First team drew with Wandering Dragons 1

Crawford Macnab

24 February 2026

Having lost 5 - 1 in the first fixture in December this was going to be a tough one with everyone outgraded and their board six higher rated than our board two!

Finished with a well earned 3 - 3 draw.

Allan was first to finish having accepted an early draw offer from his opponent with lots of pieces still on the board. Perhaps he had one eye on how the other boards were looking at the time.

My opponent made multiple knight manoeuvres that I didn’t understand which allowed me to grab pawns on b7 and c6. His Rb8 to chase my queen was followed up by a capture of my pawn on b2. Although gaining back a pawn this did not help with his development and led to an early resignation as this rook was trapped a few moves later.

Euan had a tough one and was unable to hold a rook and pawn ending a pawn down.

Eric had a solid draw on board six that left the match balanced at 2 - 2.

Richard game was very interesting with his opponents Rd7 going to win a bishop but there was some compensation against the slightly exposed white king that was still on e1. Rather than capture the bishop, Walter sacrificed his rook on f7 which led to a king hunt and in the end an eventual mate. It will be interesting to see if the computer shows an alternative king walk that would have survived.

On top board Marcel did not feel he played his best but in the end he broke through on the kingside with a mating attack. A great result against an IM opponent!

This drawn match moves us to six points and fourth place and ensures that with one match left we will either finish fourth or fifth.