Board 1. Joe Wing had the black pieces against Gary Thomas. He says: “Gary played the Queen's gambit which I defended with the Marshall Defence (according to chess.com). It was a very close game, where I gained a slight advantage in the middle game with a risky attack with my Queen. This resulted in a pawn and knights end game where I was a pawn up. It was tense ending where my opponent's time pressure caused him to make a couple of errors which led to me picking up another pawn. My opponent's time ran out when I was two pawns up with a winning position.”

Board 2. John Paines had the white pieces against Jason Pegg. He says: “I faced Jason Pegg, who played Philidor’s Defence. He overworked his pieces a little in the opening and I was able to capture a pawn on move 15. Jason then played cautiously and the game resolved into an intricate rook and pawn ending, with my spare pawn on a rook’s file, always the most difficult to convert into a Queen. I was always at a slight advantage but was unable to convert it into a win although Jason strangely declined my initial draw offer and played on for ten more moves before the position became completely locked and the inevitable draw was agreed.”

Board 3. Hector Hu had the black pieces against Bihui Jin. His mum says: “Hector played black with a quiet Caro-Kann opening, exchange variation, which developed into a complex middlegame struggle. Hector was trying to attack on the King side but missed a critical winning pawn move to trap White’s dark-square bishop. After trading all rooks, White prevailed with a passed a-pawn.

Board 4. Charlie Higenbottam had the white pieces against Andreas Stalidis. He says: “I played Andreas Stalidis who responded to my starting move of e4 with the Caro-Kann defence which I turned into the exchange variation. With some moves I hadn't seen before, I stopped playing moves which I didn't need to think for (basic openings) after just a few moves. The game was equal in material and mostly in position until a King-side attack came from Black which I failed to defend. His rooks checked my King over and over again until I was forced into a skewer in which I lost my Queen and rook for one of his rooks. By this point, having just a King and a rook vs a Queen, rook and much safer King, I resigned.

Boards 5 and 6 were lost by default by Bath due to player illness.

Final result 3½-2½

Gregory Sumner