With 13 points from 13 matches we were arguably already just safe from relegation but we faced in Horfield A a team who had only recently beaten South Bristol A. As we faced our usual 12 rating point shortfall this was never going to be easy but we were pleased to have James again completing the team.

Fortunately I had White against Steve and selected a super-stodgy variation against his French. Most of the bits were off by move 19 and a ceasefire was agreed soon after. At this stage the match seemed finely poised with no clear advantages although Michael looked as though he was developing pressure against Derek.

Half a pint later it was more promising. Michael's pressure was becoming very threatening in an ending with a knight against an inferior bishop. In a rook ending Martin had extra pawns on the side of the board where it mattered more. Although James was minus an exchange he had all sorts of attacking pressure down the g file and some of Mike's pieces were sidelined on the h file. Nigel appeared to be holding Carl with Black and Andrew had built a promising attack and won a-pawn.

Then came a double strike. Chris's pawn majority on the K-side became gridlocked and Martin had the luxury of yielding one of his Q-side pawns in order to force the rooks off and then his king shepherded the other one home. Almost simultaneously James won back the exchange and then a piece. By then Mike had nearly run out of time and it was just a question of James keeping his king safe before he concluded an excellent win.

So now 2.5-0.5 and Michael was spoilt for choice as to how to convert his advantage with potentially passed-pawns on both sides - this one clinched the match result.

Meanwhile Nigel and Andrew continued the fight. Nigel's pawns were difficult to defend and eventually Carl won one and, after further simplification, in a time scramble, was able to reach the eighth rank with check. Andrew had made all the running and gained material and the win will probably be evident to our silicon friend. But Phil hung in there and in the end time pressure played a part. This was a shame because it had been a very good game and Andrew deserved to get something.

So a narrow win in the end but two invaluable points and this puts us third for the time being! We can still have a huge impact on both ends of the table and shall be able to do so free from any points-pressure. But first we have to see if we can repeat the result next week over eight boards when Horfield revisit us in the KO.