WITH one round to go in the competition for the Kemper Memorial Trophy, Phil Shadick holds a half-point lead over three players.So this seems like a good moment to give the full results so far.

Round one

Nick Faulks 1-0 Alvin Amore

Brian Davis 1-0 Boris Iriarte

Sami Lill 1-0 Alexis Jennings

Nathan Wharerimu 0-1 Ezra Turner

Larry Ebbin 0-1 John Kessaram

Allan Smith 1-0 Kennedy Simmons

Michael Webb |0xbd| bye

Phil Shadick |0xbd| bye

Neil Trott |0xbd| bye

Round two

Sami Lill 1-0 Brian Davis

John Kessaram 1-0 Allan Smith

Kennedy Simmons 0-1 Nathan Wharerimu

Ezra Turner 1-0 Michael Webb

Larry Ebbin 1-0 bye

Nick Faulks |0xbd| bye

Alvin Amore |0xbd| bye

Phil Shadick |0xbd| bye

Neil Trott |0xbd| bye

Round three

Ezra Turner 1-0 Sami Lill

John Kessaram 0-1 Nick Faulks

Nathan Wharerimu 1-0 Larry Ebbin

Brian Davis 0-1 Phil Shadick

Michael Webb 0-1 Allan Smith

Alvin Amore 0-1 Neil Trott

Round four<$>

Nick Faulks 1-0 Ezra Turner

Phil Shadick 1-0 Nathan Wharerimu

Allan Smith 1-0 Brian Davis

Neil Trott 1-0 John Kessaram

Sami Lill 0-1 (def) Michael Webb

Larry Ebbin 1-0 Alvin Amore

Round five<$>

Phil Shadick 1-0 Nick Faulks

Ezra Turner 1-0 Neil Trott

Allan Smith |0xbd| Sami Lill

Nathan Wharerimu 1-0 John Kessaram

Michael Webb 0-1 (def) Larry Ebbin

Alvin Amore 1-0 (def) Brian Davis

These results mean that Shadick heads into the final round with a half-point lead over Nick Faulks, Ezra Turner and Allan Smith, who is having an excellent tournament, leaving all four of these players with a chance to claim the trophy.

I must apologise to Larry Ebbin for reporting last week that he lost his fourth-round game against Alvin Amore — as you see from the corrected scores shown above, he was, in fact, the victor. However, there was no doubt about the result of his game in the previous round, against Nathan Wharerimu, which featured one of the most convincing attacks seen at the club for some time.

White: N. Wharerimu

Black: L. Ebbin

1. e4, g6 2. d4, Bg7 3. Nf3, Nf6

A provocative move, generally Black plays 3. . . . d6 first to prevent White’s reply.

4. e5!, Nd5

See Diagram 1.

5. Bc4

5. c4, chasing the knight again, would be the routine reaction, but of course there is nothing wrong with developing one’s pieces.

c6 6. c3, h6 7. 0-0, 0-0 8. Re1, Nb6 9. Bb3, a5 10. a4, Nb6 11. Qc2

See Diagram 2. Black is certainly behind in development, but his king is fairly safe and while he maintains the strong knight on d5 there is no reason for his position to get ripped apart.

Nc7?

But now there is!

12. Bxh6!, Bxh6 13. Qxg6+, Bg7 14. Ng5

In Diagram 3 mate is inevitable.

Ne6

14. . . . Re8 15. Bf7+, Kf8 16 Nh7 mate did not help.

15.Qh7 mate<$>

Finally, take a look at Diagram 4. Black is to move and the question is, can he draw? I shall give the answer next week, and explain why this position was of great importance in the tournament.