| Nomads III | 3 | 3 | Worksop |
|---|---|---|---|
| Les Day (w) | 0 | 1 | Oliver Graham |
| David Kesteven | 0 | 1 | Phil Griffiths |
| Jo Woollard | 0 | 1 | Michael Clerk |
| Robert Shaw | 1 | 0 | Rob Porter |
| Duncan Chambers | 1 | 0 | Frank Holt |
| Eric McKenna | 1 | 0 | Default |
Nomads won the toss, and chose white on odds.
Les opened aggressively, with early queen development, but eventually swapped down to a queen rook and pawn endgame, with a one pawn disadvantage. Once the queens were exchanged, Oliver was able to build on this small advantage, until Les resigned.
After castling king-side, David exchanged a bishop for a knight and constructed what looked like a solid defensive position. However Phil got his queen onto David’s second rank, undermining his position. After losing material to the queen, David resigned.
Robert responded to the Ponziani opening with 3 … Nf6, a variant noted for quiet play. After much manoeuvring, he won a bishop, then gained a rook and a pawn for his other bishop bishop, giving him a clear rook and pawn advantage, with his queen threateningly poised on h3, close to white’s castled king., and doubled his rooks on the a file. White tried defending with queen checks, but once Robert found a safe refuge for his king, white could only prevent immediate mate by surrendering his queen, so resigned. Meanwhile, Duncan opened with a knight exchange, then steadily squeezed his opponent, until victory.
Out of consideration for her opponent, Jo played downstairs, so I missed most of her game, but she finished up in a rook and pawn ending, with g &h pawns against f, g & h, and a slight time disadvantage. Michael exchanged rooks, the forced an exchange of the h pawns, giving him a clear advantage, and then Jo’s flag fell.
With the score at three-all, Worksop won on board count, disappointing but, since Worksop out-graded us by over 45 points on four of the six boards, a very respectable result.