Carolus Tang had White on board 1 vs Duncan Macarthur. He says: “In my game against Duncan, the opening went quite well but I do think that I was a little bit ambitious with my attack on the Queenside and I should have castled a lot quicker. I also think that when I sacrificed my bishop it wasn't the best but I thought that I would have to lose a pawn anyway and if i do, i might as well open up his Kingside and keep my centre pawn structure but I miscalculated and then lost a pawn. From there I was just losing so I resigned. I think that the opening was quite good for me but I was a bit too ambitious and I should have maybe castled and then gone for the attack.”
Lara White had Black on board 2 vs Joe Fearnhead. The game went: 1. d4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bf4 a6 4. e3 Nf6 5. g4 Nc6 6. g5 Nd7 7. Nf3 Nb6 8. a3 Bd6 9. Ne5 Nxe5 10. dxe5 Be7 11. Qg4 c5 12. h4 d4 13. O-O-O Nd5 14. Ne2 b5 15. exd4 c4 16. Bg3 Qa5 17. Bg2 b4 18. Bxd5 exd5 19. Qf3 bxa3 20. c3 Rb8 21. e6 Rxb2 22. Qxf7+ Kd8 23. Qxg7 Re8 24. Qe5 Rxe2 25. Qxe2 Qxc3+ 26. Kb1 Qb3+ 27. Ka1 Bb4 28. Rc1 Bc3+ 29. Rxc3 Qxc3+ 30. Ka2 Rxe6 31. Be5 Rb6 32. Rb1 Rxb1 33. Kxb1 Bf5+ 34. Ka2 Qb3+. Lara says: “An interesting game where both my opponent and I played very aggressively. Whilst playing, I felt that we both had equal opportunities through moments of the game however the engine tells a different story. I decided to play the French against a very aggressive 1d4 . My opponent played an early King side attack with 5g4 and I struck in the centre which was a mistake that lost me my d pawn and prompted me to be more aggressive on his Queen side where he had castled. I managed to get a pawn storm and eventually opened up his King with 17 b4. This in conjunction with my Queen 16Qa5 I was able to grind into a checkmate and secure a win. Highlight: Sacking the exchange 24Rxe2 was not the best move according to the engines but kept my lead and gave me more practical chances.”
I had White on board 3 vs Scott White. Game Overview: 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bd3 Bg4 5. Nbd2 e5 6. dxe5 Nxe5 7. Be2 Nxf3+ 8. Nxf3 Bxf3 9. Bxf3 Ne4 10. Bxe4 dxe4 11. Qg4 Qd5 12. O-O h5 13. Qe2 O-O-O 14. c4 Qd3 15. Qxd3 Rxd3 16. b3 Bb4 17. Bb2 f6 18. Rab1 Rhd8 19. Bc1 Rd1 20. a3 Rxf1+ 21. Kxf1 Rd1+ 22. Ke2 Re1# 0-1. In short, I made some poor decisions and got checkmated. I asked Grok for an opinion. Here’s what it said. White's ambitious early centre push with 5...e5 backfired after 6.dxe5 Nxe5, allowing Black to trade knights and damage White's pawn structure while developing actively; White then mishandled the pin on f3 by recapturing with 8...Bxf3 and 9.Bxf3, surrendering the bishop pair and inviting Black's strong 9...Ne4 outpost. Key lessons for White: avoid overextending the centre without sufficient control (e5 was premature), preserve the bishop pair when possible instead of trading on f3, and prioritize King safety—castling Queenside into an open file after 13...O-O-O exposed the King to Black's rook invasion, culminating in the fatal 20...Rxf1+ and 22...Re1#; always calculate rook endgames carefully to prevent back-rank vulnerabilities.
John Paines had the Black pieces on board 4 vs Graham Strickland. He says: “I faced Graham Strickland whom I first played in the early 1990s. Graham is a cautious player and started with the rather passive 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Nc3. I was able to develop my pieces well and after Graham moved his bishop back to a2 I managed to lock it behind his pawns and keep it immobile for the rest of the game. Unfortunately I was unable to find a way to capitalize on the greater space I enjoyed and with careful defensive play by Graham and no significant errors by either of us, a draw was eventually agreed. I think there may have been a win if I’d left his bishop in prison and found a way to sacrifice a knight for a couple of pawns on the other side of the board. Unfortunately that didn’t occur to me until the next day.”
Shaun Walsh had White on board 5 vs Ryan Lailvaux. He says: “The game was the Tarrasch variation of the French. I went down my favourite line using a gambit to set up a nice position. On move 14 I played a couple of dodgy positional moves, giving up momentum. In the end I missed a hidden attack on my Queen and resigned with a lost position.”
Nick Woods had Black on board 6 vs Mike Jennings. He says: “The game opened with e4 e5. I played the Petroff and Mike played the Steinitz opening. We got to the end game with equal material, 5 number pawns and a rook each. Mike however was in time trouble trying to keep the pressure up. I was playing fast and managed to blunder one of my pawns. Mike was able to Queen his passed pawn and won the game. He had 48 seconds on his clock at the end.”
Final result 4½ - 1½