MCC Endgame Group 28/09/2011

Besides some of the regulars, we were pleased to have Sylvester Urban and Anatoli Sirota at the group. The subject of the evening was assessing positions with 2 minor pieces for each side. I'll post the positions we looked at, but try to pay particular attention to general ideas:

1. Who is better? And why? (It is white to play in all of these.)
2. Which minor pieces are good or bad?
3. Are there any plans which come to mind?
4. What are your candidate moves?

I'll come back to this with the game scores, and some of our ideas in 3 days time.......

City of Melbourne Open round 3

After an absence last week, the live commentary is back! (but I will warn you that I won't be around next week). This week is significant because after 7.15pm tonight, no new entries will be accepted into the tournament. There is a rumour that Felix Wyss has returned from his travels and is looking to enter the tournament. If he shows up, then there will be an even number of players in the event, solving the bye issue....unless, of course, someone else enters! The big result of the last round was the top board loss of IM James Morris at the hands of Justin Penrose.

I've had a few clerical things to do around the club, but the early signs are already interesting. Dusan Stojic has had to delay his game as he has been in a car accident. He will still come in to the club to play his game against Michael Addamo but a little later, which Michael has agreed to.

Since then, Roger Beattie has left the club, without finishing his game, though I'm not sure what the circumstances were. I'll check it out in a bit.Felix Wyss is in the building and as far as I know in the tournament, though without a game tonight. And Tom Kalisch is also in the building, so Felix does have someone to play some blitz with.

1 hour update

James Morris was an early winner tonight:

The board 1 game between Mirko Rujevic and John Dowling sees the IM pushing hard. Follow it live. The game on board 3 is interesting with David Beaumont playing the ever popular Dragon against Domagoj Dragicevic and David is not afraid to sacrifice to open lines.

The Dragon seems very popular at the club at the moment. Both Rad Chmiel and John Beckman are facing it and have chosen Maroczy set up's. Marcus Ogden preferred a Hedgehog type Sicilian against Ari Dale.

In the top room board 3 sees an open centre between Thai Ly and Malcolm Pyke. There could possibly be some active piece play or exchanges to the endgame happening here. Urban-Penrose is an unclear position that started from 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6.

Dusan Stojic finally arrived at the club looking hassled but has started his game with Michael Addamo choosing a Benoni. Michael has used as a classical set up with Be2 and Nf3-d2.

In the main room, both McCart brothers are in even and tough looking games that one would imagine will not be finishing too soon. Damien Feaine has chosen the solid London against Shaun Hose, and is playing much more safely than he has in the past. But the strangest position is in the game between Zachary Loh and Kerry Stead where neither side seems to want to develop before creating a number of weaknesses within their positions!

2 hours down

We have a number of winners already. Besides Morris, there have been wins for: Ari Dale, Peter Wolf, Paul Kovacevic and James Martin. Abraham Widjaja has been awarded a full point for Ian Stone's no show, but the most bizarre result of the night was Ruben Nowak's win over Roger Beattie. I don't know the details but after about 10 moves Roger left the board and the game. As he didn't return the game counts as a win for his opponent.

I am having to leave fairly soon but I will collect the score sheets on Wednesday when the MCC holds its endgame study group. Perhaps we may be studying the position of the game between Alex Kaplan and Richard Voon which has all the major pieces gone, but no minor pieces. Richard has some space but neither side has what could be called a harmonious piece deployment.

Ok, my final report. On the top boards, Domagoj is 4 pawns up on David Beaumont who's attack never really seemed to happen. I prefer Mirko on board 1, but that is probably because I enjoy space. John Dowling is a tough player to put away. Board 3 was a draw between Thai Ly and Malcolm Pyke, while board 4 is still too early to have settled in to a pattern. David Garner and Dean Hogg both ended up winning their games, and Dean Hogg's was a particularly nice effort against Garth Fitzmaurice who is another player tough to put away. There is still plenty of chess happening at the MCC, but I have to go now. I will leave you with another minor piece endgame, this time between Jim Papadinis and Roger McCart.

A couple of games that I have to hand:

MCC Openings Group

The Melbourne Chess Club hosts an openings study group every second Wednesday. The last time we met we looked at a copy of the openings report from the ChessVibes website. That report is written weekly by 2 Dutch IM's and though interesting, tended to go a bit over our heads. The general opinion of our group was that the publication aimed at players much higher than your average Aussie club player assuming a great deal of prior opening expertise. Of course, this can be labelled at loads of openings works (such as New in Chess Yearbooks) and that players should just start to get down to some work and catch up with the rest of the World.

Whether an article is too high brow, or the readers too lowly in expertise is an interesting philosophical issue, but not one we dwelt on. Instead it was decided that rather than buying openings works, it might be more interesting and useful to try to create one ourselves using the games played at the MCC. So that is what I did, and here it is: (feedback about what you'd lie to see in future copies would be appreciated - Thai Ly already suggested repertoire profiles for prominent players!)

MCC Openings Bulletin

1. Retain the tension?

Young International Master James Morris decided against the more traditional clearing of the central tension against Jim Papadinis’s Colle set up.

The most popular move here is 7..cxd4. White scores a miserable 37% against this in big database 2010. The most popular reply is 8.cxd4 which seems natural but after 8..d5 9.e5 Ne4, black does not appear worse. So perhaps white could try 8.Nxd4, but after 8..Nc6 black again has nothing to worry about.

Taking that into account, why would an IM play 7..Bg4 in the above position? It has been played rarely and impresses the analysis engines less than 7..cxd4. But can a simple developing move really be that bad? Papdinis replied with the natural 8.0-0 and Morris dramatically changed the position by voluntarily exchanging his bishop, 8..Bxf3. This move is a novelty in the position though the other 3 games in Opening Encyclopedia 2011 all end up in white wins. (8..Nbd7 and 8..cxd4 have been played before) After 9.Bxf3 Nc6 10.d5 [10.dxc5 dxc5 11.Nc4 Qc7 12.Qe2 also has its points, opening the position for the 2 bishops] 10..Ne5 11.Be2 h6 12.Be3 and white enjoys a decent edge. Black’s knights are not secure in the middle of the board, and white can advance on the king side and in the centre quickly.

Study Games:

Costa,Paulo Cesar (2228) - Delai,Paula Fernanda (2014) [A48]

Sao Paulo-ch fin Serra Negra, 2002

 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.Nbd2 0–0 5.e4 d6 6.Be2 c5 7.c3 Bg4 8.0–0 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bxe2 10.Qxe2 Nbd7 11.N2b3 a5 12.Nb5 a4 13.N3d4 Nc5 14.f3 Qb6 15.Be3 Nfd7 16.Rab1 e5 17.Nc2 f5 18.exf5 gxf5 19.Rfd1 Rf6 20.Nb4 Rg6 21.Nd5 Qd8 22.b4 axb3 23.axb3 f4 24.Bxc5 Nxc5 25.b4 Nd7 26.Ra1 Nb6 27.Nbc7 h5 28.Qc2 Rg5 29.Ne6 1–0

Sosna,Jan (2416) - Nabaty,Tamir (2156) [A48]

Brno DS IM Brno (11), 09.07.2006

 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.Nbd2 0–0 5.e4 d6 6.c3 c5 7.Be2 Bg4 8.0–0 cxd4 9.cxd4 Nc6 10.d5 Bxf3 11.Nxf3 Ne5 12.Nxe5 dxe5 13.Qd3 Ne8 14.f3 Nd6 15.Rfc1 Qd7 16.Rc5 Rac8 17.Rac1 Rxc5 18.Rxc5 Rc8 19.b4 f6 20.Be3 b6 21.Rxc8+ Qxc8 22.a4 Qc7 23.Bd1 Kf7 24.Qc2 Qc4 25.Qxc4 Nxc4 26.Bc1 Ke8 27.Be2 Nd6 28.Be3 Nf7 29.a5 Bh6 30.Bf2 Bd2 31.a6 Nd6 32.Bxb6 Nc8 33.Bb5+ Kf8 34.Bc5 Bc3 35.Bd7 1–0

Fedorov,Efim - Shpartko,Grigory (2019) [A48]

St Petersburg Winter op St Petersburg (6), 05.02.2007

 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.Nbd2 d6 5.e4 0–0 6.c3 c5 7.Be2 Bg4 8.0–0 Nbd7 9.h3 Bxf3 10.Bxf3 Rc8 11.Qb3 cxd4 12.cxd4 Qa5 13.Be3 Qc7 14.Rac1 Qxc1 15.Rxc1 Rxc1+ 16.Kh2 b5 17.Qxb5 Rb8 18.Qa6 Rb6 19.Qa3 Rc7 20.b3 Ne8 21.g3 Rb8 22.Nc4 e5 23.d5 f5 24.exf5 gxf5 25.Bh5 Ndf6 26.Bxe8 Nxe8 27.Qa6 Bf8 28.f3 Rbc8 29.h4 Rd8 30.Na5 Rc2+ 31.Kh3 Rxa2 32.Qxa7 Nf6 33.Bg5 Rd7 34.Qb8 Nxd5 35.Bh6 Rf7 36.Nc4 Nc7 37.Bxf8 Ra8 38.Qb4 Raxf8 39.Qxd6 e4 40.fxe4 fxe4 41.Qe5 Re8 42.Qg5+ Rg7 43.Qa5 Re6 44.Ne3 Rf7 45.b4 Rf3 46.Qxc7 Rxe3 47.Qc4 Kf7 48.Qc7+ Kg6 49.h5+ Kxh5 50.Qxh7+ Kg5 51.Qh4+ Kg6 52.Qg4+ Kf7 53.Qf4+ Ke7 54.Qxe3 1–0

2. Another g4 attack

20 years ago there was the “risky” Keres Attack and that was about it for g4 attacks. Now, the move g4 gets thrown in all over the place, but especially in the Sicilian. Anthony Hain used g4 in an unusual position against Malcolm Pyke.

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 d6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nf6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 Be7 8.Be3 0–0

In this position, the move 9.g4 is a risk as black can win a pawn by force with the sequence 9..Nxd4 10.Bxd4 e5 when white’s g-pawn is doomed. I suppose the question is whether white is really bothered about losing his g-pawn in this position? It will open the g-file for attack. However, this still seems like a premature flank attack and white’s central king will need to get out of the way or it will become a target.

So should black accept the pawn?

A) 9..Nxd4 10.Bxd4 e5 11.Be3 [11.g5 Ng4 12.Be3 doesn’t look too appealing. Black can choose between 12.Nxe3 or 12.Bxg5] 11..Nxg4 [11..Bxg4 12.f3 Be6 might also be good for black. White will probably castle long and mass his forces on the king side for an all or nothing attack.] 12.Qf3 Nxe3 13.Qxe3 [13.fxe3 Bh4+ will keep white’s king uncomfortable for a while] 13..Bg5 14.Qg3 Bf4 15.Qg2 Be6 seems to leave black a solid pawn to the good, and with the safer king.

B) Malcolm Pyke decided on a safer method (and I must admit that without knowing this line, it would be a huge risk to open the g-file for white’s benefit) eliminating white’s light squared bishop and then meeting the premature flank attack with the classical response, a central reaction.

9..Na5 10.Rg1 [10.g5 seems more in spirit 10..Ne8 (10..Nd7? 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.Nxe6 Qe8 13.Nc7 with an advantage to white; 10..Nxb3 11.gxf6 Nxa1 12.fxe7 Qxe7 13.Qxa1 again white looks good here) 11.Qd2 Nxb3 12.axb3 with a bit of a mess on the board. Black has some untangling to do but is solid, while white has weaknesses, but a lot of potential especially to mass a king side attack with the simple advance of the h-pawn. I’m not sure who I’d rather be here. 

Back to the game: 10..Nxb3 11.axb3 d5. This is a critical position.

Anthony’s 12.g5 seems misplaced here as it seems more important to deal with the central tension. 2 moves come to mind:

B1) 12.exd5 I’m not sure that I’d be tempted to exchange in the centre with my opponent having 2 bishops and my king in the middle. However, after the exchanging sequence 12..Nxd5 13.Nxd5 Qxd5 and now 14.Qf3 white will be able to castle and his pieces will become quite active in the near future. Black is less developed and will have to defend for some time before his permanent advantages can be brought to the table.

B2) 12.e5 Nd7 13.f4

I am sure Malcolm would have accepted this sort of position as black having great experience with the French Defence. But perhaps this was Anthony’s best chance of a reasonable attacking game without the unnecessary risks he took during the game.

3. Assess the Novelty

In this position in the game Rujevic-Loh, black played the novelty 9..h6

The position had occurred in a famous game, Fischer-Petrosian Herceg Novi Blitz 1970. In that game, the ex World Champion chose to play 9..Bc6 and didn’t castle king side at all:

Fischer,Robert James - Petrosian,Tigran V [C19]

Herceg Novi blitz Herceg Novi, 1970

 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Qc7 7.Nf3 Ne7 8.a4 Bd7 9.Bd3 Bc6 10.0–0 Nd7 11.Ba3 h6 12.Re1 b6 13.Nd2 Bxa4 14.dxc5 bxc5 15.Qg4 Bc6 16.Qxg7 Rg8 17.Qxh6 Nxe5 18.Bxc5 d4 19.Be4 dxc3 20.Bxc6+ N7xc6 21.Ne4 0–0–0 22.Red1 Ng4 23.Qh4 Rxd1+ 24.Rxd1 f5 25.Nd6+ Kb8 26.Nb5 Qg7 27.Bd6+ Kb7 28.Rb1 Kc8 29.Qg3 Qb7 30.Nxc3 Qa6 31.h3 Nf6 32.Qh4 Nd7 33.Qh7 Rd8 34.Qf7 Qc4 35.Rb3 Qd4 36.Qxe6 Qf6 37.Qd5 Nde5 38.Nb5 Qf7 39.Qc5 Nf3+ 40.Rxf3 Kd7 41.Rd3 1–0

There have been a number of moves tried in the position:

9..Bc6

9..b6

9..Qa5

9..c4

9..Nbc6 (transposing to the main lines of this opening)

9..h6

Of these moves, 9..Bc6 has been played the most often (not counting the transpositional 9..Nbc6) though Stockfish regards it as a bit dubious after 10.Ng5 h6 11.Qh5.

The powerful engine prefers a move which will not please French players, 9..c4. Closing the centre is not natural to French players and the bishop on d7 looks very sad. But after 10.Be2 Qa5 it looks as if black is winning a pawn either on c3 or a4

Of course, black has used up a lot of time to get this pawn, and white will be able to launch some king side activity, but black has a concrete plan of action, and a winning plan! Exchange, nullify any king side attacking threats, and push the passed a-pawn!

So what about young Zachary Loh’s novelty 9..h6? Well on first glance, it seems to be a waste of time. However, time is not the biggest issue in openings with a closed centre. Zachary obviously wanted to stop Ng5 and so his move is playable. The fact that a master could prove no advantage against it over the board shows it is definitely ok. Although Zac lost the game it wasn’t due to his new move.

Rujevic,M - Loh,Z [C19]

City of Melbourne Open (1), 12.09.2011

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Qc7 7.Nf3 Bd7 8.a4 Ne7 9.Bd3 h6 [9...Bc6 10.Ng5 h6 11.Qh5; 9...c4 10.Be2 Qa5 11.0–0 Bxa4] 10.0–0 0–0?! [10...c4!? 11.Be2 Qa5 12.Rb1 Qa6 13.Ba3 Bxa4=] 11.dxc5 [11.Ba3! b6 12.a5] 11...Nbc6 12.Re1 Rac8 [12...Qa5 13.c4] 13.Be3 Rfd8 14.Bd4 White is a bit better 14...Be8 15.Nh4

15...Nxd4? 16.cxd4 White is a solid pawn to the good now, and close to winning 16...Nc6 17.c3 Qe7 18.Nf3 Nb8 19.Bc2 Nd7 20.Rb1 Nf8 21.Qd2 Bc6 22.g3 Qe8 23.a5 Bb5 24.Nh4 a6 25.f4 Ng6 26.Ng2 Ne7 27.Ne3 g6 28.Ng4 Qf8 29.Nf6+ Kh8 30.g4 Ng8 31.Re3 Nxf6 32.exf6 Rc6 33.Rh3 Kg8 34.Qe1 Rdc8 35.Qh4 Be2 36.Rxb7 R6c7 37.Rb6 Rc6 38.Kf2 Bb5 39.Qxh6 Qxh6 40.Rxh6 Rxb6 41.cxb6 Bc6 42.Ke3 Bb7 43.Kd2 Rc4 44.h4 Rc6 45.h5 gxh5 46.Bh7+ Kf8 47.Bd3 Kg8 48.gxh5 Rc8 49.Rh7 Rf8 50.Rg7+ Kh8 51.h6 Bc8 52.Kc2 Bb7 53.Bg6 fxg6 54.Rxb7 Rxf6 55.Rc7 1–0

4. Odds and ends

Why is transposing to the Philidor better than playing the Philidor straight off?

Urban,S - Chmiel,R [C41]

City of Melbourne Open (1), 12.09.2011

 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.h3 Be7 6.Be3 c6 7.Bd3 Qc7 8.a4 a5 9.0–0 0–0 10.Nd2 exd4 11.Bxd4 d5 12.exd5 cxd5 13.Qf3 Rd8 14.Rfe1 Bf8 15.Nf1 Bb4 16.Ne3 Qd6 17.Nb5 Qc6 18.c3 Bc5 19.Nf5 Kf8 20.Qf4 Ra6 21.Qg5 1–0

Systemic chess…cop out or challenge? 2 games saw white choose a system. In the first the system was used aggressively, while in the second white took a more passive approach.

Dragicevic,D - Kovacevic,P [A08]

City of Melbourne Open (1), 12.09.2011

 1.e4 e6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 Nc6 5.g3 Nf6 6.Bg2 Bd6 7.0–0 Qc7 8.exd5 exd5 9.Re1+ Ne7 10.c4 0–0 11.d4 h6 12.b4 b6 13.dxc5 bxc5 14.Bb2 cxb4 15.Bxf6 gxf6 16.cxd5 Ng6 17.Rc1 Qd8 18.Nd4 Kg7 19.Qh5 Re8 20.Rxe8 Qxe8 21.Rxc8 Rxc8 22.Nf5+ Kg8 23.Nxd6 Rc1+ 24.Nf1 Qf8 25.Nf5 Kh7 26.d6 Rc5 27.d7 a5 28.d8Q Rxf5 29.Qxf8 1–0

McCart,Ri - Stojic,D [D94]

City of Melbourne Open (1), 12.09.2011

 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.Nc3 d5 5.e3 0–0 6.b3 c5 7.Bb2 cxd4 8.exd4 Nc6 9.Be2 Bg4 10.0–0 dxc4 11.bxc4 Bxf3 12.Bxf3 Qxd4 13.Qe2 Qb6 14.Bxc6 Qxc6 15.Rac1 e6 16.Nb5 a6 17.Nd4 Qe4 18.Rfe1 Qxe2 19.Nxe2 Rfd8 20.Nc3 Rd2 21.Ba3 Ng4 22.Rf1 Bd4 23.Ne4 Re2 24.Rce1 Rxa2 25.Bc5 Bxc5 26.Nxc5 Rc8 27.Nxb7 Rxc4 28.h3 Nf6 29.Nd6 Rc6 30.Rd1 Kf8 31.Rfe1 Rcc2 32.Rf1 Ke7 33.Rd3 a5 34.Rf3 Kxd6 35.Rxf6 Rc7 36.Rb1 Ke7 37.Rf3 a4 38.Rb4 Ra7 39.Rff4 f5 40.g4 e5 41.Rfc4 Kf6 42.h4 e4 43.Rc5 a3 44.gxf5 Ra1+ 45.Kg2 a2 46.Rb6+ Kg7 47.fxg6 Rb1 0–1

City of Melbourne Open

The Grand Prix idea for Monday night tournaments at the Melbourne Chess Club seems to have increased the numbers playing in events. While the MCC has often attracted quite top heavy fields, we are now seeing more of an even spread of players. Extra rating prizes will only increase this trend. The upshot of the policy has been bigger fields, more competition and a general rise in standard of those players who were below the half way mark earlier this year. Of course, it takes consistency to generally move up the ratings, but giant killing certainly helps players along the way, and Roger McCart, Anthony Hain and Charlotte Dilnutt should all be lloking forward to this event after their performances in the recently finished Malitis Memorial.

There were no surprises at the top with all the seeds coming through unscathed. There were some giant killing feats lower down the field. Marcus Ogden took out Kerry Stead, while Alex Kaplan continued his upward trend with a win against Frank Lekkas. 8 players requested half point byes in the first round, but there were no other draws, an interesting statistic!

Here are some games and images from the first round :)

 Justin Penrose tries to obscure giant killer Alex Kaplan

 Gyula Plaganyi, a welcome visitor to the MCC from WA

James Martin

 Sylvester Urban has struggled to find time for chess this year, so it is good to see him playing again!

 2010 Victorian Champion, Dusan Stojic

 Kerry Stead was one of the seeded players upset in this round.

 Tanya Kolak and Damien Feaine

David Beaumont will hope to repeat his excellent performance from the MCC Open

City of Melbourne Open

I was so looking forward to coming into the Melbourne Chess Club tonight as a spectator and possible blogger, with no intention of playing in the City of Melbourne Open or having no duties as arbiter. I knew that I may have to help out a bit, but that goes with being a member of a club. The tournament itself didn't get underway until about half an hour after the due start time of 7.15pm, due an influx of late entries, and the fact that the ACF master list which holds all players data has not been updated for the September listings yet, and so we had to do a lot of manual cross checking work. However, the players were very tolerant and with a field of over 40 the event has now started.

At the top it is very competitive. Top seed is IM James Morris, who drew the black pieces in the first round and has been paired with Jim Papadinis. There is also IM Mirko Rujevic, 2010 Victorian Champion, Dusan Stojic, Domagoj Dragicevic and Malcolm Pyke rounding off the top 5 places. We see a welcome return to Sylvester Urban who is now the 6th seed on the night (David Garner has had to take a first round bye, along with a number of other players) and there are over 20 players in the event rated above 1800. However, there is a good demographic of ages and ratings playing in the event, and it is particularly pleasing to see so many juniors in the tournament.

First results:

As always in a decent size swiss tournament, there are some rating gaps in the first round. At the top end, Jim Papapdinis 1785 is playing James Morris 2309 so there is a difference of over 500 points there. At the other end, Shaun Hose has the best part of 1000 rating points more than James Brennan. Saying that, there are usually some first round upsets, or at least, some nearly upsets. First winner of the night is Richard Voon who was rated more than 600 points above Ruben Nowak. Ari Dale is another early winner of the 18 boards in play tonight.

The closest game in terms of rating difference is between James Martin and John Dowling with only 250 points between them! Saying that, there are some giant killers around, and some players who are doing well in the MCC's Monday night Grand Prix. Players like Kerry Stead, John Dowling, Roger McCart and Anthony Hain will be trying to rack up the points keeping their high positions in their Grand Prix sections.

Time for some games....

Board 2 opening:

Stojic, and Penrose look to be solid pawns to the good in their games. Pyke looks as if he has just won a piece to a nice tactic, but my eyes might just be deceiving me. Hose, Fry and our visitor form Western Australia, Gyula Plaganyi are all heavy material ahead, while Peter Wolf is having a struggle to get anything against Charlotte Dilnutt.

However, there looks to be a real upset happening in the game between Alex Kaplan and Frank Lekkas. Alex is an exchange ahead and it doesn't look to me as if Frank has much to show for that....if anything.

Board 4 is a very messy position between Dragicevic and Kovacevic:

9.30pm

I will only be staying at the club for about another hour at the most tonight. However, I believe I will see James Morris convert against Jim Papadinis as he is a piece up at the moment.

Right, that is me off for the night but I leave the following still happening:

Mirko is a pawn up against Zachary Loh, while Dusan is 2 pawns up. John Dowling is also a pawn up, while Alex Kaplan has retained his exchange advantage against Frank Lekkas. Justin Penrose is a piece up. The other games are quite tense. Beaumont has a great centre against John beckman, while the Ogden-Stead and Urban-Chmiel games are totally unclear to me. Dragicevic has 2 pieces for a rook in the following position against Paul Kovacevic: