The final round of the Online Championship is upon us. Season 1 attracted 39 participants, including some of the biggest names in Sheffield chess. Elliott Spencer of Ecclesall leads with an unbeaten 5/5 and looks set to take the title, but there's still a chance of late drama.
95 games have been disputed so far, and most have attracted a healthy live audience on lichess. It's been great fun watching and discussing the games together in the chat as they unfold; it's an experience that you can't really get anywhere else in chess, and I've been absolutely loving it throughout.
Once this finishes, we're going to do another one. If you didn't enter this time, please do follow the link above to join us in Slack, and you'll be the first to hear about it when it begins.
Below are a few of my favourite games from Round 5. You can click through to all the games at the tournament website or here on lichess: rounds 1-3, 4-6
Bill Ward came out firing as Black against Tom Leah, saccing all his minors to get the White king on e4, and would have been winning after the amazing 14.. Rfe8+!!, sacrificing another rook into the bargain!
Oskar gives us a lesson in queen endings:
And, since this is the Rotherham CC page, here's a nice miniature by John Baker (white), who didn't put a foot wrong in this one: