Bath C have been doing well in Division Three, so we knew we were up for a tough match and no doubt they wanted revenge for the result from our trip to their place.

From where I was sitting, we were starting off OK because Elmira was building a space advantage against Barry and, by the time it came down Q + R + N each, she had much better piece play. Meanwhile my Sicilian was proceeding pretty much according to plan against Josh with the classical d5 break accomplished on move 15.

Looking around, the middle boards were very interesting. Mike had been gambitted by Lucy – the Morra gambit, no less. Shades of Mike Wood! (In fact you can check out his famous win against “Bill” Oddy of Bath in the games section.) Alexis had a wild game against Eliott and seemed to have won a rook with his knight still on a8. If both those games went with White’s attack, they would cancel each other out.

The bottom two boards were harder to call. If anything, Dan had a slightly worse position against Greig, while Dave was level in a rook and pawn ending with Mauro but with somewhat awkward pawns. There was still all to play for on both of these.

The middle boards were possibly the first to finish. Mike had to give up the exchange to thwart the worst of the enemy attacks on his f7 square. Although he fought hard for counter-play, he had to concede in the end. Running short of time, Alexis found his opponent was somehow able to turn the tables.

Then Dave’s ending proved too difficult to save. But Elmira handled her advantage clinically and liquidated to an ending where she had at least one unstoppable pawn. My solid position was able to resist anything thrown at me and, when he overstretched slightly, I won a piece and, soon after, the game.

Now the match hung on whether Dan could pull off an unlikely swindle. There were at least some drawing possibilities but in the end the complications all went against him.

So the upshot was that Bath prevailed by 4-2 and leapfrogged above the D team in the group of teams bunched towards the top of table. Well done to them!

Ian Pickup