We started with three wins on the bottom three boards. Nigel and Dan were first to finish with relative ease. John took a little longer having reached a position where he was a bishop up but with his King liable to be checked all round the board. Some post match analysis bothered him as he was unsure if he should have offered a draw. In the event, he didn't and his opponent went wrong. To quote him "I'm glad I didn't offer a draw, I'm glad my opponent made a mistake at that point, and as my old mate Gerald Mobbs used to say "If you played the best move every time, you'd be Kasparov.""

Alan had been first to finish, building pressure down a central file and winning enough material to force resignation within the hour, making us four nil up. I thought I was going to make it five but my opponent made me slow down to think about possible counter threats and, with no increments, when I got down to three minutes, I offered a draw, which was accepted. Dave had a very tricky game and was last to finish and unfortunately he came second.