Muldoons 1 gain breathing space as Strand 1 slip up

Division 1

• Ballynafeigh 2 1.5-3.5 Muldoons 1
• The A Team 1-4 Civil Service
• Strand 1 2-3 Ballynafeigh 1

Muldoons 1 won, as expected, against Ballynafeigh 2 on Tuesday night, but given that they were favourites by well over 200 points per board, they will probably have wanted a more convincing margin of victory. Although Strand 1 were the slight underdogs on rating going into their Friday night match with Ballynafeigh 1, their superior form meant Muldoons 1 had reasons to be nervous about their slim lead. In the end, though, their lead actually grew as despite a shock win for Calum Leitch over Ulster Champion Steve Scannell, the Silver King holders delivered the kind of performance that brought the title to the Ormeau Road with a 3-2 win. David Houston came out on top against Nikhil Joshi in the battle of the two highest-rated players to take part in the league so far this season, while the two Damiens, Cunningham and Lavery, also came away from the Strand Arts Centre with full points. At the other end of the table, The A Team lost ground with a 4-1 loss against Civil Service. Danny Roberts, Mark Newman and Paul McGuigan won for the visitors while the other two games were drawn.

Division 2

• Muldoons 2 4-0 Ballynafeigh 4
• Fruithil Ravens 0-5 Strand 4
• Bangor 4-1 Ballynafeigh 3

It was almost a week of whitewashes in Division 2, but Ballynafeigh 3's Derek Truesdale (997) had other ideas as he pulled off the upset of the week against Bangor's Mark Seidman (1533). In the week's other matches, Muldoons 2 moved to within 8.5 points of leaders Kelly's Heroes (with a match in hand) by beating Ballynafeigh 4, and Strand 4 beat the Fruithill Ravens.