Downend's customary mixture of regulars and keen substitutes turned up to be faced with a formidable Clifton B-team with their top four boards all rated above or around 200.

The top two boards both started with (slightly different) theoretical lines of the Open Catalan, on Board 3 Martin was playing sensible classical moves against his opponents unusual Queen's Gambit set up. Dominique on Board 4 was heading down a sharp line against the Dragon Sicilian whilst Toby on Board 5 was countering John's c3 Sicilian with a line leading to White having an isolated d-pawn. Board 6 saw another Sicilian type structure in which Keith was establishing some advantage.

By the halfway mark Martin had unraveled his somewhat cramped position in fine style to secure the draw; Dominique's game had become very complex, with an exchange sac to open up the Black king. Toby was struggling to develop in the type of position in which John has lots of experience, material was soon lost and with it the game. Keith had won a pawn and was striving to consolidate. On top board Chris's queen had some pressure on Oscar's queenside but Oscar's pieces were getting active against the White centre .On Board 2 Nigel should have developed more aggressively instead of trying to recover the gambit pawn and was heading for a passive position where his major pieces couldn't find good squares.

As the match headed towards its conclusion Dominique couldn't find enough play as his opponent consolidated the extra material; the most interesting game of the night. Keith slipped under pressure and lost not only his extra pawn but more besides to go down in an ending. Board 1 reached a draw with Oscar's knight harassing the enemy rook but no realistic chance of more. Nigel had lost the exchange and some secure play by Andrew clinched the point in the last game to finish.

Overall we fought hard but they were too strong in the crucial moments but professionals would say that there were lots of positives to take out of the match.