Brains at work at the Peninsula. (Picture by Tom Tardif, 1189090)

GRANDMASTER Sarunas Sulskis drew a sizeable crowd around his table at the Peninsula towards the end of round two of the Intertrust Guernsey International Chess Festival.

For the second day in succession his game was the last to finish as the top board match saw the Lithuanian battle to break down the resistance of Chris Brookes.

The match entered its seventh hour but eventually the grandmaster’s sublime endgame technique proved too much for the hugely talented young amateur from the Netherlands and Sulskis took his place alongside grandmasters Nick Pert, Tiger Hillarp-Persson and Mark Hebden at the top of the round three draw.

That celebrated quartet are joined on two wins from two by Wolfgang Mack of Germany, the English junior Peter Williams, and John Cornelisse and Jan Havenaar, both of the Netherlands.

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