Round 3 of the Gladstone was a nail-biting affair. The crowds expected blood to be spilt and a clear front-runner to emerge, but a run of draws between the big beasts on the top boards meant the lead was delicately balanced between across Messers Giffin, Landless, Khan and Saldanha. It was just too tight. Surely round 4 would sort this out? Round 4 is usually the decisive round.
Not this time. Whilst Captain Saldanha and Mister Landless indeed fell away slightly, victories for both Mister Giffin KC MA (Oxon) and Mister Khan meant that it was still, going in to the final round, just too tight to call.
But before diving into the possibilities for round 5 and the destination of the fabled Gladstone Trophy, let us first give an account of the round 4 games.
Landless v Giffin
A top-board match up, and a result that may well have a heavy bearing on the championship. Mister Giffin KC MA (Oxon) managed to best Mister Landless. Mister Giffin KC MA (Oxon) said of the game: “Mister Landless grabbed a pawn prematurely against me, lost queen for rook, but then defended ferociously until the end”. Alas for Mister Landless, it was not enough.
Mister Khan v Captain Saldanha
Another top-board match up, and again a potentially decisive result. In this game, Mister Khan got the job done.
Said Mister Khan after the game: “All in all, a very fun game albeit very calculation-heavy and positional, yet somehow managed to squeeze out a victory from an essentially drawn position”. Captain Saldanha could be justified in hoping for more from this. A close game.
Mister Barnett v Mister Edgell
A mid-table encounter, but no less exciting for it. In the true swashbuckling style that we have come to expect from Mister Barnett the attack from white was furious, only for the counter-punch from black to land first. A king-chase led to a mate, and Mister Barnett was sunk.
The other results
- Barton v Ross 1-0
- Sam v Birrane 0-1. Mrs Sam was a rook up for most of her game against Miss Birrane, which was easily the last to finish, but Miss Birrane fought with determination, recovered the material, secured a winning position, and eventually won on time.
- Mooney v Filosi 1-0
- Sharland v Taylor 0-1. Mister Sharland v Mister Taylor was also a hard fought tussle with Mister Taylor making the breakthrough late on.
The standings
So where does this leave us? Well, in a tight spot. It is very, very close.
| Player | Score | Tiebreak score |
| Khan | 3.5 | 10 |
| Giffin | 3.5 | 9.5 |
| Landless | 2.5 | 9.5 |
| Saldanha | 2.5 | 9.5 |
| Birrane | 2.5 | 8.5 |
| Jacobs | 2.5 | 8.5 |
| Barton | 2.5 | 8 |
| Edgell | 2.5 | 8 |
| DIas | 2.5 | 8 |
| Widdicombe | 2 | 7.5 |
| Widger | 2 | 7 |
| Barnett | 1.5 | 9.5 |
| Sam | 1.5 | 8.5 |
| Taylor | 1.5 | 8.5 |
| Mooney | 1.5 | 7 |
| Ross | 1.5 | 6.5 |
| Filosi | 1 | 6.5 |
| Sharland | 0.5 | 4.5 |
The permutations are mind-boggling. Messers Khan and Giffin are both in the lead, of course, but they have already played each other and drew. So they will not be playing each other in round 5 and so could both win and end up on 4.5.
Which would mean the Gladstone is decided on tiebreaks. The tiebreaks system is the Buccholz method, which means the player with the higher aggregate score of their opponents over the five rounds wins. You will see it is currently only 0.5 points difference in the tiebreaks, with a round to play.
The Editorial Committee had the office boy work through the night to come up with various different scenarios for round five and what became clear is that if Messers Giffin and Khan both win in round 5 it is the results of all the other games that will alter the tiebreak score. It will be out of their hands, and perhaps decided by the doings on the bottom board, quite conceivably.
A remarkable turn of events, and one not to be welcomed by Mister Khan after his near miss due to Buccholz in the Kennedy.
And, let’s not forget, there is a chasing pack of seven players that, if both Mister Giffin KC MA (Oxon) and Mister Khan lose, could sweep in to be the champ with a 3.5 score and a better tiebreak.
Never has the Gladstone been this close, and never have so many been in the running.
Round 5 will be a cracker.