Results for the final round of the Club Champs. The next tournament will be the Spring Rapid on the 21st and 28th of August. Remember to enter before the night. Current entries are in Vega. Remember that all catchup games from the Club Champs must be played (or at least scheduled and Simon informed) by 21st August.
Round 9 PGN by Ewan Green with help from Tim Ha
A Grade
Goodhue vs Duneas – Black tries to hard to win a center pawn and gets a Knight sidelined. White then grabs an open file with his rooks and queen and forced his way though, eventually picking up a piece when Black exchanged for a promoted pawn. 1-0
Steadman vs Morrell – An offbeat c3 Sicilian line by White didn’t work very well and Black was a pawn up out of the opening. However the players took and early draw.
Ang vs Zhang – Which had a good start with his bishops well placed and his Nights pushing up the Queen side. But he failed to find the correct moves and allowed black to counter-attack and gain create too many threats. Eventually White made a major mistake and Black was a piece ahead. 0-1
Watson vs Hague – Black picked up two pawns early in the game and white resigned rather than play on with little hope. 0-1
Fan vs Gong – Black made a tactical error and lost a piece with more to go. 1-0
Final result is first and Club Champion is Ben Hague. 2nd equal is Leo Zhang and Bruce Watson.
B Grade
Wu vs Ha – White picked up an early pawn but at the cost of an awkwardly placed Queen. There were some sharp tactics a little later but Black missed his chance to go a piece ahead and instead white was 2 pawns up when the dust cleared on move 28. But White allowed a fork a couple of moves later leaving Black a piece up which is was eventually able to convert. 0-1
Eade vs Nagorski – Black made a mistake out of the opening an ended up an exchange down. White then swapped pieces and pushed pawns until one made it though. 1-0
Lyall vs Brimble – Black lost a piece in the opening and resigned.
Caroline Yan vs Ward – White got a position with multiple threats and emerged with a piece for 2 pawns. She then swapped into a bishop+pawns vs pawns endgame and won. 1-0
Peak vs Qin – A fairly even game until White lost a piece. 0-1
Final result for B Grade was Caroline Yan first on 6 points, Keith Ward and Don Eade second equal on 5.0 points and 5 players on 4.5 points.
C Grade
Xingyan Liu vs Seabrook – Black was better out of the endgame and 2 pawns up was winning. However he allowed black a passed pawn which let him pick up an exchange. However white failed to press his advantage and black was able to swap to an even rook and pawn endgame. White then lost on time. 0-1
Aaron Wang vs Andrew Michael – Black unexpectedly got a Knight trapped in the centre of the board and even though White missed the best moves he ended up a bishops for 3 pawns. He then swapped into a won endgame. 1-0
Isabelle Ning vs Euan McDougall – A roller-coaster game with some aggressive exchanges of pieces. White was down an exchange but then mounted a mating attack and picked up a piece. After threats by both sides the position was White with a Bishop and 5 pawns vs Black’s 6 pawns. However White got lost in the endgame and allowed Black to win pawns and then push multiple passed pawns. 0-1
Oscar Qin vs Wayne McDougall – White played the Scotch which Black has had problems against in the past. White got a strong position and then mounted a pawn storm against Black’s King which proved too strong. 1-0
Sarah Yan vs John Liu – Black attempted passive resistance against White. This did not work well. 1-0
Virginia Milne vs Winston Weng – Black picked up a pawn and managed to keep a little ahead during the middle game. White then lost a piece to a fork and despite some dubious swaps by Black he stayed far enough ahead to win. 0-1
Upsets from round 9:
Winston Weng beat Virginia Milne
Felix Xie beat Daniel Morrin
Jacob Chai beat Leo Li
Jeffrey Yu beat Kelvin Xiao
Charlotte Wen beat Brian Zhao
Samuel Sajch beat Silei Wang
Final result was Roy Seabrook in 1st place on 8 points. Aaron Wang and Euan McDougall second-equal on 7 and Oscar Qin 4th on 6.5