Round 5 saw us back in the much more comfortable and spacious Function Room at the Discovery Inn ..... let's hope that soon into next season that can be our permanent home every week ! The round also went smoothly although about half-a-dozen competitors did turn up without letting us know first....
... Please Note that because of the extra difficulty of making and/or adjusting the draw at the last minute, for the last two rounds we are changing the original invitation to "just turn up" to "please confirm in advance that you will be playing". In rounds 6 and 7 anyone just arriving without prior notification will not be included in the official draw ! Right, now onto the chess....
Tim Kett used a trendy new Anti-English* Gambit to put a dent in Duncan's unbeaten record, while David Llewellyn kept up the pressure in the title chase, by beating Emyr Morgan. If only he hadn't missed a clear win against John McGregor last week he could now also be on 5/5.
Some more great games were played by the Juniors, with wins for Morgan, Constantine and others - including newcomer Harry Gillen, the first of many at his new club we hope (and expect !). The Game of the Round award though goes to a very rare draw in this tournament (only the 3rd out of 87 games so far) for the incredibly hard-fought tussle between Suraj Prabhu and Oliver Cumiskey - well played both of you !
Leading Scores in all categories after 5 rounds...
Main Championship:
5 - Tim Kett
4 - David Llewellyn, John McGregor, Gavin Williams
3.5 - Duncan MacDonald, Kam Chooyin, Alun Smith
U1700 Rating Section:
4 - Gavin Williams
3.5 - Kam Chooyin
3 - Csege Hanczar, Mark Reckless, Emyr Roberts, Oliver Cumiskey, Suraj Prabhu, Morgan Foulkes, Constantine Popov, Tycho Twohig
Junior Championship:
3 - Csege Hanczar, Oliver Cumiskey, Ellison Smith, Morgan Foulkes, Constantine Popov, Tycho Twohig
Primary School Championship:
3 - Constantine Popov
2.5 - Adam Sarwar
2 - Andrei Zhuravlev, Mabon Hanczar, Marius Rogesz, Lucas Zheng (and possibly a couple of others - about whom I'm still not sure about which school year they're in !)
Sadly I can't be there next week as the date clashes with the South Wales International in Bridgend (same goes for Josh, Bence and David B...) but I will be following the news keenly and still hope to write a report once I get the results.
Tim
* That's anti- the English Opening, not aimed directly for use against players from England !!
Comments