Hampshire Congress 2004 Round 4

Round Four was the Saturday Evening game, which sees a lot of the players slinking off home (me included) as two games in a day is more than enough. This prompted the controller Pat McEvoy to question if it is worth holding a Saturday Evening round, due to the number of players that don't wish to play three games in one day. This is certainly something that is worth discussing, as apart from anything else, it would make the tournament slightly cheaper to run, as no security would be required for the Saturday evening. If you have any strong views on this let me know, and I will pass onto the relevant Hampshire officer. News@HampshireChess.co.uk

The games on the top two boards were pretty important, as the players needed to win to keep within striking distance of John Wheeler, who had taken a bye and was therefore on 3½ points from the four games. Tony Corkett was only ½ point behind, but Michael Yeo, Dominic Tunks and Richard McMaster were all one point behind.

Not being an expert on Open Sicillians, I can't give much insight into the game, but I think that Dominic's 21.exd5 was pretty ambitious. If Dominic had played 21.Rxd5 then I think he would have had a slight edge, with a very solid position. After taking with the pawn Tony played 21..f5 and slowly improved his position, which the then proceeded to win.

The other games all produced wins for the higher graded players.

All Round Four Games