Newark 1 travelled to bottom-of-the-league Nomads 1 in Nottingham for the final league match of the season knowing that a win would definitely keep the team in Division One.
The first game to finish saw Keith Aiton give Newark the lead when he won his game after his better placed pieces produced a winning attack.
Ben Poulteney gave another good performance when he secured a draw on board 5, that kept Newark ahead in the match.
Alex Combie had a two pawn material advantage from the opening but suffered from lack of development. Eventually his opponent, David Flynn, recovered the pawns and then won the ending to level the match again.
After getting an equal position from his opening, Graham Ladds created pressure on the queen side from his advanced pawns and this gained him an advantage. His opponent could not get any worthwhile counter-play on the king side. This win once again gave Newark the lead.
In the final game to finish, Martyn Winn could not defend his king side from a penetrating attack late in the evening. His opponent, Maurice Hill, used all his experience to open up Martyn’s defence to win the game and draw the match .
This left Newark 1 on 8 league points. Fortunately the following evening Gambit 2 (with 7 league points) were defeated by West Bridgford 3.5 -1.5 so Gambit 2 are relegated and Newark 1 retains Division One status for next season.