It was going to be one of those nights to remember. The B-team at home to Clevedon A and the minor knockout team at home to Cabot augured well for a successful night's work.

Aron tried to start things going really well with an enterprising Bxh7+ sacrifice on board six. He built a strong attack (rather on the lines of his trophy winning effort from last season) and then messed it up, only for his opponent to out-blunder him and allow mate in two. Fortune favours the brave, they say. Unfortunately, that was as good as it got, with the end result being a loss on board count.

But still, it was pretty good.

We had much better prospects in the division one game where we out-graded the opposition comfortably but it turned out to be something out of the Hammer House of Horrors. There's no point in dwelling on the losses on boards four to six, which were pretty comprehensive and best forgotten. We did have chances on the top boards, though, but in the end Mike and Oli were unable to force home their advantages. The oustanding performance was Steve's, who cashed in on some inaccurate opening moves and by move 8 had won a-pawn and wrecked the White K-side. It was one of those positions where you expect a class player to convert - this is exactly what Steve achieved and the game is there for members to view.

So, a 4-2 defeat and we must lick our wounds before the final outing of the year away to Bath next week. After all, if the A-team can beat them, surely the Bs can too!

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention, Clevedon did play well, dammit! It had been one of those nights to forget.