Wang Yue Leading At Hastings Masters

 

Pix 1. GM Wang Yue, China (Photo from tournament website)

5 Jan 2012, Kuala Lumpur – At the Hastings Masters, the 8th round was completed yesterday with most of the top games were wins. This contrasts sharply with the ‘good old days’ when there would be many drab draws. At the moment, GM Wang Yue is leading with 7.0 points out of 8 rounds of play. IM Lalith Babu of India is second with 6.5 points and IM Shvam Sundar of India in third. While GM Istratescu Andrei of France in fourth with 6.0 points. Today will be the last day of the tournament and round 9 will be played. 118 players are participating.

 

The tournament website reported that Wang Yue (6) v Andrey Vovk (5½) – the younger Ukrainian brother felt his position was fine. We didn’t discuss it for long; one doesn’t with somebody who lost. It was only tonight that I realised they were unaware of the nature of the Commentary Room. My apologies for that. 10…d5 would not have been to my taste before completing his development, but what do I know. Chris criticised 16…Bf5, but Black disagreed. Andrey felt 23…Re7 was incorrect and 23…b6 should have been played.

 

[Event "Hastings Masters"]
[Site "Horntye Park Sports Complex, "]
[Date "2012.01.04"]
[Round "8.1"]
[White "Wang, Yue"]
[Black "Vovk, Andrey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2697"]
[BlackElo "2551"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2012.01.04"]
[TimeControl "120+24"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. Be3 exd4 8. Nxd4 Re8 9. f3 c6 10. Bf2 d5 11. exd5 cxd5 12. O-O Nc6 13. c5 Nh5 14. Qd2 Be5 15. g3 Ng7 16. Rfd1 Bf5 17. Bb5 Bd7 18. Nb3 Ne7 19. Bxd7 Qxd7 20. Nxd5 Nxd5 21. Qxd5 Qxd5 22. Rxd5 Bxb2 23. Rb1 Bf6 24. Nd2 Re7 25. Ne4 Ne8 26. Rbd1 Kf8 27. Rd7 Rc8 28. g4 Be5 29. c6 b6 30. Ng5 Rc7 31. Nxh7+ Kg7 32. Rxe7 Rxe7 33. Rd7 Bd6 34.Ng5 Bb4 35. Bd4+ f6 36. Ne6+ Kf7 37. c7 Nxc7 38. Rxe7+ 1-0

Here is a game from round 6 of IM Jovanka Houska, England vs Gavin R Lock in which the lady wins playing black. Black wins the pawn race with her c-pawn just one step away from its queening square on c1.

[Event "Hastings Masters"] [Site "Horntye Park Sports Complex, "] [Date "2012.01.02"] [Round "6.15"] [White "Lock, Gavin R"] [Black "Houska, Jovanka"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "2157"] [BlackElo "2415"] [PlyCount "86"] [EventDate "2012.01.02"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 c6 3. c4 e6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Bxe7 Qxe7 6. e3 Nf6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Be2 Nbd7 9. O-O b6 10. cxd5 exd5 11. Qa4 Bb7 12. Rfd1 Rfd8 13. Rac1 Ne8 14. Bd3 Nd6 15. Ne2 a6 16. Qc2 h6 17. Ng3 c5 18. Bh7+ Kh8 19. Nf5 Nxf5 20. Bxf5 c4 21. Qd2 Bc8 22. h3 Nf6 23. Qc2 a5 24. Ne5 Bxf5 25. Qxf5 b5 26. g4 Re8 27. Kg2 Kg8 28. f3 Ra6 29. Re1 Re6 30. Re2 Nd7 31. Nxd7 Qxd7 32. Rce1 b4 33. e4 g6 34. Qf4 dxe4 35. Rxe4 Rxe4 36. Rxe4 c3 37. bxc3 bxc3 38. Qe3 Rc8 39. Re5 c2 40. Rc5 Rxc5 41. dxc5 Qe6 42. Qc3 Qxa2 43. Kg3 Qb1 0-1

 

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