The British Championships are into the second week and it is tight at the top. At the time of writing (Monday p.m.) two players lead with 5½/6: GM Danny Gormally and GM David Howell. The latter once beat your correspondent at the Thanet Chess Congress, employing the Marshall Gambit to good effect and kindly demonstrating afterwards where I went wrong. Very decent of him, you probably think, especially as he was only seven at the time but that’s another story. Behind the leading two comes GM Nicholas Pert on 5/6 followed by seven others on 4½/6, one of whom is last year’s joint champion, GM Jonathan Hawkins. In the last half-hour, however, he moved up to join the leaders with this quick win that caught the eye.
White: Jonathan Hawkins (2554) Black: Alistair Hill (2159)
2015 British Chess Championships round 7 (University of Warwick)