Scottish Chess Championship Day 5 - Now that is odd.

Day 5 and something strange.  I have not hit the wall today!  We think this is my 10th Scottish (compared with Alex's 30 odd) and without fail on the Wednesday I am like the walking dead.  Nope not today.  How strange :D  Maybe this getting older is a good thing after all.

There are now 2 rounds left in the U1850 and it is getting a bit spicy at the top.  A quick glance sees young Jonathan McKay taking on fellow Scot Adam Walkowiak whilst the other top tie is an all England clash between Robert Clegg and Geoffrey Brown.  The overall winner will in all likelyhood come from those 4.

We had excitement today when Murad took on the number 2 seed GM Andrei Maksimenko with a draw giving Murad sufficient points gain to give him the FM title.  Unfortunately it was not to be but I wager if he does not do it here, he will in the next few months.  Fingers crossed Murad crosses the 2300 here at the Scottish!

Entering the games is often a head in hands /  hilarious moment probably in equal proportions.  When entering one of the games, we had this rather puzzling move

20.fxd5.  Wow that has to be a pawn on steroids!!!

I finally got round to lining up the Blog with the rounds.  It was confusing people :D

Today was the rest day for the all play all.  There was one game left over from Round 1 as GM Arkell could not make it up for the start on Friday, so they played it today.  The Sofia rules are in force however there are ways that you can legally have a draw before move 30.  One is by 3 x repetition.  Guess what happened....

Where there is a rule, Hamilton will find a way around it (sorry Mike...)

In all it has been a strangely quiet day today.  That can only mean one thing.  We are in for it tomorrow!