Horace Cassar treaded carefully when in the last but one round of the Paradise Bay Summer Chess Competition he faced a much lower rated opponent Raymond Azzopardi. The game stretched into its final minutes when Cassar safely guided a Pawn to Queen while Azzopardi vainly hoped for stalemate. Horace Cassar now has 7.5 points out of a possible 8 when there is only one more round to go.

On second board there was a much tougher battle. Harry Camilleri (5.5 pts) with the White pieces lost two pawns to Colin Pace (6) but threatened to regain through various stratagems. Pace pressed his advantage against a cornered King ambiguously attacking and possibly pinning a Rook while menacing further material damage. With barely five minutes (out of four hours) left, Camilleri admitted defeat. Pace now has 7 points and is just half a point behind the leader.

However Cassar has met all the possible difficult opposition while Pace may still face some serious tricky dealers. At the moment in third place with 6 points there is David Cilia Vincenti.