Downend & Fishponds B went down 4-2 to a strong Bristol & Clifton B side, but made them work for it. Clifton out-rated us on every board, by an average of 146 points (2020 against 1874), and the bottom five boards produced only one defeat between them. The difference came on boards 1 and 3.

To summarise:

• Board 1: Stephen Meek lost with Black to Michael Ashworth (2118), the closest-rated pairing of the night.
• Board 2: Peter Chaplin drew with White against IM Chris Beaumont (2104), a half point well earned against one of the strongest players in the league.
• Board 3: Martin White had the toughest job of the night, giving away 252 points to Colin Davis (2114), and lost with Black.
• Board 4: Carolus Tang held Robert Ashworth (1970) to a draw with White, from 178 points down.
• Board 5: David Tipper drew with Black against Igor Doklestic (1925), from 176 points down.
• Board 6: Elmira Walker drew with White against Anay Misra (1888), from 177 points down.

Three draws from the bottom three boards, each against an opponent rated around 175 points higher, is a result the team can be proud of and, on this showing, the B team can take points off anyone in the division. In fact, if we analyse the drawn games, we find that on another day we would surely have converted some of them to wins

Still waiting for that first win but on this showing the B team can certainly compete in division one, and next up is Bath A away on Wednesday 28 October.