Summer Cup Round 4 - Baider Defeats Croad, Shares Lead.

Daniel Baider showed excellent technique winning his 4th round encounter against leader Nic Croad. When I first looked at the position Daniel had a passed pawn deep in Nic's position on d6 supported by a pawn on e5. The position was wildly complicated, and I was glad it was not I trying to play either side. His victory puts him in first place with 3.5/4 along with perennial conquerors Russell Dive and Anthony Ker, both of whom won their games, against Martin Hill and Mark van der Hoorn respectively. Martin seemed to be holding against Russell's English opening, but no doubt Russell had it all worked out. Mark got lumbered with weak pawns in a Rook and pawn endgame, and got ground down.
Michael Nyberg against Gavin Marner was interesting, with mutual violence against the opposing Kings leading to Gavin being a piece up in the endgame. Gavin had Knight plus Bishop plus pawn versus Michael's Knight - If Michael could take the pawn for the Knight Gavin would have had to try to win the difficult King + Bishop + Knight versus King endgame, which would have been a challenge. Fortunately for him he was able to shepherd his pawn to promotion, at which point Michael resigned.

I am not sure of the result of Palmer vs Jeffrey Wu, I am guessing the result from the relative sizes of their smiles after the game. Please let me know if I got it wrong.

Round 4 full results:

Baider 1 Croad 0
Ker 1 Van der Hoorn 0
Dive 1 Hill 0
Nyberg 0 Marner 1
Nijman 1 Brockway 0
Sun 0 Sellen 1
Forster 1 Stracy 0
Grkow 1/2 Jackson 1/2
Rabina 1 Hewson 0
Wylde 1 J Hong 0
Drinkwater 1 Pattekar 0
Shierlaw 1/2 L Wu 1/2
J Hong 0 Aldridge 1
Theodosiou 0 Tung 1
Palmer 0 J Wu 1


Standings:

3.5 points
Daniel Baider, Russell Dive, Anthony Ker

3 points
Brian Nijman, Gavin Marner, Ian Sellen, Nic Croad

2.5 points
Bill Forster, Mark van der Hoorn, Martin Hill

2 points
Alan Aldridge, Andrew Brockway, Anil Jhurani, Don Stracy, Hamish Shierlaw, Henry Wylde, John Marney, LingZhou Wu, Melvin Tung, Michael Nyberg, Romeo Rabina, Zak Sun

1.5 points
Andrew Grkow, Jeffrey Wu, Michael Hewson, Paul Bowden, Ross Jackson

1 point
Blaise Drinkwater, Jen Nung Hong, Jen Sun Hong

0.5 points
Andreas Theodosiou, Luke Palmer, Somesh Pattekar

AGM is this Tuesday. If you have anything to say about how the club is run, please make sure you are there to make your voice heard!
Should be time for a bit of blitz fun afterwards...

Summer Cup Round 3 - Croad Leads

Gavin Marner and John Marney joined the Summer Cup on Tuesday, bringing the total to 33 players. The club room was looking quite full as, unusually, everyone turned up!
Surprise result of the round must have been young Ling Zhou Wu's draw with club stalwart Alan Aldridge. Alan had been a whole piece up.
At the top of the table defending Summer Cup holder Nic Croad is in sole lead with 3/3 as Mark van der Hoorn and Daniel Baider drew, and previously undefeated Michael Nyberg lost to Anthony Ker. The chasing group on 2 1/2 is comprised of Anthony, Russell Dive, Mark van der Hoorn, Daniel Baider and Martin Hill.

Round 3 full results:

Ker 1 Nyberg 0
Croad 1 Nijman 0
Jackson 0 Dive 1
Van der Hoorn 1/2 Baider 1/2
Hill 1 Forster 0
Sellen 1 Grkow 0
Marner 1 Rabina 0
Stracy 1 Tung 0
Andrew Brockway 1 J Hong (sr) 0
Pattekar 0 Bowden 1
Drinkwater 0 J Hong (jr) 1
Hewson 1 Palmer 0
Aldridge 1/2 LZ Wu 1/2
Theodosiou 0 Sun 1
Jefferey Wu 1/2 Shierlaw 1/2
Marney 1 Wylde 0
Bye: Jhurani

Standings after 3 rounds:

3 points
Nic Croad

2.5 points
Anthony Ker, Daniel Baider, Mark van der Hoorn, Martin Hill, Russell Dive

2 points
Andrew Brockway, Brian Nijman, Don Stracy, Gavin Marner, Ian Sellen, John Marney, Michael Nyberg, Z. Sun

1.5 points
Bill Forster, Hamish Shierlaw, Ling Zhou Wu, Michael Hewson

1 point
Alan Aldridge, Andrew Grkow, Anil Jhurani, Henry Wylde, J Hong jr, J Hong sr, Melvin Tung, Paul Bowden, Romeo Rabina, Ross Jackson

0.5 points
Andreas Theodosiou, Jefferey Wu, Luke Palmer, Somesh Pattekar

0 points
Blaise Drinkwater

Summer cup round 2

First of all thanks to Alistair Nicholls who, despite being on "paternity leave" from chess, acts as my blog conscience, making sure I don't slack in my updates, chiding me when I do - and has now assisted in clearing up an identity error in last week's posting. The player who was up against Michael Nyberg was named as L Zhon but should actually be LingZhou Wu. "Zhon" came about by my not being able to read Mark van der Hoorn's writing. Apologies to all concerned. Incidentally, LingZhou Wu is not to be confused with Jefferey Wu who was playing Andrew Grkow, and, as far as I am aware, the two are unrelated.

Please let me know of any other inaccuracies.

Round 2 saw the return of the heavyweights, New Zealand champion Anthony Ker, and New Zealand Board 2 Russell Dive. Both duly won their games. 5 players remain on 2/2 - Nic Croad, Daniel Baider, Mark van der Hoorn, Michael Nyberg and Brian Nijman. Don Stracy made Brian work hard for his full point, and that game was the last to finish. Daniel Baider gave me the thrashing I truly deserved, given how I played the opening.
It is noteworthy that there has not been a single draw agreed in the first 2 rounds!

A warm welcome to two more newcomers on Tuesday, Andreas Theodosiou and Luke Palmer.

Round 2 full results:

Wylde 0 Croad 1
Baider 1 Sellen 0
Grkow 0 Van der Hoorn 1
Nyberg 1 Brockway 0
Nijman 1 Stracy 0
Dive 1 Aldridge 0
Jhurani 0 Ker 1
Forster 1 Pattekar 0
Palmer 0 Hill 1
Shierlaw 1 Theodosiou 0
J. Hong jr 0 Jackson 1
J Hong sr 1 Bowden 0
Rabina 1 Jefferey Wu 0
LingZhou Wu 1 Sun 0
Tung 1 Drinkwater 0

Leading scores after 2 rounds:

2 points
Nic Croad, Daniel Baider, Mark van der Hoorn, Brian Nijman, Michael Nyberg

1.5 points
Russell Dive, Anthony Ker, Martin Hill, Bill Forster

Welcome back!

Congratulations to Anthony Ker who not only took his 10th New Zealand Champion title in Queenstown, but also took the rapid and blitz titles as well! Very greedy.
Anthony and Russell Dive were missing from the starting line-up for the Summer Cup on Tuesday, but present were Nic Croad, Mark Van der Hoorn and Daniel Baider. Lots of new faces at the club, too. Big upset of the first round was Ross Jackson losing to Henry Wylde after blundering into a fork the exchange up. The other seed to lose was Romeo Rabina. Mark played his famous-in-New-Zealand Vandaliser system (f3 followed by Kf2) and ground out a win against Hamish Shierlaw. I won somewhat unconvincingly against newcomer Melvin Tung.

Round 1 full results:
Croad 1 Hewson 0
Bowden 0 Baider 1
Van der Hoorn 1 Shierlaw 0
Drinkwater 0 Nijman 1
Jackson 0 Wylde 1
Zhon 0 Nyberg 1
Sellen 1 Tung 0
Wu 0 Grkow 1
Stracy 1 J Hong (sr) 0
Sun 1 Rabina 0
Brockway 1 J Hong (jr) 0
Byes: Aldridge, Forster plus (no doubt) others