Word on the street had been that South Bristol weren't going to be able to bring their strongest team for this match, which suited us, having not won a match since September. Unfortunately, that also meant that we hadn't a clue as to who we would be facing. As it happened, there were still three 190-strength players on the top boards. Due to some delays however, the lower boards were late getting started and board 6 was defaulted entirely. Captain Jerry kindly swapped with me to go coach the juniors and I moved up to board 5.

By now the top three boards had already got underway. Henry had entered a heavily theoretical and fashionable Grünfeld Defence about which he knew nothing. He grabbed a-pawn fairly early on, but at the cost of a dangerous lack of development and his control of the dark squares. Chris had also entered a theoretical variation with his trademark disregard for positional familiarity. Current team hero Richard was playing ex-Downend & Fishponds tactic wizard Humphrey, in a super-sharp Najdorf that immediately burst into life. For the first time we suspected Richard wasn't down a-pawn for nothing!

In the slower games, Charlie had erected a strong central bind and looked to have a good long-term positional potential. My game switched between French and Sicilian a few times until I found myself in an unfavourable Advance Variation French.

After an hour or so Chris, having spent much more time than his opponent, reached a level endgame and agreed a draw. It was a well-played game but both sides, but it's probably fair to say that it wasn't the most enthralling of battles and Chris was mercilessly berated. Meanwhile, Henry appeared to be paying for his positional problems and despite having the exchange was forced to give up his rook for a problematic passed-pawn. Richard appeared to be making the most of the initiative as Humphrey was unable to comfortably castle and had somewhat misplaced pieces, although his time was getting noticeably low..

In Charlie's game black had managed to break the bind and was suddenly back in the game, while I had snatched a-pawn at the expense of the bishop pair, a dreadful backward-pawn and a very weak e5 square.

Patryk made light work of mopping up Henry's extra pawns with his extra piece and eventually the game was lost. Despite the default, South Bristol were now level! I exchanged into an opposite coloured bishop ending with my extra pawn, removing a number of weaknesses, but without much hope of more than a draw. Charlie's game began to look drawish too, which really put the pressure on Richard. Fortunately, he had levelled the time and even won an exchange.

With help from David's low time, I managed to set just enough problems to allow black to convert the position (my first win since May!), and Charlie agreed a draw. Although a draw would have been enough to see the match out, Richard appeared to be diligently converting his position but once Charlie's game ended, Humphrey blundered a piece which ended the match immediately.

Our first win since September! Let's hope we don't have to wait so long for our next win!