This week we hosted league leaders Clifton A and a tough match was anticipated by all. On board 1 , I had the black pieces against IM James Cobb. We've played each other so many times now I think James just wanted to play a fresh position where we could just play chess. Indeed, we ended up in a very offbeat Caro Kan position where we were both out of book by move 4! We navigated the opening accurately and a level position was reached. On board 2 Andrew Cooper faced Gareth Morris in a Rossolimo Sicilian but after an early c3 by white it resembled much more of a good c3 Sicilian for black where the black moves were a bit easier to play.

Board 3 was Dave Collier against Mike Brigden. Mike didn't fancy Dave's trademark Tromp so instead the game went into a Catalan. Black then changed direction again with f5 giving the game a Stonewall Dutch type of position with lots of heavy piece manoeuvring behind the pawn chains. Board 4 was Andrew Munn against Igor Doklestic. Andrew played his favourite Grand Prix attack against the Sicilian and both players played prodding and provoking moves with white having a slight advantage from the opening.

Board 5 was John Waterfield against Dominique Conterno in a Pirc Austrian attack. Black made a positional blunder in the opening but John failed to get the most from it and his advantage evaporated down to a fairly equal position that was perhaps slightly easier to play for white. Board 6 Ian Pickup against James Aldred and via a transposition, a Philidor appeared from a Pirc move order. Both sides developed sensibly then black played the very combatant c5 giving the game an aggressive Sicilian type race feel which was becoming increasingly sharp.

Back on my board things were going well for me and white felt he needed to go for a sharp f5 at the cost of a couple of pawns. James pointed out after the game that I missed a strong knight move that would have put him in all kinds of trouble. The position remained quite sharp where if either of us did anything, it could prove fatal. Instead of staying put I was eager to exchange down with my extra couple of pawns but lost my g-pawn as a result and more importantly gave James a very dangerous and advanced passed pawn. From there he was clinical and won comfortably.

On board 3 Dave and Mike continued heavy piece manoeuvring with a partial blocking of the kingside with the pawn chains limiting the scope of the heavy pieces. They agreed a draw when it became clear it would be difficult to win for either side. On board 5 John's easier to play position had caused Dominique to drop a couple of pawns and with an easily winning ending for John, Dominique resigned.

Ian's game against James continued to be complex with both sides missing wins. Eventually Ian emerged an exchange up but with time lacking, was happy with a draw. This left just boards 2 and 4 remaining. Andrew Cooper had an IQP but had control of the c file in compensation. Gareth declined two draw offers and trying too hard for the win he exchanged knight for bishop on e3 giving the d4 pawn support and advanced his kingside pawns. This was rather weakening and white stood slightly better when a draw was eventually agreed.

Andrew Munn and Igor had an extremely complex position with both sides having weaknesses and kings exposed, but here it was the Downend player who bravely declined a draw and insisted in playing on. There was an appreciative audience as they played close to 50 moves on the increment. It came down to Igor having knight and 5 pawns against knight and 4 pawns and Andrew was about to lose his b-pawn leaving Igor with a passed pawn. Andrew however managed to create his own passed f-pawn by sacrificing his g-pawn and winning Igor's g7 pawn. It looked dangerous and Igor decided to sacrifice his knight for the pawn leaving Andrew with just a knight against 3 pawns. They

were all separated though and his king kept watch on two of them, whilst the knight was able to successfully hold Igor's king and other pawn at bay, eventually being sacrificed for it. Nobody could complain about an early draw. It was king v king!

An enjoyable and eventful match and just a shame that we lost 2-4