Round 7 was anther bloodthirsty round; as with round 5, all games were decisive. The highlight was the pairing of top seed, Jing Jia against the wily Peter Lumsdon. Once again, Jing adopted a line of Larsens Opening again (1.Nf3 … 2. b3) That he used in round 5 and gained strong Queenside pressure after Peter incautiously castled Queenside. Jing eventually won the exchange and converted his advantage in his polished positional style. Scott Stewart essayed the swashbuckling opening he used two rounds earlier, this time against Robert Bailey. A wild, tactical melee ensued. When the smoked cleared, Robert found himself a rook down for only a few spite checks and resigned after 17 moves.

Jamie Brotheridge versus Judd Madden was a strange and exciting affair. A seemingly standard Queens Gambit quickly metamorphosed into a peculiar king pawn opening. A middle game with a material imbalance was reached in which Judd gained a winning advantage, only to blunder a piece to allow Jamie to pick up the full point.

Patrick Cook versus John Frangakis was yet anther Larsen opening, from which while gained a slight edge after saddling John with an isolated Queen's pawn. After some plan-less manoeuvring in the early middle game, Black seized the initiative. At this point, Patrick saw fit to make one of his infamous “Psychological” draw offers, which John declined after lengthy reflection. A grave error, since he promptly blundered a piece for two pawns and was quickly outplayed in the endgame, another disappointing result for the 2003 reserves champion.

Clint Stewart versus Kevin Perrin was a Pirc Defence in which white launched a big kingside push. Kevin managed to survive the pressure to emerge a pawn to the good going into a rook ending. Clint, however, made it easy by leaving his rook en prise and was forced to resign.

Gordon Lindberg versus John Lavery was played earlier (see round 6 report).

Charlie Andrews versus Mitchal Bailey was postponed, so with Gordon free, the round eleven game versus Charlie Andrews was played. Predictably, This was a Kings Indian Defence. Black looked to be under some pressure early, but managed to exchange material to reach a seemingly innocuous position to judge from the pleased expression on Charlies face. A logical looking Queenside pawn push on his 17 the move had a huge hole in it, however, and Gordon's calm reply, netting a piece, left Charlie staring at the board, red faced, before he resigned.

This week leaves Gordon with just one game to play, against Jing Jia, a game that will have a crucial bearing on the tournament outcome.