Bulletins June 2020

Evan Capel "WHINGFOOFANG", NZCF vs Edward Rains "rainsy", Canterbury Chess Club  1.c3 d5 2.d4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Bg5 e6 5.e3 Be7 6.Nbd2 h6 7.Bh4 Ne4 8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.Nxe4 dxe4 10.Nd2 f5 11.Qh5+ Qf7 12.Qxf7+ Kxf7 13.Be2 Nd7 14.O-O Nf6 15.Rfc1 Bd7 16.Rab1 g5 17.b4 h5 18.b5 cxb5 19.Bxb5 Bxb5 20.Rxb5 b6 21.Nc4 Nd7 22.a4 Ke7 23.a5 a6 24.Rxb6 Nxb6 25.Nxb6 Rab8 26.c4 Kd6 27.h3 h4 28.Kf1 g4 29.Ke2 gxh3 30.gxh3 Rhg8 31.Kf1 Rg7 32.Rd1 Rbg8 33.Ke2 Rg1 34.Rd2 Rh1 35.d5 Rgg1 36.Rb2 Re1+ 37.Kd2 Rd1+ 38.Kc2 Rc1+ 39.Kd2 exd5 40.cxd5 Rcd1+ 41.Kc2 Rdf1 42.Kc3 Rxh3 43.Rd2 Rc1+ 44.Kd4 Rhh1 45.Nc4+

Black to play wins easily if he recognises just how strong his passed pawn is  45...Kd7 (45...Rxc4+! is simplest by far  46.Kxc4 h3 and White struggles even to pointlessly sacrifice his rook for the pawn ) 46.Kc5 Rhd1 47.Rb2 h3 (47...Rb1 to frustrate White's rook keeps control ) 48.Rb7+ Kd8 The other retreat squares are better, but everything is now on a knife edge  49.Rh7 The h pawn is under control and White has a lot of counterplay too  49...Rc2 50.Kd6 Ke8 51.Ne5 and by now this only going one way  51...Kf8 52.Nd7+ Kg8 53.Nf6+ Kf8 54.Ke6 forcing mate 1-0

Daniel Gong "DHgong", Auckland Chess Centre vs Angel Luis Duran "Angel_durann", Hamilton Chess Club  1.d4 e6 2.Bf4 d5 3.e3 Bd6 4.Bg3 Nf6 5.Nf3 c5 6.c3 Bxg3 7.hxg3 Nc6 8.Bd3 cxd4 9.exd4 h6 10.Ne5 Nxe5 11.dxe5 Nd7 12.f4 Qb6 13.Qe2 Nc5 14.Bc2 Qxb2 15.O-O Qxa1 16.Qb5+ Nd7 17.Qb3 Nc5 18.Qb5+ Bd7 19.Qxc5 Qxa2 20.f5 Rc8 21.Qf2

Black should win comfortably on material...but  21...O-O?? 22.fxe6 Qc4 (22...Bxe6 23.Bh7+ ) 23.exd7 Rcd8 24.e6 Qg4 25.exf7+ Kh8 26.Qe3 Qxd7 27.Qd3 g6 28.Qxg6 1-0

Ben Hague "wtfai", Auckland Chess Centre vs Ryan Winter "RyanWelly", Wellington Chess Club  1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Nf3 e6 6.Bc4 Nb6 7.Bb3 d6 8.cxd4 Nc6 9.O-O Be7 10.Nc3 O-O 11.Bf4 dxe5 12.Bxe5 Nxe5 13.Nxe5 Bd7 14.Qd3 Bc6 15.Bc2 g6 16.Rad1 Nd5 17.Nxd5 Qxd5 18.Nxc6 bxc6 19.Bb3 Qd7 20.Rc1 a5 21.Rc4 Rfb8 22.Rfc1 c5 23.Ba4 Qd8 24.Bc6 Ra6 25.d5 exd5 26.Bxd5 Qf8 27.Rf4

White looks comfortable here, but from now on it's one way traffic as Black rolls forwards relentlessly  27...Rf6 28.Rxf6 Bxf6 29.b3 Bd4 30.Qf3 Kg7 31.h4 f5 32.h5 Re8 33.Bc4 Re4 34.Rd1 Qe7 35.g3 Qe5 36.Kg2 g5 37.Bf1 g4 38.Qd3 f4 39.gxf4 Rxf4 40.Rd2 Qd5+ 41.Kg1 Qxh5 42.Bg2 Qh4 43.Qf1 g3 0-1

Mario Krstev "mariokrstev", NZCF vs Alexei Kulashko "AK_NZ", Auckland Chess Centre  1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Be7 6.e3 O-O 7.Bd3 c5 8.Nge2 Nc6 9.cxd5 Nxd5 10.Nxd5 exd5 11.dxc5 Ne5 12.b4 a5 13.Rb1 Bh4+ 14.Ng3 axb4 15.Rxb4 Qg5 16.Kf2 Qf6 17.Rf4 Nxd3+ 18.Qxd3 Qe7 19.Qd4 Bg5 20.Nf5 Bxf5 21.Rxf5 Bf6 22.Qg4 h5 23.Qb4 Rfe8 24.Rxd5 Qe6 25.Rhd1 h4 26.Qg4 Qxg4 27.fxg4 Re4 28.Kf3 Rc4 29.g5 Be7 30.Bb2 Rxc5 31.Rxc5 Bxc5 32.Rd7 b6 33.g6 Rf8 34.gxf7+ Rxf7+ 35.Rxf7 Kxf7 36.Ke4 Ke6 37.g3 hxg3 38.hxg3 g6 39.g4 Bd6 40.a4 Bc5

Can White convert the extra pawn?  41.Bd4! Forcing a King and pawn ending, the easiest pawn up endings to win  41...Kd6 42.Bxc5+ Kxc5 43.Kd3 Kb4 44.e4 Kxa4 The extra pawn has deflected the Black King and now White's more advanced pawn will triumph right?  45.e5? More subtlety is required (45.Kd4! Puts Black in Zugzwang and wins  45...b5 (45...Kb5 46.Kd5 is a brutal shoulder charge ) 46.e5 b4 47.e6 b3 48.e7 b2 49.e8=Q+ Queens with check ) 45...Kb5! This way Black can get back in time  46.Kd4? White actually has to rush to capture the g pawn even to draw (46.Ke4 Kc6 47.Kf4 b5 48.Kg5 Kd7 49.Kxg6 Ke6 50.Kh6 b4 51.g5 b3 52.g6 b2 53.g7 b1=Q 54.g8=Q+ Kxe5 draw ) 46...Kc6 47.Ke4 Now he loses by a tempo.  47...b5 48.Kf4 Kd5 49.Kg5 Ke6 50.Kxg6 b4 51.Kh7 b3 52.g5 b2 53.g6 b1=Q 54.Kg7 Qb7+ 55.Kh6 Kxe5 56.g7 Qh1+ 57.Kg6 Qg2+ 58.Kf7 Qf3+ 59.Kg8 Qg4 60.Kh8 Qh5+ 61.Kg8 Kf6 62.Kf8 Qf7# 0-1