Patrick Cook played a Catalan against Kevin Perrin and gained a strong position. Declining a draw offer (!) he pushed on, only to offer one himself in a possibly winning position. Peter Miitel played his usual Colle System against Rod Jacobs’ Dutch set-up. A brilliant piece sacrifice gave White a strong initiative and he triumphed after Black turned down a draw offer. Geoff Davis versus Rob Loveband was a symmetrical English that manoeuvred it’s way to a draw late in the night. Michael Schreenan versus Jamie Brotheridge saw excellent attacking play by White and Black was lucky to escape with a draw. Joel Beggs played the Italian Game against Peter McGrath and had no problems in quickly notching up the full point. Chris Segrave laboured to score the full point against junior Jackson Tardrew. John Abson’s Four Knights Game gave him a quick win over the other junior Ryan Logan.

Yu Liu, the 2009 John Baynham Reserves champion, fell victim to Tom Oppenheim’s alertness in a complex position. Tristan McGrath profited from No One’s lack of end game insight.