TENSION AND DRAMA were the order of the day as sole leader Terry Farley survived everything thrown at him by Dr Philip Corbin when the Consumers' Guarantee Insurance (CGI) National chess championship finals continued at Harrison College on Monday.

National master Farley took on former national champ FIDE master Corbin in the feature match, and when Corbin's favourite elephant gambit appeared on the board it was obvious the lines were drawn.

Corbin has been hampered in this tournament by medical problems, but looked close to his glory days and left no stone unturned in his efforts to win. He sacrificed a pawn as early as the second move, but that was just the start. Corbin then sacrificed the exchange on move 15 for further complications. Farley was just settling in from the first unexpected blow when Corbin struck again on move 20, again sacrificing the exchange.

The tension began to show as both players came under time pressure with less than five minutes to go. Corbin sacrificed another piece to slash his way to the white king. However, Farley had calculated well and showed himself to be a big game hunter in bagging the mammoth.

Farley's next round opponent was Michael Barker who was defeated by Martyn Del Castilho. Playing the white pieces against a classical French defence, Martyn showed excellent technique in converting against a typical French bad bishop to keep pace with the leaders.

Defending national champion FIDE master Delisle Warner had an easier time against Allan Herbert. Warner started to introduce defensive pieces, but Herbert betrayed himself when he blundered material and Warner collected an easy point.

In the final game to finish, Othneil Harewood and Lester Vaughan schoolboy Alex "Wonderboy" Jackman fought for a marathon 90 moves. Jackman won the game. (SC)