The 2008 John Holmes Memorial attracted a small field of 8 players, enabling a round robin tournament to be held instead of the usual Swiss system event, with time controls of 90/40 -30/20.

Top seed is Jamie Brotheridge, with Club champion Patrick Cook relegated to second billing.

Rob Bailey met Tim Commons in a Queen’s Gambit Accepted. Black picked up 2 pawns early, but White demonstrated that greed is not good by winning anyway.

Jamie Brotheridge faced the improving Swytzar Swytzer in a Ruy Lopez, Berlin variation (made famous by Kramnik). An interesting, lively fight ensued before Black unnecessarily dropped his Queen late in the middle game. He did not survive long after that.

Newcomer Sharjeel Ansari faced Chris Segrave who played his usual Owen’s Defence (1. e4 b6). Black shed a piece early and White scored a routine technical win.

Patrick Cook played Michael Schreenan in a sort of Catalan Opening and was also heading for a routine win before livening up the game with a Queen sacrifice to reach a simple winning endgame.