Bd		White	Score		Score		Black
1	GM	Nikita Vitiugov	4	½-½	4½	GM	Michael Adams	play
2	IM	Siva Mahadevan	4	½-½	4	GM	Ameet K Ghasi	play
3	GM	Daniel H Fernandez	4	½‑½	4	IM	Yichen Han	play
4	IM	Maciej Czopor	4	½‑½	4	GM	Matthew J Wadsworth
5	GM	Shreyas Royal	3½	1-0	4	IM	Marcus R Harvey	play
6	IM	Tarun Kanyamarala	3½	0-1	3½	GM	Gawain Maroroa Jones	play
7	GM	Stuart C Conquest	3½	½‑½	3½	IM	Richard G Pert
8	IM	Svyatoslav Bazakutsa	3½	½‑½	3½	FM	William Claridge‑Hansen
9	GM	Peter K Wells	3½	½‑½	3½	GM	Stephen J Gordon
10	IM	Jonah B Willow	3½	½‑½	3½	GM	Glenn C Flear
11	FM	Supratit Banerjee	3½	1-0	3½	GM	Simon K Williams
12	IM	Peter T Roberson	3½	½ ½	3½	IM	David J Eggleston

Click on “play” in rightmost column to play through game in question on screen.

On board 1, both players seem likely to be pressing hard for a win. On the other boards, some meek early draws might occur, giving an agreed mutual rest day to those so minded. Mutual fear can be a factor.

The first of the top five boards to finish was that between Fernandez and Han. Although Fernandez went a pawn up, a draw was agreed when Fernandez had R + B + 6P against R + B (same colour square) + 5P, but Han comfortably compensating positional control. There followed a draw on board 1 and a win for Royal on board 5. In Vitiugov v Adams, despite a lot of activity in an open board, neither side got close to initiating an attack, and a draw was agreed at move 30. In Royal v Harvey, White sacrificed a knight in front of Black’s king on move 16, leading to an attack which left White winning enough material to induce resignation at move 27. In Mahadevan v Ghasi, the latter accepted being a pawn dawn out of the opening due to White’s compensatory ragged pawn structure. It seemed Ghasi had the better of things positionally for a long time, but the sought-after win was elusive, and things fizzled out to a draw.

After the dust had settled, the draws on boards 2 to 5 and Marcus Harvey’s loss meant Adams was still in the sole lead, now on 5 out of 6, despite having himself only drawn. There followed a pack of 10 players only half a point behind on 4½ points.

Major Open

Round-6 top 13 pairings were as follows:

Bd	White	Score		Score		Black
1	Livio Cancedda‑Dupuis	5	½‑½	5		Arjun Kolani	play
2	Remy Rushbrooke	4½	0-1	4½	FM	Tim P Wall	play
3	Alexandre KM Lee	4	0-1	4		Adam A Taylor
4	Ali Reza Jaunooby	4	0-1	4		Toby Quaite	play
5	Adam Sefton	4	1-0	4		Bohdan Terler
6	Luis Ortiz Sanchez	4	1-0	4		Zack Norris
7	Jack Pilley	3½	1-0	4		Colin J Davis
8	Finn Schell	3½	½‑½	3½		Koichi B Nicholas
9	Selikem PJ Amoako	3½	v	3½	WCM	Kanishka Bhatia
10	Tetsuaki Sanada	3½	½‑½	3½		Jainill Vadalia
11	Josh Sharma	3½	½‑½	3½		John M Potter
12	Nicolas Skettos	3½	0-1	3½		Om Reddy Jayar
13	Leonardo Gupta	3½	½-½	3½		Patrick Joseph

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With 4 players ahead of the rest of the field, the results on the top 2 boards would be crucial.

The first critical game to finish was that on board 1 which in 29 moves reduced relatively uneventfully to a drawn ending with R + B + 5P v R + B (opposite colour square) and 5P. There followed a win for Wall with Black over Rushbrooke in which Black’s connected passed pawns on the king’s side could not be equalled by White 3P v 2P on the queen’s side, as Black’s king needs to be on both sides of the board at the same time.

Toby Quaite did well to win with the black pieces against seasoned congress player Ali Reza Jaunooby.

Over 50

Round-4 top 12 pairings were as follows:

Bd		White	Score		Score		Black
1	NM	Philip J Crocker	3	½‑½	3	FM	John Merriman
2	FM	Richard J McMichael	3	½‑½	3	CM	David C Okike
3		Nigel J Moyse	2½	0-1	2½	FM	Michael Dougherty	play
4	GM	Keith C Arkell	2½	1-0	2		Alan Minnican	play
5	FM	Chris R Duncan	2	1-0	2		Richard Jennings
6		Christopher J Archer‑Lock	2	0-1	2	IM	Chris W Baker
7		George DA Neave	2	½‑½	2		Michael R Handley
8		Alan M Brown	2	1-0	2	WIM	Natasha K Regan
9		Andrew R Brett	2	1-0	2		Mike J Coffey
10		Jeff R Smith	2	½-½	2		Nigel RE Alldritt
11		Saket Singhal	2	0-1	2	CM	Stephen C Ledger
12		Stephen J Homer	2	0-1	2		Peter Jaszkiwskyj

Click on “play” in rightmost column to play through game in question on screen.

Keith Arkell, the only GM in the event, would need a combination of both skill and luck to win this event.

Draws on top two boards allowed Dougherty, who won, to get into the top score group. As the other games above came to a conclusion, Keith Arkell was still slogging away, a pawn up but some way away, time-wise, from actually winning, though his opponent eventually resigned on move 54.

Over 65

Round-4 top 12 pairings were as follows:

Bd		White	Score		Score		Black
1	IM	Nigel E Povah	3	½‑½	3	FM	Andrew P Lewis
2	FM	Terry PD Chapman	2½	1-0	2½	FM	Andrew P Smith
3	IM	Craig W Pritchett	2½	1-0	2½		Roy Hughes
4		Mike J Surtees	2½	0-1	2½		M Paul Townsend	play
5		Russell G Granat	2½	0-1	2½		Dave J Bray
6		Phil J Brooks	2½	½-½	2½		Simon Johnson
7		Philip R Bonafont	2½	0-1	2½	FM	Peter Varley
8		John T Fletcher	2	1-0	2		Stephen Pickles	play
9	FM	Philip M Giulian	2	½-½	2		Steve R Hodge
10		Tim R Spanton	2	0-1	2		Brian WR Hewson
11		Michael J Hardman	2	1-0	2		Roger D De Coverly
12		Mark E Page	2	1-0	2		Ivan J Myall
13		Jeff R Dawson	2	1-0	2		Robert A Newton
14		Paul A Hutchinson	2	1-0	2		Ed H Goodwin	play

Click on “play” in rightmost column to play through game in question on screen.

As White in the clash between the only two players still on 100%, Nigel Povah had an excellent chance to forge into the sole lead. In the event he managed only to draw creating the chance of up to 6 of the players on 2½ out of 3 to join Povah and Lewis in the top score group, and 5 managed it!.

Of interest to the writer was John Fletcher’s game on board 8. Sheffield-resident John was top board in the writer’s Sheffield Civil Service team in the Sheffield Works League (now defunct) which ran in parallel with the Sheffield & DCA league. John’s opening was aggressive from the start and sacrificing material to go all out for Black’s king was the plan. It did seem to the writer than Black had adequately consolidated his position at one stage, but White slogged on in admirable style and pulled of the win.

York’s Paul Townsend, with Black, defeated Mike Surtees in a game which might be called efficient, but which compared with the game on board 8 was relatively less audience-pulling.

There are two Hutchinson brothers playing in the Over 65s, Norman and Paul. They originated in Scunthorpe. The writer played Norman in a rapidplay side-event at the Scunthorpe Congress when it was run by the late BCF secretary George Simmons; the pieces were slightly too large for the squares, and we arrived art a double Stonewall with each player having a knight at king 5, and we agreed a draw. Norman now lives in Cambridge and Paul lives in Scarborough. In the above game Paul Hutchinson v Ed H Goodwin (who played a Stonewall Defence) the Scarborough player won through.

There is some debate as to whether the top-rated player in this event, Stephen Pickes who is represented in this event as affiliated to Australia’s federation for FIDE purposes is in fact the Stephen Pickles attributed by the ECF to Wallasey Chess Club. (The idea has not yet been demonstrated. They may be two different people, and they may be the same.)