I've no objection to a draw, but that's a bit much for the highest rated player in the tournament, who you would expect to be trying to win the thing. Especially when he had white for 12 of those moves.

Meier could have claimed a draw by repetition earlier, but refused, and then they went through knight endgame, pawn endgame (and what an interesting one!), and queen endgame.

I'm a bit lost with the finish though.

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"As far as I'm aware, he's OK - up to a point. He'd already claimed a 0.5pt bye in an earlier round, so his claim in Rd 9 couldn't be allowed on that basis. Why the byes? I understand - from Ulf himself, and from others - that Ulf finds the stress of hard games too exhausting. We all know how that feels. But in Ulf's case it appears to be more debilitating these days. At least he knows his limits which is a healthy sign in many respects.

I was advised when we received his entry that he probably wouldn't last the tournament. That was a kind of challenge for me. I decided to do whatever I could to look after him. When he finally showed up at the pre-tournament reception, I had a chat with him and was alarmed to hear that he had found himself some anonymous B&B "about 45 minutes walk away" in a part of Liverpool he couldn't describe. There are several indescribable parts of Liverpool, and I didn't want Ulf near any of them! So I offered him a room in a 4-star hotel with Mickey, Nigel and others. We still couldn't establish where he was staying, so we gave him some cash for a taxi and told him to check in next day. I should add that Ulf had made no approach for conditions or anything when entering. If the meek shall inherit the earth, Ulf will.

To our relief, he did check in. He seems to be a man at ease with the gentle side of life, shunning ego and ostentatious display. He won't be getting an invitation to the Staunton Memorial any time soon, that's for sure. We took him out for dinner last week. He wasn't sure what he wanted, so asked me to order for him. He had no problems devouring everything put in front of him, including the wine. But he took a bye the next day.

I think he will last the tournament now - maybe. He's a lovely peaceful man, but there is an air of vulnerability about him. He does need 'looking after' in some sensitive and sensible manner. We've done our best and I know he appreciates that. One last round win and he'll be in the prizes probably."

David

I was initially very perplexed at why Vachiar - Lagrave agreed a short draw in the last round knowing he would only win about 300 pounds, when a win would have put him on the same points as Adams and Short and would of given him at least 2000 pounds. I found the answer the next day when I looked at who won the prizes. There was a prize of 1600 pounds for the best junior, and 1/2pt would have given him a share of that (800 pounds) if David Howell also drew. He did and they got 800 pounds each.

So Vacher-Lagrave won 800 + 370 + 1170 pounds. Not bad, so why take a risk of losing.