| Nomads E | 5-1 | Ravenfield |
|---|---|---|
| Mark Bartell (w) | 1-0 | A Shaw |
| Les Day | 1-0 | B Shaw |
| Eric McKenna | 1-0 | S Eyre |
| Graham Bex-Priestley | 1-0 | M Wilkes |
| Robert Shaw | 0-1 | D Hill |
| Natasha Withington | 1-0 | P Dexter |
Our first match of the season, and we got off to a good start, winning the toss.
Natasha began with a queen’s pawn opening, swapped off both bishops early, gaining a rook for a knight. Pushing a pawn to promotion gave her two queens, a knight, and four pawns, against just a queen and three pawns. Her opponent resigned soon after, faced with a mate in two, an excellent win for Natasha in her game for us. Mark, meanwhile, won so fast I didn’t get time to see his game.
Graham and his opponent both castled king side., producing a quiet position. After a knight for bishop swap, Graham gained a rook and two pawn advantage. Victory followed soon after.
Eric also gained a rook early on, then swapped down. By move 31, he had a rook and four pawns against just three pawns. After a little manoeuvring his opponent resigned.
Robert picked up several pawns, planning to swap down pieces and push for promotion, but left himself open to a mate in two, which his opponent immediately spotted, our sole defeat of the night.
Les went into the end game with two rooks, a knight and one pawn against two rooks, a knight and two pawn. Les recovered a pawn, then pushed his h pawn to the 7th rank, with rooks on g7 and f6, and his knight on f7, putting his opponent under pressure. It looked like the h pawn would soon be promoted, but instead Les used that threat to force mate.