| Sheffield Deaf | 1½-2½ | Nomads E |
|---|---|---|
| Michael Freund | 1/2 – 1/2 | John Woollard (w) |
| Pete Sharpe | 0-1 | Eric Mckenna |
| M Simmonds | 1-0 | Robert Shaw |
| David Whiston | 0-1 | Jo Wollard |
Robert blundered early on, losing a couple of pieces. He defended as best he could for a while, then resigned once there was no longer any prospect of recovering material through pins, forks, or skewers.
John and his opponent both castled king-side, and swapped off bishops. A subsequent queen swap left John with a slightly stronger looking position, but no clear lines of attack. After some probing showed the position was deadlocked, a draw was agreed.
Eric and his opponent began by exchanging minor pieces, ending up with the queen, two rooks, and a knight each, but Pete was forced to double pawns on both the c and f files, giving Eric a slight advantage.
Eric then won a knight with a pawn fork, leaving him with a rook, knight and four pawns against just a rook and four pawns. Pete resigned shortly afterwards, when it became clear he couldn’t prevent promotion.
Jo gained a bishop early, then traded a rook for a bishop and knight, before using a promotion threat to win a rook outright. heading into the endgame with two knights and three pawns against just two pawns. After considerable manoeuvring , Jo was able to force promotion, so her opponent resigned.