Match reports for this week. A good week.

Three matches two wins and a draw. Well done us. Firstly Phil’s A team report. Back top of the table:

A team bounces back

It had been a rather frantic build-up to the match.  Tom was away, stranded by flooding, and at least a dozen B and C team players had been tried before Joe stepped up to complete the team less than 80 minutes before kick-off.

I got the first point on the board when Max dropped a piece out of the opening.  Steve added another half soon after when solid play from both players left few winning chances for either.

Oscar seemed to be developing strong queenside pressure in a queenless middlegame but then Matias’s position sprang to life.  He coordinated his pieces beautifully to strangle any counterplay: Oscar resigned facing mate and/or colossal material loss.

Meanwhile, board 6 had swung back our way. It started with a strong attack from Joe which appeared to have been successfully rebutted, having lost his advanced pawn and being pushed back.  Rather than accept this fate Joe found a series of tactics to keep the initiative and his opponent’s king exposed, which ultimately led to an excellent victory.

Board 4 seemed to consist mainly of an endless double rook ending with Peter probing at will in a dominant position: It was just a question of whether he had enough to win.  Or so we all thought: Martin showed excellent patience and resilience and ended up pushing through his h pawn.  Thankfully the match was already safe at this stage.

Derek knew he was in for a tough game with his opponent’s 2 recent tournament wins and 100% league record.  It was a tense affair, Derek trying to attack on the kingside and Haroon developing an initiative on the queenside, and it wasn’t until most of the other games had finished that any pieces were exchanged.  I thought Derek might have over-extended his position but in a matter of minutes an ending was reached, ultimately with Derek having knight and 3 pawns (2 of them doubled) against bishop and pawn.

Derek tried various ways to win but was held off.  Haroon decided to force matters when he confidently exchanged the minor pieces to reach a drawn king and pawn ending, which was then agreed, after which Haroon pointed out that it was actually lost for him.

Never mind (again), 2 more valuable match points earned. Match card here

C team report: No drama

Cold night south of the river.

The first point was secured by Judd against Rich. White had control out of the opening and black felt compelled to offer the exchange sacrifice which allowed his knights to take up good positions. However, once Judd organised he had too much material and finished the game in a controlled fashion. Cabot levelled on board 4 after James F got squeezed by James P’s big pawn centre, couldn’t find good squares for his pieces and the pressure told.

On the other boards it looked advantage Horfield and so it came to pass. Nigel and Tim resolved a blocked up drawish drawn game by agreeing to a draw. Shortly afterwards Alan won well against Alastair. Initially it looked like white would break through on the king side with all his pieces active however black defended accurately and the game entered a bishop vs knight endgame where Alan was a pawn up and his bishop dominated the knight and black accepted the inevitable. Pete won comfortably enough against Oleksii targeting black’s pinned black bishop to create material-winning threats. Black tried to create counterplay but it ended up loosening the position and white won with a checkmate.

Finally, Joe overcame stubborn resistance from Mike on board six to win his second game in two days and finish the match with a solid away win to get the season going again.

Cabot’s new home is really good; nice space, nice bar, let us hope they can stay there. A vast improvement on the Colosseum. Match card here.

Finally E team: Captain composed

The E team kept their unbeaten record with a fifth draw in a row. Ryan had won his game but we were a point down with only Graham and Alfie still playing. Graham had a bishop and rook vs rook with random pawns but it wasn’t obvious and inevitably he had one minute against black’s ten minutes. However, he kept his unflappable composure and found enough good moves to win the game and daw the match. Match card here.

Well done captain!