Board 1. Alejandro Vilchez had Black against Anay Misra. After being defeated, Alejandro commented on the strength of his opponent. I have no further details on the game.

Board 2. Hector Hu had White against Noah Taylor. He played the English opening. Both sides developed solidly, trading Queens early, on move 13, leading to a symmetrical, positional struggle. Black missed a critical chance to break the equal game when White played an inaccurate d5 on move 24, then White’s defence restored the balance. The game ended in a fair draw.

Board 3. Charlie Higenbottam had Black against William Cook. Charlie was slowly ground down by his comparatively strong opponent and was eventually checkmated.

Board 4. John Paines had White against Adam Mussa. He says: "Adam is rated some 250 points higher than me. He played the French Defence quite passively in the opening and I was able to double his pawns on the f-file with a view to attacking his castled King on h7. Unfortunately, in trying to get my rooks into the game, I made a careless move which allowed Adam to discover an attack on one of them and win a pawn. After that he ground me down very efficiently, exchanging all the pieces, until it was inevitable that he would get one of his pawns home".

Board 5. Shaun Walsh had Black against Tarun Pamunuwa. He says: "The opening was the English where Black played a semi symmetrical. Still in the opening, I mis-calculated a combination leading to the loss of a knight for a pawn. I tried a few tactical ideas, but White saw it all and the additional knight was critical, eventually leading to a mate in 3 or the loss of both rooks and I resigned. I must say that Tarun was a gentleman after he became aware of my medical condition".

Board 6. Archie Fleck had White against Aidan McCarron. He says: "Blunder in the opening led to a very uphill battle. I tried to hold on but precise play from my opponent wore me down!"

Final score 5½-½ to Clifton J2.