Eric and his opponent both castled kingside, swapping off pieces in an open position, but neither was able to gain any advantage. Eric described the final result as a hard-fought draw.

Robert Nield and his opponent also both castled kingside. After the initial exchanges Robert was left with a knight and four pawns against a bishop and five pawns, a slight material disadvantage, but his opponent’s bishop was badly placed so he resigned.

Gordon and Mick both advanced a rook pawn before move 9, on opposite sides of the board. Then Gordon lost material, going two bishops down, and resigned in the face of a mate threat.

Robert Shaw was the last to finish. He opened quite aggressively, but failed to make any headway. After some manoeuvring he swapped off queens, then minor pieces, ending up with three pawns and a dark squared bishop against four pawns and a light squared bishop. Unable to see any way for either player to get anywhere Robert offered a draw which was soon accepted.

The consensus on the night was that Lindsay had a slight advantage when he agreed the draw, but not sufficient to force mate. Robert might well have found defending the position challenging, but overall a draw was considered reasonable.