Midhun Unnikrishnan has narrowly retained the 5-minute trophy after a close battle for first place with Bao Nghia Dong.
Bao took the outright lead in Round 6 out of 14 in this all-play-all twice tournament and retained that lead for a long while. He and Midhun drew both their individual games.
Then in Round 13, there was a crucial encounter between Chris Beckett and Bao, in which Bao sacrificed a piece looking for a mating attack that did not materialise.
There was a mighty time scramble at the end and Chris won on the clock by two seconds, allowing Midhun, who had beaten Alan Palmer in that round to take the lead (start of game in photo above, Midhun on left).
In the final round Midhun built up a small but substantial advantage in both time and material against Tony Ashby and eventually, the pressure told as Tony blundered a bishop, resigning immediately, which allowed Midhun to retain the title.
He did not lose a single game, quite an achievement in this type of tournament.
The final scores were:
- 1 Midhun Unnikrishnan 12.5
- Bao Nghia Dong 12
- Tony Ashby 9
- Chris Beckett 8.5
- Duncan Kerr 5.5
- Alan Palmer 5
- Emil Todorow 3.5
