Yesterday Gawain drew with GM Stuart Conquest in an opening started out as 1Nf3 c5 2 c3. It was only 25 moves but don’t let that make you think it was a quick and easy draw. It was quite a complicated game and Gawain strayed a bit and was a pawn down in the final position with some compensation but Rybka thinks white has a clear advantage.
GM David Howell and GM Steven Gordon both won against IM Richard Pert and IM Susan Lalic respectively. I was watching GM Danny Gormally against Mickey Adams and watched him blunder a piece in two moves.. Oops..
While Gawain was working hard yesterday I managed to visit the Kelham Island Museum which shows Sheffield’s history as an industrial town. I never knew how many knives and sharp tools were made here but unfortunately now it’s a dying trade.
At Sheffield Cathedral we visited an exhbition by “Architects of Air” the name of which describes itself pefectly well. It was all natural light with no use of electricity and unfortunately the exhibition finishes today. One thing I noted was it made me sleepy and made my head spin but it was a strange but good experience!
Today Gawain faces IM Susan Lalic with the white pieces. While we see a GM-GM clash on Board 1 with David Howell playing Steven Gordon who next term will be taking over IM Adam Hunt’s teaching position while he is taking a gap year to play chess.