2019 North Island Champs (22-4-19)

Here are three games from club members who competed in the 2019 North Island Champs run over Easter in Wellington.

The first  game is from round 6, David Scott (1666) v Robert Hurndell (1545).
In some London system games, there’s a focus on kingside attack tactics, especially if the h-file opens. In this game, the focus was queenside, with a steady c-file build-up until the pressure on c6 became too much for black.

This game is from Junior member Geoffrey Gunawan. After securing a win in an earlier round against a player rated 300+ points ahead of him, he faced another 1700+ player in the final round. Geoffrey is the exchange down, but manages to set a nice pawn grab trap with f4 on move 18, and when white accepts is able to grab back equality with some nice tactics, then follow up with good co-ordination of his rook and minor pieces on the queenside to gain a winning initiative. With material even, and time ticking on, Geoffrey opted to secure the half point and offered a draw. But, well done to come back and play his way to this winning  position against a much higher-rated opponent.

Geoffrey Gunawan (1445)  v Lara Heppenstall (1735) Round 8, North Island Championships, 22/4/2019

The final game is Ross Jackson (1928) v current NZ champion Russell Dive (2431) from Round 7 played 22/4/2019. Ross comments “My loss to Russell was possibly a missed opportunity. When he advanced to regain a piece with a pawn fork I rescued the bishop. I should have done 18…Rd8 a move earlier, and shouldn’t have swapped queens into a lost end-game (move 24).”