Horfield arrived with a strong team to meet the equally impressive side that Steve had assembled. Battle was joined with Steve and Derek opting for a sharp Caro Kann line while Nigel and Peter hammered down the same main line they had played earlier in the season. Oli had a solid position against Mike who, playing his first match of the season, had sacrificed his f pawn in a standard idea to attempt to get some play. Board 4 looked well balanced in a Queen's Gambit type position. Board 5 had Aron with a solid structure in a Caro Kann Advance whilst on board 6 Aldrin had established a space advantage in yet another Caro Kann.

The first game to finish was on board 6 where Aldrin converted his space advantage into a decisive kingside attack with the aid of an exchange sacrifice and a clean impressive win was achieved. Board 1 had become very complex with Derek sacrificing the exchange to open up Steve's kingside and get lots of play. Steve defended resiliently and the position resolved itself into a drawn ending. On Board 3 Oli had negated any play Mike may have been getting and counterattacked against Mike's queenside castled strucuture, leading to simplification to an ending where Oli's central pawns were about to storm down the board.

The next game to finish was board 2 where Nigel's early queenside pressure had been replaced with some typically dynamic King's Indian counterplay from Peter. Nigel went over to the defensive on the kingside to force the queens off, when more active play on the open a-file may have been a better bet. The outcome was an ending where Peter had taken possession of the a-file and used it accurately to force a win, our first decisive game in seven attempts.

So Downend were 2.5-1.5 ahead and things were looking good on the remaining boards. On board 4 Reinhold had better central control to compensate for a somewhat weaker pawn structure whilst on board 5 Aron had considerable play against white's static and weakened pawn structure. Both games resolved themselves in Downend's favour as Reinhold's kingside pawns rolled forward and clinched the victory despite Phil's customary resistance. And then Aron won some pawns and simplified to a rook ending in which he gave his opponent no chance of recovery.

Overall then a pleasing 4.5-1.5 victory against one of the stronger sides in the league, with all our youngsters getting deserved wins.