Two sevenths of the way to glory

Daventry only succeeded in convincing three intrepid souls to make the long trek to Kenilworth for our match, giving us a one point start before the match had even begun. The only minor fly in this otherwise fine ointment was that this was one of the rare occasions when I had managed to convince Paul he wanted to play for us, and consequently it was me who ended up without a game. I shall therefore endeavour to provide some snapshots of the games, whenever I can be bothered to get up from the thrilling cystic fibrosis treatment documents I am currently writing to go and look in the room.

19:30 update: Games in progress:
Kevin Bowman – Paul Lam
Andrew Paterson – Andy Johnson
Abbie Stevens– Mark Page
Current score: Kenilworth 1 – 0 Daventry

20:00 update:
Paul is playing the black side of an English, where his opponent appears to have made the mistake of allowing him tot play e4, horribly cramping the white position. Paul should be somewhat better, and is 7 minutes behind on the clock.
Andy is playing the white side of an exchange Slav (boo!), and is probably very slightly better as he has managed to exchange off his bad bishop. A minimal edge at best, however.
Mark is also playing the black side of an English, though his opponent appears to have played it slightly better than Paul's. Still, she has fianchettoed on the kingside and then managed to trap her bishop away from the g2 square, so I would assume Mark does have at least some edge. He is 13 minutes behind on the clock.
Current score: Kenilworth 1 – 0 Daventry

20:30 update:
Paul still looks somewhat better, with a space advantage and two bishops, though there still doesn't appear to be anything too decisive. He is 3 minutes down on the clock.
Andy has won a rook, or at very least the exchange and a pawn if he can't get his knight back out. His opponent missed a simple fork and, with the rest of the position still symmetric he should be comfortably winning.
Mark adopted a Dutch setup, and has begun a very dangerous looking kingside attack. It may just be possible to defend, but I would place a bet on Mark crashing through to mate or considerable material gain before too long. He is 22 minutes down on the clock.
Current score: Kenilworth 1 – 0 Daventry

21:00 update:
Paul is now a clear exchange up. There is still some complexity in the position but it shouldn't last too much longer now. He is 8 minutes down on the clock.
Andy is a piece and pawn up, still in a mostly symmetrical position so it shouldn't last too much longer now.
Mark did give mate, or at least came sufficiently close that his opponent was forced to resign.
It looks like I am going to be the only member of the team who doesn't win a game of chess over the board today.
Current score: Kenilworth 2 – 0 Daventry

21:30 update:
No real change. We continue to be completely winning in both games, but they have not been won yet.
Current score: Kenilworth 2 – 0 Daventry

21:52 update:
The match is now over, with both players wrapping up convincing if not overly dramatic games. A solid win, and let's hope our future opponents are equally generous with their team selection.
Final score: Kenilworth 4 – 0 Daventry