We needed to draw the match to finish ahead of the C team in the league table, but a somewhat abject performance didn’t give us much chance of that. Neil, John and Mac all had troubled looking positions from an early stage on boards 1, 2 and 5, and none of them managed to turn the tables.
Blagan finished early, as he almost always does. I took a copy of the scoresheet planning to publish it here, but maybe not. After Blagan’s 17.Nd5, attacking black’s queen on f6, the result would probably had been different had Gainpaulsingh simply captured the other knight on f3, rather than retreating the queen to d8. After that it was all over, and Blagan gave mate on move 22.
Jan played a solid game against George Ward, which finished in an unwinnable R+N vs R position, Jan having the extra piece.
John