Tourney leader Stefano Rosselli del Turco saw his string of four consecutive victories come to an end with a draw vs. Guido Matteucci in the fifth round of the Italia Scacchistica national tournament at Bologna. Arturo Reggio, Rosselli's closest competitor for top honors, took advantage his rival's slackened pace by defeating Efrem Ferraris to close to within one half-point of the lead, while Giovanni Cenni, who holds a game in hand over both Rosselli and Reggio, moved into sole possession of third place via a win against Alberto Batori. The day's other action saw Gastone Montessori top Giuseppe Benini, while Corrado Buono and Camillo D'Amelio shared the point with a draw. Pietro Belli, currently at the bottom of the score table, was free with the bye.
Scores after 5 rounds: Rosselli 4 1/2; Reggio 4; Cenni* 3; Batori, Benini, Montessori* 2 1/2; Buono, Matteucci* 2; D'Amelio* 1 1/2; Ferraris 1/2; Belli* 0.
Those players marked with an asterisk * have already had the bye.
We are in receipt of only one game from the fifth round, the victory by Cenni over Batori from the Black side of an Open Ruy Lopez. White at his 21st turn allowed Black to win the exchange after 21.cxd4 Nb4; whether this course represented a sacrifice or an oversight we are not certain, but 21.Qe4, to meet 21...Bf5 with 22.Bb3+, seems a safe alternative. In the opinion of several strong players who have examined the game the advance 29.f5 can be called White's final error, as following the resultant exchanges the Black Rook entered the White position with decisive effect.
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