2011 Oceania Zonal Day 5

What a difference a day makes, at least for some people. GM Zong Yuan Zhao has extended his lead to a point and a half, and with only 2 rounds to go, is almost certain to qualify for the next FIDE World Cup. The only player who can overtake him is FM Bobby Cheng, and they play tomorrow. There is a group of 6 players 2 points behind the lead, and theoretically there could still be a multiple tie for first, but this is highly unlikely. Instead the interest in this group is to see who can clear the first hurdle towards an IM title. As the only 2 IM's in the group (Xie and Feldman) are paired together, the Ly v Illingworth and Ikeda v Brown pairings function as a kind of IM semi-final (not ignoring Cheng's chances of course).

The clash between the two GM's today did not disappoint, with an incredibly sharp opening leading to a tactical brawl that lasted all the way to the ending, where Zhao emerged 1 pawn ahead(!). However this advantage was enough in a rook and pawn ending, although Smerdon fought hard till the end.

Zhao,Zong Yuan (2586) - Smerdon,David C (2531) [B29]

Oceania Zonal Rotorua (7.1), 28.01.2011

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.Nc3 e6 5.Nxd5 exd5 6.d4 Nc6 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Qxd5 Qb6 9.Bc4 Bxf2+ 10.Ke2 0-0 11.Rf1 Bc5 12.Ng5 Nd4+ 13.Kd1 [RR 13.Ke1 Ne6 14.Ne4 d6 15.Bd3 dxe5 16.Qxe5 Qa5+ 17.Kd1 Bb4 18.Qxa5 Bxa5 ½-½ Lengyel,B (2268)-Bach,M (2276)/Budapest HUN 2009/The Week in Chess 749] 13...Ne6 14.Ne4 [RR 14.Qe4 Nxg5 15.Bxg5 d5 16.exd6 Qxd6+ 17.Bd3 Qxh2 18.Kd2 g6 19.Rae1 Bd7 20.Bf4 Qh4 21.Qxb7 Bf2 22.Re4 Bf5 23.Rc4 Be6 24.Re4 Rad8 25.Bc7 Qg5+ 26.Ke2 Bh4 27.Rxh4 Qxh4 28.Bxd8 Rxd8 Torre,E (2505)-Ljubojevic,L (2620)/Manila 1976/IZT/0-1 (52)] 14...Be7 15.Bd2N [RR 15.c3 Qc6 16.Qd3 (RR 16.Be3 b5 17.Qxc6 dxc6 18.Bb3 Nc7 19.Kc2 Be6 20.Bxe6 fxe6 21.Bc5 Bxc5 22.Nxc5 Rad8 23.Nb7 Rd5 24.Rxf8+ Kxf8 25.Rf1+ Ke7 26.Na5 c5 27.b3 Ke8 28.Nc6 c4 29.bxc4 bxc4 30.Rd1 Rxd1 Rivas Pastor,M (2200)-Feller,J (2225)/Amsterdam 1978/MCD/1-0 (64)) 16...Nc5 17.Nxc5 Qxc5 18.Bf4 a5 19.Bg3 b6

20.Kc2 Bb7 21.Rf4 Rac8 22.Raf1 Kh8 23.Bf2 Qc6 24.Bb5 Qxg2 25.Rg1 Qxh2 26.Rg3 Bh4 27.Rgf3 Bxf3 28.Rxf3 h6 29.Qf5 g6 Littlewood,J-Parr,F/Rhyl 1969/MCL/0-1 (36);

RR 15.Bd3 Qc6 16.Qxc6 dxc6 17.Nd6 b6 18.Be3 Bxd6 19.exd6 Rd8 20.h3 Rxd6 21.Kc1 Bb7 22.g4 c5 23.a3 Rad8 24.h4 Bg2 25.Rg1 Bc6 26.Rf1 a5 27.g5 b5 28.a4 c4 29.axb5 cxd3 Brause-Elazar/ICS rated blitz matc 1996/1-0 (46)] 15...Qxb2 16.Bc3 Qa3 17.Rf3 Nc7 18.Qd4 b5 (D)

19.e6 f6 20.exd7+ bxc4 21.Qxc4+ Kh8 22.Bxf6 Qb4 23.Qxb4 Bxb4 24.d8Q Rxd8+ 25.Bxd8 Nd5 26.Ba5 Bg4 27.Bxb4 Nxb4 28.c3 Nc6 29.Ke2 Kg8 30.Rb1 Ne5 31.Rb5 Re8 32.Ke3 Bxf3 33.gxf3 h6 34.a4 Kh7 35.Rc5 Re7 36.h4 Kg6 37.a5 a6 38.Rd5 Kf7 39.h5 Re6 40.f4 Ng4+ 41.Kd4 Nf6 42.Nxf6 Kxf6 43.c4 Rc6 44.c5 Ke6 45.Re5+ Kd7 46.f5 Rc8 47.Kd5 Rf8 48.c6+ Kd8 49.Kc5 Kc7 50.Re7+ Kd8 51.Rxg7 Rxf5+ 52.Kb6 Rb5+ 53.Kxa6 Rb1 54.Rb7 Rc1 55.Kb6 Rb1+ 56.Kc5 Ra1 57.Rh7 Rc1+ 58.Kd6 Rd1+ 59.Ke6 Rc1 60.Kd6 Rd1+ 61.Kc5 Rc1+ 62.Kb6 Rb1+ 63.Ka7 Rc1 64.a6 Kc8 65.Rxh6 Kc7 66.Rg6 1-0