George Trundle Memorial Round 6

George Trundle Memorial Round 6

Auckland is not only a water but also a garden city. We thought we would check out Kiwi fauna today with a visit to the zoo. First a little walk around the lake.

The birdlife is extremely friendly. This could be due to the fact that people feed them. As soon as you arrive, ducks, swans, seagulls, pigeons etc, come over to see if you have any food on offer. We came unprepared.

This goose was particularly forward and patient but left disappointed. 

Cute is not the word for this scene. Mind you, don't threaten the chicks whatever you do. These Swans are huge with large claws and a bony beak. 

Weird stone sculptures are dotted around the lake as well.

Some kind of pretty waterfowl.

And finally a tiny Japanese garden.

When we finally made it to the zoo, we only had about 45 minutes to spare and decided to leave it until tomorrow. 

Round 6

Well, there is no way I could have guessed 6.a4 so its good I didn't spend the morning preparing. My first instinct was to answer a5, which is probably the most sensible move. But no, I had to punish Alexei for his audacity and came up with the super creative plan of Rb8 and b5. After 10.d5 my position looked like one of the pigeons from the park had just walked over it. I managed to complicate it a bit and got a nice piece sac in with 31...Nf4. Alexei was now short on time and failed to find the best way, although by now he was searching for equality. He didn't find it and by the time-control, I was a pawn up with a safer King. I overestimated my position, expecting it to win itself and after swapping rooks, the evaluation was 00.00

A relief and a disappointment.

[Event "George Trundle Memorial"]
[Site "Auckland"]
[Date "2018.07.12"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Kulashko, Alexei"]
[Black "Wohl, Aleksandar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2336"]
[BlackElo "2335"]
[ECO "A49"]
[EventDate "2018.07.07"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.O-O O-O 6.a4 Nbd7 7.a5 Rb8 8.
Nc3 b5 9.axb6 axb6 10.d5 Bb7 11.Nd4 Ra8 12.Rxa8 Qxa8 13.e4 Nc5 14.b4
e5 15.Ndb5 Na6 16.Na2 Nb8 17.Nac3 Ne8 18.Bg5 f6 19.Be3 Ba6 20.Re1
Bxb5 21.Nxb5 Qa4 22.Qd3 f5 23.Bd2 fxe4 24.Bxe4 Nd7 25.Qc4 Qa8 26.Bg5
Ndf6 27.Bg2 Qc8 28.h3 Qd7 29.Be3 Qf7 30.Qb3 Nh5 31.Rf1 Nf4 32.gxf4
exf4 33.Bd4 f3 34.Bh1 Qd7 35.Bxf3 Qxb5 36.c4 Qd7 37.Bg4 Qe7 38.Qe3
Qh4 39.Re1 h5 40.Be6+ Kh7 41.Rd1 Rf4 42.Bxg7 Nxg7 43.Re1 Rxc4 44.b5
Qf6 45.Kg2 Rc3 46.Qe4 Qg5+ 47.Kh2 Rc1 48.Rxc1 Qxc1 49.Qf3 Qb2 50.Qf7
h4 51.Kg2 Qd4 52.Qg8+ Kh6 53.Qh8+ Kg5 54.Qd8+ Kh6 55.Qg8 Kg5 56.Qd8+
Kh6 57.Qh8+ 1/2-1/2

Tomorrow I play Vishal with white...after a visit to the zoo. That way neither of us can prepare :-)