I missed this one, since I was still recovering from exertions at Grendel the day before. Never mind, with the benefit of Ace Reporter "Scoop" Tipper's unexpurgated ball by ball commentary and the wonders of electronic jiggery-pokery I can paste together a somewhat delayed report anyway.

Oscar continued on his merry winning way against Derek, even if this was a bit less cut and thrust than his most recent games. Bd 1 - Oscar scrapped his way to a win against Pugh - critical move was Rd5 Oscar probably under a minute given a lifeline. Indeed, Derek's Rd5 was a serious oversight, so presumably he was also in time trouble.

_ Bd 2 - Oli couldn't get any change in his ending the exchange up facing 3 connected pawns against Matias._

_ Bd 3 - Graham low on time lost his way in a Rook + Pawn ending against Phil._

Bd 4 - Both the Peters agreed to an early draw (Chaplin v Kirby). Thank goodness Dave didn't repeat the comment on the Horfield website about this game petering out. Polite note to them - we do the jokes, thank you.

_ Bd 5 - Martin White looked to be lost having given up the exchange but found a timely Nf3+ to grab the exchange back._

Bd 6 - We were very grateful to Jack for standing in and he fought well in a tricky game. Having won the exchange, he returned it to arrive at an ending two pawns up. He can count himself very unlucky but in good company because his final oversight mirrored that of Derek on Bd 1. A shame but there will be plenty more opportunities to come!

So, overall it was a disappointing night when we were not firing on quite as many cylinders as Horfield. Onward and upward!