Not for the first time it was left to Brian Nijman to show the Wellington chess world that Russell Dive is not totally invincible (just nearly so). We all know the extraordinary way Brian plays, saving game after game with his incredibly tricksy endgame play, usually when he is playing on increment.
Russell seemed to have a lot of pressure early on, but Brian turned it around and when Russell allowed his king to come out of hiding, he was forced to take a draw by perpetual check.
Notes by Brian Nijman
Michael Nyburg won a long game against Nic Croad, after he looked in trouble earlier on. So in the last round Michael will play Russell Dive, knowing that if he can win the game he and Russell will take equal first - otherwise, Russell wins by himself
Round 7
No Name Loc Total Result Name Loc Total 1 Dive, Russell 2410 [6] ½:½ Nijman, Brian 2212 [4.5] 2 Nyberg, Michael 2104 [4.5] 1:0 Croad, Nicholas 2442 [4.5] 3 Rossiter, Philip 1886 [4] 0:1 Ker, Anthony 2451 [4] 4 Benitez, Edgar 2040 [4] 1:0 Sole, Michael 2008 [4] 5 Nicholls, Al 1844 [4] 0:1 Forster, Bill 2017 [4] 6 Lyall, Gordon 1945 [3.5] 1:0 Stone, Andrew 2074 [3.5] 7 He, Caleb 1922 [3.5] 0:1 Sellen, Ian 2024 [3.5] 8 Tanoi, TE 2016 [3.5] 1:0 Winfield, Alan 1906 [3.5] 9 He, Paul 1885 [3.5] 1:0 Chen, Wei Kai 1965 [3.5] 10 Jackson, Ross 1964 [3.5] ½:½ Brockway, Andrew 1836 [3.5] 11 Stöveken, Peter 1827 [3.5] 0:1 Ross, Matt 1867 [3] 12 Stannard, Lars 1417 [3] 0:1 Mullan, Brett 1825 [3] 13 Van Der Hoorn, Thomas 1807 [3] 0:1 Dixon, Hamish 1681 [3] 14 Webster, Jamie 1701 [3] 1:0 Hurndell, Robert 1545 [3] 15 Aldridge, Alan 1922 [2.5] 1:0 Ashe, Michael 1662 [2.5] 16 Shepherd, Blake 1000 [2.5] 0:1 Wevers, Alexis 1798 [2.5] 17 Singh, Amrit 1000 [2.5] 0:1 Quayle, Jamie 1683 [2.5] 18 Ackroyd, William 1277 [2.5] ½:½ Rabina, Romeo 1647 [2.5] 19 Farrington, Lawrence 1706 [2] ½:½ Carroll, Lewis 1422 [2.5] 20 Kibblewhite, Daniel 1537 [2] 1:0 Stannard, Bobby 1485 [2] 21 Darr, Samuel 1567 [2] ½:½ Osborne, Geoff 1287 [2] 22 Asher, Bruce 1178 [1.5] 0:1 Cooke, Xandi 1512 [1.5] 23 Theodosiou, Andreas 1336 [1] ½:0 Sripathy, Boopathy 1200 [1] 24 Winter, Ryan 2087 [5] ½:½ BYE 25 Pomeroy, Arthur 2074 [4] ½:½ BYE 26 Laking, Robert 1968 [3] ½:½ BYE 27 Stracy, Don 1606 [2] 0:0 BYE 28 Dunlop, Rafe 1246 [1.5] ½:½ BYE 29 Mulheron, Oscar 1000 [0] ½:½ BYE
Cross Table
No Name Loc Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 Dive, Russell 2410 6.5 45:1 25:1 9:1 2:1 8:1 5:1 6:½ 2 Winter, Ryan 2087 5.5 21:1 18:1 32:1 1:0 16:1 7:1 0:½ 3 Nyberg, Michael 2104 5.5 0:½ 40:1 27:0 26:1 30:+ 14:1 8:1 4 Benitez, Edgar 2040 5 0:½ 24:1 16:½ 19:0 21:1 22:1 15:1 5 Ker, Anthony 2451 5 24:½ 31:1 28:1 15:½ 19:1 1:0 18:1 6 Nijman, Brian 2212 5 20:0 0:½ 34:1 24:1 15:1 17:1 1:½ 7 Forster, Bill 2017 5 38:1 14:½ 26:1 17:1 0:½ 2:0 19:1 8 Croad, Nicholas 2442 4.5 35:1 30:1 17:½ 27:1 1:0 23:1 3:0 9 He, Paul 1885 4.5 52:1 23:1 1:0 29:½ 11:1 15:0 28:1 10 Pomeroy, Arthur 2074 4.5 42:½ 0:½ 20:1 14:½ 25:½ 16:1 0:½ 11 Sellen, Ian 2024 4.5 0:½ 37:1 14:0 31:1 9:0 35:1 25:1 12 Lyall, Gordon 1945 4.5 49:1 32:0 0:½ 36:1 18:0 24:1 23:1 13 Tanoi, TE 2016 4.5 39:0 41:1 46:1 16:0 33:½ 32:1 27:1 14 Brockway, Andrew 1836 4 54:1 7:½ 11:1 10:½ 0:½ 3:0 17:½ 15 Sole, Michael 2008 4 44:1 22:½ 39:1 5:½ 6:0 9:1 4:0 16 Ross, Matt 1867 4 50:1 0:½ 4:½ 13:1 2:0 10:0 26:1 17 Jackson, Ross 1964 4 33:1 20:1 8:½ 7:0 32:1 6:0 14:½ 18 Rossiter, Philip 1886 4 51:1 2:0 40:1 23:½ 12:1 0:½ 5:0 19 Nicholls, Al 1844 4 40:0 49:1 38:1 4:1 5:0 29:1 7:0 20 Webster, Jamie 1701 4 6:1 17:0 10:0 49:1 28:0 41:1 34:1 21 Dixon, Hamish 1681 4 2:0 51:1 23:0 40:1 4:0 39:1 35:1 22 Mullan, Brett 1825 4 43:1 15:½ 25:0 0:½ 39:1 4:0 33:1 23 Stone, Andrew 2074 3.5 46:1 9:0 21:1 18:½ 27:1 8:0 12:0 24 Wevers, Alexis 1798 3.5 5:½ 4:0 42:1 6:0 31:1 12:0 40:1 25 He, Caleb 1922 3.5 36:1 1:0 22:1 0:½ 10:½ 28:½ 11:0 26 Stöveken, Peter 1827 3.5 0:½ 48:1 7:0 3:0 47:1 30:1 16:0 27 Winfield, Alan 1906 3.5 48:½ 47:1 3:1 8:0 23:0 36:1 13:0 28 Chen, Wei Kai 1965 3.5 47:½ 34:1 5:0 39:½ 20:1 25:½ 9:0 29 Laking, Robert 1968 3.5 32:0 42:1 35:1 9:½ 0:½ 19:0 0:½ 30 Aldridge, Alan 1922 3.5 41:1 8:0 33:1 32:½ 3:- 26:0 42:1 31 Quayle, Jamie 1683 3.5 0:½ 5:0 44:1 11:0 24:0 49:1 43:1 32 Carroll, Lewis 1422 3 29:1 12:1 2:0 30:½ 17:0 13:0 45:½ 33 Stannard, Lars 1417 3 17:0 43:1 30:0 45:1 13:½ 0:½ 22:0 34 Hurndell, Robert 1545 3 0:½ 28:0 6:0 0:½ 44:1 45:1 20:0 35 Van Der Hoorn, Thomas 1807 3 8:0 52:1 29:0 47:1 41:1 11:0 21:0 36 Ackroyd, William 1277 3 25:0 45:1 0:½ 12:0 42:1 27:0 37:½ 37 Rabina, Romeo 1647 3 0:½ 11:0 47:0 43:1 0:½ 40:½ 36:½ 38 Kibblewhite, Daniel 1537 3 7:0 54:1 19:0 41:0 43:½ 0:½ 47:1 39 Darr, Samuel 1567 2.5 13:1 0:½ 15:0 28:½ 22:0 21:0 41:½ 40 Shepherd, Blake 1000 2.5 19:1 3:0 18:0 21:0 48:1 37:½ 24:0 41 Osborne, Geoff 1287 2.5 30:0 13:0 50:1 38:1 35:0 20:0 39:½ 42 Ashe, Michael 1662 2.5 10:½ 29:0 24:0 48:1 36:0 50:1 30:0 43 Singh, Amrit 1000 2.5 22:0 33:0 52:+ 37:0 38:½ 44:1 31:0 44 Cooke, Xandi 1512 2.5 15:0 0:½ 31:0 51:+ 34:0 43:0 50:1 45 Farrington, Lawrence 1706 2.5 1:0 36:0 48:1 33:0 49:1 34:0 32:½ 46 Stracy, Don 1606 2 23:0 50:1 13:0 0:½ 0:½ 0:0 0:0 47 Stannard, Bobby 1485 2 28:½ 27:0 37:1 35:0 26:0 0:½ 38:0 48 Dunlop, Rafe 1246 2 27:½ 26:0 45:0 42:0 40:0 54:1 0:½ 49 Theodosiou, Andreas 1336 1.5 12:0 19:0 54:1 20:0 45:0 31:0 52:½ 50 Asher, Bruce 1178 1.5 16:0 46:0 41:0 54:1 0:½ 42:0 44:0 51 Ebarle, Joshua 1200 1.5 18:0 21:0 0:½ 44:- 52:1 0: 0: 52 Sripathy, Boopathy 1200 1 9:0 35:0 43:- 0:½ 51:0 0:½ 49:0 53 Cameron, Will 1292 1 0: 0: 0: 0: 54:1 0: 0: 54 Mulheron, Oscar 1000 .5 14:0 38:0 49:0 50:0 53:0 48:0 0:½