The top end of the Championship Rd. 11 draw looks like this.
| White | Black | |||||
| 1 | Howell | (9) | ½ | ½ | Jones | (7½) |
| 2 | Wells | (7) | ½ | ½ | Hebden | (7½) |
| 3 | Gordon | (7) | 1 | 0 | Meszaros | (7) |
| 4 | Zhou | (7) | ½ | ½ | Gormally | (7) |
| 5 | Lalic | (7) | ½ | ½ | Arkell | (7) |
| 6 | Palliser | (6½) | ½ | ½ | Flear | (7) |
The afternoon started with the presentation of the Rd. 10 Game of the Day to GM Glenn Flear.
l-r: Glenn Flear; Lara Barnes & John Edwards.
So, Mr. Jones - we meet at last!
Much interest shown in the start on Bd. 1
Wells v Hebden
Gordon v Meszaros.
Zhou v Gormally.
Lalic v Arkell
Sarah Hegarty - Ladies Champion candidate.
There was bound to be an element of anti-climax at the start of the round, knowing that the big prize had already been decided, but this didn’t prevent a large crowd of spectators and photographers gathering around the top board. In fact, if Jones had been able to spring a surprise, it would undoubtedly have take a little of the shine off Howell’s prize, so there was no sign that he was in danger of resting on his laurels. The others, too, were fighting amongst themselves for a place on the prizelist. In spite of the fact there were draws a-plenty, they were mostly hard-fought – only Lalic and Arkell settled for a quick draw.
The fact is that Howell likes Torquay. He won there in 2009, and nowhere else. When I first did the publicity job, at Torquay in 1997, I was asked by the local TV company to obtain the oldest player in the building to act out a short encounter with the youngest. I located an old gent, while a colleague, Victor Cross, brought along a 5 year old boy, who quickly outplayed his vastly senior opponent while the camera rolled. The boy was called David – David Howell.