The Autumn Cup is being played on Monday in April, May and June and consists of two Swiss Grades. It is Nationally Rated.
Commentary by Alex Nagorski
A Grade
Alphaeus Ang vs Bruce Watson – Sharp Nimzo-Indian variation was played and White got the usual bishop pair and the open position. The fight saturated with tactics finished when White missed the best continuation. Further swaps led to an opposite colour bishop endgame and a draw. 1/2-1/2
Paul Garbett vs Mike Steadman – White ceased the initiative from the very start when Black played non-theoretical line. White kept pressing until he got to a completely won position. Yet he blundered playing 15.Qh5?? generously giving Black to win the game. Black paid the same coin and missed the winning 15…Rxg2 and then 16…Rxg2 on the next move (the opportunity was still there). After missing that chance Black resigned 5 moves later. 1-0
Daniel Gong vs Felix Xie – White dominated for the most of the game even though at some point in midgame the position was equal. The pawn endgame that occurred looked suspiciously drawish at first sight, but White’s distant passer was obviously a huge advantage that decided the game in White’s favour. 1-0
Allen Fan vs Abraham Deng – Black got a very active position with hanging pawns c and d. However, Black missed his chance to get rid of the hanging pawns and open the position. After that White’s pressure increased and Black lost an exchange to some tactics and resigned on move 41. 1-0
John Duneas vs Jordan Lewis – Sharp tactical play that followed a highly non-theoretical Slav Defence line resulted in Black’s piece blunder on move 22. After that Black resigned. 1-0
Jasmine Zhang vs Boyuan Zhang – White had a good start and even won a piece but then made a mistake 13.f3? which Black didn’t use. After the correct 13…Bb4+ Black would have returned back the piece having practically two extra pawns on the q-side. Missing that Black resigned on move 29 1-0
Phili Park-Tamati vs Aaron Wang – White quickly won an exchange due some tactics and was able to get even more in the endgame then converted to the win. 1-0
Paul Macdonald – Nigel Metge – Paul played his favourite but rather passive 1.b3. He weakened his king position being slightly inaccurate at tactics. Black used the defects of White’s inharmonious located pieces and was able to
infiltrate the 2nd rank. The final combination of Black with a queen sac is quite spectacular (see diagram) (Black plays 25…Qxf1+!!) 0-1
Grant Burrows vs Don Eade – Opponents played the Yugoslav attack in Dragon variation of Sicilian defence. White got a winning position but couldn’t find a way for a final attack. Then he missed a draw by perpetual. Black consolidated and struck back winning the game. 0-1
Euan McDougall vs Timothy Ha – White played a very harmless line against Scandinavian wasting many tempi on back and forth moves. Eventually he got punished by Black for his lack of piece development. 0-1
Xinyang Liu vs Stephen Peak – The game quickly reached the endgame phase where White happened to have a good knight vs bad bishop. That allowed White to win a pawn and the game. 1-0
Karl Holdo vs Mohammad Bashar – Black gradually got an “almost won” position totally dominating in the centre and q-side. Black started some bizarre
maneuvering and allowed White to push the f-pawn and open the position. White consolidated his position and reached a winning position. However, a couple of mistakes on White’s behalf brought the game to a draw rook endgame. 1/2-1/2
Arkadi Polyakevich vs Andrew Michael – White was pretty much on top of the situation for the entire game. Yet he missed a forced win involving a rook sac 17. Rxf6 which allowed White to build up an attack against Black’s king and finish the game quicker. Nevertheless White kept control over the situation and won the game. 1-0
Joe Wang vs Virginia Milne – The game was rather equal until the light pieces were swapped down. White managed to win a pawn. Black tried some tactics but blundered her queen due to checkmate threat on the 8th rank. 1-0
Jeffrey Yu vs Kendrik Zhang – White built up quite nicely in the opening but then gradually gave it all away. Black gained serious advantage but missed a win. The correct 29… Qd1+ followed by 30…Rb1 would have made a day for Black. Missing that the players went for a rook endgame with an extra pawn for Black. White found a nice draw stand and the game finished peacefully. 1/2-1/2
Upsets in Round 7
Joe Wang beat Virginia Milne
Philli Park-Tamati beat Aaron Wang
Final Result
1st Equal: Paul Garbett and Bruce Watson on 5.5
2rd Equal: Alex Nagorski, Alphaeus Ang, Allen Fan, John Duneas and Daniel Gong on 5.0
B Grade
Scott Treanor vs Hugh Gao – Short and tactical game in which White used all the ideas of Saemisch King’s Indian without meeting any decent resistance. Black resigned facing a lethal attack on the h-file 1-0
Jack Chen vs John Liu – Due to Black inaccurate play White gained a winning attack in the opening devastating all around Black’s king. The game ended with checkmate on move 23. 1-0
Upsets in Round 7
Michael Malcolm beat Hunter Po’e-Tofaeono
Jack Chen beat John Liu
Final Result
1st: Jack Chen on 6.0
2nd: Scott Treanor on 5.5
3rd: Huge Gao and Lucas Xiao on 5.0