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Thursday 1st December saw a good turn-out, with nine games played on the night.
Matt's opponent, Mahmoud couldn't make it, allowing Andreyey Lido (whose entry had skipped my mind) to enter the fray, and allowed Matt as white to add a well-played "proper" point to his previous bye (late additions unfortunately again may land us with these.) 1-0
Keiran justified his own position in the upper echelons with a hard-fought draw with Robert. .5-.5
The other top-flight of the night saw Dairena forge ahead against Michael first by a pawn, then, to the glancing eye, an unremarkable skewer to win the exchange... but Michael's remaining pieces were well placed and a ferocious counter began, with Blacks position deteriorating, and falling to the pressure. 1-0
Danny and Bob played arguably the game of the night, with White sacrificing an early pawn (surprise...) for permanent pressure. Looked like it could go either way and ended in a fine draw. .5-.5
Eric struggled in slightly late, and was possibly affected by this as he struggled in the game also against accurate play from Jim O'Neill 0-1
A welcomed return for Ron Dickinson, whose byes point unfortunately faced him against one of top seeds, Chris Yapp, who proved too strong in the end. 0-1
Brian won an at-one-point complicated game to my untrained eye against Neve whilst the much anticipated clash between new members Sam and Jim Gillespie came out in the latter's favour. 0-1
The other Jim (Prentice) won a close game with Alex, who I am reliably informed, returned to his trademark elegance, resigning after the loss of an important pawn. 1-0
That only left one postponement. The top match 2pts v 2 pts. Craig lost, as white, to Graeme...leaving the latter out on his own, as witness below.
Still a long way to go, with Robert and Michael on his tail; but shock defeats have left others with a lot of work to do.
Poly Champs Round 3
Thursday 1st Dec 2022
C Fay (2) 0 v 1 G King (2)
K Wells (1.5) .5 v .5 R Gibb (2)
M Matar (1.5) 1 v 0 D Gaffney (
D Breslin (1) .5 v ,5 B Innes (1)
E Martin (1) 0 v 1 J O’Neill (1)
J Prentice (1) 1 v 0 A Marshall
M Hayhow (1) 1 v 0 A Lindo (1)
R Dickinson (1) 0 v 1 C Yapp (1)
B Fitzpatrick (.5) 1 v 0 N Connelly
S Cassie (.5) 0 v 1 J Gillespie (0)
Half-point Bye D Slack. M Alagha
Full point Bye S Blackwell.
