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I like Craig's position and he has a chance to make up ground after yesterday's setback (Move 30).
(Edit - hpwever things went horribly wrong after that in Craig's cutomary time trouble, All of a sudden his opponent was all over him and it was curtains.
Not sure what's happening in Roddy's endgame.
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Creditable draw by Roddy a pawn down in a tehnical ending against a higher-graded opponent. Sadly that was the only points for Scotland today either in Italy or Iceland.
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Craig has had a disaster really last few rounds losing 3 in a row leaving him on 4/7 and well out of contention now. Today's game looked like a right struggle.
Roddy on 5½ after drawing again today, looked like a good draw being 2 pawns down in Q+Pawns end game. 1½ points behind the leader, however has good medal chances still.
Douglas & Jim's results for today still not in. Is possible one of them may play Craig tomorrow.
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Re the postings in the 'wrong' thread:
Jonathan, George I was watching the game too and have a pretty good idea what happened. Roddy was indeed threatening mate in 1 but his opponent (to move) had a perpetual check. So it was agreed drawn and then they started moving the pieces back to a previous position to demonstrate something or other, instead of the recommended procedure of placing the Kings on e4 and e5.
Just before that I thought Roddy was winning but strange things happen after 50-odd moves when there isn't much time left. So again a creditable draw against a higher-graded opponent but was it a missed opportunity?
Craig finally got back to winning ways after three consecutive losses; and with Douglas winning too and Jim drawing it was a better day for the Scots. In the clash of the top-rated over-65 French GMs Okhotnik beat Vaisser and has opened up a 1-point lead which may well be enough to see him regain the title he won in 2012.
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Last round of the Seniors today. In the over-65s, Craig has come back strongly after his three consecutive losses, and another win today could give him a top 5 place. Douglas and Jim have also performed creditably and are curently ahead of their seeded positions.
With a 1-point lead over his main rival Vaisser, Okhotnik looks set to regain the title he won in 2012 - I don't expect his game today (White vs Vasiukov) to last more than 5 minutes.
In the over-50s, Roddy has had a very tough draw after such a strong start, and has had some bad luck in the last few rounds. Top seed Nikolic (who plays Keith Arkell today) is just half a point clear of second seed Rosentalis and Slovenia's George Mohr, so there is still plenty to play for there.
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As expected, Okhotnik - Vasiukov didn't las very long - (9 moves of a Scotch 2 Knights with Okhotnik playing instantly). So he's over 65 champion.
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Surprised that Craig did not play 27.....Qb7 rather than capturing immediately on e4. It will be interesting to see whether he has seen a better winning opportunity without Queens on board in rooks and pawns ending. It would be great if he could reach 8/11, but he has again shown that he can play very well in top class company. All our Seniors have done well and better than their ratings and rankings!
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27. Qb7 is a good spot and would have been a good move. Guess he likely missed it. Obviously he would be happy with a draw now (move 43), but I expect him to lose this one.
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