You wait seven rounds for a victory, then two come along at once ...
Atticus A 3-1 West is Best 1
| 2327e | John Redmond | 1 | 0 | IM Jack Rudd | 2331 |
| 2249 | FM Charlie Kennaugh | 1 | 0 | FM Jon Blackburn | 2235 |
| 2155e | Steve Kee | 1 | 0 | CM Tim Kett | 2178 |
| 2147e | FM Dave James | 0 | 1 | CM Alex Bullen | 2116 |
| 3 | 1 |
Most of the players in this match knew each other well - the Atticus team contains past and present players for West is Best, as well as the team with they merged with some years ago, the South Wales Dragons. Meanwhile WIB fielded Jon Blackburn, a former Atticus player. Probably this shared history helped the Atticus players as, unlike in some other matches, we 'knew where we stood'. Dave James was a bit unlucky in his encounter with the WIB captain. He built up a nice classical advantage on the Q-side, targeting an isolated c-pawn, but then near the end of the session allowed a tragic fork. My own game say me depart unsuccesfully from theoretical paths and I could have been a good deal worse in the middlegame. Jack, who typically plays quickly and 'all-in', missed a strong continuation then turned down a repetition he should have taken. From that point on his attack on the K-side went rapidly backwards. Charlie and Steve had longer-lasting games which were good value for the spectators. Charlie seemed a bit worse out of the opening, but then Jon seemed to get carried away and, in time-pressue, appeared to sacrifice a Rook incorrectly. Charlie held his nerve to convert. Like me, Steve Kee had faced a perhaps overenthusiastic 'sacrifice' of Bishop and Knight for Rook and pawn and was always going to be better if he could securely anchor his minor pieces. Steve finished the game off with an elegant mating-attack. This confirmed our first match-win.
Atticus B 3½-½ War & Piece
| 2020e | Luke Boumphrey | ½ | ½ | James Ward | 1742 |
| 1892e | James Rothwell | 1 | 0 | Munroe Morrison | 1717 |
| 1720e | Sanjoy Banerjee | 1 | 0 | Stephen O'Neill | 1457c |
| 1660c | Mark Wadsworth | 1 | 0 | Jimmy Blair | 1375c |
| 3½ | ½ |
The second team also won. Luke had an interesting opposite-coloured Bishop ending where his opponent found the resource of going into a 'Bishop-plus-wrong-rook-pawn' ending. Sanjoy acquired a terrible pair of passed c- and d-pawns which ended up steamrollering his opponent. Mark went a few pawns up and converted in the ending. James was successful against the Scotch game, winning a miniature. So a successful night for the club in what has been a tough competition.