First and foremost, a big thank you to Bath for hosting this Knockout Final, delayed by Covid from the Spring of 2020. We had been fortunate to get things moving at the club a couple of months ago and interest was keen. But then we are always hopeful! We had a modest rating advantage but we were well aware that these things can count for nothing in the heat of a Cup Final. And so it transpired.

This report has been concocted before we have access to all the game scores, so it may be lacking in scintillating analysis ("No change there, then", did I hear somebody comment?) You will have to make do with a general flavour of what turned out to be a most entertaining evening. Later on, as the score sheets come in, perhaps you will be able to see if you agree with this narrative.

First blood went to Bath when an intriguing game suddenly turned round. Nigel had great pressure on the long diagonal with his Queen supported by a bishop on b7. White, meanwhile, had a similar amount of pressure down the h-file, which necessitated Nigel un-castling to avoid his King being caught. It seemed evenly balanced when White put in a check which forced Nigel's King onto the back rank, leaving his rook on h8 undefended and that, sadly, was curtains.

Then Martin converted a heavy piece ending which started a pawn up and ended with a Queen skewer. The last time Martin played in a Knockout Final at Bath he kept us all on tenterhooks for half an hour before clinching the draw that won the match, so it was good to know that he wasn't going to put us through that all over again.

Soon Steve and Roy agreed a grandmaster draw after a certain amount of jockeying for position but no serious fisticuffs.

So it was level at half time and Tyson's and Aron's games appeared promising while Graham's was beginning to look a tad dodgy and the others (that's Oscar and Oli) were too close to call.

It was indeed Tyson's and Aron's games that finished next. Tyson had pressure down a central file in a Q & R ending and won a pawn but allowed an invasion which muddied the water sufficiently to deny him the opportunity to capitalise and, once he could make no further progress without conceding a perpetual, he agreed a draw.

Aron, meanwhile, had seen into a combination which left him with two bishops against a rook. The pawns were in groups of three and two for both players on each side of the board and Aron proceeded to give us a masterclass in proving the strength of the two bishops. He was able to infiltrate his King against the pair of Black K-side pawns while all the time restricting the King and rook and when those two pawns fell Matthew conceded.

Which left the score 3-2 in our favour but with care needed because our two wins were on boards seven and eight and board count could still come into play.

Graham's misfortune had been that in a Queenless middle game one of his rooks had become trapped and, after much tricky play, he emerged the exchange down and with a lot less time on the clock. The good news was that he had a bishop and an extra pawn against a rook and pawns all on the same side of the board and it looked improbable that White could make any headway. But with his time advantage Patrick kept probing anyway, until finally admitting he could not win. Now we just needed one more point from Oscar and Oli, otherwise we would lose on board count.

In fact Oscar resolved the situation when his advantage, with Adam's King somewhat stranded in the centre, finally told. It had been arguably the most entertaining game of the evening with relentless pressure built up by Oscar, while all along carefully snuffing out any glimmer of serious counter attack against his own King.

Oli had used more time in a complicated middle game and won the exchange at the cost of having his King awkwardly placed and his Rooks with some difficulty in defending all his pawns. He was hanging in well despite having only the increment to play with but, once the match had been decided by Oscar's win, he finally overstepped the time limit while trying to continue the struggle.

It had been an excellent effort by both clubs to find eight players willing to compete in this match and, although we were delighted to retain the trophy, it had been a very tense finish to a close fought match. Let's hope the League now makes arrangements for this competition to start all over again in the not too distant future.

There is also a comprehensive gallery of the night as taken by John Stubbs!