Monday night saw one of the busiest SASCA nights in many years, with no fewer than five SASCA teams in action at the same time - leading us to wonder whether this is a record. Even in bygone days more than two decades ago where 6 SASCA teams were operating, can we really have ever had 5 of them all playing at once?
The night was complicated as the power had been cut across half of the venue, meaning that teams had to play in classrooms dotted around the school.
SASCA A played one of the toughest sides in the division, Phoenix A. But whilst the early signs looked good, the bottom boards struggled and the team eventually went down to a 4-2 defeat. Jonathan Arnott maintained his 100% record in the league this season after just managing to outplay Carl Walker in a rook and pawn ending, Gordon Stables had to settle for a draw against Farshad Ai, as did James Kirk against John Mercy - James Kirk playing his first match of the season for the team. But there was disappointment as Miles Edwards-Wright lost from a promising position and Tom Wills lost having been an exchange and a pawn up in the opening (but with pieces hopelessly misplaced, allowing his opponent to generate swift counterplay). Steve Gibbs lost.to Tristram Cole from a position where Tristram controlled the centre of the board well.
SASCA C fared somewhat better against Phoenix C, with a comfortable 4-2 victory following wins from Stephen Lee, James McClure, Isaac Stables and Byron Hemingway.
SASCA E played two matches on the same night, with one 'E' team travelling to play Woodseats D whilst a separate team of players faced SASCA D. Both SASCA D and Woodseats D came out on top, each winning 6-0.