Julian Mazur round 6

Results from 27th November 2007

Croad, Nic 1 Hill, Martin 0
Van der Hoorn, Mark 1 Baider, Daniel 0
Forster, William 1/2 Sellen, Ian 1/2
Kay, Bruce 0 Pomeroy, Arthur 1
Brockway, Andrew 0 Ang, Ferdie 1
Jackson, Ross 1 Nicholls, Alistair 0
Waugh, Hugh 0 Seabrook, Roy 1
Marney, John 1 Proctor, Matthew 0
Hewson, Michael 1 Cook, John 0

Nic is now one point clear with 2 rounds to go.

Standings:
5.5 points: Croad
4.5 points: Van der Hoorn
4 Points: Ang, Forster, Hill, Pomeroy, Seabrook, Sellen
3.5 points: Baider, Jackson, Townsend
3 points: Kay
2.5 points: Brockway, Du Plessis M, Marney, Nicholls, Shierlaw
2 points: Farrington, Waugh
1.5 points: Proctor
1 point: Cook, Hewson

Finally - a game!

I am very grateful to Anthony Ker for donating his loss to Russell Dive in the Autumn Cup earlier this year. He also supplied the exclamation marks. Finally, this is starting to look like a proper chess site!

White: Russell Dive
Black: Anthony Ker

Opening: English

1. c4 e5
2. Nc3 b6?!
3. Nf3 Nc6
4. g3 Bb7
5. Bg2 Rb8
6. 0-0 g6
7. d4 Nxd4
8. Nxd4 Bxg2
9. Kxg2 exd4
10. Qxd4 Qf6



















11. Qd3! Ne7
12. Bf4 Bg7
13. Kg1 d6
14. Nb5 Kd7?!
15. Qa3! a5
16. Rad1 Nc8
17. Qa4 Kd8
18. Nd4 Ne7
19. Qb5! h6
20. c5 d5
21. e4 g5




















22. exd5!! gxf4
23. d6 c6
24. Nxc6+ Nxc6
25. Qxc6 Rc8
26. Qxb6+ Kd7
27. Rfe1 Rhe8
28. Qb5+ Black resigns


The all-seeing computer shows a slightly quicker finish with 28. Qb7 Kd8 29. Re7 Rxe7 30. dxe7 Ke8 31. Qd7 #, but, of course, the move played is perfectly sufficient.

B grade champion - Alan Aldridge

Final game in the club championship B grade:

Jackson, Ross 1/2 Aldridge, Alan 1/2

Alan Aldridge pulled off an amazing escape in a completely lost endgame position against Ross Jackson. He thus gets to take the title by himself, half a point ahead of Ferdie Ang. Congratulations Alan! Ross takes 3rd place.

A grade penultimate game

Dive, Russell 0 Ker, Anthony 1

Russell lost on time "just as his position was about to fall apart" in a typically exciting battle between the two international masters. This is a huge favour to Brian Nijman, who now only needs to avoid defeat by Russell in the final game of the championship to keep the title to himself. That's not asking too much is it Brian? Definitely a game to watch!

Cross-table with 1 game to play:

Julian Mazur Round 5

Nic Croad took sole lead in the Julian Mazur Memorial after I somewhat prematurely resigned against him a pawn down in a rook and pawn ending. 3 rounds to go.

Round 5 results:
Sellen, Ian 0 Croad, Nic 1
Hill, Martin 1 Townsend, Ralph 0
Forster, William 1 Nicholls, Alistair 0
Van der Hoorn, Mark 1 Kay, Bruce 0
Pomeroy, Arthur 1 Waugh, Hugh 0
Cook, John 0 Ang, Ferdie 1
Proctor, Matthew 0 Brockway, Andrew 1
Seabrook, Roy 1 Hewson, Michael 0
Byes: Baider, Jackson, Du Plessis M, Shierlaw, Farrington, Marney

Standings after round 5:
4.5 points: Croad
4 points: Hill
3.5 points: Baider, Forster, Sellen, Van der Hoorn
3 points: Ang, Kay, Pomeroy, Seabrook, Townsend
2.5 points: Brockway, Jackson, Nicholls
2 points: Du Plessis M, Shierlaw, Waugh
1.5 points: Farrington, Marney, Proctor
1 point: Cook
0 points: Hewson

Club Championships B and C grades

B grade
Aldridge, Alan 1 Frost, Paul 0

C grade
Shierlaw, Hamish 1 Gerrs, Matthew 0
Stracy, Don 0 Proctor, Matthew 1











We have a champion!

Megan du Plessis won the C grade by a full point after Matthew Gerrs stumbled against Hamish Shierlaw on Tuesday. 9 points is a terrific total, so congratulations to Megan. Matthew can draw consolation from Don Stracey's loss to Matthew Proctor, which means he gets to share second place with Neels du Plessis. There are still 2 games to play in this tournament, but the top three places are already decided.

We have another champion! (but possibly a joint one)
Alan Aldridge, fresh from his triumphs in the US Championship, has been in devastating form in the B grade (apart from a minor hiccup last week). This week he dispatched Paul Frost, so just needs to avoid defeat by Ross Jackson in the final game to keep the B title all to himself.

Julian Mazur round 4

Julian Mazur results from 13th November 2007:

Croad, Nic 1 Forster, William 0
Sellen, Ian 1 Van der Hoorn, Mark 0
Baider, Daniel 1 Cook, John 0
Townsend, Ralph 1 Seabrook, Roy 0
Ang, Ferdie 1/2 Pomeroy, Arthur 1/2
Waugh, Hugh 1/2 Jackson, Ross 1/2
Nicholls, Alistair 1 Marney, John 0
Kay, Bruce 1 Farrington, Lawrence 0
Brockway, Andrew 1 Hewson, Michael 0 (default)

Byes: Du Plessis M, Hill, Proctor, Shierlaw

Standings after 4 rounds:

3.5 points: Croad, Sellen
3 points: Baider, Hill, Kay, Townsend
2.5 points: Forster, Nicholls, Van der Hoorn
2 points: Ang, Jackson, Pomeroy, Seabrook, Waugh
1.5 points: Brockway, Du Plessis M, Proctor, Shierlaw
1 point: Cook, Farrington, Marney
0 points: Hewson, Kopp

Finally the cross tables for the club championship B and C grades:

B grade:

Yesterday Lawrence overcame his tiredness to beat previously undefeated Alan Aldridge, who still has a good chance of passing early pace-setter Ferdie Ang. He needs 1.5 points from his last 2 games, while Ferdie has already played all his games.

C grade

Results from yesterday:

Shierlaw, Hamish 0 Du Plessis, Niels 1

Stracey, Don 0 Du Plessis, Megan 1

Great to see some new, young, female talent at the top of the table. Congratulations to Megan, and also to Dad Niels, who is not far behind. Matthew Gers can still catch Megan if he wins his last game - I am not sure who gets to lift the trophy if this happens.

Julian Mazur round 3

Results for the Julian Mazur round 3 as follows:

Baider, Daniel 0 Croad, Nic 1
Van der Hoorn, Mark 1 Waugh, Hugh 0
Townsend, Ralph 1/2 Sellen, Ian 1/2
Hill, Martin 1 Nicholls, Alistair 0
Kopp, Levi 0 Forster, William 1 (default)
Cook, John 0 Kay, Bruce 1
Marney, John 0 Seabrook, Roy 1
Pomeroy, Arthur 1 Proctor, Matthew 0
Hewson, M 0 Ang, Ferdie 1
Jackson, Ross 1 Brockway, Andrew 0

Correction to last week's posting:

Kopp, Levi 0 Sellen, Ian 1 (default)
Hugh Waugh had the bye.

Standings:

2.5 points: Croad, Forster, Hill, Sellen, Van der Hoorn
2 points: Baider, Kay, Seabrook, Townsend
1.5 points: Ang, Jackson, Nicholls, Pomeroy, Waugh
1 point: Cook, M du Plessis, Farrington, Marney, Proctor, Shierlaw
0.5 point: Brockway
0 points: Hewson, Kopp

Please let me know if you see any errors / discrepancies.

A warm welcome to Ralph Townsend from Maine, USA, who will be in Wellington for a couple of years. I hope we will see him in some more tournaments during this time.