Thanks to the inclusion of Sergey Salov on board 1, we looked like favourites to win the match. We got off to a good start with promising positions out of the opening. Solid draws came from the ever reliable Michael and Ilan on boards 5 and 7. After a long fight, on board 9 James got our first win where he was a pawn up in a rook and pawn endgame but with doubled pawns. To solve this problem, he activated his king and rook and forced his opponent into mistakes.

There was a set back when David lost on board 10 but it's good to get a few games under your belt to brush the cobwebs off after a long time away from competitive chess. On board 1 Sergey gave us some confidence when he won a nice game where he kept full control and outplayed his opponent. Chris on board 2, looked to be in trouble just before the time control but his opponent blundered in time trouble and Chris only needed one move that proved crushing at the end. After the time control on board 3, I was fighting back for a draw where I was slightly positionally worse but found a couple of nice moves that would have forced it into a rook and pawn endgame with equal material so the game was agreed drawn.

On board 5, Neil seemed to have a slight edge and Phil's game was looking equal where it looked like his opponent could force a repetition of moves. As Barry on board 8 was a pawn down, we ensured that we won the match by agreeing draws for Neil and Phil. This left Barry's game adjourned but analysis showed that despite being a pawn down Barry had the better king and rook. This was agreed drawn a couple of days later without resumption.