British Championship 2015 Day 6

 At the end of the first week, we're starting to get an idea of the likely contenders. Now it's just Howell and Gormally in the lead on 5½/6, with Nick Pert alone half a point behind. Unfortunately, in classic ECF style, the day that they managed to conclusively break their commentary feed was the round played on the weekend, but at least there was plenty of interesting chess. And interesting psychology too. Besides the usual collection of underdogs failing to convert winning positions, there was the continuing sight of Howell's mind games with the clock; the experienced GM Emms the latest victim. I'm with those who consider it a very great insult to deliberately turn up late all the time, but then that's why people do it. (And not just Howell, judging by the start times on the top few boards!)

 Anyway, let's return to yesterday's puzzle. Although the lines can be figured out if you sit down dispassionately with unlimited time, we must have some sympathy for Burrows, who had only two minutes left and had almost beaten off the attack - when this happened:

 For my Game of the Day, I've chosen this win by Glenn Flear. In textbook style, white opens the game to capitalise on his development and spatial advantages, and soon picks off black's pawns like the proverbial ripe apples:

 Judging by the number of candidates for my daily puzzle, the rest day can't come soon enough! A few highlights are the double-edged endgame in Hill-Jackson, the time scramble and stalemate trap in Shepherd-Pleasants, and white missing a win straight out of the opening in Osborne-Taylor. But we're going to another of the tricky endgames.

K. Kalavannan - S. Okhai - Black to move

 Perhaps this is more of an endgame technique challenge than a tactical problem, but it's worth a look all the same. The critical line is fairly obvious - but should black play it? Since today's the rest day, you've got two days to figure it out. I'd say it's me being generous, but in reality it's because I'll be on a train this time tomorrow. All being well, my next post will be on Tuesday morning from Warwick!