Steve gained an early draw and with Oli holding Beaumont comfortably, the two IMs were dealt with. Nigel followed theory for 17 moves in a Benko where you give up a piece, well if it's good enough for Nakamura to play then why not!? Gareth looked to be struggling to complete development and once Nigel activated all his pieces against black's king stuck in no mans land, an important win gave us a one-nil lead on the night. With Hugo holding the advantage on bottom board and Aron attacking against an Open Spanish we seemed to be on course for a win, but time trouble was arriving fast in the last three games.

The dust finally settled in Aron's game as he set about winning a Rook v Knight ending. Reinhold's game with John Curtis saw both clocks slip under a minute and it looked as if it could go either way, an exchange sacrifice by John didn't quite deliver and Reinhold held his nerve against a kingside onslaught, and when John tried back rank checks it led to a mate in 2 on his own back rank! With the match won Hugo unfortunately trapped his knight, fell a piece down, and had to try and mop up Igor's cluttered pawns with his king, hoping for a draw - a tough task as Igor marshalled the final a-pawn down the board assisted by a knight.