The two overnight leaders Conor Murphy and Stanley Badacsonyi drew their seventh round game and have been caught in the lead on 5½/7 by slow-starting Vladyslav Larkin who scored his fifth successive victory in beating Maciej Czopor. Two players, Kenneth Hobson and Roland Bezuidenhout, are on 5/7. Two rounds remain.
ROUND SIX
A clash between the two overnight leaders, Stanley Badacsonyi and Conor Murphy, might have been expected in the morning but the 14-year-old player from East Finchley was otherwise engaged and took a half-point bye. His prior engagement was a family trip to learn (and hopefully celebrate) his elder brother's A-Level results, which is something which has become quite a thing in the UK. For those not familiar with the British educational system, A-Level (A stands for 'advanced') exams are taken around the age of 18 which largely determine which university the student goes to (or not, as the case may be).
The Browning Version of the Ruy Lopez led only to a draw against Murphy
Instead Murphy was paired with FM Alex Browning. The German-registered player, with White, played the slightly unusual 5 d4 line in the Ruy Lopez. Black equalised fairly easily against this. With a largely symmetrical pawn structure and level material, little else of note occurred and the result was a draw.
Zhuo Ren Lim was a pawn down against Maciej Czopor but his position was solid as a rock
The battle of the two FMs, Maciej Czopor against Zhuo Ren Lim, promised to be a livelier affair after opening with a Najdorf Sicilian side-line. Czopor (White) managed to exchange queens and gain a pawn but his position wasn't conducive to exploiting his material advantage and the game eventually fizzled out to a draw.
Vladyslav Larkin is fast gaining on the leaders, scoring a brilliant win in round 6
Board three was the scene of an exciting showdown between Michael Healey (White) and Ukrainian IM Vladyslav Larkin. The opening was 1 b4, or the "Polish Orangutan" as the software I use likes to style it. (Are there orangutans in Poland? I think we should be told.) There was nothing much wrong with the opening phrase of the game for White but when he dared to fork his opponent's knight and pawn, he was suddenly "terminated with extreme prejudice" (if I may borrow a euphemism from Apocalypse Now). The killer move, 14..d4, had to be calculated with great precision: Larkin proved equal to the task.
IM Gavin Wall gave a master class in how to win a level rooks and pawns endgame
Gavin Wall scored an instructive win against Zain Patel, similar in a way to the Larkin win for the suddenness with which the game turned, but this was a more positional version of the same.
ROUND SEVEN
Stanley Badacsonyi gave Conor Murphy a fright but the game ended in a draw.
After his dominating performance in the 2023 Kingston Invitational and other recent competitions, plus his near 300 point rating superiority, IM Conor Murphy might have been expected to overcome Stanley Badacsonyi in their top board encounter in the Thursday afternoon, but it was the 14-year-old who came closest to winning the game. A draw was probably enough to take Badacsonyi over the threshold of 2300 for his FM title (subject to confirmation).
The opening was a side-line of the McCutcheon variation of the French Defence. After the queens came off in a level position, Murphy, playing White, had a slight edge but mishandled it and allowed Badacsonyi to equalise. Murphy then overdid it in trying to win and for a fleeting few moves stumbled into a technically lost position. That said, it would have required a counter-intuitive, super-GM/Stockfish-level move (not to mention plenty of time on the clock) to seal the deal for Black, who shouldn't beat himself up too much for missing it.
The top boards in round 7 practise synchronised handshaking
which is going to be trialled as a sport at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Vladyslav Larkin defeated Maciej Czopor after an innocuous opening became unexpectedly sharp. The Polish player, with Black, missed an opportunity to hold after which White's kingside assault broke through.
Who dares wins: Roland Bezuidenhout took a big risk against Bob Eames and it paid off.
The game between Roland Bezuidenhout (White) and Bob Eames seemed to be pootling along in fairly normal fashion when the South African suddenly launched a sacrificial attack. It was dangerous, though probably unsound, but Black failed to follow up accurately and duly lost.
There was more risk-taking on board five where Alex Browning (playing Black) was outplaying Kenneth Hobson. Then, on move 39, calamity: Browning, the exchange and a pawn up, took a pawn and allowed a mate in two.
I think I'll leave it there for now. It was an exhausting round to watch, let alone play, which might account for some of the mistakes made. Everyone is getting tired. One of the games from round 7 has not yet finished. They had reached move 203, in a position where one pair of queens, bishops and pawns had been exchanged, when the arbiters decided enough was enough and asked them to adjourn. The game is due to be resumed at 8.15am tomorrow, with round 8 scheduled for 10.00am.
Round eight starts at 1000 BST on Friday 16 August, with round nine (the final round) at 1530 the same day. Follow the action live at Lichess.org and find the latest results at chess-results.com. Also look out for me on X/Twitter for regular comments - @johnchess - and also @KingstonChess.
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