It was with some surprise that RR found himself seeded well into the top half of an U190 section - many of these he had expected to contend with had entered the open in which these posers were allocated 4 figure grades which showed no greater correlation to the players relative strengths than our puny 3 figure ECF ones do.

We join the game in which Simon Chadaway has the white pieces after move black's eighth move.

Simon Chadaway v RR after 8 ... c5

9 cxd5 cxd4, 10 Nxd4 Bxc3, 11 bxc3 So far the exchanges are following a normal pattern which should be satisfactory for both sides, with white having the bishop pair but an isolated pawn. However RR now declines the obvious Qxd5 and wanders into choppier waters:
11 ... e5, 12 Ne2 (if moved to f5 the knight would be difficult to dislodge without weakening the pawns around the black king.)
12 ... Bxd5, 13 Ba3 Re8, 14 e4 Bc6Had RR taken the d-pawn with the queen, he would not have been faced with a decision as to where to retrea the bishop. The chosen square, preventing Bb5 is possible the worst option as it prevents a frontal attack on the isolated c-pawn. e6 a better retreat, with Nbd7 on hand to repel Bb5.
15 Bc4 (preventable with Be6) Qxd1 not wanting to face Qb3 from white
16 Rxd1 b5, 17 Bb3 Nbd7 keen on freeing the a-rook, but a5 better at exerting some control over white's bishops
18 Rd6 Rac8, 19 Bb4 Bb7 black struggles to unwrap his pieces
20 Rad1 Nc5, 21 Bc2 Na6, 22 Ba5 Nb8, 23 Bd8 (diagram right)

Simon Chadaway v RR after 23 Bd8

Now what? At this point RR has to confess to losing patience.
23 ... b4 A feeble attempt to take advantage of the pin on the c-file, which Simon brushes away:
24 Bxf6 gxf6, 25 Ba4 Bc6, 26 Bxc6 Rxc6? (Nxc6 is better, though in truth more a case of less bad)
27 cxb4 RR is now dependent on poor play from white, which was not forthcoming, and whilst the agony was prolonged to move 49, the result was now never in real doubt.

Rewind. Try 23 ... Nbd7, 24 Bxf6 (Rxd7 Nxd7, 25 Rxd7 Bc6, and with the Bd8 about to die white is unhappy)
24 ... Nxf6 and black is still in the game.
But even better would have been 23 ... Nd5, the temporary closure of the d-file giving black the opportunity to completely repel the attack.

RR v Matthew Wyza after 9 0-0

26 ... h5, 27 Bd1 with intent to protect f2, but in truth far too defensive with Qc5 still available
27 ... h4,

RR v Matthew Wyza after 27 ... h4

Michael Connor v RR after 11 Nbd7

13 a4 is the black queen soon to be a damsel in distress?
13 ... Ng4 using the threat of exchange of bishops to rescue the queen
14 e5 closing the long diagonal. Presumably time to move the b6 knight.

Michael Connor v RR after 14 e5

14 ... Ne3 but RR picks the other knight to move. Hope the tactics work as planned. Is this better than Nxc4 and then Ne3?
15 Qb3 Nbxc4, 16 Bxc4 Nxc4, 17 Bc3 Nxd2, 18 Nxd2 Qc7
Yippee! I'm a pawn up, and his king is still in the centre.
19 Nf3 Rab8, 20 Qc2 Qb7, 21 Rd1 Bc4, 22 Qd2 Rfd8, 23 e6 Bxd5 (Qxd5 forces the removal of more material quickly)
24 exf7+ Bxf7 and RR has a two pawn adantage that he refuses to let slip, taking a boring route to victory 18 moves later.

RR v Jon Blackburn after 15 Nf6

RR v Jon Blackburn after 40 Nxd1

After more not quite aimless manoeuvring we exchanged queens on d1 to reach a minor piece ending in which Jon had the bishop in a position with pawns on both wings, but also had the disadvantage of doubled pawns. This sort of equal but different material position is often won by the stronger player. Hope its me.

RR v Jon Blackburn after 62 ... Kd8

On we ground. By move 62 RR was well up, though still had to be wary of blacks passed a-pawn.
63 Nc4 You don't me to tell you why the knight can be placed en-prise, do you?!
63 ... Ke7, 64 c7 Kd7, 65 Nb6+ effective, though Na5 threatening Nb7 ensures that the c-pawn queens
65 ... Kc6, 66 Nxa4 Kb5, 67 c8Q Bxc8, 68 Kxc8.

RR v Alexander Taylor RR to play Spot a mate

RR saw it:
1 Rd5+ Kb6, 2 Rb5+ Ka6, 3 Rbxb7+ Ka5, 4 Rb5+ Ka6, 5 Rxf5+ Kb6
6 Rb5+ Ka6, 7 Rbb7+ Ka4, 8 Rg5+ and all black can do is interpose minor pieces. However RR lost his way and played
8 b4 (leading to other mates), and when black unexpectedly played Be6 RR failed to find Ra5+ and Ra6#

RR was included in the field so as to avoid an odd number, doubling his playing with controlling duties. This gave him an excellent excuse for stumbling to 1/5 via two draws - opposing Jonathan Blackburn, Barry Jones, Geoff Lee, Bill Armstrong and John Yee had nothing to do with it!

Going into round 3 Jonathan, Rob Shaw and Mike Hancock had reached 2/2. These three ended up playing a round robin against each other over the final rounds, with each winning their other game against the likes of Alex Richardson, Gerald Acey and Malcolm Armstrong. Easy. Jonathan and Mike came first and second respectively in this mini league, giving a one-two for Holmes Chapel in the event.