| Martyn Goodger (179) [B] | ½ - ½ | Stuart Tate (132) |
| Mark Szymanski (152) | ½ - ½ | Bob Jones (136) |
| Richard Donaghay (143) | ½ - ½ | Alejandro Del Castillo (?) |
| Yakub Pieczewski (e125) | ½ - ½ | Colin Roberts (111) |
With the championship out of reach, Ely settled for a peaceful encounter with a struggling Bury Cannons B side. All four matches were drawn well within the first time control.
On top board Martyn was well held by Stuart Tate. Martyn's Scandinavian defence never gave him full equality, and even in the ending Stuart retained a clear edge. Not really in the mood for a fight, even against a much lower rated player, Martyn offered the draw rather than try to stir up unclear complications. Stuart accepted after only a few moments' thought.
Mark also took the draw offered by his lower graded opponent. Mark writes: "Bob caught me out with his preparation - alerted by Scott from last week, he wasn't going to give me the chance to play the Milner-Barry gambit twice in 2 weeks. With opposite side castling a draw did not look likely, but after inaccuracies by both sides we reached the time control materially level. The position was still double-edged; there were weak points for both players. A draw and an early night at the end of a tiring season seemed the wise option."
On board 3, Richard continued his recent run of sharing the points. After playing his favourite Scandinavian, he was "move-ordered" into defending an IQP position. He defended well, putting his pieces on the right squares, and even managed the manoeuvre ...Ra8-a7-d7 in the spirit of Karpov. Unfortunately, he had missed a tactic which netted White an extra pawn. Richard, though, managed to conjure up sufficient counterplay for his draw offer to be made - and accepted - entirely appropriately.
On bottom board, Jacob once again began quietly with his favoured English/Reti opening. But the position remained quiet throughout, and Jacob found no reason to decline his opponent's draw offer.