Spring Cup 2017 – Round 2

Round 2 of the Spring Cup was back to a more conventional Swiss pairing but with players still a little mixed up due to the first round draw and large number of byes.

A reminder to Club members about the following upcoming tournaments

  • The ACC Junior Rapid on Sunday November 19th
  • The Papatoetoe Rapid on Saturday December 2nd
  • The Papatoetoe Junior Rapid on Sunday December 3rd
  • The New Zealand Chess Congress tournaments on January 1st to 12th 2018 in Palmerston North.

Details about all the above tournaments are on the New Zealand Chess calendar page.

Tim Ha vs Ben Hague – A fairly even start but Black was eventually able to pick up a pawn and keep it in a swap to a Knight and pawn endgame. White resigned after the position became unholdable. 0-1

Grant Burrows vs Alexei Kulashko – White went a pawn down and then game up a piece for a mate threat. But Black stop the threat to leave White just a pawn down. 0-1

Bruce Watson vs Rodney Li – White got a good start out of the opening and then won a couple of pieces. 1-0

Gordon Morrell vs Euan McDougall – Black lost his Queen on move 9. 1-0

Nathan Goodhue vs Ying Wang – White played the b4 openign popular at the Club. He picked up an early pawn and then after locking the King-side and centre, he pushed his “passed” a-pawn. Black eventually lost a piece. 1-0

Keith Ward vs John Liu – A good start for White, he kicked around Black’s Queen and developed faster. But the position locked up with pawns and the players repeated positions. Draw

Wayne McDougall vs Roy Seabrook – This Game is fully annotated (with lost of question marks) by Ewan Green – Black had a good start and was ahead but miscalculated and lost a piece. But Black played on an kept the pressure against White who missed several winning chances (while he concentrated on defending). Eventually after many ups and downs Black won but even as White resigned he missed a drawing trick. 0-1

W McDougall vs R Seabrook. White to play.

David Ansell vs Don Eade – White started well but after central pawns were swapped Black had too many threats for White to counter and he was checkmated. 0-1

Eric Wu vs Abraham Deng – After a shaky opening White got a pawn ahead and managed to keep it into the endgame. He eventually won. 1-0

Erica Hu vs Stephen Peak – White got into a better position but took the draw rather than pushing for a win. Draw.

Daniel Gong vs Jeffrey Yu – Black got lost in the openign a gave up a pawn and then allowed White a strong attack. White picked up a piece and more. 1-0

Alphaeus Ang vs Renae Ghadiali – Black got lost in the opening and allowed White to pick up a pawn. A few moves later she lost a piece to a tactic. 1-0

Jacob Barry vs Alex Nagorski – Black had a good opening and White position was poor very early as Black stormed it with pawns and pieces. White resigned as he was about to lose a piece. 0-1

Mark Brimble vs Winston Weng – White’s opening line seems to be unpopular for a reason. He game up a pawn for no compensation. The players castled opposite sides and pushed pawns. White got there first but missed the best move and Black got a winning counter-attack. 0-1

Simon Lyall vs Saasha Ghadiali – Black played the opening incorrectly and White made a series of attacking moves. Black eventually failed to defend correctly against one. 1-0

Virginia Milne vs Philli Park-Tamati – White lined up an attack but the players took a draw rather than testing if it would work. Draw

Xinyang Liu vs Kelvin Xiao – Black castled into White’s attack. White kept attacking and eventually trapped Black’s Queen. 1-0

Oscar Qin vs Jacob Chai – Black was worse out of the opening. White then attacked Black’s king and managed to pick up a piece at one point. 1-0

Silei Wang vs Eric Liang – White got a pawn and an attack but after swaps the position was even with Queens and pawns each. But Black swapped Queens and gave up the opposition which was enough to lose. But White got lost and had to settle for a draw.

Justin Zhao vs Paul Macdonald – game annotated by Paul – White blunder a piece early on and then lost further material under the pressure of Black’s attack. 0-1

Clinton Wells vs Kendrick Zhang – The players castled opposite sides and both pushed pawns. White’s attack was a little faster. 1-0

Andrew Michael vs Sylvia McDougall – Black was looking okay until she blundered a piece. 1-0

Selena Hu vs Aaron Wang – White picked up a piece but then gave it straight back. She then overlooked a mate. 0-1

Rosa Ryu vs Toby Zhang – White lost a piece in the opening and didn’t recover. 0-1

Shawn Hui vs Leo Li – White got into trouble early on and opened his castled King up for attack. Black managed to take a Rook, Bishop and a Queen one after the other with the same Knight fork! 0-1

Felix Xei vs Charlottle Wen – Black misplayed the opening and got in trouble as White got a powerful attack that won material and then checkmated.

Isabelle Ning vs Samuel Sajch – A strange opening ( 1. d5 d5 2. Bf4 Nc6 3. c3 Nf6 ) gave White a better position after some poor moves by Black. She piled on the attack until Black lost his Queen and then she chased Blacks King into a mate.

Tom Fu vs Zihao Lin – Black played a bad line, declined to retake a capture and then resigned after further material was about to be lost.

Hu Gao vs Uday Fain – White left a piece en-prise and then missed a checkmate. 0-1

Biggest Upsets:

  • Winston Weng beat Mark Brimble
  • Philli Park-Tamati drew with Virginia Milne
  • John Liu drew with Keith Ward
  • Erica Hu drew with Stephen Peak
  • Jain Uday beat Hugh Gao
  • Silei Wang drew with Eric Liang

After 2 rounds: 8 people are on 2.0, 13 on 1.5 and 29 on 1.0