Traditionally when a club's A-team plays its B-team there is an expectation that the former will come away with the points, but at Downend & Fishponds, things are rarely quite so simple!

With both teams at full strength, everyone was ready to put an end to the week of draws and we were underway at almost the correct time.

Nigel played classically, gaining a strong centre with plenty of space and good development, while Henry opted for, and I'm quoting wikipedia here, "a dubious variation". Chris decided to play that opening he knows against Javier which is always a treat for the fans, although Javier made it look much more interesting than usual. Mike's game with Charlie had the look of a professional game where white maintains the sort of persistent edge that makes one wonder why anyone still plays 1. e4 (the computer disagrees with my assessment, but I really don't think they're going to catch on anytime soon). Richard decided to go straight into what will one day be known as the Martin variation, and after grabbing a-pawn, had a wild-looking game. My game with Ian was breaking new ground in Alekhine theory, which will no doubt be picked up by the top grandmasters looking to make a quick draw. Jerry opted to avoid the behemoth that is Dave's theoretical knowledge but ended up facing it anyway.

Unsurprisingly, the first to finish was Henry. Surprisingly, he had won. Knowing that theory demanded he sacrifice a queenside pawn, he tried to calculate, but being unable to decide which one, where and when, thought better of it and captured one instead. After a bit of top-level piece shuffling and two further pawns Nigel decided that he'd had enough. Meanwhile, Charlie and Dave appeared to be having a competition as to who could get further down on the clock, though our resident doctor should have known better than to take on the time-trouble maestro. I turned down a draw offer, but there was really very little life in our game.

Charlie appeared to have solved black's problems in his game and with a level position reached a draw was agreed. Jerry had a promising queenside attack and an extra 40 minutes so the pressure was certainly on Dave. Ian and I played a few more moves and after a moment of worry about my bishop running out of squares, there was no denying it any longer; we agreed a draw.

Dave found some strong counter-play on the kingside which left Jerry with too little time to attack the queenside and a draw was agreed. Chris, confused and a shade worse, offered a draw but Javier was playing for the win, albeit under considerable time pressure. Unfortunately a few moves later he went to play and touched a piece that, when moved, would leave another en prise and Chris found himself bumbling into the win. After their midgame excitement Martin and Richard had reached a level ending, but a small blunder left Richard pouncing on the win.

All in all, it was a very good result for the A-team, but certainly a little generous given the state of the games earlier on in the evening.