Round 3 was a setback for some of the highly fancied players, with the highlight being the titanic struggle between top seed Scott Stewart and the 2003 reserves champion John Frangakis. Scott essayed his unual Colle structure and appeared on course for a convincing win when he caught John’s king in the centre. Unable to find a decisive breakthrough, Scott settled for a technical win after trading rook for 2 pieces. John had other ideas and his rook ran rampart in Scott’s rear, picking up several pawns to reach a winning position. However, John was unable to find the correct path and the endgame battle raged well into the night, finally in a draw after 90 moves.

Joel Beggs versus Jamie Brotheridge was a fierce battle from a pirc defence. Jamie’s aggressive pawns proved to be overextended and he resigned after convincing himself that his 2 pawn deficit was too great.

2004 reserves champion James Eldridge wheeled out the ancient bishop’s opening against Tim Commons. Tim kept things tight with a crowded, blocked position that seemed headed for a draw until James sacrificed a rook for 2 pawns and an attack against Tim’s king and queen which proved decisive. The soundness of the sacrifice remained unclear until fritz showed it to be a masterstroke.

Michael Schreenan versus Mitchel Bailey was, predictably, a Caro-Kann defence. Michael handled it well, but went astray early in the middle game, losing a piece and, not long after, the game.

Patrick Cook versus Darren Young was a tough struggle from an English opening. After carelessly dropping the exchange, Darren created some looming threats against Patrick’s castled King at f2 and only careful, accurate middlegame play saw Patrick convert his advantage.

Kevin Perrin versus John Abson and Peter Miitel versus Robert Bailey were postponed so John Abson played Robert Bailey in advance of round 5. The game became a 4 kights after John declined Rob’s offer of a petroff defence. Rob gained a long term positional advantage, lumbering John with tripled isolated pawns and had not difficulty in converting this to a winning material advantage.