Rob Loveband met Peter Miitel who tried to play a Benko Gambit/Benoni. Rob sidestepped it and the game smoldered to a draw. Kevin Perrin versus Joel Beggs was a hard fought Ruy Lopez that also ended in a draw. Highlight of the night was a 3 hour plus struggle between Rod Jacobs and Patrick Cook. Rod surprised his opponent with Bird’s Opening but wasn’t able to gain any advantage and was lucky Black missed a win just before a draw was agreed. Jamie Brotheridge made short work of Tristan McGrath’s Slav Defence. Tom Oppenheim played well against Geoff Davis, but experience prevailed in the end. Yu Liu, a late entry, had a Queen’s Gambit Accepted against Michael Schreenan and missed many opportunities to hold a draw in the rook ending. Peter McGrath eventually overcame John Abson’s resistance. No One versus Chris Segrave was a weird Sicilian that eventually reached a dead drawn Bishops of opposite colour ending, whereupon No One tried hard to lose and succeeded! Jackson Tardrew gained a point when Ryan Logan failed to show.