British Championship 2022, Round 5

 The top-board clash in Round 5 was a rather tame and uninspiring draw in ten moves. This meant that a decisive game on board 2 would likely produce a sole leader, and Keith Arkell duly delivered. In true Arkell style, he won the game in the ending. He now leads the tournament with 4½ points, ahead of six players (R Pert, Clarke, Grieve, Emms, Wadsworth and Gormally) on 4. Harry Grieve's TPR so far of 2599 means he is just about on course for a GM norm, never mind the IM norm that would also be very valuable.

I am half a point behind the chasing pack, on 3½, after a nice win against Stephen Dishman, who went into an opening line that, while maybe not really all that good for white, I have a very good record in. My reward for this win is to face top seed Nick Pert.





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