Tim Commons played Michael Schreenan who defended with the Petroff. It was a tactical battle from the outset, and after Black won a pawn in the opening, he somehow contrived to lose a piece. Michael then lost his Queen for rook in the middle game and was mated soon after.

Peter Miitel faced John Frangakis and adopted his usual London system and we had two experts battling it out on their own territory. White eventually won a pawn in a manoevring struggle, but was never able to squeeze more from the position and a draw was agreed.

John Abson met Robert Bailey in a Sicilian White lost a piece and a pawn in sharp middle game exchanges and never recovered.

Scott Stewart faced Patrick Cook in an encounter billed as "the championship game". Attempting a surprise, Scott played the English and Patrick defended with a solid Slav-like structure. Neither player was able to gain an edge and the game petered out to a draw after 39 moves. The title race remains wide open.

Simon Feros met James Eldridge at the Public Library earlier in the week. James defended with the Sicilian defense but quickly went astray, losing a piece in the opening. He lost another in a desperate attempt to get some counterplay and was quickly overwhelmed.

Kevin Perrin versus Rob Loveband was postponed. Joel Beggs and Darren Young played their Round 10 game in advance. Joel ventured the Giuco Piano and found Darren's usual tough defensive difficult to break down. This time Darren didn't break and was delighted to accept when a frustrated Joel eventually offered a draw.

As mentioned last week, Jamie and Jason Brotheridge have withdrawn from the tournament. It has been decided that their game will be anulled.