After three rounds just two players remain on 100%. That number three seed IM Mahel Boyer has 3/3 can hardly be called a surprise, but that his co-leader should be Iceland’s David Kolka, rated 2020, is anything but expected. David played an assured attacking game against Ukrainian IM Svyatoslav Bazakutsa, his victory fully deserved. Mahel faced IM Tor Fredrik Kaasen, and the game looked comfortable for the Norwegian until he pursued a policy of simplification. In the endgame with opposite-coloured bishops Blacks’s pawns simply fell.
Mads Vestby-Ellingsen continued his good run with an accurate draw as Black versus Kirk Ghazarian. Pierre Laurent-Paoli laid siege to Alex Golding’s exposed King on g3. Callum Brewer held Shreyas Royal to a draw, while Cliff Chandler’s risky Scandinavian gambit line backfired against Pengxiang Zhang.
Move of the day was played by Scotland’s Louis Cheng, whose 24.Qg6!! against Yaoyao Zhu was reminiscent of a classic Frank Marshall combination (not played by the great man at Hastings, although Marshall did participate here!)
This evening the White Rock Hotel hosted the first of our two blitz tournaments, a Pairs Blitz where team members make alternate moves. Fourteen teams entered – 28 players – a good showing. Paul McKeown was arbiter and ran things efficiently. After five rounds three teams were tied on 4/5, including an all-Icelandic side, while the team in 4th place had the name Freestyle and Jeans. We wonder where that came from …
Many members of the Hastings & St. Leonards Chess Club are taking part in this Congress. Some act helpfully as ”fillers”, stepping in to give someone a game when there is an odd number in the pairings. John Sugden, a club member and playing this year in the Con Power under-2150 event, can look back on many appearances here. Browsing an old issue of the British Chess Magazine we learn that in the 1971/2 Challengers tournament, a mere 53 years ago, John took part and scored a very respectable 6/10. One of his opponents that year, who also ended on 6 points, was a certain 16 year-old, A.J.Miles. Such was his rate of improvement that just two years later Tony accepted an invitation to play in the prestigious Hastings Premier.
Photograph by Anniken Vestby