		WESSEX 2			H'MARK KINGFISHER 1
1	w	Hopkins, Jamie R	2136	0 - 1	Hebden, Mark L	2560
2	b	Rutter, Nicholas	2124	½ - ½	Summerscale, Aaron *	2492
3	w	Pye, David E	2132	½ - ½	Baker, Christopher W	2369
4	b	Pleasants, Allan J	2107	0 - 1	Cooper, Lawrence	2322
5	w	Tunks, Dominic	2024	½ - ½	Greet, Andrew N	2305
6	b	Marsh, Roger	2082	½ - ½	Noyce, Robert	2181
7	w	Norman, Dinah (F)	2022	½ - ½	Fowler, Simon	2119
8	b	Ferrington, Nigel *	1912	1 - 0	Lazarevic, Ljubica (F)	1664
				3½-4½

They don't come much tougher than this and at the start we were outrated by an average of 200 ELO rating points per board. The team played exceptionally well, most notably Nick who held GM Aaron Summerscale to a draw though Dominic and Dave also drew with opponents 300 ELO rating points stronger than themselves. Pity I didn't play the drawing line in my game..(Editors note 17.....Kg8 looks a lot better than hara-kiri!) .Mark Hebden will be strengthening his team during the season, which is good for us as far as the rest of the season is concerned. Hilsmark are aiming their sights for the top division and it would be nice to be playing their first team next year.Special thanks go out to Nigel Ferrington who played at short notice. His debut game seamed to swing one way and then the other, but eventually got the upper hand.

		S WALES DRAGONS 2			WESSEX 2
1	w	Kett, Timothy	2145	0 - 1	Pye, David E	2132
2	b	Spice, Alan	2181	1 - 0	Rutter, Nicholas	2124
3	w	Trevelyan, John	2150	1 - 0	Hopkins, Jamie R	2136
4	b	Sully, David	2064	½ - ½	Pleasants, Allan J	2107
5	w	Brown, Alan M	2128	1 - 0	Tunks, Dominic	2024
6	b	Adams, Mark A	1973	½ - ½	Marsh, Roger	2082
7	w	Powell, Lloyd	1992	½ - ½	Norman, Dinah (F)	2022
8	b	Wilson, Julie (F)	1720	½ - ½	Footner, Andrew F	2008
				5 - 3

This didn't go well and at no point were we looking like winning this match. Best result was from Dave Pye who played on board 1 following his draw against Chris Baker. Dave won - making it a tremendous start for him his season. Only other board where we seemed to have any pressure was on Andrew Footners, but that only ended in a draw. I was being outplayed steadily, but my opponent kept failing to find the winning line. In the end tiredness prevailed and he offered a draw which was gladly accepted.