Playing against a player of this strength is rarely easy and you are always mindful that just one mistake as Black can be fatal. In this case I played a perfectly good opening and achieved an equal position quite comfortably, in fact even more comfortably than I would normally expect playing against Alexander. During the game though I had assumed the position was a bit better for White, but after looking at it later it seems quite equal. In any event when he played a somewhat committal 13th move, I saw a tactical line that had seemed to me to be very good and provide good winning chances for Black.

In my haste I overlooked a simple refutation of my plan [16 a3!] and then having committed myself forwards incorrectly I fell deep into thought, shaken by the utter folly of my choice and now literally reeling from the fallout and in full retreat. No matter how hard I looked after the opening battle had been lost so badly, I could see no way to avoid what was a totally passive and joyless position. Considering my incredible good luck the previous day when I was inexplicably gifted a win from my opponent I really cant complain as really I should already have one loss against me in this event.

I tried to set up some sort of a fortress and just try dig in and hold it together but combined with severe time trouble [only mitigating to the extent of speeding up what must have been an inevitable loss anyway] I could not arrange any sort of lasting defense. Against almost any other Irish player I might have had a chance or two of a draw, but playing against a player of this strength in his element there was to be only one outcome.

I have done some note to the game which hopefully give an insight into how things actually unfolded see: Daly loss to Baburin .

Meanwhile in what was clearly the best game of the round if not the tournament so far there was the game from top seed Alon Greenfeld who in a high level GM clash against the defending champion Mark Hebden , also in a G3 KingsIndian defence, produced a very skilful and impressive dissection of Blacks opening and middle game play. There were many fine tactical and positional points worth study in this game, and that such a win should be between players in the group of the “big four” of this event, who are overwhelming favorites to win, is even more impressive. On the down side for Alon is the fact that as the pairing bounce goes now he is Black against Alexander which is a big difference and may decide who wins the event? While for Mark there is always the chance he might win all his remaining games or some such like!

If I had to pick a winner now then my guess would be that Alon will probably win the event outright, with Alexander second, perhaps jointly with Mark and Stuart? Though really any of the top four could still win first. The rest of us will no doubt be left in the dust by the time the 9th round comes around and the gap between the top four and the next group only widens? Hopefully there will be many twists and turns and a few more surprises yet to happen along the way.

Speaking of which, I only had glanced at some of the other games during this round.[I was too busy suffering in my own game] and so here are a few of my impressions: Phillip Short was surely unlucky or careless- or both? As he seemed to have much the better position throughout the game until it suddenly all fell apart. Mark Orr agreed to a draw in a position that seemed to be one which had a very safe advantage for him? Ryan Griffiths showed good composure and endgame skill in his first win so far. David Fitzsimons recovered well from his unfortunate second round loss to win a fine positional game that allowed him show the power of the two bishops and his tactical flair too.

The games from this round are now thankfully available. for download as pgn files

Also See games section for an idea of how this round developed.