David:
Tuesday and Wednesday were the two extremes of results for the Coxes: 4 losses on Tuesday, followed by 4 wins on Wednesday.
I messed up a good opening position, and never really recovered it on Tuesday. I had a much better game on Wednesday. I went into the endgame with more material, with my opponent trying to make it a draw. I eventually prevailed, with my opponent resigning as my pawn promotion became inevitable.
Ben’s game on Tuesday followed theory for quite a while. However, Ben made a small error later, which was punished. The next day, he gained a piece during a long middle game. The position then became fairly locked, but Ben was able to outmanoeuvre his opponent and break out for a win.
In round 3, Toby was a pawn up early in the game. Later, threatened with a back rank mate, he had to sacrifice a bishop, and he never really recovered. In the next round, he was able to fork some minor pieces in the opening and after seizing the opportunity, the game became relatively easy.
Tuesday’s game for Lucian was very close. However, a small error gave his opponent a better position. Wednesday was a very quick game after Lucian was able to fork the king and queen in the early middle game.
Paul:
Today a much more blatant failure by my opponent to put me away. An exciting battle, where I was better into the middle game, then incredible carelessness by White allowing me a perpetual. It reminded me of the tennis dictum ‘Always make them play another shot.’
The two leaders on 3 drew to reach 3.5 but nobody caught them up. There are 10 players on 3, making me =13th on 2.5/4.