Round 9 is currently underway. Simon is playing against IM Alex Golding on the 2nd board. He is .5 point back from the lead tied with a few others. https://www.chess.com/events/hastings-international-chess-congress-2025-masters/09/Golding_Alex-Williams_Simon_K
In that last congress game, Simon's second pawn move after d4 was c4. Is that a fairly well-accepted opening move? Simon also got one pawn to punch thru Bennet's king defense at g7 should Bennet wish to castle in that direction - not bad at all. Later on, Simon had his queen on the d2 file like a brick wall blocking a queen's side castle, so Bennet had to castle towards the g7 hole anyways.
Simon has doing well and is now playing on 1st board in round 8 (start time 10:15 Eastern). https://www.chess.com/events/hastings-international-chess-congress-2025-masters/08/Williams_Simon_K-Hagner_Bennet
Simon's game today starts in one hour https://www.chess.com/events/hastings-international-chess-congress-2025-masters/06/Verbytski_Oleg-Williams_Simon_K