Board 1. Carolus Tang had Black against Duncan Macarthur. He says “It was the English opening but transformed into a Sicilian defence. I missed a tactic on move 22 to win a pawn due to the White Queen being overloaded. Eventually, without any valid breakthrough for either side, we agreed to a draw.” His game went: 1.c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 c5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 d6 6. e4 Be7 7. Be2 Bd7 8. O-O a6 9. Be3 Nc6 10. Rc1 O-O 11. Bf3 Ne5 12. Be2 Rc8 13. b3 Qc7 14. f4 Nc6 15. Bf3 Nxd4 16. Bxd4 Bc6 17. Qe2 Nd7 18. Rfd1 Bf6 19. Bf2 Rfd8 20. Bg3 Qa5 21. Qd2 Nc5 22. Qe3 h6 23. Rc2 Qb4 24. Be1 Qb6 25. Bf2 Qa5 26. Be1 Qb6 27. Bf2.
Interestingly, Grok said that Carolus missed a tactical opportunity on move 22: “Qxd4! would have won a piece outright”. However, Shaun Tang says: “I am not sure about Qxd4. The variant I see is Bxc3, Rxc3, Nxe4 to win a pawn.” Ian Pickup had a look and confirmed that Grok was incorrect. So much for AI!!
Board 2. Alan Papier played Joe Fearnhead. He says: “I was White vs the Dutch. He managed a pawn storm on the King-side so I sacrificed a piece for 2 pawns but then he gave back the exchange. My King was a bit draughty but he had moved his knight to a6 on move 8 and it stayed there the whole game, so in effect he was a piece down!” Alan went on to see off all threats and force resignation when in an overwhelming position..
Board 3. Hector Hu had Black against Scott White. His dad tells us: “Hector played the Caro-Kann defence, exchange variation. In the middle game, White made an inaccurate pawn move on the Kingside and Black took the chance to ruin the pawn structure of White’s King-side. In the endgame transition, Black’s rooks dominated the open files and coordinated threats against the King and then won the game with a fatal discovered attack which would grab a whole rook.”
Board 4. Charlie Higenbottam had White against Graham Strickland. I have no details but he secured a draw.
Board 5. John Paines had Black against Mark Thwaites. His comments: “I played Mark, late of this parish. He opened with the unusual 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bf4, seeking to put pressure on c7. After I had negotiated that threat, play settled into a middle game in which Mark had more space but didn’t do much with it. As I started to push pieces forward to try to gain the initiative, Mark overlooked a fork and I was able to win the exchange. I pressed for a quick win and there was a further flurry of exchanges after which I had an advanced and protected passed pawn in the centre. When it became clear that he wouldn’t be able to stop it, Mark resigned.”
Board 6. Ivan Penev had White against Mike Jennings. He says: “In the beginning we were equal and in the middle game too but when I was getting my Queen ready for a checkmate I forgot to defend my rook and then he turned the tables on me because the rook was defending my King.”
Final score 4-2.