21st World Senior Championship

[Alan Borwell]

Both Craig and Philip won today in Round 6 with the black pieces and both now have an impressive 4 points. Tomorrow they both have White and Philip is on Board 16 so his game should be shown in the "live" display. There are still another 5 rounds remaining - keep up the good work as Scotland's seniors representatives :-)

[Alan Borwell]

Craig won again today with black and Philip drew. Tomorrow in Round 9, Craig is on Board 10 (with live game showing!) and Philip is on Board 20, both having the White pieces. It is an 11 round tournament.

[Alan Borwell]

Another fine result by Craig today after a tough game where maybe he did not find the best line in a tricky Schliemann. Both players used up much time in the late opening and the game ebbed and flowed until the complex unbalanced endgame. At the end, his opponent resigned when it seems that Nd3 could be drawn?
So Craig should be on the live games boards again tomorrow with just two rounds remaining - fascinating!

[Alan Borwell]

Craig's live game was shown as 1-0 on the site, but it was a draw. Philip had an excellent win so both our representatives are on 6/9 with 2 rounds to go, which should be very interesting. Leader has 7.5 points.

[George Murphy]

Yes. So far so good. Tomorrow, Phil is on the live boards, having floated up (?). Interesting.

[Mike Scott]

Well done to both Craig & Philip - only one defeat in the 18 games the pair have played in total.

[George Murphy]

Craig's turn to appear on the live boards tomorrow. Both have done well. Craig is 1 point behind the leader and could finish well up on his starting rank of No. 30. Philip,too, can finish well. Good luck to both.

[Alan Borwell]

Our two representatives have done superbly in this tough tournament. Craig will play Mishuchkov tomorrow with Black - he is a strong FM but Craig is playing well, especially with Black and it will be good to watch this game on the live boards. In the 2011 Euro Seniors Team Championship, we played the Russians when Craig had a fine win on top board with Black against GM Vasiukov. He beat Mishuchkov in superb style in Dresden 2010. Philip had an interesting game today (shown live) against GM opponent but ran short of time and lost his first game, but he has a chance to bounce back tomorrow in last round against lower rated Russian opposition.
As George has said, both Craig and Philip have done Scotland proud and deserve all of our congratulations :-)

[David G Congalton]

Strong performances from both our representatives, in this tough tournament. Hope both finish well tomorrow. Well played, so far.

[Alastair White]

I've been following the live games with interest - strong showing by both players - well done and best wishes for the last round.

Craig has played Mishuchkov before - you may remember this fantastic game from Dresden 2010:

[pgn][Event "Euro Senior Teams Dresden 2010"]
[Date "2010.02.11"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Pritchett, Craig W (Scotland) 2303"]
[Black "Mishuchkov, Nikolai M (St. Petersburg) 2396"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2303"]
[BlackElo "2396"]
[ECO "A09"]
[PlyCount "35"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 c5 4. Bxc4 Nc6 5. O-O e6 6. Re1 Nf6 7. e5 Nd7 8. Nc3 Be7 9. Qe2 a6 10. Qe4 Qc7 11. Bb3 g6 12. d3 b5 13. Bg5 Bb7 14. Qh4 Bxg5 15. Nxg5 h6 16. Bxe6 fxe6 17. Nxe6 Qc8 18. Nd5 1-0[/pgn]

That was a great effort but it will be tough to repeat it with the Black pieces. Here's hoping!