Staunton Memorial Rd 9: Leaders win big

Round 9
L'Ami 1/2Wells
Timman 1-0 Werle
Wade 0-1 Smeets
Short 1/2 Van Wely
Cherniaev 0-1 Sokolov
Adams 1-0 Speelman

Round 10
Wells vs. Speelman
Sokolov vs. Adams
Van Wely vs. Cherniaev
Smeets vs. Short
Werle vs. Wade
L'Ami vs. Timman

An exciting day with 4 decisive games! Adams crushed Speelman to lead with 7/9, but Sokolov, who plays Adams today, kept on the pressure by blowing up Cherniaev's dubious opening. Timman won nicely against Werle's Petroff and Smeets had no difficulty dispatching Wade. Wells had the advantage against L'Ami as Black but was running out of time so he accepted the draw offer. Short-Van Wely looked good for White until Van Wely got queens off.

All games ended in first time control so we managed to get to the pub a bit early and put the time to good use.

Round 9 games: