An excellent result! Congratulations to John Turner on holding his opponent to a draw, and to Jonathan for defeating Bradford’s FM. How did the opening go, Jonathan? Something like this:

Holmes Chapel 2056   Bradford DCA Knights A 2098

321 w Blackburn, Jonathan LB 2170 1 – 0 Hague, Ben f 2301

322 b Turner, John M 2071 ½ – ½ Williams, Winston 2220

323 w Clark, Robert G 2035 0 – 1 Molofej, Denis 2043

324 b Hancock, Michael L 2098 1 – 0 Lang, Adam R 2050

325 w Doran, Chris 2020 ½ – ½ Brijmohun, Louis 2018

326 b Gorman, John A 1942 0 – 1 Patrick, David A 1961

3 – 3

Many thanks to Chris for stepping in and obtaining a solid result when Tony Soames had a “senior moment”, turning up for a two o’clock start, to find everyone had started without him! Never mind, Tony – it happens to all of us, and with increasing frequency in my experience ..

I sign off in sunny Dunedin – it’s time to go to the beach.

PS Jon points out to me that if his opponent had played 49 .. exf3, the ending was drawn. I agree.