On current form this looked a closely matched encounter – but then came Peter Marks’ outstanding contributions. Not satisfied with delivering half the team to Yate and contributing a handily low official rating to the team total he then took revenge on Kevin Langmaid for a defeat in the recent Bristol Congress. Louis was obliged to abandon a bishop in avoiding an even worse tactical surprise and I dozed into a draw from a totally dominating position ; but play on our other boards was reassuringly consistent. All told, a very encouraging team debut.
(1) Bob Radford 1 – 0 Adrian Champion
(2) Nigel Pollett 0.5 – 0.5 Andrew Penn
(3) Louis Martin 0 – 1 Jeremy Gardner
(4) Tom Holmes 1 – 0 Pete McAfee
(5) Howard Milbank 0.5 – 0.5 Ben Mumford
(6) Peter Marks 1 – 0 Kevin Langmaid
HORFIELD 4 – 2 YATE
NB: Horfield were black on boards 2, 4 and 6
