Today was a little disappointing. After following Howell-Adams for the first 14 moves I couldn’t remember any more theory and my plausible move turned out to be an error which left me suffering. Hawkins pounced on the error, sacrificing a pawn to destroy my pawn structure and gaining the bishop pair. I was forced to grovel but in the end reached a drawn opposite coloured bishop endgame. On top board Nick Pert drew a fairly quick game against Nigel Short while Mickey Adams defeated Richard Palliser to move into outright lead. Meanwhile both David Howell and Pete Wells also won to join me in 3rd equal.
Tomorrow’s top pairings:
Pert, N (6.5) – Adams, M (7.5)
Short (7) – Wells (6.5)
Hawkins (6.5) – Howell (6.5)
Summerscale (6) – Jones (6.5)