Barrow - van Riel Shield

Ballarat Team triumphs

It was the lower five boards that won the match; On Board 10 Rory Clarke overwhelmed his opponent, Craig Segat, who played on hoping for Rory to make an error that never came; Kanishk Mahasuar was one of the first to put a point on the board against Jacob Sparks; Thomas Parker also wasted no time to take out his opponent, Stan Lajic, and they had another game whilst waiting; Paul Dao dispatched Ken Czuczman efficiently on Board 7, and on Board 6 Jules Feinberg defeated David Schepisi, the two veterans fighting it out with Jules coming out on top. So, 5 out of 5 for the bottom half, how about the top half? No wins and 3 draws giving us another 1.5 points and bringing us to 6.5 vs 3.5, another win for Ballarat after our 7.5 vs 2.5 victory last year (with 4/5 scored on bottom boards!).

Nigel Barrow not only organised, set up and ran the eponymous match smoothly once again, but also managed to get the full point from Scott Stewart on the top board. Ballarat's Bas van Riel achieved a draw against Leigh Healey, a real fighter on the board. Rifky Althaf played Rob Loveband on Board 3, bringing out a Larsen; Rob eventually came out ahead in material and with a win in sight, had to settle for a draw because of time pressures both on and off the board. Kevin Perrin played f4, obviously in a feisty mood! Unfortunately, David Lumsdon had the last laugh. Patrick Cook managed a draw against unrated Ryan Jones, firstly offering then being offered an end to the 'bishops of opposite colours' game.