LEADER AND BRIGHTWELL MISS OUT ON SEMIS.

It was another day of mixed fortunes for British players. Round 8 saw both British Championship Grand Finalists Imre Leader and Graham Brightwell win against Michele Borassi (45-19) and and Miloslav Voracek (48-16). Yvette Campbell staged the start of a mini-revival by claiming her second win - this against Eirikur Jonsson (39-25). However Jeremy Dyer lost to Andreas Hoehne 22-42. Round 9 saw Leader go down 31-33 to Matthias Berg while Brightwell beat Dutchman Nicky van den Biggelaar by the same score. Campbell got her third and last win - this against Zoran Klicek (42-22) while Dyer lost by the same score to Niklas Johansen. Rounds 10 and 11 saw all first team Brits win which included Leader dealing a very huge blow to Ben Seeley's title defence. Round 12 and it was Leader's turn to face the seemingly invincible Tamenori - and not surprisingly lost (18-46). Tamenori's campatriot Tamaki Miyaoka managed to see off Brightwell 45-19. The final round and both Leader and Brightwell were in with a chance of making the semis. Leader's had to deal with Miyaoka and Brightwell's problem was Takuji Kashiwabara - hungry for revenge after losing out on the European Grand Prix. Both however lost their games, results that ensured their opponents qualified for the semis - at the expense of Seeley. But the day once again belonged to Tamenori who finished the Swiss section with a perfect 13. David Shaman was in the same position in 1991. Shaman blew it - sure Tamenori will not also blow it?

SELECTED STANDINGS (after 13 rounds):

Pos: Sc:   Mbq: Player: 
 1   13.0  1201 Hideshi Tamenori (JPN)
 2    9.5  1147 Kwangwook Lee (KOR) 
 3    9.5  1122 Tamaki Miyaoka (JPN) 
 4    9.5  1078 Takuji Kashiwabara (FRA)
 5    9.0  1119 Ben Seeley (USA) 
 6    9.0  1082 Matthias Berg (GER)
 7    8.5  1010 Hisako Hoshi (JPN) 
 8    8.0  1124 Imre Leader (GBR) 
 9    8.0  1108 Graham Brightwell (GBR)  
10    8.0  1041 Martin Eng (SWE) 
25    7.0   974 Mami Yamanaka (JPN) 
39    6.0   899 Geoff Hubbard (AUS) 
41    6.0   895 Jeremy Dyer (GBR) 
51    5.0   798 Elisabetta Vecchi (ITA)
60    3.0   670 Yvette Campbell (GBR)

SEMI-FINALS LINE UP:

Hideshi Tamenori (JPN)* vs Takuji Kashiwabara (FRA)

Kwangwook Lee (KOR)* vs Tamaki Miyaoka (JPN)

* Chooses colour in first game