We arrived at Bath to find a newly refurbished playing room and the usual strong side for our top of the table clash.

My (Nigel) game started terribly and I was soon a couple of pawns down and then had to shed the exchange to avoid the loss of my Queen. I struggled on into an ending only the exchange down but Kas gave me no escape as he pushed his c pawn forward and I had to submit.

Pleasingly, by then James had already won on board 3; he got in on the Black squares to win an exchange and successfully eliminated any counterplay. 1-1 and the match in the balance!

An overview had Oli on board 1 level, Haroon on board 2 in some difficulty against Roy’s Queen side pawn majority, Mark in an unconventional position where neither side appeared concerned about development, whilst Reinhold had played the opening unconvincingly and looked to be in some trouble; all to play for then.

Haroon’s position duly collapsed but Reinhold marshalled his forces to drive a passed pawn down the board, win a knight for it and shortly afterwards the whole game, to equalise the match score.

Oli looked slightly worse in an ending, with David’s bishop restraining Oli’s knight.

Mark had reached an objectively strong position, the exchange up with lots of play for both sides- the spectators were hopeful. Sadly this proved to be misplaced as the enemy knights leapt into action to assault Mark’s King and fork King and Queen, and giving Bath a 3-2 lead in the match.

Oli fought to the end and his knight escaped the shackles of David’s bishop. All the pawns were exchanged off, so Bath won the match 3½ -2½ to keep the title race open. Off to the seaside next on Monday at Clevedon.