Who would have predicted that the winning score in the 2019-21 club championship would be a mere 5 points out of 8? At the dawn of November 4th Toby Cox had finished with 5 points and no fewer than four other players could catch him by winning their remaining games. By the end of the day, after Bodily 0.5-0.5 Ledger and Habershon 0.5-0.5 Pike, Richard Bodily, Steve Ledger and Paul Habershon were ruled out of contention, leaving only James Gardner to join Toby if he beats Richard Bodily.
The relegation battle is no less compelling. Nick Collacott on 2.5 will be in one of the relegation places, but he will be joined by either Richard Bodily or Qais Karimi. These two still have to play each other, but Richard’s game against James Gardner could also be significant. Tiebreaking Sonneborn-Berger scores will not be known until all games are finished.