Round 5 proved to be a particularly bloodthirsty round with all 7 games decisive, 6 of them won by white! The Heavyweight pairing saw Patrick Cook play his favourite Larsens Opening against John Lavery who responded with a critical main theoretical line. Patrick played a modest novelty on move 11 by swapping B for N to create a queenside pawn weakness that proved crucial in the endgame. White sidestepped several clever traps to record a nice win in the pawn ending.

Charlie Andrews was surprised by John Frangakis' Scandinavian Defence (1.e4 d5) but carefully picked his way through its subtleties to gain a material edge after John unwisely allowed a vicious pin. Charlie had no trouble pocketing the full point thereafter. Gordon Lindberg continued his express pace from round 4 by demolishing Judd Madden's French Tarrasch in just 12 moves. The game featured the classic mating attack with a B sacrifice at h7 against a castled K.

13 yo Jing Jia continued in his quiet Karpov like manner with a polished win over Rob Bailey. Jing demonstrated his versatility by adopting a line of Larsen's Opening against Rob's Dutch Leningrad structure. Rob proved unable to cope with Jing's relentless pressure and lost on time in a losing position.

Peter Lumsdon found himself in some trouble against Mitchel Bailey's Caro-Kann Defence but a daring h-pawn push by Peter confused matters until Mitchel blundered into a mate in 1.

Scott Stewart versus Kevin Perrin was a visit to the 19 th Century when Scott played the almost defunct Centre Game (1.e4 e5 2. d4) and sacrificed a pawn for some vague initiative. Kevin seemed to have the advantage until Scott's Tal-like qualities surfaced with a quick piece sacrifice that gave him a dangerous passed pawn. Kevin might have saved the draw but for a misplaced R that proved costly. The sixth white win for the night.

Only Jamie Brotheridge prevented a Rd 5 ?white wash? when he overcome a spirited Clint Stewart. Clint showed capable preparation by surprising Jamie's Alekhine's Defence with a rare line involving a pseudo ? piece sacrifice previously played successfully by John Lavery against Patrick Cook. Clint however was unable to capitalise on his psychological initiative and Jamie registered his first win of the tournament.

One other game was played earlier in the week when Gordon Lindberg played Patrick Cook in their round 13 encounter. In a classical French, Patrick typically grabbed a hot pawn but found himself unable to hold it, and worse, in an inferior position and soon a pawn down. The R ending may have been salvageable, but inaccurate play against good technique by Gordon saw Patrick resign after 55 moves.