This week is the last round of the Club Champs. A reminder to sign-up to the Spring Rapid and Winter Cup via the sign-up sheet, txt or email. Also a reminder that catchup games should be played or scheduled soon.
Club Champs Round 8 plus catchup by Ewan Green and Tim Ha.
Catchup Games
B Grade, Round 7, Simon Lyall vs Nicole Qin – A very cramped French position with on one exchange in the first 30 moves. Eventually White made a mistake and gave up an exchange and a pawn. Black had few problems converting.
Round 8 – A Grade
Duneas vs Fan – White got lost at the end of his opening theory and ended up slightly worse after 20 moves. A few moves later Black sacrificed a piece for a dangerous looking attack (see diagram below) but it was only good enough for a draw
Morrell vs Goodhue – A unusual looking opening left white slightly better. Both players locked together pawn chains which left no real options for breakthroughs. Draw.
Hague vs Ang – Black made an opening slip and got his Queen trapped. He gave up a bishop for White’s h&g pawns. White then made a miscalculation and lost a piece back. After the dust cleared around move 38 the players each had a bishop (opposite coloured) and white had 4 pawns to black’s two. White then spent 60 moves trying to win before agreeing on a draw on move 92.
Zhang vs Steadman – 15 moves of theory left and another 20 moves left neither playing with much. Draw
Gong vs Watson – White seemed to have a good opening and after opposite side castling launched a pawn push on the Kingside against Black’s king. A few moves later Black made a mistake and lost a piece. Unfortunately White tried a sacrifice a few moves later which was unsound and lost the piece back. With two rooks and 5 pawns each black was a little better and played the endgame more accurately. After some swaps (including two promotions each) black won. 0-1
Only a single win in this round. The grade is now led by Ben Hague and Bruce Watson on 6.5 points. They will face each other in the last round. Leo Zhang (3rd on 5.5) and Alphaeus Ang (4th on 5.0) also face each other in the last round.
B Grade
Ha vs Peak – After a quiet opening the game was about even. However White managed to get ahead by one threat breaking up Black’s mutual defense and allowing a follow-up attack which picked up an exchange. White speculatively sacrificed the exchange back (Tim says “He was low on time and I wanted to be a safe pawn up without any chance for him to roll pawns up in the centre, supported by a bishop” ) and Black looked okay but made a mistake and allowed a mate. 1-0
Qin vs Yan – A very even looking opening and middle game. However Black made a mistake and allowed to pickup a pawn and get a passed pawn. However White lost the pawn and the players agreed to a draw in a Knight and Pawn endgame. Draw
Ward vs Lyall – Black got into trouble early in the opening and White created a very strong attack. However White took off the pressure for a couple of moves and black was able to develop his pieces and swap off Black’s attackers. Black picked up a pawn but White force a swap to an opposite-coloured Bishops endgame which was Drawn.
Brimble vs Eade – Fairly even for most of the game, the players slowly swapped down to a Queen, rook and some pawns each. White picked up a pawn and some pressure after the Queens were off, and looked to have a won endgame but failed to find the right moves. Black held on just in the endgame and it look like a draw but White blundered and lost. 0-1
Nagorski vs Wu – White came out of the opening better, putting pressure on Black in the early middle game. Black managed to swap things down and equalize. However Black made a mistake at the end and white was left with a winning position in a king-and-pawn endgame. He failed to find the correct moves and the game was narrowly drawn.
Caroline Yan and Keith Ward and leading the grade on 5.0 ahead of 3 other players on 4.5. Caroline and Keith are playing each other in the last round.
C Grade
Steiner vs Seabrook – After a good start by Black he managed to put White under pressure. White tried to pick up a pawn but miscalculated and was left a piece down, he then resigned. 0-1
Euan McDougall vs Aaron Wang – White missed his chance to go a piece ahead after Black played a badly-calculated tactic. The game swapped down to a Rook and pawn endgame with Black ahead. Just when he was about to win black blundered a pawn and the game was drawn.
Andrew Michael vs Oscar Qin – White had a good start pushing Black back and winning a pawn. White Sacrificed an exchange for a winning attach but couldn’t find the right line and took a draw.
Isabelle Ning vs Sarah Yan – Black made 2 blunders that allowed White winning tactics. White found the second of them. 1-0
Upsets in C Grade Round 8:
- Winston Wng beat Grant Burrows
- Isabelle Ning beat Sarah Yan
- Jacob Chai beat Jainbo Yu
- Hugh Gao beat Ying Wang
- Felix Xie beat Leo Li
Roy Seabrook is 1 point ahead of 4 other players ( Aaron Wang, Isabelle Ning, Euan McDougall and Andrew Michael).