The first half of the Club Champs has been completed and incumbent David Paul barely holds the lead on 5.5 points after a mighty victory by Zoe Kingston—over David—in the last round of this section. Zoe, calculated as mechanical Swiss-watch, played steady chess to overwhelm her opponent—his first Club Championship loss in 4 year (also to Zoe).

A plethora of members are within one point of the lead, including Junior Itay Ben-Dom on 5 points.

Next Wednesday (15 September) we have the last round—round 5—of our 5 minute Blitz Tournament and the second half of the Club Champs begins on 21 September.