Alan won on board 1. He writes: "I was white and played my usual Catalan. But there was a basic principle which my opponent ignored - he started a fight when he was behind in development! So it was an unequal fight. For example I had pawns on d4 and c4, his pawn was on d5 - but then he played c5. But then I castled and he had not. I soon won a pawn, my knight got to d6, he lost his white squared bishop and then the exchange."

Mark finally returned to winning ways with the black pieces on board 2. His opponent opened with b3, the Nimzowitch Larsen attack but opted for 3 e4 instead of the more sensible e3 and then expanded with a & h pawn moves, whilst black developed more quickly and broke with f5 on move 6. White didn't anticipate the significance of black’s bishop on the b6-f2 diagonal which could take on f2 supported by his kingside rook. With the Queen joining in the action, this led to a really quick finish with mate on move 15.

John had the white pieces on board 3. He writes: "I faced the Caro-Kann and decided to castle on the King side, which proved to be a mistake. Black exerted pressure on my h2 and then captured a bishop on e2 with his rook which if recaptured would have led to a quick mate. I played on to an endgame but the piece advantage eventually proved decisive."

Shaun played Black on board 4 against Mike Jennings. He writes: "Mike opened with e4 and I responded with e6. Mike played the tricky Tarrasch, which I'm not that familiar with. White often opens with a bishop on d3 and knights on d2 & e2 with the standard advanced pawns on d4 and e5. I was quite quickly outside my knowledge of the Tarrasch, but I do know black has to be careful with a likely f4 and f5. I also know Black often castles late. So I played the usual French set up and played f6, which I also remembered is recommended. Thereafter I wasn't sure of my next move, so I played f5 and closed the position even though I dislike closed positions. The game looked like a draw from here on. I exchanged pawns on d4 opening the c file and Mike captured with c3 giving him access to the c file. So we both played on the Queen side. After some exchanges I had two bishops and a knight versus two knights and a bishop. Despite knights being better in closed positions Mike played very defensively using his knights to protect any potential targets. I could have tried an attack on the Queen side but as far as I could calculate the position looked unclear. After a repetition of moves we agreed a draw."

Charlie had the white pieces on board 5. Based on what he wrote: The opening was the Caro-Kann Defence exchange variation and it was mostly fine until black opened a file. He doubled his rooks and moved his knight towards Charlie's King. Black moved a rook to the second rank and forked White's King and rook. 10 moves later Charlie resigned.

Nick had the black pieces on board 6. He writes: "Graham opened with d4 and I played Nf6 hoping to get a Nimzo Indian but instead he played Nf3 so I played the Queen's Indian. It's not an opening I've played at any level before and I soon got into trouble losing a rook and a pawn for just a bishop. However it did mean that I was able to play bishop to a6 which stopped him from castling King side. In the middle game there were a few exchanges and by the end game I had Queen, rook and knight against Queen and two rooks. But I did feel by now I had the better position with his King still in the middle, with one rook protecting the b2 pawn and his other rook still on its starting square. I had my knight on c4 which again was stopping him from castling; if he did, I could fork the rooks. The only piece he had in open play was his Queen. By now he had only 12 minutes on his clock while I had 34 minutes on mine. He offered a draw. I did consider playing on and trying to run his clock down but I was also concerned that if he did find a way to activate his rooks I could still lose so I took the draw."

Overall, a draw for Team E in our final match of the season.