THERE was an interesting finish to the five-week tournament that was completed last week at the Chamber of Commerce, Zuzana Kovacova winning on tie-break. The game results were as follows:

Ezra Turner (3) 0-1 Zuzana Kovacova (3)

Nick Faulks (3) 1-0 Phil Shadick (3)

Bobby Miller (3) 1-0 Frank Ming (2)

Ray Trott (2) 1/2 Sami Lill (2)

Larry Ebbin (1) 1-0 John Kessaram (1)

Kennedy Simmons (2) 0-1 David Shanks (1)

Nigel Chudleigh (2|0xbd|) 0 did not play

The three players who already have FIDE ratings all won, on the top three boards, and therefore shared first place on 4/5, but Kovacova was declared the tournament winner. With that issue decided, attention then turned to the question of which three players would join them in the forthcoming Bermuda Closed Championship.

Turner and Shadick were guaranteed two of these spots, even though they lost their final games, by virtue of their good tie-break scores (we were using “sum of opponents’ scores”, which rewards players who have faced opponents who performed well throughout the tournament).

In the event, Turner seemed to go wrong in the opening, while Shadick made an imaginative exchange sacrifice and was rather unlucky that there was a refutation.

Ming could have guaranteed himself the third space with a win over Miller, but found his opponent in his most ferocious form and fell to an uncompromising attack. This meant that the winner of the Lill-Trott game would qualify, but when that game was agreed drawn further calculations were required.

With Dr. Chudleigh out of contention because he was unavailable that evening, and having in any case indicated that he couldn’t play in the Championship, the top player on 2|0xbd| points would qualify, and this turned out to be Sami. Trott was certainly unlucky to “miss the cut”, but he played good chess and will certainly have other opportunities.

The line-up for the 2005 Closed Championships, with the players’ FIDE ratings, is therefore as follows:

Zuzana Kovacova 2085

Nick Faulks 2064

Bobby Miller 1970

Ezra Turner unrated

Phil Shadick unrated

Sami Lill unrated

The drawing of lots has already been made, and the first round, to be played next Tuesday, will feature the following games.

Kovacova v Faulks

Miller v Turner

Lill v Shadick

As mentioned earlier, we should have the opportunity to organise other internationally rated tournaments in the future — indeed, if the confusion currently surrounding the FIDE regulations can be sorted out, one might start as early as July.

We are therefore hoping to hold a five week tournament, starting next Tuesday, open to all players who are not taking part in the Championship. The winner will be guaranteed a place in the next rated event, so it is important that we have enough entrants for an interesting tournament to take place. Anyone who wishes to play should be at the Chamber of Commerce no later than 7.45 p.m. to register.

Two puzzles this week. The first is quite tricky despite the reduced material on the board. White has only one way to secure the win. I have a feeling that this is a famous study, and that I have seen it before, but it still takes some effort to work it through.

Diagram 2 is much simpler, even though it comes from a rapid-play game between two of the world’s best players. Veselin Topalov, playing White, had achieved an excellent position against Alexei Shirov when, presumably very short of time, he played 45. Rf4? This doesn’t really spoil anything, and he went on to take the full point, but how could he have won instantly?