The Summer Swiss has started strong with 10 participants, many of whom were new faces at the club, including an overseas visitor in Chris Lamming, starting off with a solid win against Fess Vehbi on board 1 on the Black side of a Sicilian Dragon.
Fess set up a Yugoslav Attack formation, but was somewhat delayed in pushing the h-pawn, allowing Chris time to counter-attack in the centre and stave off the eventual kingside threats.

Board 2 saw Jack Smith play a surprisingly uninspiring Scotch Gambit against Rodel Sicat; Rodel stepped off the beaten track, and Jack had a small and pleasant edge but failed to do much with it; pieces came off the board and it looked quite drawish until Rodel took one too many pawns and allowed Jack a nice trick to trap the bishop.

Newcomer James Davidson took the White pieces against Geoff Davis on board 3 in a “delayed alapin Sicilian”; Geoff got early pressure against the e4 pawn, and James didn’t find the right response; he eventually resigned down a few pieces.

On board 4, Serge Curbeil made an appearance against Aidan Vehbi; clearly an experienced player, Serge took control with a Stonewall structure, and quickly checkmated the youngster.

Geoff Barber took a bye in the first round, but Anakin Kotus did not go without a game; a visiting Geoffrey Gill had a casual game or two with him, and Anakin got the full point bye.

Round 1 results:
Fess Vebhi vs Chris Lamming 0-1
Jack Smith vs Rodel Sicat 1-0
James Davidson vs Geoff Davis 0-1
Serge Curbeil vs Aidan Vehbi 1-0
Anakin Kotus vs BYE 1-0
Geoff Barber requested BYE .5

Round 2 pairings:
Chris Lamming vs Serge Curbeil
Anakin Kotus vs Jack Smith
Geoff Davis vs Geoff Barber
Rodel Sicat vs Fess Vehbi
Aidan Vehbi vs James Davidson