Alexis Malibiran had the white pieces on board 1. He says: "Going into the game, I anticipated that my opponent would play the Sicilian, so I prepared accordingly. We followed a book line in the Sicilian Grand Prix up to move 10. However, I wasn’t particularly fond of his setup, which included d6, a6, and a plan to play e6 and d5 later - I felt it was a waste of tempo. We soon found ourselves in a sharp and critical middlegame. My opponent blundered on moves 12 and 13, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to capitalize on them. However, he was under severe time pressure, with less than 10 seconds on the clock, which ultimately cost him the game - it’s tough to navigate complications with so little time. This was my first win against an 1800-rated player, so I was very pleased with the result!"

Dan Parcell had the black pieces on board 2. He says: "I had Black against Liam Wheen and we played a sedate game for 20 moves, with no opportunity for either player to gain an advantage. A draw seemed inevitable and I was offering as much by trading all the pieces, but when my opponent declined them and played f3, I thought there was a chance. It turns out so did he, and just when I thought I’d overloaded a piece and was winning a pawn at worst, he played the nice Rc4 defensive resource that I had missed. From here it was Liam pressing on, his pieces dominating mine and pressing forwards. In the end, he was threatening to infiltrate with his rook and gobble my pawns, and I was threatening to take his a-pawn and promote my own. Neither of us were sure who’s threat was greatest, but we repeated moves to negate the other's threat, and agreed a draw. Final position black to play, Kh7 chosen to prevent Rg8/Rh8, the correct choice given the position. Both played 82-83% so a decent game." Joe Wing had White on board 3. He says: "I played the Catalan opening. It was a close opening and middle game, with neither of us able to gain an advantage. My opponent was up a pawn but I had the open file and a better position in exchange. There was a key moment on move 31 where I had a choice between bringing my King to the centre to defend or swapping off all the pieces. Not wanting to risk my King I decided to swap off our remaining queens and bishops thinking it was the safer option. The computer disagrees with me however, leading to me going into a losing pawn endgame where my opponent was able to queen first. I played on, hoping my opponent would blunder and that I would be able to queen one of my 3 passed pawns, but the pawns weren't far enough down the board and my opponent played solidly and eventually took the win.

John Paines had the black pieces on board 4. He says: "I was Black against Andrew Corbally who is rated 1807. I played the Sicilian Najdorf but according to the engine made an error on move 10 allowing him to make a strong attack in the centre and threaten to pin a piece to my queen. In attempting to save a pawn I lost two of them and after Andrew had gained further material and exposed my King I resigned on move 18."

Shaun Walsh had White on board 5. H e says: "Black played the Caro-Kann and White responded with the Panov Botvinnik attack. Black quite clearly wasn't familiar with the opening and made a mistake on move 4 leading to the loss of a pawn and more critically a worse position. Black's position looked hopeless after losing a bishop and the King caught in the middle. He did manage a bit of counter play but eventually succumbed to White and the game finished with a fork on Black’s King and rook."

Nick Woods had Black on board 6. He says: "I played a Nimzo against his d4 opening, however in the middle game my queen was overworked protecting two pieces and I lost a knight in the exchange. From thereon I was under constant checkmate attacks and held out for another hour but he did checkmate me in the end."

Final score: 3½-2½ to Grendel B