This is a catchup report as I wasn't at the University match and so missed the fun of trying to park near the Students Union. Sadly this was one of those occasions soonest forgotten. In board order:

It was a pity that the Australian Open finished in time for Sam to return but Nigel fought for over 50 moves before a passed-pawn posed too many problems. Aitor had won a couple of good games for our 4NCL team last month but this time Lewis found he was in no mood to help our cause.

So, while we got nothing from the top two, Javier stopped the rot with a solid draw on 3. Unfortunately Martin and Mike fared no better on 4 and 5. Martin was unlucky that, after reaching a won position, he missed his opponent's mate in three. Mike had the misfortune to come up against a nice tactic which won a-pawn after which his opponent converted efficiently.

Dave had the hairiest of games with both of them missing wins. For possibly the first time this season we had a bit of luck in a time scramble as Dave clawed the score back to 1.5-4.5.