Autumn Cup Week 4 - Dive takes lead

Russell Dive beat Anthony Ker to take sole lead in A group on Tuesday. An interesting looking middlegame led to an ending where Russell had a powerful passed queen side pawn. Nic was a pawn up against Daniel, but couldn't convert to a win. Mark sneaked a draw against Gavin by losing all his pieces and getting a stalemate.

The B and C group leaders (Michael Nyberg and Don Stracy) resumed their winning ways, but Don has to share his lead with newcomer Romeo Rabina, who is on fine form. I need to beat Michael next week to at least share first place in the B group.

In group D Michael Hewson is guaranteed first place by virtue of having won all his games. Alistair Nicholls can equal him if he wins the last game next week. Alistair slipped in the first round against Hamish Shierlaw, but has won all his games since.

Full results:

Group A

Dive 1 Ker 0

Marner 1/2 Van der Hoorn 1/2

Baider 1/2 Croad 1/2

Group B

Nyberg 1 Jackson 0

Aldridge 1/2 Sellen 1/2

Pomeroy 1 Forster 0

Group C

Farrington 0 Rabina 1

Stracy 1 Brockway 0

Group D

Shierlaw 0 Hewson 1

Nicholls 1 Salem 0

Krueger 1 Proctor 0

Drinkwater 0 Pattekar 1

Tables: (click to enlarge)

Autumn Cup round 3

In the A group Ker vs Croad was postponed, which means that everyone has played the same number of games (two). Mark Van der Hoorn was slightly shocked to find himself losing on time to Russell Dive, even though earlier on he had 25 minutes left to Russell's one! Daniel Baider won eventually against Gavin Marner after a fine tactic left him 2 pawns up and a won position.

In both the B and C groups the bottom placed player beat the top placed player. And there have still been no draws in either the A group or the C group - Wijk aan Zee eat your heart out!

Group D is being run as a Swiss tournament. For a while it looked like Blaise Drinkwater would take the lead without having played a single game, but Michael Hewson turned up eventually, and promptly kept his 100% record.

Full results:

A

Van der Hoorn 0 Dive 1

Marner 0 Baider 1

B

Pomeroy 0 Aldridge 1

Forster 1 Nyberg 0

Jackson 1/2 Sellen 1/2

C

Brockway 0 Farrington 1

Rabina 1 Capper 0

Kay 1 Stracy 0

D

Hewson 1 Drinkwater 0

Shierlaw 1 Bowden 0

Salem 1 Krueger 0

Proctor 0 Nicholls 1

Tables: (click to enlarge)

Group D standings:

3 points

Michael Hewson

2.5 points

Hamish Shierlaw

2 points

Alistair Nicholls, Edmund Salem

1.5 points

Blaise Drinkwater, Somesh Pattekar

1 point

Sebastian Krueger

0.5 points

Paul Bowden, Matthew Proctor

Autumn Cup Round 2

Already there have been quite a few postponements which makes the overall positions quite unclear. In each of the 4 groups there is only one person left with 2/2. In the A grade it is Anthony Ker who has a 1 point lead in the group after defeating Daniel Baider in an interesting looking encounter in round 2. Michael Nyberg leads in the B grade, after a fantastically wild encounter with Arthur Pomeroy (marred only by a slightly premature declaration of checkmate on Michael's part). I hope this encounter makes it to the pages of Alan Aldridge's new chess magazine. In the C grade Don Stracy continued his run of good results with a defeat of new player Romeo Rabina. And in the open Swiss group Michael Hewson defeated Somesh Pattekar to keep his 100% total.

Full results of round 2:

A Grade
Ker 1 Baider 0
Croad 1 Marner 0
Postponed: Van der Hoorn vs Dive

Leaders: Ker 2/2, Dive 1/1, Croad 1/2

B grade
Nyberg 1 Pomeroy 0
Sellen 1 Forster 0
Postponed: Aldridge vs Jackson

Leaders: Nyberg 2/2, Sellen 1.5/2, Jackson 1/1

C grade
Kay 0 Brockway 1
Stracy 1 Rabina 0
Capper 1 Farrington 0

Leaders: Stracy 2/2, Brockway 1/1 Capper 1/1, Rabina 1/2

D grade
Pattekar 0 Hewson 1
Krueger 1/2 Shierlaw 1/2
Nicholls 1 Bowden 0
Salem 1 Proctor 0
Bye: Drinkwater

Leaders: Hewson 2/2, Shierlaw 1.5/2

Autumn Cup begins

Back to the normal chess, after all that Fischer Random excitement.
The Autumn Cup consists of 4 graded all play all groups of about 6 players each. Some players were missing for the first week.

Results from round 1.

Group A:
Van der Hoorn 0 Ker 1
Dive 1 Croad 0

Group B:
Nyberg 1 Aldridge 0
Pomeroy 1/2 Sellen 1/2
Forster 0 Jackson 1

Group C:
Rabina 1 Kay 0
Farrington 0 Stracy 1

Group D:
Hewson 1 Salem 0
Shierlaw 1 Nicholls 0
Bowden 1/2 Brockway 1/2
Bye: Pattekar

Congratulations to Alan Aldridge who has been awarded the job of producing the New Zealand Chess Magazine. Please support him in every way possible, in particular by providing content and helpful suggestions.