| Sasca | 4 | 0 | Nomads D |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Ball | 1 | 0 | Jo Woollard (B) |
| Michael Hughes | 1 | 0 | Robert Shaw |
| Andrew Wilson | 1 | 0 | Sam Humphrey |
| I Sopalidi | 1 | 0 | Ashley Rogers |
We found Sasca’s new venue easily enough, but ran into our first snag when we got out of the car to be met with a locked door. It turned out we’d gone to the wrong entrance, not exactly the best start to the evening.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get a good look at Ashley’s game, but he described it as a thrilling tactical battle, ending in his mate.
Sam pushed a pawn to the seventh rank, but then his opponent mated him on h8, with bishops of b2 and f7. Jo also succumbed to a similar mating pattern, attacked in the corner down the long diagonal.
Early on, Robert manoeuvred his opponent into doubling his pawns, leaving his king open. The game was looking promising, but then Robert blundered away a rook, placing himself at a decisive material disadvantage, and was unable to recover.