Happy New Year to one and all from the HICC! At last we have arrived at Horntye Park without a torrential downpour or gale force winds blowing … a welcome relief, especially for the players. Despite numerous problems with travel and strikes, plus bad weather, there is a Congress running at last after the long gap during Covid. There are many familiar faces, as well as many new ones, which is most welcome. The number of very young players is noticeable and the intensity which which they play is impressive. The number of players is not far behind that in previous years, and thirty-one countries are represented. Today we have reached the halfway point, Round 5 in the Masters, and the final round in the Christmas Morning and Afternoon tournaments.
The standings in the Masters after 4 rounds are —
GM Sarunas Sulskis (LTU), GM Oleg Korneev(ESP), IM Brandon Clarke (ENG) – 4/4
GM Gabor Nagy (HUN), GM Daniel Gormally (ENG) and IM Harry Grieve (ENG) – 3.5/4
13 players have 3.5 points. Round 5 top boards are as follows —
Board 1 – S.Sarunas – O. Korneev
Board 2 – B.Clarke – G. Nagy
Board 3 – D. Gormally – H. Grieve
Board 4 – M. Petrov – S. Bazakutza
Board 5 – A. Ledger – M. Hebden