At one stage, Smith was required to make aproximately 15 moves in under two minutes to reach the required move rate of 36 moves in 90 minutes, while Gorman had ten minutes and counting in what was a complicated but interesting position, with both players threatening to checkmate the other.
Smith was able to reach the second time control with his game intact as both players frantically moved their pieces. In the end, Smith proved to be too good for Gorman and won after a long hard battle.
Elsewhere, John Blore also reached 2/2 by defeating League President John Simmons whilst Paul Watson held fellow contender David Jameson to a draw.
Meanwhile, Chester players David Bryan, Steve Lloyd and Joe Nemcek bounced back from defeats in the previous round, defeating Roger Stephens, Richard Chowns and young Davin Menon respectively.
Round 3
The Sunday morning round produced some interesting games, such as the game on board 5 between Roger Stephens of Frodsham and last years winner David Jameson of Colwyn Bay/Llandudno. Stephens fought well and was able to gain a good draw which ended any hopes that Jameson might have of retaining his trophy.
On board one, Jeff Smith took on J-
Elsewhere, the battle for second place was hotting up. John Gorman gave himself a chance at winning some prize money by defeating Joe Nemcek, as did Steve Lloyd, Ian Clayton and David Bryan who defeated Richard Martin, Stuart Hamilton and Richard Chowns respectively. Lloyd made hard work of his win against Martin, but eventually emerged victorious. The final player to score a second win and thus challenge for second place was Mike Lee, who defeated Wrexham's young up and coming star Davin Menon.
Round 4
In the final round, Jeff Smith met Paul Watson. With Smith needing only a draw to win the Championship, the
Challenging for second place were Steve Lloyd and Ian Clayton, though they had tough pairings, David Jameson and John Blore. Blore comfortably defeated Clayton whilst Jameson was able to exploit Lloyd's central weaknesses to great effect to win in under 25 moves.
Back on top board, Watson seemed to have the better of Smith's Vienna Opening and gave himself some good chances to win. However, knowing a loss would put him out of the prize money, offered a draw which was accepted by Smith.
On board 4, David Bryan met Mike Lee. The game went right down to a pawn ending Continued on page 3