Michael played his familiar Dutch-with-White opening (a la John Shaw?) against Brian, who fianchettoed King-side, then rather underestimated the strength of White double-advancing his g-pawn. Black moved his threatened Knight to h5 where exchange for Bishop left his King with awkward pawn cover. After Qh4, Engines suggest his best counterplay was on the Queenside, but this was far from obvious, and his attempts to reorganise the defences around the King were insufficient to prevent White amassing an attack which Black could only defend by giving up Queen for Rook. Still with an open King position, he resigned as mate loomed. 1-0

Robert played the French against Alastair. Don’t know much (anything) about that but the convoluted swap of White’s Bishop for Black’s Knight on c6 looked odd. It left Black with isolated g-pawns, one piece developed…and apparently a 0.8 lead! Things seemed to be settling, but Robert doubled Rooks on the open file and soon had pressure on White’s a-pawn. Relieving this allowed Black’s Bishop to chase White’s Queen, and soon Brian had four of his five pieces slouching on the back rank. A vital central pawn fell to a threatened fork, and Black suddenly had a very commanding position. An opportunity arose for some Queenside counterplay, but this faded and Black soon simplified into BB+6 vs BN+4. He carefully advanced his central pawns and White was soon lost. 0-1

Dairena’s Queen’s Gambit was met by my symmetrical (Austrian) defence but on a whim I re-took the d-pawn with my Queen. The monarchs came off, and a conservative retreat of Dairena’s centralised Knight left Black an edge. I soon gave that up as we swapped lacklustre moves with minor pieces. Around move 10, we both realised that swapping Bishop for Knight would allow invasion of White’s Knight at b5, soon shattering my pawn structure, if I retook with Bishop. I had just decided to double Kingside pawns instead, when Dairena confused the move order and played an immediate Nc5…taken by Bishop. A clear piece up, I made some heavy weather, but on seemingly complicated move 19, after 12 minutes thought, made the second best of four winning options and simplified to a Rook-up endgame. 0-1

Playing White, Craig faced Scott’s French defence with solid play, leaving him more space, but no obvious advantage. After exchanging his f-pawn on e5, Black’s backward e-pawn looked suspect. Perhaps immediate defence with Qd7 would suffice, but he exchanged Knight for a Bishop, allowing White’s knights to threaten forward, and after one swap, he retreated Rook before that vital Queen move. The e-pawn fell to a forking Knight, and Black’s position immediately crumbled. 1-0

Danny replied to Andy’s c4 opening with …d5. Andy took this pawn, but refused the second offering at c6. He prepared a fianchetto with g3, but after Danny took the d pawn and played Bf5, Andy changed course with his KB and offered a swap on d3. Danny changed the venue to e4, and it soon became apparent that his advanced doubled pawn on e4 was more an asset than a drawback. White struggled to arrange his pieces and delayed a relieving capture of the e-pawn until its recapture let loose a discovered threat to his own Queen. He was immediately in deep trouble, tried swapping his Queen for a Rook and Knight, but a schwischenshach put paid to that and he was the major exchange down, with his Rooks unconnected. Danny soon rustled up some mating threats, and White’s King fell. 0-1

In-form Alex faced top-seed Jallal with his Smyslov version of the English. Jallal played an early Bb4 and exchanged this Bishop for White’s c3 Knight. Alex opted for d4 and exchanging for Black’s e pawn, leaving white with isolated doubled d-pawns and Black with the advantage. Jallal then appeared to miss another zwischenschach when offered a Queen exchange that seemed to net him a pawn. Instead, White regained the pawn with at least equality. White then appeared to sacrifice his a-pawn in order to invade the seventh rank, but thought better of the latter, leaving Black a clear pawn ahead. RBN vs RBB, Black advanced his outside Queen pawns, but allowed some counterplay and perhaps mistakenly allowed exchange of Rooks. When the opportunity arose to swap his white-squared Bishop for the Knight, Alex grabbed this, leaving Black one pawn up in an opposite Bishops endgame, with Whites Bishop blockading his outside Pawns, and corralling his King behind doubled f-pawns. Alex nailed down the Kingside pawns, then wandered his Bishop back and forth for a forced draw. .5-.5

Lewis began his much-awaited confrontation with Austin with a variation on his English, KN coming to c2 via d4. Both players seemed in uncharted territory, though Austin played quickly, retaking the pawn on d5 with his Queen, but paused before offering an exchange of his Queen which soon found itself on an awkward g6. Lewis’ Q, meantime chased about after refusing swap-off, and found herself on an equally awkward h4. Austin eschewed an opportunity to pressure this with Rd4, untangling his back line with some central pressure; instead creating luft with h6. Soon the Queens inevitably came off, drawing out White’s fianchettoed Bishop to e4, allowing Black Bh3 with threats. As a pair of Rooks were exchanged, White was the one with a tangle. A Bishop exchange on e3 allowed some freeing, but also Black’s Rook intrusion on d2, attacking undefended b and e-pawns. White brought his Rook to d1 covered by Knight to exchange into a drawn endgame. Whether he was distracted by his own back-rank threats with his Bishop at h3, or whether he simply forgot that White’s Bishop on e4 covered his “luft” space, Austin took 12 seconds to lop off White’s b pawn with his Rook, and fell to the back-rank mate. 1-0

Eric game still to come…but Round 7 charted. Lewis and Craig facing off with 4.5 each. Only Jallal can catch……..