MCC Melbourne Cup Weekender - Day 4

Day 4 of the MCC Melbourne Cup Weekender saw Max Illingworth retain his lead going into the final day, but not without a huge scare in round 6 against Andrew Brown! This allowed Stephen Solomon to gain some ground to be half a point behind Max after winning both his games yesterday, while Andrew Brown in a further half point behind in third place.
Round six saw a few upsets, with Ray Yang, Vladimir Zacharczenko, Elizabeth Warren & Regan Crowley all recording wins against higher rated opponents. The top board was almost one to join the upset category, with Andrew misplaying the ending which allowed Max to scramble a draw.
The afternoon round saw Max play a nice game to retain his lead, while Stephen Solomon beat Luke Li to move into outright second place. On other boards upset wins were recorded by Andrew Brown, Vladimir Zacharczenko & Carl Loucas.
Coming into the final day's play, Max Illingworth, Stephen Solomon & Andrew Brown are the players to catch, although with plenty of others hot on their heels, there is plenty to play for on the final day!
Results & Pairings are available on ChessChat.
The game of the day sees Max play his 'Get out of Jail Free' card against Andrew Brown in round 6. After achieving a fairly level middlegame, Andrew managed to find a way into a better rook ending & just when he seemed to have the win in hand, sacrificing his rook for Max's last remaining pawn, he misplayed the ending & allowed his passed pawns to be stopped. The computers (and Mirko Rujevic, among others) suggested that a queen ending with an extra pawn on the sixth rank should have been enough for Andrew to win, although there was also some chances in the line Andrew chose if he has played accurately.