Ker falters, Dive takes Rapid title

Anthony Ker had a stroke of bad luck in the 9th round against Scott Wastney. He looked set to promote his queen rook pawn in a Queen and Rook ending, but his King was exposed and he accidentally got mated (time trouble came into it). Russell Dive wasn't in the mood for slip-ups, and he defeated Alan Aldridge and Anthony's nemesis Scott to take the title by a full point. Upset of the 10th round would have been my draw with Nic Croad. As White in a standard Dragon with opposite castled Kings, my King came under a ferocious and hair-raising Croadian attack, which involved a temporary Queen sacrifice on his part. Somehow he failed to find the killer blow, and the game petered out to a R + 2 pawns vs B+ 4 pawns ending where nobody could make progress.
So Nic tied for 2nd with Anthony, with Scott and Gavin Marner a further point behind - good result for Gavin who only lost to Nic and Russell, scoring a draw against Anthony in round 4, and beating joint club champion Brian Nijman in round 8.

Full results.

Round 9
Ker 0 Wastney 1
Aldridge 0 Dive 1
Croad 1 Marner 0
Sellen 1 Farrington 0
Seabrook 0 Nijman 1
Forster 1 Jackson 0
Drinkwater 0 Du Plessis N 1
Brockway 1 Kay 1
Nyberg 1 Bowden 0
Shierlaw 0 Du Plessis M 1
Proctor 1 Krueger 0
Hewson 0 Rabina 1 (default)
Meyer and Pattekar 0 point byes

Round 10
Dive 1 Wastney 0
Aldridge 0 Ker 1
Sellen 1/2 Croad 1/2
Marner 1 Farrington 0
Nijman 0 Nyberg 1
Seabrook 0 Forster 1
Jackson 1 Proctor 0
Rabina 0 Bowden 1
Du Plessis N 1 Shierlaw 0
Du Plessis M 1 Hewson 0
Krueger 0 Brockway 1 (default)
Kay 1 Drinkwater 0
Meyer and Pattekar 0 point byes

FINAL STANDINGS

1. Russell Dive (9)
2=Anthony Ker, Nic Croad (8)
4=Gavin Marner, Scott Wastney (7)
6=Alan Aldridge, Bill Forster, Michael Nyberg, Ian Sellen (6)
10=Megan Du Plessis, Neels Du Plessis, Lawrence Farrington (5.5)
13=Ross Jackson, Bruce Kay, Marany Meyer, Brian Nijman (5)
17=Paul Bowden, Andrew Brockway (4.5)
19=Matthew Proctor, Romeo Rabina, Roy Seabrook (4)
22. Michael Hewson (3)
23=Blaise Drinkwater, Hamish Shierlaw (2)
25=Sebastian Krueger, Somesh Pattekar (1)