Summer Cup round 6 and a game

Nic kept his half point lead by grinding down Ross Jackson in round 6 (2 rounds to go). The entertainment was provided for us late night stragglers by Russell Dive and Anthony Ker who played out an exciting ending where Anthony had a bishop and pawns against a knight and an extra pawn (but doubled and isolated). Both players were in time trouble when the minor pieces came off and Anthony got a pawn through while Russell's got headed off by the opposing king. Result: win for Anthony.
And who is this coming up in the outside lane, joint third with Daniel Baider? It is I! Now all I have to do is beat Nic and Russell and I'll be laughing...

Full results:

Jackson 0 Croad 1
Dive 0 Ker 1
Marner 0 Baider 1
Sellen 1 Rabina 0
Nijman 1/2 Pomeroy 1/2
Forster 1 Bowden 0
Seabrook 0 Hill 1
Stracy 1 Joshi 0
Du Plessis M 1 Aldridge 0
Van der Hoorn 1 Salem 0
Farrington 1 Nicholls 0
Wilkins 0 Nyburg 1
Du Plessis N 0 Brockway 1
Pattekar 0 Olssen 1
Shierlaw 1 Proctor 0
Byes: Hewson, Meyer, Capper, Waugh

Standings:

5.5 points
Nic Croad

5 points
Anthony Ker

4.5 points
Daniel Baider, Ian Sellen

4 points
Russell Dive, Bill Forster, Martin Hill, Ross Jackson, Brian Nijman, Arthur Pomeroy, Don Stracy

3.5 points
Megan Du Plessis, Romeo Rabina, Mark Van der Hoorn

3 points
Paul Bowden, Lawrence Farrington, Michael Hewson, Mulshankar Joshi, Gavin Marner, Marany Meyer, Michael Nyburg

2.5 points
David Capper, Edmund Salem, Roy Seabrook

2 points
Alan Aldridge, Andrew Brockway, Alistair Nicholls, Alex Olssen, Mark Wilkins

1.5 points
Neels Du Plessis, Hugh Waugh

1 point
Somesh Pattekar, Matthew Proctor, Hamish Shierlaw

Here is my game from yesterday, Sellen v Rabina
I won't show you the opening because it wasn't very well played by either of us. Basically I played the cowardly 2 Nc3 against an Alekhine ("unaccountably favoured by club players" according to one book I read) and followed up with an early f4.





















Position after 14.....h5

Black has left f7 and g6 weak, so the next move came rather naturally.

15. Rxf7 Kxf7
16. Rf1+ Kg8
Any other king move leads to checkmate.
17. Qxg6 Qe7
18. Bxh5
So not a real sacrifice then - white gets a knight and 2 pawns for the rook. More important is the poor position of black's pieces, especially after he loses his white squared bishop.
18...... Rh6

Up to here everything was more or less forced. This move encourages the queens to come off, but it does not really help black's position.

19. Qf7+ Qxf7
20. Bxf7+ Kh8
21. Ne6 Bxe6
22. dxe6

This was to create an annoying bind in black's position, and also to vacate a possible outpost for the knight.

22. .......c6
23. g3 Rf6
24. Ne2 Rxf1
25. Kxf1 g5
26. Nd4 Kg7
27. Ke2 c5?






















Clearly a mistake, allowing the knight to dominate proceedings from an unassailable outpost on d5.
28. Nf5+ Kf6
29. Kf3 Be7
30. Ne3 Kg7

Now the black king has to retrace his steps back to the back rank

31. Nd5 Kf8
32. Kg4 Bd8
33. h4 gxh4
34. gxh4 Kg7
35. h5
35. Bh5 threatening e7 would have been a quicker win.

35..... Ba5?

The bishop fatally takes his eye off the e7 square

36. Bg6 Bd8
37. e7 Bxe7
38. Nxe7 Kf6
39. Nd5+ Kg7
40. Kg5 Kf8
41. Nf4

Black lost on time