The Sprig Cup is a Swiss tournament played across 7 rounds in October, November and December. There are two Swiss Grades of around 40 players each, the split is roughly at the 1500 NZCF July 2019 rating.
Ben Hague vs Karl Holdo – White offers a Morra Gambit but Black declines. White keeps up a steady pressure and thwarts Black from breaking out, eventually White picks up Black’ s Queen. 1-0
Jeffrey Yu vs Bruce Watson – Black gets the better of the opening a middle game but miscalculates while pushing though some passed pawns and white is able to threaten to Queen his own. A draw is agree since black is able to force perpetual check. Draw
Mike Steadman vs Ajit Pendharkar – An even opening an middle game. But Black tried for a nice mate and overlooked White’s check in reply white left Black a piece down. 1-0
Anya Thurner vs Alphaeus Ang – Fairly even most of the game Black picked up a pawn in the endgame but black was able to hold the position and draw.
John Duneas vs Arkadi Polyakevich – Black miscalculated, lost a piece and got further into trouble trying tactics to get it back. 1-0
Kenny Zhang vs Alex Nagorski – White made a mistake in the opening allowing Black to open up a hole in front of White’s castled king. Black was able to relentlessly attack it until he had the win. 0-1
Daniel Runcan vs Stephen Peak – White got himself in a little bit of trouble and offered a draw which the lower-rated Black accepted. Draw
Rauen Le Grange vs Felix Xie – Black picked up a pawn with an opening trick. White managed to restrict Black’s movement though and a draw was eventually agreed. Draw
Tim Ha vs Scott Treanor – A slow opening from White allowed Black to keep up some pressure. White eventually slipped up and allowed Black’s Queen and Rook to invade and scoop up material while threatening mate. 0-1
Grant Burrows vs Don Eade – White found a good tactic but missed the correct followups and ended up 2 pieces down. 0-1
Philli Park-Tamati vs Hugh Gao – White put pressure on Black’s castled King. A couple of errors by Black allowed a quick win. 1-0
Virginia Milne vs Boyuan Zhang – White got lost in her opening and allowed Black to win a piece. Black was able to swap down without too much trouble. 0-1
Hao Tang vs Andrew Michael – A fairly even game but White got a passed pawn and Black’s position fell apart. 1-0
Isabelle Ning vs Abraham Deng – White got pressure with a passed pawn but Black managed to stop and win it. Black then had a better endgame but gave up two pawns thinking he go Queen one of his and ended up with a lost position. 1-0
Winston Weng vs Lakshmi Ravi – Black gave up a piece for an attack but White was able to hold on and swap off pieces until he was just a piece up. 1-0
Jack Chen vs Aaron Wang – White got an attack against Black’s exposed uncastled King. He missed the winning line and ended up swapping to a rook and pawn endgame with White a pawn up. But White lost is extra pawn and a draw was agreed. Draw.
Daqi Mao vs Yolanda Chang – Black made some opening mistakes which gave White a much better position and a potential attack against Blacks King. But White squandered some moves and Black developed her pieces, swapped off White’s good pieces and picked up 3 pawns to get a winning endgame. 0-1
Upsets in A Grade – Round 1
Jeffrey Yu drew with Bruce Watson Anya Thurner drew with Alphaeus Ang Scott Treanor beat Tim Ha Isabelle Ning beat Anraham Deng
B Grade
Upsets in B Grade round 1
Bevis Jiang beat Neil Sonnekus Adam Ali beat Steve Vezich
Nigel Metge vs Mike Steadman – A fairly even game. White was better out of the opening while Black was better in the middle game. However White threatened a discoved check and Black failed to find the move that blocked all tricks and lost a piece. 1-0
Alphaeus Ang vs Bruce Watson – White picked up a pawn in the at the end of the middle game and with another it became two connected passed pawns which Black was unable to stop. 1-0
Simon Lyall vs Ajit Pendharkar – After an even game, Black allowed White a couple of tempo to invade his position and was quickly mated. 1-0
Kenny Zhang vs Euan McDougall – white got into a good position and got a good attack against Black’s Castled King. But he overreached and was an exchange down when the attacking pieces were exchanged off. He tried a tactic to get back in the game but missed a mate threat by Black and ended up well down. 0-1
Andrew Michael vs Danial Runcan – White miss-calculated and lost a piece. He resigned after losing another. 0-1
Felix Xie vs Isabelle Ning – A pawn push and a mate threat by White forced Black to give up a rook. White was then able to win easily. 1-0
Clinton Wells vs Lakshmi Ravi – Black looked very good as he pushed White backwards and cramped all his pieces. But after most pieces were swapped the position was back to even. White then got an almost winning endgame but went wrong in time trouble and ended up losing. 0-1
Yolanda Chang vs Joe Wang – White pulled her pieces back in the middle game giving Black chances to run over her position. 0-1
Grant Burrows vs Karl Holdo – White left a piece en prise. Black took it. 0-1
Alex Nagorski vs Don Eade – 15 moves of theory and then Black pushed forward his pawns against White’s King. After opening up a hole Black sacrificed a piece in the attack. But White was able to defend and Black was left down a piece. 1-0
Erwin Koestanto vs Jack Chen – Black trapped his Queen in front of his castled King and was unable to escape a series of discovered attacks. 1-0
Tim Ha vs Boyuan Zhang – White allowed Black to get an outpost Knight. He was then scrabling to defend against a series of threats until Black was a piece up. 0-1
Arkadi Polyakvich vs Jordan Lewis – Black did a pawn a piece push against White’s castled King. White failed to find the correct moves to hold the position. 0-1
Scott Treanor vs Abraham Deng – Black picked up a couple of pawns and was then able to force a win 0-1
Virginia Milne vs Stephen Peak – White tried an early attack against the King but quickly got in trouble and lost a pawn and then a Knight. 0-1
Upsets in A Grade Round 7
Lakshmi Ravi beat Clinton Wells Nigel Metge beat Mike Steadman
A Grade Winter Cup Final Result Aftering leading the tournament for 6 rounds Mike Steadman’s loss in the last round dropped him to second place. Final Placings were:
1st: Alphaeus Ang 6.0 2nd: Mike Steadman 5.5 3rd= Nigel Metge, Nathan Goodhue, Euan McDougall, Simon Lyall 5 points.
B Grade Round 7
A Sriram vs Wayne McDougall – Black was far too keen to Castle Queenside which allowed White to attack his exposed position. White picked up a piece and easily won. 1-0
Ethan Liu vs Mike Steiner – White found a tactic to win a piece and Black resigned. 1-0
Erica Hi vs Lucas Xiao – White forked Black’s King and Rook but a couple of moves later allowed Black to fork her King and Queen. 0-1
Upsets in B Grade Round 7
Eden Oshi beat Bobby Peoples Ethan Liu beat Mike Steiner
B Grade Winter Cup Final Result
1st: A Sriham 6.5 2nd: Neil Sonnekus 5.5 3rd=: Maybe McDougall, Grayson Po’e-Tofaeono, Alan Leach and Ethan Liu on 5.0
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Michael Steadman vs Felix Xie – An aggressive opening with both players attacking on the Kingside. Black looked better but grabbed a pawn which allowed White to swap down to equality. But White handled the endgame better and won. 1-0
John Duneas vs Alphaeus Ang – Black picked up a pawn in the middle-game and was able to dominate the endgame with a 3 to 1 pawn advantage on the Queenside. 0-1
Nathan Goodhue vs Isabelle Ning – Black gave up a Bishop for White’s g*h pawns and an attack. White qucikly stopped the attack and was able to use his extra piece to pick up more material and win. 1-0
Euan McDougall vs Allen Fan – White did a Kingside pawn push that partially trapped two of Black’s pieces. WWith these out of the way he was able to harass Black’s King and eventually pick up pick up a piece. 1-0
Gordon Morrell vs Kenny Zhang – Black got lost in the opening giving White a good start. White over-pressed an attack which gave Black enough time to make his own attack which could probably have been a perpetual check. But then Black gave up a piece allowing White to escape. But then White went the wrong way allowing Black a unexpected win!. 0-1
Nigel Metge vs Grant Burrows – White played an aggressive opening and gave up a piece for two pawns and a huge lead in development. He created a series of threats and Black failed to defend against them all. 1-0
Simon Lyall vs Tim Ha – White pushed his g-pawn against Black’s King and exposed Black’s King. He managed to maintain an attack and the balance of errors by both sides favoured the attacker. 1-0
Daniel Runcan vs Boyuan Zhang – White opened up the g-file in front of Black’s king and Black’s position quickly collasped. 1-0
Joe Wang vs Clinton Wells – A fairly even game with both players ahead at times. Eventually perpetual check and a draw.
Jordan Lewis vs Andrew Michael – White made an error and Black picked up material with a tactic. 0-1
Arkadi Polyakevich vs Philli Park-Tamati – The obscure England Gambit from Black ( 1.d4 e5 2. dxe5 Nc6 ). White was ahead most of the game but got a Bishops trapped in the corner and then lost an exchange (and then a pawn). 0-1
Karl Holdo vs Alex Nagorski – A very even game with no player gaining much advantage as pieces were steadily swapped. Draw
Jack Chen vs Wintson Weng – White went into a bad opening line which lost him a pawn and left his king stuck in the centre. But after some swaps Black was underdeveloped and White was the one with the chances. The game eventually swapped to a draw.
Yolanda Chang vs Scott Treanor – Black picked up a piece and was looking good but allowed White win it back. Black then tried some desperation tactics but White was able to find the correct responses. 1-0
Lakshmi Ravi vs Thomas Zheng – Black left his castled King completely open to attack while all his pieces were on the Queen-side (with a line of pawns in-between), See diagram. 1-0
Ravi vs Zheng – After 13. ..Qc7.
Jeffrey Yu vs Erwin Koestanto – White went well at the start but after swaps to the endgame he was outplayed by Blacks two-bishops to Whites Bishops+Knight. 0-1
Don Eade vs Virginia Milne – White slowly built up pressure in the centre and got luckly with a tactic. Black tried some tricks to get it back but was left a piece down with a difficult position. 1-0
Stephen Peak vs Ajit Pendharkar – White got a pawn up then greedily grabbed a second pawn. Black missed the best move (see diagram) and things swung back towards White. Black gave up a piece a few moves later for a mating line, but the actual winning line was 11+ moves long and hard to find and White escaped. 1-0
Peak vs Pendharkar after 22. Kf1.
Abraham Deng vs Hugh Gao – Lots of swaps and an early draw.
Upsets in A Grade Round 6
Kenny Zhang beat Gordon Morrell ( 575 pt different) Euan McDougall beat Allen Fan ( 365 pts apart) Karl Holdo drew with Alex Nagorski Andrew Michael beat Jordan Lewis
Mike Steadman continues to lead the Grade with 5.5 . Second is Alphaeus Ang on 5 while Bruce Watson and Nathan Goodhue are 3rd-equal on 4.5.
B Grade round 6
Mike Steiner vs A Sriram – An Early draw with White looking better. Draw
Lucas Xiao vs Wayne McDougall – A passive start from White in the opening. White then miscalculated to allow Black to pick up two pawns and then Black picked up two more(!) as he swapped down the pieces. 0-1
Neil Sonnekus vs Jacob Chai – After some dubious opening play Black push his Kingside pawns against White’s King. However he opened up a hole and allowed White to infiltrate and pick up a couple of pawns. A couple of moves later Black blundered a rook. 1-0
Tyleah Po’e-Tofaeono vs Alen Leach – White left a hole in he position and allowed White to infiltrate and pick up a pawn. Then Black got an exchange and two pawns via a tactic. 0-1
Grayson Po’e-Tofaeono vs Vincent Cai – White lost a Night when he tried a speculative attack against Blacks King and it got trapped. Black was then winning until he left his King just a little exposed and was mated out of nowhere. 1-0
Upsets in B Grade Round 6
Hunter Po’e-Tofaeono beat Michael Ma Grayson Po’e-Tofaeono beat Vincent Cai Eden Oshri beat Renier Lategen
A Sriram continues to lead B Grade on 5.5 points. Second Equal are Neil Sonnekus and Wayne McDougall on 5 points.
Bruce Watson vs Michael Steadman – White went much better picking up an exchange and getting into what looked like a winning endgame. However Black was able to hold the position and a draw was agreed.
Alphaeus Ang vs Simon Lyall – A couple of bad moves left Black worse off and White was able to easily convert. 1-0
Felix Xie vs Gordon Morrell – White lost a piece but managed to trap one of White’s rooks on the side of the board so the position was closer to even. Black was unable to find how to break out of the position and agreed on a draw.
Philli Park-Tamati vs Nathan Goodhue – White resigned after Black gained the upper hand. 1-0
Kenny Zhang vs Paul Macdonald – The first 14 movies followed a game by regular visitor to New Zealand IM Herman Van Riemsdijk. Black got the best of the game advancing Kingside pawns and creating a semi-open F-file. But Black dropepd a pawn and White was able to exchange pieces and lock up the position. Draw
Jordan Lewis vs Isabelle Ning – Default win for Black. 0-1
Clinton Wells vs Nigel Metge – Lots of exciting tactical tricks and swings in this game. In the endgame White was winning but missed the best lines and the game was drawn.
Allen Fan vs Lakshmi Ravi – Black resigned after White picked up a free rook. 1-0
Grant Burrows vs Alex Nagorski – Black was goign well and three pawns up when he unfortuntely allowed a mate. 1-0
Thomas Zheng vs Euan McDougall – White made some errors and lost a couple of pieces. 0-1
Tim Ha vs Arkadi Polyakevich – White was better most of the time but the game was mainly a steady series of swaps to a draw.
Erwin Koestanto vs Aaron Wang – White had a better game and got in a winning position. However he sacrificed a Queen thinking he would be able to quickly promote and get it back. Black however had a Queen move which had too many threats and was able to give up give up his queen for two pieces and a winning endgame. 0-1
Koestanto vs Wang after 32..Qxb2. White plays the incorrect Qxe5+
Jeffrey Yu vs Daniel Runcan – White was a little better for most of the game but gave up a couple of pawns. Black was able to push though his passed a&b pawns for a win. 0-1
Andrew Michael vs Don Eade – Black left a pawn en-pris which allowed White to win it and then attack winning another. White was able to hold off the attack but once pieces had been swapped Black was still better. Black resigned with one piece trapped and due to be lost. 1-0
Virginia Milne vs Karl Holdo – White lost a couple of pieces. 0-1
Ajit Pendharkar vs Jack Chen – white sacrificed a piece for two pawns and an attack but once it faltered he was just a piece down. 0-1
Scott Treanor vs Stephen Peak – Black played a weak opening line and allowed White to quickly develop. White then found some good tactics, winning a pawn, then an exchange and finally another 2 pawns. 1-0
Hugh Gao vs Yolanda Chang – After looking good for most of the game Black made a mistake and lost a piece. 0-1
Upsets in A Grade round 5
Grant Burrows beat Alex Nagorski (594 point ratign difference) Aaron Wang beat Erwin Koestanto Kenny Zhang drew with Paul Macdonald Andrew Michael beat Don Eade Yolanda Chang beat Hugh Gao
Mike Steadman keeps his first place. Bruce Watson and Alphaeus Ang are have a point behind.
B Grade
Upsets in B Grade Round 5
Daksh Bhatt beat John Liu ( 757 point rating difference ) Hunter Po’e-Tofaeono beat Eric Fan
A Sriram is still undefeated on 5 points. He is a point ahead of Neil Sonnekus, Wayne McDougall and Mike Steaner.
The Winter Cup is a Swiss tournament played across 7 rounds in August and September. There are two Swiss Grades of around 43 players each, the split is roughly at the 1500 NZCF July 2019 rating.
Michael Steadman vs Alphaeus Ang – White got a good position out of the opening with Black very cramped. White lost momentium for a few moves but managed to swap to a better position.Black tried a dogged defence but eventually White took all his pieces. 1-0
Bruce Watson vs Allen Fan – White found a tactic that left him two pawns up. He was able to quickly convert that to a passed pawn. 1-0
Watson vs Fan. White to play 23. Nxe7. Winning 2 pawns
Jasmine Zhang vs John Duneas – Black did a Kingside pawn push and forced White to give up the exchange. But White was able to swap off the attacking pieces and pick up two pawns. Black was able to just manage a draw.
Nigel Metge vs Jordan Lewis – White aggressively pushed in the centre and nearly got in trouble with his King exposed. Black then picked up a piece and While White gained it back White was still down 2 pawns. The players agreed on a draw with a rook each and Black one pawn ahead. Draw
Simon Lyall vs Clinton Wells – Black played into a new opening (for him) and used a lot of time feeling his way. White got into a good position but then blundered 2 pieces and a pawn for a rook. White was lucky to find the one line that kept the position equal and then Black made a couple of mistakes due to time pressure. 1-0
Boyuan Zhang vs Felix Xie – White got off to a good start but made a series of small mistakes which allow Black to win. 0-1
Isabelle Ning vs Tim Ha – Black gave up a piece for an attack by opening up the G-file in front of the king. White was able to just get her pieces back to defend and after White’s Black’s was trapped white was able to smoothly win.
Paul Macdonald vs Grant Burrows – See Paul’s annotations in the game. Black cut short his tactical calculations and played a line that he hadn’t fully calculated. He resigned after losing a piece. 1-0
Gordon Morrell vs Jeffrey Yu – Black allowed a cute mate which White found. (see diagram) 1-0
Morrell vs Yu. White to play and win.
Daniel Runcan vs Kenny Zhang – White pushed forward his Kingside pawns early but ended up with uncoordinated and cramped pieces while Black was able to win with a Queenside pawn push. 0-1
Euan McDougall vs Don Eade – Black allowed a tactic that gave White a couple of pieces. 1-0
Alex Nagorski vs Stephen Peak – Black got a several pieces trapped in his Queenside corner while White attacked the Kingside. 1-0
Aaron Wang vs Yolanda Chang – White got a Knight on the 6th and then picked up a pawn and a rook for it. Black resigned in the face of losing another piece or two. 1-0
Karl Holdo vs Andrew Michael – A few even game with chances for both players. Black got a winning endgame (Knight and two pawns vs Knight) but made a couple of mistakes and the game was drawn.
Lakshmi Ravi vs Ajit Pendharkar – Black pushed hard on the Queenside against White’s king which allowed White to get a mating attack on the Kingside. 1-0
Winston Weng vs Abraham Deng – After an even game Black miscalculated in the endgame and lost. 1-0
Upsets in A Grade round 4
Kenny Zhang beat Daniel Runcan Isabelle Ning beat Tim Ha Simon Lyall beat Clinton Wells
Michael Steadman leads the Grade on 4 points. Bruce Watson is 2nd on 3.5 while several players are on 3.
B Grade
Upset in B Grade Round 4
Bevis Jiang beat John Liu Hunter Po’e-Tofaeono drew with Philbert Zhai
A Sriram and Neil Sonnekus lead on 4 points. Grayson Po’e-Tofaeono is 3rd on 3.5
The Winter Cup is a Swiss tournament played across 7 rounds in August and September. There are two Swiss Grades of around 43 players each, the split is roughly at the 1500 NZCF July 2019 rating.
Things have gotten a little far behind so I’m catching up the first 3 rounds of the Winter Cup in one post.
Mostly easy wins due to the large rating difference. We will look at the upsets:
Joe Wang vs Alex Nagorski – White gave up two pieces for a rook and a pawn and a slightly better endgame. Black then made a couple of mistakes that him a full exchange an pawn down. Black was able to convert. 1-0
Don Eade vs Thomas Zheng – An even game but White missed a check at the end of a tactical sequence and Black was left a pawn ahead. 0-1
Upsets from A Grade round 1
Joe Wang beat Alex Nagorski Thomas Zheng beat Don Eade Karl Holdo drew with Gordon Morrell Yolanda Chang drew with Simon Lyall
B Grade Round 1
Upsets from B Grade Round 1
Eden Oshri beat Ying Wang Narasimha beat Alan Leach Grayson Po’e-Tofaeono beat Michael Ma John Liu beat Eric Fan
A Grade Round 2
Exactly zero draws this round but 3 upsets.
Thomas Zhen vs Paul Macdonald – Thomas (who has an upset win in round 1) picked up two pawn s using seperately tactics. He then swapped down to and endage with a single rook and several pawns each. He was then able to force though a win without too many problems. 1-0
Lakshmi Ravi vs Winston Weng – White got some pressure in the centre and then picked up material. 1-0
Abraham Deng vs Grant Burrows – White unwisely opposite-side castled and then allowed Black a couple of moves to build up an attack. 0-1
B Grade Round 2
Upsets for B Grade round 2
Charles Lu beat John Liu Bhatt Daksh beat Renier Lategan Narasimha Ravi beat Kelvin Xiao Eric Fan beat Uday Jain Bevis Jiang beat Ying Wang
A Grade Round 3
Many closer games as the player’s ratings got closer.
Lewis Jordan vs Alex Nagorski – Black allowed White to take the knight on f6 half-opening up the g-file. Black built up on the g-file while White opened up the Queen side. Just when it was getting interesting Black missed a mate-in-one. 1-0
Boyuan Zhang vs Erwin Koestanto – Just 14 moves long. Black won white’s Queen but then resigned two moves later in the face of White Queening/mating the next move. 1-0
Grant Burrows vs Euan McDougall – Black played into a dubious opening line and White had a great attack with piece after piece rolling over Black’s position. 1-0
After round 3 the only undefeated players were Alphaeus Ang and Mike Steadman. While Bruce Watson and John Duneas were in 3rd-equal on 2.5 points.
B Grade Round 3
Eight upsets this round. The major ones were:
Pranav Shenoy beat Renier Lategan Mantra Bhatt beat John McClory Grayson Po’e-Tofaeono beat Kelvin Xiao Hunter Po’e-Tofaeono beat Ying Wang Daksh Bhatt drew with Bobby Peoples A Sriram beat Mathew Steadman
After 3 rounds 3 players are on 3 points: Neil Sonnekus, Wayne McDougall and A Sriham.
The Auckland Chess Centre Club Champs was held in from June to August 2019. There were two 10-player round-robin grades and a Swiss Grade. All grades were FIDE and NZCF rated.
Commentary for A grade by Nigel Metge. Commentary for B Grade by Simon Lyall
A Grade
Steadman,
Michael – Hague, Ben 0-1
A decisive victory for Ben.
In response to Ben’s Sveshnikov Sicilian, Michael tries a less popular Maroczy bind setup. Ben, always well prepared reacts with early 8…f5, guaranteeing active play for his pieces and pressure on the f-file in return for weak d5 square and backward d6. With 13…Kh8 Ben leaves ChessBase14 but has clear equality. White makes some loosening moves 17.b4 /21.g3 and Black begins a complex attack on the K-side. But 21…Rag8 could have led to great difficulties if White had replied with the sharp 22.f3!
Steadman vs Hague. After 21…Rag8
With 24.Qh1?, White buries his Q, never to be seen again. It was in fact not necessary to defend h2 as White K can escape to e2 and White still has compensation with his mobile Q-side majority.
After 30…,e4 cutting White’s position in two, Black is basically winning but care is still required. Stockfish finds an extraordinary defense in 37.Nxe4!,fxe4; 38.Rxe4 followed by Q to the centre, rating this as equal. White has only 2P for a piece but secure K and pressure against Black weak pawns.
With 40.f4? White loses patience and shoots his position! It’s fairly obvious that opening the dark diagonal to the K is not going to end well.
Steadman v Hague after 40 f4
Gong,
Daniel – Watson, Bruce 1-0
Bruce’s reliable Taimanov Sicilian produces a perfectly satisfactory position, only needing castling to complete his setup. Instead, 20.Qg4 prevents castling and asks the question ‘Where are you going Your Majesty?’ It turns out 18…Ke7 is insecure and probably Kf8 should be preferred. With 22.f4 White opens the f-file; still Black is not worse and with 22…Rcg8 Black could hold his K-side.
The critical position arises after 27.Ne3. White’s attack looks dangerous and indeed after 27…Bc6?, the sacrifice 28.Nd5!+ is decisive.
30…Qxc2 hastens the end but even the natural Qd6 blocking White’s d-pawn does not save the game: 31.Bh3 Rc7; 32. Rxc7 Qxc7; 33. Bxd7 Qxd7; 34. Qe4 and White recovers his piece with 2 pawns up.
White continues his attack accurately and wins a Q for R by move 40. Bruce could with good grace have resigned then.
Gong vs Watson after 27…Bc6?
Ang,
Alphaeus – Garbett, Paul 0-1
Alphaeus plays his favourite Samisch Attack against Nimzo-Indian, but Paul is well prepared and strikes early in the Centre with 9…,d5! Exposing White’s lagging development and uncastled K. White sacrifices the exchange with 24.Rg5 but this hardly slows Black’s attack; better is 24.Bxf4 Nxf4 but Black is winning. Paul chooses to return the exchange & win 2 pawns with a neat manoeuvre Nd3-f4-e2-c3-a2. With 37…Qxb3 Black wins a piece and White could resign but Alphaeus likes to play to mate.
A beautiful game by Paul against a strong opponent.
Ang vs Garbett after 23…Ngh5
Fan,
Allen – Zhang, Jasmine 0-1
Jasmine equalizes readily enough against Allen’s quiet English Opening. But here careless 10…Nf6 (essential is 10…Nc7) allows the White d pawn to roll forward protected by Bg2. Already by 20.Qd2 Black is lost as there is no defense to White’s d6/Bh3. However, 20…,Qd7 collapses immediately as after the straightforward 21.Bxf6, White has a winning attack.
Fan vs Zhang after 24 Rh3 1-0
Goodhue,
Nathan – Macdonald, Paul 1-0
Paul
plays the most aggressive line against Nathan’s English – a kind of
accelerated Dutch e5/f5/d6. The system is sound but needs careful
handling as already weak squares d5/f5 can be exacerbated by further
pawn moves. Indeed I would not play Paul’s 10…,g5?! before
completing development with Nbd7/Rad8 etc. Black’s 13…,b5? is
against the logic of the position: Black opens the Q-side where White
is stronger; essential is 13…,d5/Nc7 keeping things closed.
However, there is no need to drop a piece with 14…,Bd7?
The shortest loss in the A-grade this year.
Goodhue vs Macdonald after 14…Bd7
A win by Ben Hague in the final round ensures him of first place of 7.5 points. Bruce Watson and Paul Garbett are second equal on 6.
B Grade
Abraham Deng vs Caroline Yan – Draw
The game quickly bogged down to a stuck position (see diagram) in which niether side could make progress.
Deng vs Yan – Final position.
Alex Nagorski vs Simon Lyall 1-0
Black game out of the opening a pawn down and with little compensation. After the players swapped down to a rook and pawn endgame Black gave up another pawn and was lost.
Don Eade vs Felix Xie 0-1
White sacrificed an exchange but got into problems grabbing an extra pawn with 28. Qxb6 (see diagram). Black was after to grab 2 pawns back and after some desperate moves by White failed he resigned.
Eade vs Xie after 28. Qxb6
Euan McDougall vs Tim Ha 0-1
White got a better pawn structure out of the opening and the players swapped down to just 2 rooks and 7 pawns each by move 25. White was able to slowly push his pawns forward (and win a couple of blacks pawns). Black resigned on move 72 as White was about to promote.
McDougall vs Ha after 25. R6f3
Alex Nagorski won the grade with 6.5 . Second was Felix Xie on 6.0. 3rd-equal were Simon Lyall, Jordan Lewis and Xinyang Liu.
C Grade
A Quick summary of the top games:
Leader Isabelle Ning got a quick win against Karl Holdo.
Lakshmi Ravi also got a quick win against Stephen peak
Aaron Wang was in a completely lost position against Boyuan Zhang but somehow got a perpetual check to draw.
Anya Thurner and Svott Treanor took an early draw.
Upsets in Round 9
Grayson Po’e-Tofaeono beat Philbert Zhai Yolanda Chang beat Virginia Milne Eric Fan beat Mike Steiner Tyleah Po’e-Tofaeono beat John Liu Wayne Mcdougall beat Andrew Michael
Winner of the C Grade was Isabelle Ning with 7.5 points. 2nd was Lakshmi Ravi on 7 points 3rd was Boyuan Zhang on 6.5 points.
Not all games in the Club Champs were played on Monday. For various reasons some were played at other times. These are ones that (we think) have not been printed earlier.
Paul played his b3 Bb2 e4 start and the players quickly swapped a pawn and three pieces each in the centre. White then allowed black to pick up a pawn as the players swapped down to a rook each and several pawns. With 4 pawns to 3 (plus the rook each) White tried to hold but made a mistake and lost a second pawn.
Macdonald vs Hague after 32..Rxa2
Paul Garbett vs Allen Fan – Round 1 – 1-0
White managed to immobilise all of whites pieces by move 25 (see diagram). He then was able to convert to a material advantage and a passed pawn.
Garbett vs Fan after 24 fxe5
B Grade
Euan McDougall vs Simon Lyall – Round 2 – 1-0
Black blew a pawn in the opening and then lost another. White then cramped his position with a pawn advance and picked up a piece. Even when White gave the piece back he had a won endgame and Black resigned.
Felix Xie vs Jordan Lewis – Round 3 – 0-1
White played the unused 1. e4 d5 2. Nc3 followed by 2.. dxe4 3 Nxe4 Nf3 4. Ng3. . Black responded by developing normally and then castling Queenside and push pawns against White’s King. White struggled with mates and other threats looming. Black found a nice sacrifice 25..Rxd3 (see diagram) and White quickly lost.
Xie vs Lewis. Black prepares to play Rxd3
Simon Lyall vs Tim Ha – Round 5 – 1-0
After a fair standard start Black expose his Kingside and White was able to threaten it with a Queen a Night. However Black managed to hold and White could not make progress against a the king. Then Blacked exposed his position with 24…g5 and White was able to attack against d6 and h6 and overwhelm Blacks position. White then failed to find the best move several times but was eventually able to convert his two-pawn advantage.
Commentary for A grade by Nigel Metge. Commentary for B & C Grades by Simon Lyall
A Grade – Round 8
Watson, Bruce – Steadman, Michael ½-½
An
interesting game with action hidden beneath the surface.
Against Bruce’s favourite English Opening, Black adopts a sensible King’s Indian set-up. With 9…Bg4 Black leaves ChessBase 14 and provokes the weakening h3; if White avoids this then opening the e-file is an option for Black. White makes early progress with pawn advances on the Q-side and should double on the c-file with 19.Rc4! which also defends laterally against Black’s h4. Black’s counterplay on the K-side is slow to get going but is not to be underestimated.
A critical moment arises with 21.b5?! White should bring his N back into defense with a complex struggle ahead eg: 21.Nd2,h4; 22.gxh4,Qxh4; 23.Nf3,Qh6
With 24.f4?! White initiates a series of exchanges that reduce pressure but also rob White of prospects. After the game Bruce & I look at ways to maintain momentum such as 24.a5 and 24.Na5 but Black holds his own.
The players agree a draw in which White’s potential outside passed pawn is balanced by weak e- & d pawns.
Watson vs Steadman after 20…f5
Macdonald,
Paul – Fan, Allen 0-1
White puts himself on the back foot straight out of the opening with the manoeuvre 8.Bb5/ Bxc6/ Ne5. Experience shows this just loses the 2B and the Ne5 cannot be maintained. At move 24, White misses an attack on c2 pawn; he had to choose between two ugly moves: 24.c3 or 24.dxc5 After a further weakening 28.b4?, Black plays well to force the sacrifice of an exchange and with it, White’s game.
Macdonald vs Fan after 27…Bc5
Zhang,
Jasmine – Ang, Alphaeus 0-1
Jasmine skips her usual London System and plays 5.h3 against King’s Indian Defense; Caruana & Aronian popularized this line. However, her inexperience shows when Black attacks the center with a Benko-like 8…,b5. Regular White d4 players know it is dangerous to accept this sort of pawn; correct is 9.Nf3 In fact after 10…,Nxe4! Black is already winning. Black exchanges pieces to the endgame and White’s weak d5 pawn falls.
Zhang vs Ang afrer 10. Nxb5?
A default win in round 8 puts Ben Hague half a point ahead of Bruce Watson.
B Grade – Round 8
Jordan Lewis vs Euan McDougall – Draw
Black’s unusual 4..b6 quickly gets the game out of theory . After a hesitation to castle White launches into an aggressive king-side pawn push. Black manages to hold the position and it swaps to a same-colour bishop and pawn endgame. After a few moves the players settle for a draw.
Tim Ha vs Done Eade – Draw
A steady stream of swaps until the players agreed on a draw. However for White’s final move instead of 33. Nxe5 and offering a draw the following continuation was possible due to the bad positioning of the black bishop: 33.Rb3 Ba1 34.Ra3 Nc4 35.Rxa1 Nxe3+ 36.Kf2 Nc4 37.b5 a5 38.Ra4 Nb6 39.Rxa5 Rxa5 40.Nxa5
Ha vs Eade. White plays 33. Nxe5 (=) and misses the better 33. Rb3
Felix Xie vs Alex Nagorski – 1-0
White plays the same Vienna Gambit that he played previously against Simon Lyall and Black initially plays correctly before miscalculation with 8..cxd4 (see diagram). Luckily for Black White misses the best continuation but he still comes out of the opening better. White is able to pick up a pawn and slowly edge forward in a rook and pawn endgame to win.
Xie vs Nagorski after 8. a3
Simon Lyall vs Abraham Deng – Draw
A fairly sedate game. Players swapped down steadily and then repeated moves in an even position.
With his loss to Felix Xie Alex Nagorski only leads the grade by half a point with Felix in second.
C Grade – Round 8
Lakshmi Ravi vs Isabelle Ning – 0-1
The players opposite-side castle and pawn storm. White initially looks good but over-estimates the value of a pawn sacrifice and pawns block his attack. White gives up a piece to punch a hole in them which pays off when Black allows White’s Queen into her position to take several pieces. When the dust clears the material is close to even but White has a move of initiative. He misses 27 Rg5 though (see diagram). The difficult endgame is too much for Black who loses on time.
Ravi vs Ning. White missed the winning move 27. Rg5
Karl Holdo vs Aaron Wang – Draw
A fairly unexciting game initially, White is better but fails to find the best continuations. Black blunders a piece on move 37 but then manages to win a piece back and the players stagger to a draw.
Boyuan Zhang vs Scott Treanor – 1-0
Black makes some slip-ups in the opening but White doesn’t immediately take advantage of them. He castles Queen-side and pushes his king-side pawns against Black’s King. Then with Black’s pieces on the Kingside he plays 16. Bh6 and Black is in trouble. A few mistakes later by Black and he is two pieces down.
Zhang vs Treanor. Black about to play 16. Bh6
Joe Wang vs Ajit Pendharkar – 1-0
White finds a nice tactic (see diagram) to win a pawn. He is then able to swap to a won endgame.
Wang vs Pendharkar. White to play after 17…Nd8
Stephen Peak vs Jacob Yuan 1-0
White gets a good attack but overlook the opportunity to take a piece. Black evens the position but then White resumes his attack and wins with a passed pawn.
C Grade – Round 8 upsets
Daksh Bahhat beat Philbert Zhai Grayson Po’e-Tofaeono beat Vincent Cai Joe Wang beat Ajit Pendharkar Hugh Gao beat Andrew Michael Anya Thurner beat Kenny Zhang Hannah Xu beat John McClory
Isabelle Ning leads on 6.5 ahead of Boyuan Zhang and Lakshmi Ravi on 6.
Commentary for A grade by Nigel Metge. Commentary for B & C Grades by Simon Lyall
A Grade Catchup Games
Garbett, Paul – Hague, Ben 0-1 (Round 5, Played 31-Jul-19)
Unusually, Paul tries a QP opening against Ben but the result is not a success. In a slightly unusual QGD, White goes for the win of a pawn on c6 at the cost of 2 tempi (6.Qa4+, 7.Ne5, 8.Nxc6) but then decides not to take, preferring 10.Bxf6?!,Qxf6; 11.e3 Black, with superior development and control over white squares takes the initiative. No doubt reluctantly, White permits Black to stop him castling, 14.g3?!,Bh3. White’s K is now in the centre and difficult to defend, although possible according to Stockfish. White’s 16.f4 is the fatal weakening move and after this Ben closes in on both wings. A fine victory by Ben but an uncharacteristic loss by Paul.
Garbeet vs Hague after 9..bxc6
A Grade Round 7
A round of decisive games and in particular Ben Hague loses to Bruce Watson opening the competition for first place.
Watson,
Bruce – Hague, Ben 1-0
Against
Bruce’s usual English, Black plays a Reverse Dragon, surely one of
the most aggressive lines, recently favoured by Carlson & Caruana
with both colours! With the thematic exchange sac 14.Rxc3! White
increases his control of white squares. 15…,Bd7 is a little
mechanical; Black can maintain equality with 15…,Qd4 when White can
retreat 16.Nc4 or win back the exchange 16.Nxc6,Qxb2; 17.Nxe7+,Rxe7;
18.Nf6+
After
23.h4 White has a comfortable edge with his unassailable Nc4 and the
centre pawns ready to roll. It is difficult for Black to find any
active play; Ben tries but stumbles into a startling combination!
24…,Qh3? loses the Q leaving White in a winning endgame with 2
active pieces vs. passive R.
A good game by Bruce – Ben rarely loses!
Watson vs Hague after 24. Bf3
Ang,
Alphaeus – Macdonald, Paul 1-0
Against the Nimzo-Indian White plays the most aggressive 4.a3 / 6.f3 line aiming at supporting e4 and a K-side attack with Ng3 and Ra2-e2. Black reacts sensibly with d5/b6 and equal chances. However as White momentum builds Paul declines the chance to be active with …h5 and soon finds himself facing a hard-to-beat fork on d6. One more mistake, the exchange is lost, White penetrates the 7th with his rook and pawns fall.
Ang vs Macdonald after 19. Nf5
Fan,
Allen – Goodhue, Nathan 1-0
Nathan is a cautious player preferring solidity to risk. Here however he takes it too far. After an equal, almost symmetrical English opening Black declines several possibilities for active play, 8…d5 & 18…f5 With 26.Qd2 it becomes clear that White’s slow initiative has created play on both wings (a & h files) and Black is struggling to prevent invasion. An interesting game in which Black loses without making any obvious mistakes.
Fan vs Goodhue after 18. Kh2
Steadman,
Michael – Garbett, Paul ½-½
In a Classical Sicilian, White avoids the main attacking lines 6.Bg5/Bc4 and plays respectable 6.g3. With 10.Qe2 Michael is evidently out-of-book; GM practice favours 10.Bg5/f4/h3. Paul simply completes his development and equalizes. It is not so easy for White to untangle his Na3 as Black has pressure on c4/c3/c2; White’s ‘Petrosian manoeuvre’ 18.Nab1 does not make a beautiful impression. Black’s initiative grows but with 25…d4 Paul characteristically exchanges Queens preferring a small advantage in a simplified middlegame to a potentially more promising 25…d5! Accurate play by White steers the game to an equal position and the players agree a draw.
Steadman vs Garbett after 25. Rg3
Gong,
Daniel -Zhang, Jasmine ½-½
Jasmine has to face her favourite London System which she does sensibly with a fianchetto setup. Daniel however shows his unfamiliarity with this opening with a pawn grab 6.Bxb8 /7.Qa4+ known to be bad. Black quickly develops an initiative sufficient for the pawn minus but with 17.0-0-0? White castles into a winning attack. By 24…,Rxc5, White faces insuperable difficulties. Passive defense by 25.Rb1 is best but he tries the interesting 25.Nf3? to which Black should retort brilliantly with 25…Rc3! Instead she plays 25…Rc2 which is still good and after 27.Kb1 a pretty win is 27…Re2! Instead 27…exf3? allows White to escape to a drawn ending.
A fine attack by Jasmine and Daniel is lucky to draw.
Gong vs Zhang – After 25 Nf3?
With just two rounds left Watson and Hague have a 1.5 point lead over the next three players. The champs seems to be a two horse race.
B Grade Catch-up Games
Simon Lyall vs Don Eade (from round 1)
White got sloppy in the opening and lost a pawn. There was a steady swap of material until the players were down to just a rook and bishop each. Black kept up the pressure and had several opportunities at winning but missed them. Both players made mistakes in time trouble with White managing to equalise and the players finally agreeing to a draw.
Lyall vs Eade after 9. Bc4. White has missed Nxc3 followed by Qa5 attacking c3 and e5.
Xie, Felix – Lyall, Simon 0-1 (from round 6)
Commentary by Nigel Metge
Against the rare Vienna opening, Simon makes an early mistake 3…Nc6 and White’s centre pawns roll forward with a strong attack looming. Already by move 11 White could strike with Qe1 & opening the e-file. Black fights for equality and a critical position arises at move 22: White can sharpen play with two moves: h4! or Ng6. Missing this White drifts into an ending in which his N is inferior to Black’s well-placed B. Simon plays this part of the game efficiently and wins a game that looks like a loss earlier.
Xie vs Lyall after 21…Be7
B Grade Round 7
Simon Lyall vs Caroline Yan – Draw
White gets a slightly better opening (although not as good as he could have) but missed 14. Qh5 in favour of the pawn-losing 14. f4? . Black however underestimates White’s attack against f7 and instead of the safe 18. ..O-O captures with 18..Nxe3. Luckily for her White misses the best continuation and settles for a draw.
Lyall vs Yan after 18. Qf2
Alex Nagorski vs Tim Ha 1-0
Black overlooks a zwischenzug and loses a piece in the opening. He resigns straight away.
Don Eade vs Jordan Lewis 0-1
White loses a critical central pawn after 24. d5 and completely exposes his position. He is unable to hold on as Black switches his attack from side to side and eventually wins a piece.
Euan McDougall vs Xinyang Liu 0-1
White gets in favorite f-pawn move in early with 1. e4 e6 2. f4!? . But a few moves later gets himself in trouble (see diagram) and loses a piece. Black quickly converts.
McDougall vs Liu. Black has just taken a piece on d2. What is White’s only move?
An easy win in round 7 stretches Nagorski’s lead to 2 points. Although several players have unplayed games he will be hard to catch.
C Grade Round 7
Arkadi Polyakevich vs Lakshmi Ravi 0-1
Black picks up a pawn with a mate threat and then overwhelms White. He finishes with a Classic Queen+Knight smothered mate.
Isabelle Ning vs Boyuan Zhang 1-0
Black gets his opening lines confused and loses a piece. White has few problems after that.
Ajit Penharkar vs Stephen Peak – Draw
After a confused opening the players took an early draw.
Scott Treanor vs Grant Burrows 1-0
Black goes for a tactical trick ( 15. dxc5 Bxh2+ ) but Whites spots it and wins a pawn. Imminent lose of more material convinces Black to give up.
Treanor vs Burrows after 22..Kf8. White to play.
Thomas Zhen vs Karl Holdo 0-1
Black destroys White with a very well coordinated attack.
Upsets in C Grade round 7
Mathew Steadman beat Andrew Michael Michael Ma beat Mike Steiner Yolanda Chang beat Wayne McDougall Anya Thurner beat Hugh Gao Alan Leech beat Uday Jain Ethan Liu beat Erica Hu
Ravi Lakshmi leads the grade on 6 points. Isabelle Ning is 2nd on 5.3 and 5 players are 3rd on 5.