After five rounds of the Masters we unexpectedly have a seven-way tie for first place, the leading players all on four points. With 13 (!) players just half a point behind, we can anticipate a close race in the days ahead.
The top board game between Mads Vestby-Ellingsen and Haowen Xue was drawn, a fair result to both players, with neither able to secure an appreciable advantage. On board two Pengxiang Zhang again demonstrated his endgame skills, converting a double, then single rook ending against Alexander Kovchan who had a difficult defence. Something of a surprise came on board three, where Indian IM Siva Mahadevan, playing Black, took advantage of an oversight by French soon-to-be GM Mahel Boyer.
Vignir Stefansson chose Philidor’s Defence versus French FM Baptiste Roux, a brave decision from the Icelander but one that paid dividends as the game soon became messy, probably to Vignir’s liking. He capitalised on White’s inaccuracies and earned the victory to bring him up among the leaders.
Let’s not forget the Con Power tournaments, which ended this morning. These three events were played over six rounds, and in total attracted some eighty entries. Local club member Paul Kelly shared first place in the under-1950 group, so a special shout-out to him is definitely in order. For those who don’t know, Con Power was Congress Director for over thirty years (from 1983 until 2014). Con died in 2016. You can read more about Con on this website: just enter his name in the Search box.
Spare a thought in the Masters for FM Tim Grutter. With a draw or win this round his live rating would have crossed 2400, giving Tim the IM title. Instead, from a sound position something went wrong, and his opponent, Tor Fredrik Kaasen, was able to secure a winning advantage. We wish Tim the best in his remaining games: with the right results he can still become an IM here in Hastings.
Photograph by Prashila Narsing Chauhan