Sad times at the festival

DAY three of the 31st Guernsey International Chess Festival at the Cobo Bay Hotel was tinged with sadness as news filtered through of the death of the tournament's highly-respected arbiter Steve Boniface. A minute's silence was observed before the start of play of the MeesPierson Reads open tournament and the Cobo Bay holiday tournament as players remembered Boniface, who was due to oversee this year's festival. Boniface had undertaken the role of arbiter in Guernsey a number of times before.

He passed away at his home in Bristol.

Kevin Thurwell from Redhill, Surrey, has been attending the festival since 1978 and he fondly remembered Boniface's fun touch and strong judgement.

'The really nice thing was that he used to produce pairings that were funny,' said the scientific consultant.

'He once matched up a Mr Lock with a Mr Key. He loved it if he could do something like that.

'He had a great sense of humour. When he ran a tournament he did it the right way to support chess.

'He kept players under control but he did it in the right way.'

Thurwell himself is an arbiter and he has being assisting the tournament secretary Fred Hamperl in this role while they wait for the arrival of Liverpool's David Welch. The British Chess Federation's officer should be in place for the start of today's play.

Despite the unfortunate circumstances, Thurwell believes the tournament has been a success so far.

'It's been going fine,' he said.

'There is always a good fighting spirit here.'

On the boards, the day ended with Tiger Hillarp-Persson and K. Goater one of only two players on three points.

Oleg Korneev, the Russian grandmaster, is just half-a-point behind after taking a bye in the opening round and it would seem he is pinning his hopes on beating Hillarp-Persson in round five.

In the holiday tournament hot-favourite Paul Carlucci has won three out of three.