THERE were three new entries this week in the 2005 Bermuda Open Championship, each of whom have been credited with a half-point bye.Here are the full results from the first two rounds:

Round one<$>

Larry Monk 0-1 Nick Faulks

Bobby Miller 1-0 John Kessaram

Kennedy Simmons 1-0 Sami Lill

Ezra Turner 1-0 Glen McKay

Tim Holliday 1-0 Blaine Wilson

Larry Ebbin 1-0 bye

Round two

Nick Faulks 1-0 Larry Ebbin

Kennedy Simmons 0-1 Ezra Turner

Tim Holliday 0-1 Bobby Miller

Raymond Trott 1-0 Frank Ming

Blaine Wilson 0-1 Phil Shadick

Sami Lill 1-0 John Kessaram

Glen McKay 0-1 Larry Monk

There were several highly interesting games in the first round. Tim Holliday, a newcomer to both the club and the island, arrived for his first ever competitive game of chess. However, he has clearly played before, since he was involved in a long game against his experienced opponent and eventually won a tricky ending.

Probably the biggest upset came when Sami Lill, who produced some excellent chess in the recent Closed Championship, faced the unpredictable but always dangerous Kennedy Simmons. This is what happened.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 h6 4. d3<$>

I quite like 4. Nc3 here, hoping for 4. . . . Bg4? 5. Nxe5!, Bxd1 6. Bxf7+, Ke7 7. Nd5 mate. Of course, Black doesn’t have to fall into that trap.

Nc6 5. a3 Nf6 6. Nc3 Bg4 7. Be3 Be7 8. Qd2 Na5 9. Ba2 c6<$>

See diagram 1. This looks highly dangerous, since the knight on a5 has nowhere to go if attacked. However, 10. b4, Bxf3 11. gxf3, d5! 12. exd5, cxd5 13. bxa5, d4! saves the day.

10. 0-0-0 Bh5 11. h3 Qd7 12. g4 Bg6 13. Nh4

This might have been a good moment to try 13. b4, which does cleanly win the knight, although Black will get the attack he has been hoping for. In any case, the move Simmons played looks pretty good too.

b5 14. Nxg6 fxg6 15. g5 hxg5 16. Bxg5 Rxh3 17. Rhg1

See diagram 2. Evidently White has good compensation for the sacrificed pawn, since his pieces are all well positioned whereas Black’s army looks disjointed. However, if Lill plays simple moves such as 17. . . . Rb8 18. f4, b4 19. axb4, Rxb4 he can probably build up enough pressure on the white king to keep the game level.

d5?

This central break is a commendable idea, but Black’s pieces are not positioned to support it.

18. f4!

White, on the other hand, is delighted to see central lines opening up.

dxe4 19. fxe5 Nh7 20. Bxe7 Qxe7 21. Rxg6 exd3?<$>

See diagram 3. No doubt some blind spot caused Sami to miss his opponent’s reply, but even after 21. . . . Nf8, the only reasonable move, Black faces an uphill struggle.

22. Re6!<$>

Winning the queen and the game. The rest is easy.

Nf8 23. Rxe7+ Kxe7 24. Qg5+ Ke8 25. Qxg7 Nc4 26. cxd3 Rh7 27. Qf6 Na5 28. Ne4

Black resigned.

My own game against Larry Monk, who made a welcome return to club competition after an absence of many years, was also very tense. Diagram 4 shows the position after I had just played 18. . . . Re8. I had seen this position coming for a while, and felt that after 19.Qd1, which seemed forced, I would have no problems. But then I started to worry about queen sacrifices.

Sure enough, Larry quickly played 19. Qxe8+, Bxe8 20. Rxe8+, when 20. . . . Kf7 21. hxg6+ is terrible for Black. Fortunately, I could instead play 20. . . . Nf8!, and it soon turned out that he had insufficient compensation.

What about the other queen sac, 18. hxg6? If I can find the only defence, 18. . . . Rxe2 19. gxh7+, Kh8 20. Bxe2, Bb4! it appears that I should survive, but the position is still tricky.

I know of at least one player who intends to come in next Tuesday, with two half-point byes. Anyone else who would like to do so (all are welcome! ) should call me on 238-2313 to be sure of a place in the draw.