Suffolk Chess

The 13-round all-plays-all Tata Steel Masters reaches its conclusion on Sunday, with World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a clear lead on 8 points out of 11.   Fabiana Caruana is second, a point behind, whilst Diren Ling is third on 6½ points.   Carlsen still has to play Ling, as well as Wesley So, over this weekend.

At the other end of the table, England's Michael Adams is propping up the table on 4 points.   In Round 9 he was beaten by Carlsen in a 66-move marathon.

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Meanwhile, over in Gibraltar, Suffolk's David Spence is enjoying the Tradewise Masters, having scored 2/4 against four GMs (+1, =2, -1). Provided he doesn't inbibe too much (don't look at the photograph - reproduced courtesy of Sophie Triay), he must be in with a chance of an IM norm.   His rating performance so far is 2447, just three points short of the required level (over 9 or 10 rounds).

IM Justin Tan is on 2½/4 and needs a few good wins if he is to acquire the sought-after GM norm.

The other Suffolk player in Gib is David Brown, who played in the Challengers A event which ended today.   He scored 1½/5, but lost 31 rating points.