Summer Cup – Round 1

The First event this year is The Summer Cup. This year it is 7 rounds with Club Members playing in 5 grades. As mentioned elsewhere things are very full this year so some players had to be turned away.

Summer Round 1 PGN by Ewan Green

A Grade

Bruce Watson vs Daniel Gong 1-0 – Daniel was playing quite well and looked to have a strong position but a pawn push left a big hole in his position that Bruce exploited.

John Duneas vs Alphaeus Ang – 0-1 – After 14 movies of theory John pushed on the Queen side while Alphause push on the King side. Alphaeus’ attack got there first.

Mike Steadman vs Paul Garbett – 0-1 – A fairly even game before a swap left Paul with a big space and mobility advantage which he eventually capitalised on.

B Grade

Jasmine Zhang vs Paul MacDonald – 0-1 – Jasmine lost and early pawn and then another.

Tony Wang vs Nathan Goodhue – 0-1 – Tony was looking very comfortable but lost a pawn to a tactic. Nathan then swapped almost all the pieces (but gave the pawn back). Nathan managed to pick up another two pawns to win the endgame.

Allen Fan vs Alex Nagorski – draw – Alex got a good attack but couldn’t find the continuation ( The Computer says there isn’t one but to retreat and consolidate since he is 2 pawns up).

Clinton Wells vs Gordon Morrell – Draw – Clinton got a pawn up but Gordon’s position was very solid so a draw was agreed.

C Grades

Tim Ha vs Caroline Yang – Commentary from Tim with additional comments from Gordon Morrell in italic.

I usually play French Defense myself as Black, and I saw that Caroline played a lot of French during George Trundle Reserves 2016, so I tried a line with King’s Indian Attack today.  Somehow Caroline got confused and locked both of her bishops on queenside. As Black c8 bishop is her problem piece and your f1 Bishop is your strength in the King’s Indian Attack moving it to h3 and then back to exchange his bad bishop is rarely if ever going to be a good idea…If that
is your ‘best’ move then things are going wrong in a hurry. Yes, my bishop on h3 was aiming for e6. So moving it back, then exchanging with the bad French bishop of the Black was not good at all.  The Queen exchange also killed off my counterplay possibilities.

However, I was too slow to attack and was not brave enough to take on Nxd5 and push e6 to expose the uncastled king.  I could not really calculate that, although that line was waiting to be executed (what’s the purpose of putting Re1 if not for that 🙂 ). It is very good that you considered Nxd5 -the main thing in an opening like this (this is a good question generally of course) is that you keep asking ‘where is my play’?  ‘Is the resulting position easier for me to play than alternatives?’  ‘Would I like to be Black trying to defend?’  Even strong grandmasters do not try to ‘see to the end’ in such positions – Gelfand’s most recent book on Dynamics talks about this.  He basically says that you need to cultivate your intuition and trust it.  I saw that line with Nxd5 and e6 push all along, but I didn’t believe in a checkmate.  Looking at the computer evaluation I now understand that there was enough compensation and a chance to crack open the position, not a
checkmate.  But that plan was good enough and grew naturally from the position itself.  And since I didn’t execute the plan, I lost due to the French pawn chain on queenside.

Since I didn’t attack well, Caroline just pushed her queenside pawns and won comfortably.

The attack I missed is in the screenshot.  It’s interesting that Stockfish continued to suggest Nxd5 even several moves later when it seemed like I already missed that chance.  So the threat was really strong along e-file…

 

Monday is full so Friday is expanding

Due to heavy demand at the Auckland Chess Centre on Monday nights we have decided to restrict entries into the Summer Cup. To make things fair all players who pre-registered will be able to play but several players who did not pre-register but turned up on Monday the 13th won’t be able to. Please see the Summer Cup on Vega to check if you are in.

Unfortunately we just do not have enough boards to accommodate everybody who wishes to play.

The good news is that we have decided to expand our Friday Evening programme.

Starting on the 17th of February we will be running rapid tournaments and other events starting at 6:30pm on most Fridays. The night will be open both to players from Monday and others who wish only to come on Fridays.

The exact arrangement and programme are still being worked on and will be adjusted as we see what works best.

Note: While the night will mainly be aimed at junior and newer players there may will space for some adults, especially if they available to help organise/supervise.

The organisers in Friday will be Alex Huang with assistance of Ewan Green

Summer Cup Draw for C2 Grade


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - C2 Grade : Round 1
=====================================================
1 = 1 Eade, Don            -   8 Peak, Stephen       
2 = 2 Ha, Huy Minh (Timoth -   7 Yan, Caroline       
3 = 3 McDougall, Euan      -   6 Bishop, Everett     
4 = 4 Qin, Joy Shu Yan     -   5 Jacobs, Hilton J    


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - C2 Grade : Round 2
=====================================================
1 = 8 Peak, Stephen        -   5 Jacobs, Hilton J    
2 = 6 Bishop, Everett      -   4 Qin, Joy Shu Yan    
3 = 7 Yan, Caroline        -   3 McDougall, Euan     
4 = 1 Eade, Don            -   2 Ha, Huy Minh (Timoth


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - C2 Grade : Round 3
=====================================================
1 = 2 Ha, Huy Minh (Timoth -   8 Peak, Stephen       
2 = 3 McDougall, Euan      -   1 Eade, Don           
3 = 4 Qin, Joy Shu Yan     -   7 Yan, Caroline       
4 = 5 Jacobs, Hilton J     -   6 Bishop, Everett     


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - C2 Grade : Round 4
=====================================================
1 = 8 Peak, Stephen        -   6 Bishop, Everett     
2 = 7 Yan, Caroline        -   5 Jacobs, Hilton J    
3 = 1 Eade, Don            -   4 Qin, Joy Shu Yan    
4 = 2 Ha, Huy Minh (Timoth -   3 McDougall, Euan     


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - C2 Grade : Round 5
=====================================================
1 = 3 McDougall, Euan      -   8 Peak, Stephen       
2 = 4 Qin, Joy Shu Yan     -   2 Ha, Huy Minh (Timoth
3 = 5 Jacobs, Hilton J     -   1 Eade, Don           
4 = 6 Bishop, Everett      -   7 Yan, Caroline       


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - C2 Grade : Round 6
=====================================================
1 = 8 Peak, Stephen        -   7 Yan, Caroline       
2 = 1 Eade, Don            -   6 Bishop, Everett     
3 = 2 Ha, Huy Minh (Timoth -   5 Jacobs, Hilton J    
4 = 3 McDougall, Euan      -   4 Qin, Joy Shu Yan    


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - C2 Grade : Round 7
=====================================================
1 = 4 Qin, Joy Shu Yan     -   8 Peak, Stephen       
2 = 5 Jacobs, Hilton J     -   3 McDougall, Euan     
3 = 6 Bishop, Everett      -   2 Ha, Huy Minh (Timoth
4 = 7 Yan, Caroline        -   1 Eade, Don           

Summer Cup Draw for C1 Grade


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - C1 Grade : Round 1
=====================================================
1 = 1 Kozakevych, Sergiy   -   8 Milne, Virginia     
2 = 2 Qin, Nicole Shu Yu   -   7 Wu, Kwok Leung Eric 
3 = 3 Song, Kate           -   6 Lyall, Simon        
4 = 4 Ward, Keith          -   5 Burrows, Grant L    


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - C1 Grade : Round 2
=====================================================
1 = 8 Milne, Virginia      -   5 Burrows, Grant L    
2 = 6 Lyall, Simon         -   4 Ward, Keith         
3 = 7 Wu, Kwok Leung Eric  -   3 Song, Kate          
4 = 1 Kozakevych, Sergiy   -   2 Qin, Nicole Shu Yu  


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - C1 Grade : Round 3
=====================================================
1 = 2 Qin, Nicole Shu Yu   -   8 Milne, Virginia     
2 = 3 Song, Kate           -   1 Kozakevych, Sergiy  
3 = 4 Ward, Keith          -   7 Wu, Kwok Leung Eric 
4 = 5 Burrows, Grant L     -   6 Lyall, Simon        


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - C1 Grade : Round 4
=====================================================
1 = 8 Milne, Virginia      -   6 Lyall, Simon        
2 = 7 Wu, Kwok Leung Eric  -   5 Burrows, Grant L    
3 = 1 Kozakevych, Sergiy   -   4 Ward, Keith         
4 = 2 Qin, Nicole Shu Yu   -   3 Song, Kate          


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - C1 Grade : Round 5
=====================================================
1 = 3 Song, Kate           -   8 Milne, Virginia     
2 = 4 Ward, Keith          -   2 Qin, Nicole Shu Yu  
3 = 5 Burrows, Grant L     -   1 Kozakevych, Sergiy  
4 = 6 Lyall, Simon         -   7 Wu, Kwok Leung Eric 


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - C1 Grade : Round 6
=====================================================
1 = 8 Milne, Virginia      -   7 Wu, Kwok Leung Eric 
2 = 1 Kozakevych, Sergiy   -   6 Lyall, Simon        
3 = 2 Qin, Nicole Shu Yu   -   5 Burrows, Grant L    
4 = 3 Song, Kate           -   4 Ward, Keith         


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - C1 Grade : Round 7
=====================================================
1 = 4 Ward, Keith          -   8 Milne, Virginia     
2 = 5 Burrows, Grant L     -   3 Song, Kate          
3 = 6 Lyall, Simon         -   2 Qin, Nicole Shu Yu  
4 = 7 Wu, Kwok Leung Eric  -   1 Kozakevych, Sergiy  


Summer Cup Draw for B Grade


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - B Grade : Round 1
=====================================================
1 = 1 Zhang, Jasmine Haomo -   8 Macdonald, Paul     
2 = 2 Wang, Tony           -   7 Goodhue, Nathan     
3 = 3 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou  -   6 Nagorski, Alex      
4 = 4 Wells, Clinton A     -   5 Morrell, Gordon     


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - B Grade : Round 2
=====================================================
1 = 8 Macdonald, Paul      -   5 Morrell, Gordon     
2 = 6 Nagorski, Alex       -   4 Wells, Clinton A    
3 = 7 Goodhue, Nathan      -   3 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou 
4 = 1 Zhang, Jasmine Haomo -   2 Wang, Tony          


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - B Grade : Round 3
=====================================================
1 = 2 Wang, Tony           -   8 Macdonald, Paul     
2 = 3 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou  -   1 Zhang, Jasmine Haomo
3 = 4 Wells, Clinton A     -   7 Goodhue, Nathan     
4 = 5 Morrell, Gordon      -   6 Nagorski, Alex      


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - B Grade : Round 4
=====================================================
1 = 8 Macdonald, Paul      -   6 Nagorski, Alex      
2 = 7 Goodhue, Nathan      -   5 Morrell, Gordon     
3 = 1 Zhang, Jasmine Haomo -   4 Wells, Clinton A    
4 = 2 Wang, Tony           -   3 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou 


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - B Grade : Round 5
=====================================================
1 = 3 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou  -   8 Macdonald, Paul     
2 = 4 Wells, Clinton A     -   2 Wang, Tony          
3 = 5 Morrell, Gordon      -   1 Zhang, Jasmine Haomo
4 = 6 Nagorski, Alex       -   7 Goodhue, Nathan     


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - B Grade : Round 6
=====================================================
1 = 8 Macdonald, Paul      -   7 Goodhue, Nathan     
2 = 1 Zhang, Jasmine Haomo -   6 Nagorski, Alex      
3 = 2 Wang, Tony           -   5 Morrell, Gordon     
4 = 3 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou  -   4 Wells, Clinton A    


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - B Grade : Round 7
=====================================================
1 = 4 Wells, Clinton A     -   8 Macdonald, Paul     
2 = 5 Morrell, Gordon      -   3 Fan, Allen Chi Zhou 
3 = 6 Nagorski, Alex       -   2 Wang, Tony          
4 = 7 Goodhue, Nathan      -   1 Zhang, Jasmine Haomo



Summer Cup Draw for A Grade


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - A Grade : Round 1
=====================================================
1 = 1 Kulashko, Alexei     -   8 Hague, Ben          
2 = 2 Watson, Bruce R      -   7 Gong, Daniel Hanwen 
3 = 3 Duneas, John         -   6 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er
4 = 4 Steadman, Michael V  -   5 Garbett, Paul A     


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - A Grade : Round 2
=====================================================
1 = 8 Hague, Ben           -   5 Garbett, Paul A     
2 = 6 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er -   4 Steadman, Michael V 
3 = 7 Gong, Daniel Hanwen  -   3 Duneas, John        
4 = 1 Kulashko, Alexei     -   2 Watson, Bruce R     


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - A Grade : Round 3
=====================================================
1 = 2 Watson, Bruce R      -   8 Hague, Ben          
2 = 3 Duneas, John         -   1 Kulashko, Alexei    
3 = 4 Steadman, Michael V  -   7 Gong, Daniel Hanwen 
4 = 5 Garbett, Paul A      -   6 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - A Grade : Round 4
=====================================================
1 = 8 Hague, Ben           -   6 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er
2 = 7 Gong, Daniel Hanwen  -   5 Garbett, Paul A     
3 = 1 Kulashko, Alexei     -   4 Steadman, Michael V 
4 = 2 Watson, Bruce R      -   3 Duneas, John        


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - A Grade : Round 5
=====================================================
1 = 3 Duneas, John         -   8 Hague, Ben          
2 = 4 Steadman, Michael V  -   2 Watson, Bruce R     
3 = 5 Garbett, Paul A      -   1 Kulashko, Alexei    
4 = 6 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er -   7 Gong, Daniel Hanwen 


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - A Grade : Round 6
=====================================================
1 = 8 Hague, Ben           -   7 Gong, Daniel Hanwen 
2 = 1 Kulashko, Alexei     -   6 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er
3 = 2 Watson, Bruce R      -   5 Garbett, Paul A     
4 = 3 Duneas, John         -   4 Steadman, Michael V 


ACC Summer Cup 2017 - A Grade : Round 7
=====================================================
1 = 4 Steadman, Michael V  -   8 Hague, Ben          
2 = 5 Garbett, Paul A      -   3 Duneas, John        
3 = 6 Ang, Alphaeus Wei Er -   2 Watson, Bruce R     
4 = 7 Gong, Daniel Hanwen  -   1 Kulashko, Alexei    


 

Summer Cup Entries

The Summer Cup with be starting on Monday the 13th of February at the Auckland Chess Centre. It will run for seven rounds. Currently it is planned that there will be three or four 8-player rounds robin grades plus a Swiss for everyone else.

Entries must be in by Sunday if players wish to be in the Round-Robin grades and should be in for others to guarantee a place. Please text of email Simon to enter before the start of round one.

Current Entries (based of NZCF November list), the players in bold are those who are candidates to play up a grade. Draft Grade assigned is listed.

Vega Links: A Grade, B Grade, C1 Grade, C2 Grade, D Grade

2100+

  • 2463 – A – Ben Hague
  • 2428 – A – Alexei Kulashko
  • 2414 – A – Bruce Watson
  • 2331 – A – Paul Garbett
  • 2328 – A – Mike Steadman
  • 2302 – A – Alphaeus Ang
  • 2255 – A – Daniel Gong
  • 2183 – A – John Duneas
  • 2181 – B – Gordon Morrell
  • 2153 – B – Allen Fan

1600 – 2100

  • 2059 – B – Paul MacDonald
  • 2035 – B – Nathan Goodhue
  • 1934 – B – Clinton Wells
  • 1923 – B – Alex Nagorski
  • 1923 – B – Tony Wang
  • 1902 – C2 – Richard Taylor
  • 1901 – C1 – Keith Ward
  • 1890 – C2 – Don Eade
  • 1837 – B – Jasmine Zhang
  • 1812 – C2 – Joy Qin
  • 1797 – C1 – Simon Lyall
  • 1778 – C2 – Tim Ha
  • 1768 – C1 – Kate Song
  • 1757 – C1 – Grant Burrows
  • 1755 – C2 – Caroline Yan
  • 1740 – C2 – Hilton Jacobs
  • 1734 – C1 – Eric Wu
  • 1714 – C2 – Everett Bishop
  • 1651 – C1 – Virginia Milne
  • 1640 – C1 – Sergiy Kozakevych
  • 1631 – D – Andrew Michael
  • 1622 – C2 – Stephen Peak

Under 1600

  • C1 – Nicole Qin
  • D – Oscar Qin
  • D – Mathew Steadman
  • D – Jacob Barry
  • D – Louie Wei
  • D – Wayne McDougall
  • C2 – Euan McDougall
  • D – Charlotte Wen
  • D – Leo Li
  • D – Rodney Li
  • D – Sarah Yan
  • D – Kimberley Yuan
  • D – Neil Sonnekus
  • D – Aaron Wang
  • D – Ying Wang
  • D – Jennifer Zhang
  • D – Abraham Deng
  • D – Kelvin Xiao
  • D – Erica Hu
  • D – Selena Hu
  • D – Hugh Gao
  • D – Felix Xie
  • D – Oliver Picken (Swiss only)
  • D – Renae Ghadiali
  • D – Saasha Ghadiali
  • D – Rosa Ryu
  • D – Xinyang Liu
  • D – Mike Steiner
  • D – Uday Jain
  • D – Yin Yang Lin (name to be be checked)
  • D – Silei (name to be checked)
  • D – Marcus Pooley
  • D – David Xu
  • D – Toby Zhang
  • D – Isaac Yuan
  • D – David Ansell
  • D – Sylvia McDougall
  • D – Gaurav Pahuja
  • D – Daniel Morrin

 

Simultaneous Display 2017

  • 24 players in a Simul on January 23rd
  • Reminder that Summer Cup starts February 13th, entries needed.

The first event of 2017 was a Simultaneous Display by two of ACC’s top players: 2016 Club Champ Bruce Watson and Club Treasurer Mike Steadman.

With two players in the middle things go faster but it is harder for Bruce and Mike to coordinate together. For instance Mike started a little early so player “1. b4” on most boards which is not an opening that Bruce regularly plays.

Bruce realizes Mike has played b4 on all boards

In today there were 24 people playing against Bruce and Mike and the results were very good with Bruce and Mike winning just 12 games while they drew 5 and lost 7.

Full results ( Note: Result from the players point of view, ie Charlotte Wen lost her game)

  • Charlotte Wen – loss
  • Jacob Barry – loss
  • Eric Wu – loss
  • Kimberley Yuan – loss
  • Grant Burrow – loss
  • Oliver Picken – Win
  • Ying Wang – Win
  • Rodney Li – Draw
  • Leo Li – Loss
  • Sarah Yan – Loss
  • Caroline Yan – Loss
  • Euan McDougall – draw
  • Wayne McDougall – draw
  • Louie Wei – Win
  • Justin Garlick – Loss
  • Stephen Peak – Win
  • Aaron Wang – Draw
  • Simon Lyall – Win
  • Oscar Qin – Loss
  • Nicole Qin – Draw
  • Nathan Goodhue – Win
  • Allen Fan – Loss
  • Neal Sonnokis – Loss
  • Sergiy Kozakevych – Win

More Photos are Online

 

Events coming up – January to March

There are several Chess and other events coming up.

18 January – Locksport Auckland first meeting

Interested in learning lock picking for fun? LockSport Auckland is starting up and their first meeting is the evening of January 18th. See their Meetup group for details.

23 January – ACC Junior Rapid

During the day on Monday January 23rd the 1st ACC Junior Rapid for 2016 will take place. See the New Zealand Chess Calendar for details.

23 January – Simultaneous Display at the Chess Centre

At 7pm we plan for one or two of the top ACC players to take on all comers at the Chess Centre in a Simultaneous Display. We are currently planning on 2016 Club Champion Bruce Watson plus another top ACC player Mike Steadman.

The field limit is around 30. There is usually enough room for those interested in playing but email to guarantee your place. People signed up so far:

  • Neil Sonnakis
  • David Ansell

27 – 30 January – Auckland Anniversary Weekender

Over the Long Weekend there will be a 7 round tournament at the Auckland Chess Centre. See the New Zealand Chess Calendar for details.

13 February – First club competition night

The first normal Club night will be February the 13th. That night will be round one of the Summer cup.

4-5 March – Auckland Backgammon Tournament

Two days of backgammon at the at Onehunga RSA. See their Eventfinda page for more details and how to enter.