| Saxmundham A | | 2.5 – 1.5 | Stowmarket | |
| 1 | Simon Wilks | 1917 | 1 – 0 | Tim Lunn | 2063 |
| 2 | Malcolm Lightfoot | 1912 | 0 – 1 | Stephen Lewis | 1961 |
| 3 | John Feavyour | 1840 | 0.5 – 0.5 | James Irwin | 1777 |
| 4 | Sam Gaffney | 1835 | 1 – 0 | David Green (DEF) | |
The A Team began their home fixtures with a narrow 2.5 – 1.5 win over Stowmarket. Crucially, the visitors gifted a vital point when their Board 4 failed to appear, and they had to default the game.
Of the games that did play, Malcolm was first to finish. Having built up an advantageous position against his opponent’s Scandinavian Defence, he overlooked a simple zwischenzug (an ‘inbetween’ move) that led to the loss of a piece, prompting instant resignation.
With the match all square, John was facing a tough ‘heavy piece’ ending (Queen plus two Rooks each) but could not find a way to break through, leading to an agreement to share the point.
This left Simon battling on, having employed the dynamic Modern Benoni Defence leading to an exciting unbalanced fight. At one point Simon had offered the exchange (swap of a Rook for a minor piece) and had a Knight en prise. His opponent (probably wisely) declined, but Simon later crashed through for an impressive win, clinching the match for the home team.