The British Championship: Playoff Time!
Recall that the situation going into the final round of the 98th British Championship saw Michael Adams and Nigel Short tied for first with 8/10, half a point ahead of Gawain Jones and Jonathan Hawkins, with none of the four paired against any other member of that quartet.
After four hard-fought games, that's just how things ended up as well. Adams had White and a nearly 300-point rating advantage against IM Yang-Fan Zhou, but this meant nothing off paper (or a monitor). Adams soon found himself with an uncomfortable position, and although he finally managed to work his way to the better half of a drawn ending, he was never in any danger of winning.
His draw occurred a few seconds after Short's game also ended peacefully (or at least that's how the relay presented it). Short had to suffer patiently against Stephen Gordon, and his patience sufficed to split the point.
That left Jones and Hawkins with a chance to join the tie and a playoff, but neither could. Hawkins drew solidly with Black against Peter Wells, concluding an excellent tournament with a GM norm, a share of third and a nice payday, but no playoff. As for Jones's battle with Nicholas Pert, it was an epic. I wasn't even sure at all times who was trying to win and who to draw - maybe both were playing to win at those moments! Jones managed to win a pawn on move 128, but despite this very, very hard-earned achievement, it still wasn't enough to win. Pert played the ensuing queen and two (pawns) vs. queen and three ending well, and the players could finally collapse in exhaustion, having shared the point, after 144 moves.
So Hawkins and Jones split 3rd-4th with 8/11, and Adams and Short are tied for the top prize with 8.5 points apiece. Tomorrow (Saturday) they'll have a playoff after the prize-giving ceremonies. There will be two rapid games of 20' with 10" increments, followed, if necessary, by an Armageddon game. (Thanks to all the people who wrote in about that!)