The B-team needed a good result against University to rise above the A-team again but, with Oli unwell, I was drafted in the last minute to make up the numbers (with Black, of course). It turned out that University were having difficulties raising a team and they had two ungraded newcomers on the bottom boards. We out-graded them heavily on all boards so the omens were very much in our favour.

I think I was first to clinch a point and Andrew was not long after. My opponent spent too much time advancing both rook pawns and got mated in the centre. Andrew had played riskily, sacrificing a piece and was definitely worse when a huge blunder cost Black his Queen. But the startling game was Chirag's. One minute it all seemed blocked against Alice. But the next time I looked Chirag had evidently taken an almighty can opener to the position and he had two Queens and a Rook against one Queen! Once a few nuisance checks had been dealt with, checkmate swiftly followed.

Next to finish was Mike. Andrei played the first 20 or so moves well and Mike had only obtained a slight positional advantage but when he was able to break up Black's kingside pawns and get overwhelming control of the open e file the scene was set for a tactic and Mike duly found a crushing one to settle things, making the score 4-0.

Martin had a very complex game with Alex where both sides missed things in the middle game. Alex won an exchange but Martin had a tactic to win it back and emerged with a passed c-pawn while Alex had doubled passed a-pawns. Martin queened first, necessitating the giving up of a knight. He was able to blockade the a-pawns easily enough and, facing the threat of losing them, Alex ran out of time.

The other wacky game was Steve's. Facing a speculative bishop sacrifice on f7, he parried the early threats while a second and then a third pawn fell. By then he had got his King to safety on c8 and the engine says it was level but Ian had four connected passed-pawns on the K-side. But when Steve opted to exchange rooks rather than snaffle a-pawn (which would have opened the back door to White's King) suddenly White was able to shepherd his h-pawn home and, once a few checks had been seen off it was all over. Very exciting stuff!

So, the points need to propel the B-team back above the A-team had been safely gathered in. But, how long will it last, I wonder!