On board six, Dave gambitted a pawn, only to win it back with interest a couple of moves later, having wrecked Black’s King’s position. He won a piece on move 13 and after that Black could have resigned at any time but chose to hang on until he was mated in the corner. A very pleasant and stress-free evening for Dave!

That was over quite soon but while Martin, as Black on board three, also had a relatively stress-free time, in his case that was after equalizing comfortably. He reached an ending with a better knight against a bishop but it was never going to be a win unless his opponent went horribly wrong. So, to quote Martin, “In the end, a boring draw!”

The remaining four games went more like the whole distance. Our other win, and quite a crucial one it was, too, came from an unlikely source because after 50 moves Alexis reached a totally drawn ending. They must have been short of time because they stopped recording moves in a position with just Queens on an open board and a two to one pawn advantage for Alexis. Somehow Alexis got the Queens off and made his extra pawn count. Well done!

Humphrey had a complicated game with White on top board. After much jockeying for position it finally ended in a draw after 51 moves. After a pawn sacrifice, Aldrin’s game pivoted on a pinned piece on f5, an exchange sacrifice and an exposed Black King. Unfortunately, with both players running low on time, Black had just enough defensive resources to stop the attack and hold on to make the advantage of the exchange count in the end. Aleksei also had a complex game, he recovered from early pressure to launch an attack which led to a winning position. Because of time running low he couldn't convert it and eventually his opponent was able to promote a pawn.

So, after some exciting tussles, the points were shared 3-3.