The New Zealand championship and the major open chess tournament will both be fought out to the finish in the final round to be played in Wanganui today. Alex Wohl (Germany) and present New Zealand champion Anthony Ker are locked together on 7.5 points, with Wohl surrendering his outright
lead through a loss to Tomas Civin (Czechoslovakia) in yesterday's round.
Civin, the top-rated player, has made a strong recovery after two losses early and has scored 4.5 point in the last five rounds, to take his score to 7. Ker is now assured of at least sharing the national title for the fourth successive year, as he is a full point ahead of Stephen Lukey and Paul Garbett.
Bill Forster has the outright lead in the major open tournament, but on 7.5 he is only half a point ahead of William Lynn, Neil Gunn, Prince Vetharaniam and Andrew Stone. This means that all the major places are at stake in the final round. Progress scores after 10 rounds:-
Championship: Anthony Ker, Alex Wohl 7.5; Tomas Civin 7; Paul Garbett, Stephen Lukey 6.5; Russell Dive 6; Bob Smith, Tim Reilly, Graeme Spain 5,5; Chris Burns 5; John McDonald, Hilton Bennett, Peter Stuart 4.5; Gino Thornton 4; Nic Croad 3.5; Mark van der Hoorn, Nathan Goodhue 3; Martin Sims .5.
Major open: Bill Forster 7.5; William Lynn, Neil Gunn, Prince Vetharaniam, Andrew Stone 7; Alan Aldridge, Amiel Rosario, Michael Nyberg 6.5; Ross Jackson, David Evans, Sean Watherow, Julian Mazur, Robert Mitchell, John Pakenham 5.5; David Bell, David Paul, Don Stracy, Michael Wu, Vivian Smith 5; Alistair McGowan, Mana Garland, Gordon Hoskyn, Hamish Gold 4.5; Bruce Kay, Rex Scarf, Peter Boag 4; Mathew King, Stewart Holdaway 3.5; Ken Reed.3; Alan Lin, John Wilson 2.5; Oscar Lynn 1.
