs Macdonald – See the PGN for full commentary from Paul – White got off to a good start with a f2 to c5 pawn chain and pushed his a and b pawns. But he failed to press his push and Black managed to get his pieces to good squares to defend. Black tried an attack against White’s King which White aided by moving his Queen to the other side of the board. Black Sacrificed a piece to open up White’s defenses and won a few moves later. 0-1

Paul Macdonald leads the grade unbeaten while Alex Nagorski is just half a point behind.

C Grade

Xinyang Liu vs Everett Bishop – A interesting game cut short when white fell to a Rook/Queen fork and resigned. 0-1

Tim Ha vs Mathew Steadman – A fairly even game but white looked better and went a pawn up into the endgame. Black resigned after he blundered a piece. 1-0

Felix Xie vs Aaron Wang – White got lost in his opening and then made several poor moves, however luckily for him Black missed the best replies. Eventually black won by swapping to a rook and pawn endgame where he was able to force black to give up his rook to prevent a Queen. 0-1

Euan McDougall vs Winston Weng – Black got a little lost in an Open Sicilian and then took White’s c2 pawn. This allowed White to attack Black’s completely undeveloped position(!) with a Queen, Rook and Two Bishops. Black did not last long. 1-0

Upsets in Round 4:

Jeffery Yu beat Eric Liang
Jacob Chai drew with Renae Ghadiali
Sylvia McDougall drew with Tody Zhang

Everett Bishop is the only unbeaten player on 4 points. Just behind him on 3.5 are Euan McDougall, Aaron Wang and Tim Ha.

 

 

Another Reminder that School Holidays are coming up so if you are away please let Simon know and you can be given a bye for those rounds. Also signup for the Spring Cup has now started.

• Draw: A Grade, B Grade
• Vega Links: A Grade, B Grade, C Grade

Winter Cup round 3 PGN by Tim Ha

A Grade

Morrell vs Steadman – Black’s opening goes completely wrong and he’s left with giant holes in his Kingside and undeveloped pieces. Spends the next 20 moves continuously pushing until Black throws in the towel. 1-0

Gong vs Ang – Both players castle Queen side but White’s position appears more vulnerable. After a few exchanges the position is more even, with black giving up 2 Knights for a rook and a pawn. Black uses his extra rook well in an open position and after swaps is a Rook and 3 pawns vs 2 Knights and a pawn. He then overwhelms White with threats. 0-1

Hague vs Kulashko – White came out of the opening a little better. However he was unable to maintain his advantage and eventually the game was even. At move 40 both players had three pawns each on opposites sides of the board. However White quickly mad a mis-step and resigned with Black soon to promote. 0-1

Fan vs Watson – A fairly even start but Black got a little better as white’s best pieces were changed off. The game swapped down to a rook each plus several pawns and black went a pawn ahead and then two. White resigned in a rook vs rook and two pawns endgame that he couldn’t hold. 0-1

After 3 rounds Alexei Kulashko is in first place on 2.5 but 3 players are just behind on 2.0

B Grade

Goodhue vs Yang was postponed

Macdonald vs Ward – Once again Paul has extensively annotated the PGN, see that for full details of the game. A fairly even start but Black got a little ahead. After some exciting play Black had a won game but blundered a piece and resigned. 1-0

Nagorski vs Seabrook – A good start for Black with White’s pieces being badly coordination and underdeveloped. Black was able to get an exchange up and then got an additional rook ahead. But White’s remaining pieces were able to combine for an attack while Black’s we uncoordinated. He swapped off one piece and mated with a Queen and Bishop while Black’s pieces were on the other side of the board.  1-0

Brimble vs Eade – An unusual opening led to some quick swaps and a very open position. But Black missed a tactic and ended up an exchange and a pawn down with no hope. 1-0

Alex Nagorski and Paul Macdonald are on three out of three. However Nathan Goodhue is just a point behind and has a game in hand.

C Grade

Everett Bishop vs James Liu – Black missed a threat, gave up a piece and resigned a few moves later. 1-0

Xinyang Liu vs Kelvin Xiao – White got a good outpost Night followed by a very good position. He almost blew it when he allowed Black an attack but he survived this and had checkmate a couple of moves later. 1-0

Felix Xie vs Louie Wei – A quick departure from opening theory. The players quickly swapped their pieces into a rook and pawn endgame and then took the draw rather than fight it out. – Draw

Mathew Steadman vs Simon Lyall – Black misplayed the opening and early middle game and allowed which two strong central pawns with rooks behind. He then advanced these and Black’s position fell apart. 1-0

Jason Huang vs Tim Ha – White aggressive pushed forward his pawns and pieces but his position was only equal. Then White missed a tactic and went a piece down. Black cruised to the win. 0-1

Upsets this round:
Mathew Steadman beat Simon Lyall
Winston Weng beat Grant Burrows
Isabelle Ning beat Ying Wang

Everett Bishop and Xinyang Liu are the only players left on a perfect score. But there are 7 players just behind on 2.5

Apologies for the delay with this week’s post. Congratulations to our B Grade Interclub team for their win by 3.5 to 2.5 over Howick.

School Holidays will be starting in a couple of weeks. Please let Simon know if you will miss some rounds. We’ll also get the signup sheet for the Spring Cup up early.

This week we have PGNs from the top 20 boards.

 

• Draw: A Grade, B Grade
• Vega Links: A Grade, B Grade, C Grade

Winter Cup 2017 – R2 PGN by Ewan Green with assistence from Tim Ha and Paul MacDonald.

A Grade

The first 3 games were quick wins due to tactical error by a player, the last had more moves than other 3 put together.

Steadman vs Fan – White went from slightly better to a win after Black miscalculated and allowed a checkmating sequence. 1-0

Ang vs Morrell – Black found a nice sequence and picked up three of whites pawns. However he dropped a piece and resigned. 1-0

Watson vs Hague – Black pushed White’s Queen offside and then overloaded a defender. White resigned a rook and pawn down. -01

Kuashko vs Gong – An unusual opening with trapped queens a piece swaps on around move 15. White got a piece up by the position was complicated. White eventually got an endgame of a Rook and Night vs a Rook (plus 2 pawns to 1) but it took him 30 moves to work around blacks dogged defence. 1-0

After 2 rounds Mike Steadman is the only undefeated player.

B Grade

Yan vs Brimble – White played here usual d4, c4, cxd5 line.  Black resigned after getting his Queen almost trapped and losing a piece. 1-0

Ward vs Goodhue – Black kept to his offbeat lines playing “1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 e5” . Black picked up an early pawn and had a nice central pawn group. White tried direct attacks on the Kingside against Black’s king but was unable to penetrate and then trapped his Queen and had to give up an exchange to extract it. Black swapped down to a won King & pawn endgame. 0-1

Eade vs Nagorski – A standard opening got very sharp. White made a mistake and ended up an exchange down with more to follow. 0-1

Seabrook vs Macdonald – See the PGN for full annotations from Paul. An unusual start “1. d4 d6 2. e3 e5” and players swapped Queens. Black was slightly better but white kept in touch and equalised. By move 25 Black was also down to 10 minutes. White picked up a piece but Black had two passed pawns as compensation (RN3P vs R2P).  Both players made errors but Black managed to force White to give up two pieces to stop a passed pawn. A few moves later “Roy had finally  seen enough. Disgusted he knocked over his king, signed his scoresheet and
walked off into the darkness to contemplate what the hell just happened” 0-1

Goodhue, Macdonald and Nagorski are all on 2 points after 2 rounds.

C Grade

Most games were pretty unmatched but there were some upsets and near-upsets nevertheless.

Everett vs Leo Li – A passive start by white gave Black easy equality. White swapped down to a Two Bishops vs 2 Nights endgame and then was able to favorable swap into a winning king and pawn endgame. 1-0

James Liu vs Stephen Peak – Black lost a pawn and then was down a full piece after we tried to complicate things to get it back. White almost allowed a draw at the end however black failed to find the best line. Later Black had perpetual check chances but eventually made a mistake. 1-0

Rodney Li vs Felix Xei – White had a good start but blundered an exchange and then resigned when Black picked up another piece. 0-1

Mathew Steadman vs Aaron Wang – White copied his dad’s b4 opening. The players took an early draw in an even position. Draw

Ying Wang vs Xinyang Liu – White lost a piece for two pawns around move 20 and an exchange 10 moves later. Black went a little astray at once point and gave back the exchange and white had a possibility of a draw in a pawn vs Knight endgame but missed it. 0-1

Paul Yu vs Wayne McDougall – Both players got a little lost in the opening an agreed on an early draw.

Kelvin Xiao vs Oscar Win – Black gave up two pawns out of the opening. He then gave up and exchange and white just had to keep pushing and swapping from then onwards. 1-0

Louie Wei vs Samuel Sajch – “1. d4 d5 2. f4!?” left white looking worse. But a mistake by Black put White a piece up for 2 pawns. I believe Black resigned but the PGN shows the opposite. 1-0

Simon Lyall vs Toby Zhang – White got Black in trouble out of the opening but missed the best moves and the game was even. Black had an attack against White’s vulnerable Queen but White (mostly) found the right moves and eventually swapped off Black’s attackers. White then pushed a pawn & black realised he had to give up a piece to stop it and resigned. 1-0

Virginia Milne vs Winston Weng –  White got lost in the opening and gave up a pawn. Later she lost a piece. She resigned when another was about to be lost. 0-1

Tim Ha vs Tom Foo – The game was fairly even but White swapped to a better position and a won endgame. 1-0

Upsets:
Winston Eng beat Virgina Milne
Kelvin Xiao beat Oscar Qin
Felix Xie beat Rodney Li
Jacob Chai beat David Ansell

There are seven players on 2 points and another 10 on 1.5.

 

 

The Winter Cup is over 7 rounds during September and October. This year it is two 8-player Round-Robin Grades and a 55-player C Grade Swiss. Due to lack of space some players who failed to enter in advance were unable to play.

 

• Draw: A Grade, B Grade
• Vega Links: A Grade, B Grade, C Grade

PNG file of Winter Cup Round 1 by Tim Ha, except for Paul Macdonald’s game which was annotated by Paul.

A Grade

Ang vs Steadman – This was a sideline prepared by Black with 5..c5 being a novelty (Bg7 or Nc5 are more common). White took an aggressive approach to punish the line, however he quickly ran into trouble. 13 Bxf6 gave black a serious of threats and  he was a piece up a few moves later and checkmated on move 30. Result: 0-1

Morrell vs Kulashko – A fairly boring looking game but White found a nice tactic (see diagram) that eventually left him a pawn up after several pieces were swapped. However he chose to settle for an immediate draw.

Gong vs Watson – 6. Bd3 seemed to be a dubious move in the opening but it got worse a few move later when White lost a piece to a simple fork. Even when Black gave a piece back for 2 pawns his advantage was overwhelming & White resigned. 0-1

Hague vs Fan – Black’s 5…b6 instead of the universal c5 doesn’t appear likely to become popular. However he survived White’s early attack to equalise. An interesting exchange left Black with an extra Knight but this was completely trapped while White had two very mobile Rooks (see diagram). However White was unable to get better than a draw.

B Grade

Ward vs Yan – Black’s opening innovations left her worse. But things went back in force for the next 30 moves until the players swapped down to a Rook, piece and 3 pawns each.  No progress for another 20 moves except swaps into a Draw.

Goodhue vs Seabrook – White played his usual Flank opening an ended up with 2 Knights against Black’s 2 Bishops. Black then tried a direct attack against White’s king but was unable to get momentum. White then gained enough material to force a win. 1-0

Nagorski vs Brimble – A very standard opening followed by an even open position. After swaps the opening appeared drawn until Black blundered to allow White a passed pawn. 1-0

Macdonald vs Eade – See the PGN for detailed annotation by Paul MacDonald. White was well ahead from as early as move 13 kept pressing his advantage to win. 1-0

C Grade

Renae Ghadiali vs Everett Bishop – A passive start by the higher-rated Black. However White wasted some tempo and lost a piece allowing Black to Swap his way to a Win. 0-1

Peak vs Barry – Black survived his dubious opening to get close to even. But a couple of bad moves later he was losing a piece to prevent mate. 1-0

Winston Weng vs Tim Ha – Fresh from a good North Shore opening Winston Weng is much better than his rating would suggest. Black emerged better from the opening but white then swapped away Black’s better pieces. The players agreed on a draw in a fairly blocked position. Draw

Aaron Wang vs Erica Hu – White had a good start but got greedy and got his Queen almost trapped. Black was able to develop while she harassed it. A slip-up left white a piece down for a pawn. Black had some chances to go further ahead but missed the lines. She eventually got lost in the endgame and allowed White a passed pawn. 1-0

Rosa Ryu vs Ying Wang –  Black blundered a piece in the opening. Around move 20 she gave up another piece.  However over the next 22 moves white gave up 3 pieces to convert a winning position into a loss. 0-1

The first round saw rating differences between players of between 200 and 500 rating points. However there were 5 draws and 4 loses by the higher rated player. Major upsets included:

Samuel Sajch beat Eric Liang ( 558 rating point difference)
Paul Yu beat Andrew Michael
Silei Wang beat John Liu
Kelvin Xiao beat Hugh Gao

 

 

ACC Winter Cup 2017 - B Grade : Round 1 - Sep 4
=====================================================
1 = 1 Ward, Keith          -   8 Yan, Caroline       
2 = 2 Goodhue, Nathan      -   7 Seabrook, Roy       
3 = 3 Macdonald, Paul      -   6 Eade, Don           
4 = 4 Nagorski, Alex       -   5 Brimble, Mark T     


ACC Winter Cup 2017 - B Grade : Round 2 - Sep 11
=====================================================
1 = 8 Yan, Caroline        -   5 Brimble, Mark T     
2 = 6 Eade, Don            -   4 Nagorski, Alex      
3 = 7 Seabrook, Roy        -   3 Macdonald, Paul     
4 = 1 Ward, Keith          -   2 Goodhue, Nathan     


ACC Winter Cup 2017 - B Grade : Round 3 - Sep 18
=====================================================
1 = 2 Goodhue, Nathan      -   8 Yan, Caroline       
2 = 3 Macdonald, Paul      -   1 Ward, Keith         
3 = 4 Nagorski, Alex       -   7 Seabrook, Roy       
4 = 5 Brimble, Mark T      -   6 Eade, Don           


ACC Winter Cup 2017 - B Grade : Round 4 - Sep 25
=====================================================
1 = 8 Yan, Caroline        -   6 Eade, Don           
2 = 7 Seabrook, Roy        -   5 Brimble, Mark T     
3 = 1 Ward, Keith          -   4 Nagorski, Alex      
4 = 2 Goodhue, Nathan      -   3 Macdonald, Paul     


ACC Winter Cup 2017 - B Grade : Round 5 - Oct 2
=====================================================
1 = 3 Macdonald, Paul      -   8 Yan, Caroline       
2 = 4 Nagorski, Alex       -   2 Goodhue, Nathan     
3 = 5 Brimble, Mark T      -   1 Ward, Keith         
4 = 6 Eade, Don            -   7 Seabrook, Roy       


ACC Winter Cup 2017 - B Grade : Round 6 - Oct 9
=====================================================
1 = 8 Yan, Caroline        -   7 Seabrook, Roy       
2 = 1 Ward, Keith          -   6 Eade, Don           
3 = 2 Goodhue, Nathan      -   5 Brimble, Mark T     
4 = 3 Macdonald, Paul      -   4 Nagorski, Alex      


ACC Winter Cup 2017 - B Grade : Round 7 - Oct 16
=====================================================
1 = 4 Nagorski, Alex       -   8 Yan, Caroline       
2 = 5 Brimble, Mark T      -   3 Macdonald, Paul     
3 = 6 Eade, Don            -   2 Goodhue, Nathan     
4 = 7 Seabrook, Roy        -   1 Ward, Keith         

ACC Winter Cup 2017 - A Grade : Round 1 - Sept 4
=====================================================
1 = 1 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er -   8 Steadman, Michael V 
2 = 2 Morrell, Gordon      -   7 Kulashko, Alexei    
3 = 3 Gong, Daniel Hanwen  -   6 Watson, Bruce R     
4 = 4 Hague, Ben           -   5 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou 


ACC Winter Cup 2017 - A Grade : Round 2 - Sep 11
=====================================================
1 = 8 Steadman, Michael V  -   5 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou 
2 = 6 Watson, Bruce R      -   4 Hague, Ben          
3 = 7 Kulashko, Alexei     -   3 Gong, Daniel Hanwen 
4 = 1 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er -   2 Morrell, Gordon     


ACC Winter Cup 2017 - A Grade : Round 3 - Sept 18
=====================================================
1 = 2 Morrell, Gordon      -   8 Steadman, Michael V 
2 = 3 Gong, Daniel Hanwen  -   1 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er
3 = 4 Hague, Ben           -   7 Kulashko, Alexei    
4 = 5 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou  -   6 Watson, Bruce R     


ACC Winter Cup 2017 - A Grade : Round 4 - Sept 25
=====================================================
1 = 8 Steadman, Michael V  -   6 Watson, Bruce R     
2 = 7 Kulashko, Alexei     -   5 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou 
3 = 1 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er -   4 Hague, Ben          
4 = 2 Morrell, Gordon      -   3 Gong, Daniel Hanwen 


ACC Winter Cup 2017 - A Grade : Round 5 - Oct 2
=====================================================
1 = 3 Gong, Daniel Hanwen  -   8 Steadman, Michael V 
2 = 4 Hague, Ben           -   2 Morrell, Gordon     
3 = 5 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou  -   1 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er
4 = 6 Watson, Bruce R      -   7 Kulashko, Alexei    


ACC Winter Cup 2017 - A Grade : Round 6 - Oct 9
=====================================================
1 = 8 Steadman, Michael V  -   7 Kulashko, Alexei    
2 = 1 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er -   6 Watson, Bruce R     
3 = 2 Morrell, Gordon      -   5 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou 
4 = 3 Gong, Daniel Hanwen  -   4 Hague, Ben          


ACC Winter Cup 2017 - A Grade : Round 7 - Oct 16
=====================================================
1 = 4 Hague, Ben           -   8 Steadman, Michael V 
2 = 5 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou  -   3 Gong, Daniel Hanwen 
3 = 6 Watson, Bruce R      -   2 Morrell, Gordon     
4 = 7 Kulashko, Alexei     -   1 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er

The Winter Cup will be starting on the 4th of September. It will be two round-robins Grades and a Swiss Grade. The Vega pages are linked on the 2017 tournaments page and the draws for the top two grades will be made and published later this week.

Please check that you are listed correctly as we will not be accepting late entries.

Vega Page for the Spring Rapid.

The final 3 games of the Spring Rapid we’re played on Monday the 28th of September.

Round 4

Things started to heat up as players were paired against those a lot closer in rating.

Major upsets were:

• Jason Huang beat Rodney Li
• Leo Li beat Eric Wu
• Euan McDougall beat Roy Seabrook

Round 5

Only 3 unbeaten players left (plus 2 more on 3.5)

Ben Hague beat Allen Fan to go into the sole led. Bruce Watson drew with Alphaeus Ang to put Bruce just half a point behind.

Big upsets this round were:

• Justin Zhao beat Andrew Michael
• Alex Nagorski beat Daniel Gong
• Euan McDougall beat Clinton Wells
• Hugh Gao beat Grant Burrows
• Tom Fu beat Caroline Yan

Round 6

Around two-thirds of players too a bye in the last round.

On board one Ben Hague ended up a piece down againts Bruce Watson and while he defended the endgame for some time Bruce eventually won.

Final Standards

1st: Bruce Watson 5.5 points
2nd= Ben Hague and Alexei Kulashko on 5.0
4th= Gordon Morrell, Alphaeus Ang and Alex Nagorski on 4.5

Club Rapid results

The Club rapid championship is decided by adding the scores of players in both the Club Rapids.

1st: Bruce Watson on 10.5  ( 5 + 5.5)
2nd: Ben Hague on 10.0  ( 5 + 5 )
3rd: Gordon Morrell on 9.5  ( 5 + 4.5 )
4th: John Duneas on 9.0 ( 4.5 and 4.5 )
5th= Alpahaeus Ang & Alex Nagorski on 8.5