With the tournament at 3/4 time, the title race is little clearer. Top seed Scott Stewart and 2nd seed Patrick Cook remain undefeated, and with Jamie Brotheridge's round 1 draw with Patrick annulled, these two seem headed for a play-off.

In the night's play, John Frangakis met John Abson. Not surprisingly, it was a Trompovsky Opening once more. White won a pawn early on, and methodically converted this into a win.

Michael Schreenan squared off against Peter Miitel. In a lively Sicilian, white seized the iniative with a daring pawn sacrifice. Spurning a material advantage, he pursued the black King, but dropped a piece. Peter then seized control and quickly won the game.

James Eldridge faced Tim Commons in a Giuco Piano. An open and even battle into the middle game continued so til the end, when a draw was a fair result.

Robert Bailey took on Kevin Perrin. A Ruy Lopez, this was a fierce manoevring struggle with all material still on the board for some time. Rob gained the advantage in the middle game and reached a winning position, only to go astray trying to finish Kevin off, allowing black to turn the tables and gain an unlikely win.

The rest of the field had a free night, however Scott Stewart arrived later and played his round 13 game against Michael Schreenan. Scott had no difficultly in brushing Michael aside, and now has just two game remaining.