Four matches this week
The A team came up just short against Downend A in their third close match in a row. Andy H was a last minute replacement for Matias on board 1 and battled long and hard against Oli but wasn’t able to hold the endgame. Derek won our only full point on board 3. It looks like it is going to be a competitive division 1 this season but we are certainly not out of having a part to play in the top end of the table. Match card here.
A weakened B team had a tough assignment away to Downend B on Wednesday and just missed out on halving the match. Nigel won his game nicely on board 4 with a well spotted tactic that picked up a piece otherwise we weren’t able to quite do enough in the other games. Match card here.
The C team were at home against Clevedon B and won 4-2, which was our only team win of the week. The match was in the balance for most of the evening after an early win for Joe and two draws on the middle boards was followed by Nigel coming up short against David Wilson. However, James (3.5/4) and Duncan (3/3) continued their excellent form for the C team to win their matches and ensure we took the points. Match card here.
Finally the E team got a bit of a pasting from Yate B who are one of three strong teams in Div 5 (along with Bristol 4 Knights and Cabot A). Mike got the solitary half point when Rob agreed to a draw in a position where Mike was up against it. Scott thought he might win a rook but ended up getting tangled, Mark went down in an endgame to a more active rook and a good knight, bad bishop combo. Alex maybe could have trapped his Chris’s queen but after that it unravelled for him. Match card here.
Horfield & Redland Chess Club 