Summer Cup – Round 3

After 3 rounds we are starting to see some leaders emerge in the various grades. For example, in D Grade there are now only 2 unbeaten players.

If you are interested in the Friday chess then more information is on the website. Both new and experienced players are welcome.

PGN for A though C2 Grades by Tim Ha and Ewen Green

A Grade

Watson vs Hague – A fairly quiet game ending in a draw.

Duneas vs Kulashko – An even looking game but White pushed in the centre and gave Black a pawn. After some maneuvering with queens and rooks White made a mistake and lost a piece. 0-1

Steadman vs Gong – (Note: move 21 for white is Rfa1 not Rfd1 as in the PGN) – After Black took Bh3 with some follow-up pieces White missed the correct defense and resigned due to imminent loss of lots of material. 0-1

Garbett vs Ang – White got a very nice position by move 25 with Black looking in a lot of trouble.  He was unable to find the best continuations however and settled for a draw.

Current placings are Alexei Kulashko and Alphaeus Ang are in 1st place on 2 points but Alexei has a game in hand.

B Grade

Tony Wang vs MacDonald – Black sacrificed a piece for a pawn early in the game which looked a little dubious. White then worked to swap pieces while holding off Black’s attacks. In the end, Black managed a perpetual check. Draw.

Allen Fan vs Jasmine Zhang – White had a series of sub-optimal moves and his position got worse until it was completely lost. 0-1

Wells vs Goodhue – A very long game. Early on White looked good with a big pawn-push in the centre. After some swaps, the position was very even with 6 pawns each and White having a bishop to Black’s Knight. However, White made several mistakes in the endgame and lost. 0-1

Morrell vs Nagorski – After a fairly even game, Black had a slightly better endgame but White lost on time. 0-1

Alex Nagorski is leading the grade with 2.5 against 3 higher-rated players.

C1 Grade

Nicole Qin vs Milne – Black played the opening incorrectly and ended up down a pawn and the initiative. White then picked up a few more pawns as the game progressed until Black resigned. 1-0

Song vs Kozakevych – White kept a lot of pressure on Black though slowly pushing pawns and trying different attacks. Eventually Black gave up his queen for two pieces and some hope of attack but nothing came of it. 1-0

Ward vs Wu –  White missed a tactic and resigned as he was about to lose a piece – 0-1

Burrows v Lyall – Black played a little passively at the start but White ended up with an advanced pawn he would have trouble keeping. Even after Black declined to take an en prise piece (due to an exaggerated fear of a counter-attack) he got lucky when White gave away the piece a couple of moves later. 0-1

Kate Song and Nicole Qin are in 1st-equal on 2.5 points.

C2 Grade

Ha vs Peak – This was played later in the week – after indifferent play by both sides White won an exchange with a knight fork only to lose a whole rook back a couple of moves later to a similar fork. 0-1

Euan MacDougall vs Eade – After retreating all his good pieces White gobbled up some pawns that Black gave up in return for a 6-piece attack on White’s king. 0-1

Joy Qin vs Caroline Yan – A very even middle-game left White a little better (although she missed a couple of chances). The endgame was eventually drawn although White played it out to make sure. Draw

Jacobs vs Bishop – After getting a little ahead White allowed Black a counter-attack. Luckily for White, Black missed a mate-in-2 and then missed a piece win! After some swaps the position was even. Black had some chances but the game was drawn. Draw

The grade is led by Everett Bishop on 2.5 with the next players on 1.5

D Grade

Major upsets this week were:

  • Oscar Qin beat David Ansell
  • Wayne McDougall beat Andrew Michael
  • Toby Zhang beat Mathew Steadman
  • Jennifer Zhang beat Ying Wang
  • Shawn Hui beat Isabelle Ning
  • Tom Fu beat Hugh Gao

The Grade is led by Aaron Wang and Wayne McDougall on 3 points.

Below is the potential draw for round 4 of D grade. Subject to change due to byes etc.

 

 

 

 

Summer Cup – Round 2

Apologies for the delay getting this published. I’ll try and catchup over the next few days. A reminder that we have expanded Friday and are holding regular casual tournaments from 6:30 to approx 8:30pm at the Club.

Summer Cup Rd2 PGN entered by Tim Ha

A Grade

Alexei Kulashko vs Bruce Watson – After Bruce played an unusual e5 in the Pirc the position favour white who swapped pieces to get a nice endgame which he won. 1-0

Hague vs Garbett – A dull opening left Black a little ahead but he failed to exploit it and soon after white picked up 2 pawns and soon-after the game. 1-0

Ang vs Steadman – A very strange looking game with most of the Queenside pawns being swapped while pieces were still on the board. A mistake by Mike let Alphaeus get the advantage but he settled for a perpetual check. Draw.

B Grade

MacDonald vs Morrell – A fork threat allowed Black to pick up 3 (or 4) pawns with no compensation and White resigned. 0-1

Nagorski vs Wells – Black lost a piece but the attack he got in compensation fizzled out. 1-0

Goodhue vs Fan – White gave up an early pawn and was on the back foot for the rest of the game. Black eventually won in the endgame. 0-1

Jasmine Zhang vs Tony Wang –  A fairly even game before black blundered a Queen on move 30. 1-0

C1 Grade

Milne vs Burrows – a couple of early blunders saw Bklack resign on move 13. 1-0

Lyall vs Ward – White played too passively and Black found a tactic to pickup two (outside passwed) pawns and kept on the pressure until he won. 0-1

Wu vs Song – Black looked good for most of the game but squandered her advantage at in the early middle game. However white failed to handle her threats and allowed two passed pawns. 0-1

Kozakevuch vs Nicole Qin – White lost a pawn but came back with a strong attack. In the final position White has a very nice attack but a draw was agreed. Draw.

C2 Grade

Peak vs Jacobs – White missed a nice tactic on moves 29-31, and after blocking off a good piece allowed black to get a passed pawn on the 7th. 0-1

Everett Bishop vs Joy Qin – Black had the led though most of the game but the final exchange of pieces left her with her king stranded on the wrong side of the board as white picked off her pawns with his King. 1-0

Caroline Yan vs Euan MacDougall – After getting ahead in the opening White played passively and let black equalise.  White resigned after missing a tactic and ended up with a lost endgame. 0-1

Eade vs Ha – Both players had mating attacks but Tim went for the sure thing of the perpetual. Draw

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