Staunton Memorial Rd.2: Traditional Excitement

Round 2:

Wells 1-0 Wade

Short 0-1 Timman

Cherniaev 1/2 L?Ami

Adams 1-0 Werle

Speelman 1/2 Smeets

Sokolov 1/2 Van Wely


Round 3

Van Wely vs. Wells

Smeets vs. Sokolov

Werle vs. Speelman

L?Ami vs. Adams

Timman vs. Cherniaev

Wade vs. Short

The Staunton Memorial uses traditional time controls (40/2, 20/1 then game/30.We don't need no stinkin' increments!). This means we see old fashioned time scrambles. Yesterday we had two. Short flagged against Timman despite having 8 seconds left for his final move. He had a good position but missed a brilliant win earlier (Nd6!! instead of Qb3). Werle resigned before flagging after Mickey Adams had ground him down impressively. Less impressive was Bob Wade's opening preparation against Wells, who had a bit of fun. Speelman agreed a draw in a position he might have been able to win. The other two draws were less interesting.

There was a full house of spectators at Simpson's. We play in the same room that Morphy, Anderssen etc. used to play in. The spectators are remarkably silent, but as in Morphy's day some of the sounds of London's Strand percolate up from the street..

Jan Timman and Mickey Adams lead with perfect scores. I'm having a good time though last night the pub inexplicably ran out of bitter and I had to settle for Australian lager.

Round 2 games: