Steve Emmerton, Ken McNulty and Nick McLean in a study of concentration
The biggest section this year, and the one with the closest to a blanket finish. A no-show by his opponent in round one gave Nick McLean a full point bye to start as he could only be repaired against a player from a different section, but his subsequent performance suggests this did not give him an unfair advantage. He and co-winner Ken McNulty met in round 3 and played out an interesting draw with a final position featuring two bishops against rook and pawn. Each then failed to beat Abdulbari Kabiri who ended a half-point shy of the winners. The fourth undefeated player in the section was John Day, one of several Newcastle players who took a second round bye to fit in a clashing Withnall cup match (lost on board count), some in addition to a bye they wanted.
1 Ken McNulty Stafford 117 13+ 6+ 2= 3= 7+ 4 2 Nick McLean Cheddleton 96 b+ 10+ 1= 6+ 3= 4 3 Abdulbari Kabiri Fenton 116 4= 5+ 12+ 1= 2= 3.5 4 John Day Newcastle 99 3= b= b= 8+ 10+ 3.5 5 George Scattergood Holmes Chapel 102 11+ 3- 10+ 7- 9+ 3 6 James Rothwell Ormskirk 97 14+ 1- 13+ 2- b+ 3 7 Paul Clapham Newcastle 82 b= b= 9+ 5+ 1- 3 8 Sandra Blackburn Holmes Chapel 91 12- 11+ b= 4- 13+ 2.5 9 Conrad Green Hassell 109 10- b+ 7- 12+ 5- 2 10 Steve Emmerton Fenton 94 9+ 2- 5- b+ 4- 2 11 Pete Tideswell Fenton 63 5- 8- b= 13= 12+ 2 12 Nic Wright Newcastle 100 8+ b= 3- 9- 11- 1.5 13 Pete Shaw Newcastle 99 1- b= 6- 11= 8- 1 14 Francis Westfield Newcastle 115 6-
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