| Bd | Col | Southend I | 3 | 3 | Customs I |
| 1 | B | Neil Sutherland | 1 | 0 | Peter Walker |
| 2 | W | Stephen Wedlock | ½ | ½ | Matt Jellett |
| 3 | B | Howard Grist | 0 | 1 | Nick Jellett |
| 4 | W | Jack Speigel | 0 | 1 | Graham Walker |
| 5 | B | Roger Oxenham | 1 | 0 | Jim Grigg |
| 6 | W | Fred Whitefield | ½ | ½ | Heather Walker |
The First Team put in another very good evening's work against yet another of the top sides: we have knocked Basildon out of the Perriman, we have beaten Rayleigh, and Southend have yet to prove their superiority.
Just two games finished in the first session, in which Graham made it to 5 / 5 in the S&DCL so far this season with another pretty miniature, this time against Jack Speigel. I managed to blunder a knight in a position which Fritz assures me was worse than I thought it was at the time, as Neil Sutherland notched up yet another win against me. Neil is the only player whom I have played regularly in the Southend League (we must have met at least 6 times in 20 years) whom I have yet to beat.
Matthew defended well against Stephen Wedlock and seems to have activated a rook. Of the four adjourned games, this one is the hardest to call as there are so many pieces left and no totally clear objective for either side. Nick kept Howard Grist under pressure all evening and appears to have a straightforward win, no matter what Black seals. Jim is a pawn down but the queens are still on and Heather, who was suffering badly because of the cigarette smoke drifting through from the snooker room, is also a pawn down on adjournment but looks to be able to win it back leaving a level position.
Some of the adjournments may well be continued on Friday 7th, when the Third Team is at home.
Speigel,J - Walker,G [C00]
Southend I v Customs I
1.e4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d3 Bb4 4.Bd2 Nf6 5.exd5 exd5 6.Qe2+ Be6 7.0-0-0 0-0 8.f3 c5 9.g4 Qa5 10.g5 d4 11.gxf6 dxc3 12.Bxc3 Bxc3 13.bxc3 Qxc3 14.fxg7 Re8 15.Bh3 Nc6 16.Qf2
16...Bxa2 17.Ne2 Rxe2 18.Qxe2 Nd4 19.Qg2 [ 19.Rde1 Nb3+ 20.Kd1 Qa1#] 19...Nb3# 0-1
Will someone else please play a publishable game?
Jellett,N - Grist,H [B13]
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.Be2 Nc6 6.c3 e6 7.Bf4 Nf6 8.Nbd2 Be7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Ne5 Bxe2 11.Qxe2 a6 12.Ndf3 Rc8 13.Nxc6 Rxc6 14.Ne5 Rc8 15.Bg5 b5 16.Bxf6 Bxf6 17.f4 Qd6 18.a3 Rc7 19.Rf3 Qb6 20.Rg3 Rfc8 White's attack looks pretty innocuous at this stage and Fritz marginally prefers Black's position. However, Nick plays very sensibly, putting pieces near the black king in case something should turn up. It is surprising how often it does. 21.Kh1 Kf8 22.Qh5 h6 23.Ng4 Be7 [ And Black misses a chance with 23...Bxd4 on account of White's weak back rank.] 24.Ne5 Bd6 25.Rf1 a5 Black expands on the queenside when he should be attending to the gathering storm around his king. 26.Qg4 The second best move, according to Fritz. f5 would have led to a bigger advantage. 26...f5 27.Qg6 Bxe5 28.fxe5 Qc6 29.Qh7 Rf7 30.Rg6 White is winning now. 30...Qd7 31.Rf3 [ 31.g4 fxg4 ( 31...f4 32.Rxg7 Rxg7 33.Qh8+ Rg8 34.Rxf4+ Ke7 35.Qh7+ Kd8 36.Qxg8+ Kc7 37.Qg6 and the pieces will be exchanged after Black has lost his king-side pawns) 32.Qh8+ Ke7 33.Rxf7+ Kxf7 34.Rxg7#] 31...b4 32.Rfg3
Black sealed at this point but, having had the forced mate demonstrated to him after 33 Rxg7 Rxg7 34 Qh8+, he resigned without resumption. A very good performance by Nick, outgraded by 24 points but in command of a game against a former 180 grade player.
1-0
Wedlock,S - Jellett,M [B83]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Be2 Be7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Be3 b6 9.f4 Bb7 10.Bf3 Nbd7 11.Ndb5 Nc5 12.Bxc5 [ 12.e5] 12...dxc5 13.Qe2 a6 14.Rad1 Qb8 15.Na3 b5 16.e5 Ne8 17.Ne4 Nc7 18.c4 b4 19.Nc2 Bxe4 [ 19...Rd8] 20.Bxe4 Ra7 21.Rd7 Na8 22.Rfd1 Nb6 23.R7d3 g6 24.Rh3 Kg7 25.b3 a5 26.Qe3 and it's a level position. 26...Rh8 27.g4 Rd7 28.Rxd7 Nxd7 29.Bf3 Qc7 30.Qe4 Rd8 31.Ne3 Rh8 [ 31...Nb6] 32.Bg2 Rd8 33.Nf1 Rf8 34.Re3 f5 35.gxf5 exf5 36.Qd5 Rd8 37.Qe6 Nf8 38.Qa6 Up to this point, Fritz has considered that the position has been so close as to be considered drawn but any slight edge being in White's favour. White now gets his queen stranded out of play and Black has the marginal edge. 38...Rd4 39.Rf3 Rd1 40.Rf2 Qd8 41.Bf3 Rd4 42.Bd5 Kh8 43.Qa7 Rd1 44.Kg2 Rd4 45.Ne3 Rd3 46.Re2 Rd4 47.Bf3 Rd7 [ 47...Ne6 48.Nd5 Nxf4+ 49.Nxf4 Rxf4 50.Qb7 Rd4 51.Qc6 Bf8 52.Qf6+ Qxf6 53.exf6 Rd6 54.f7 Rd3 55.Rf2 Kg7 56.Bd5 Kf6 57.Re2 h6 58.Kf2 g5 59.Re6+ Kg7 60.Re3 and it's still probably drawn] 48.Qa6 Rd4 49.Nd5 Kg7 50.e6 Now White has an edge again 50...g5 51.fxg5 Ng6 52.Kf2 Bxg5 53.Qa7+ Be7 54.Bh5 Kf8 55.Bxg6 hxg6 56.Nxe7 Qxe7 57.Qb8+ Kg7 58.Qe5+ Kh7 ½-½