Suffolk Chess

The seventh round of the FIDE Open took place this afternoon.   Ed Player took a half-point bye to move his score on to 4/7.   Adam Taylor faced his third GM of the tournament (Peter Wells) but was unable to improve on his previous results against GMs.   Adam had a half-point bye in Round 1, and has since won three games against lower-rated opponents.   He is yet to play anyone rated within 170 points of him, either higher or lower.

The sole leader is Indian GM Aravindh, on 6½/7, with two further GMs close behind on 6 points.

There was an interesting finish yesterday on one of the top boards.   On move 52 White (GM Smirin) played Qe5+ and Black (GM Shabalov) replied Kf7, for the position below.   Can you see how White prevented Black's c-pawn from queening (and won the game)?   (Answer below)

Answer: 53. Bc4+!   1-0