The C team continued the struggle to challenge for the Division Two title with a match against our own D team - certainly not opposition to be taken lightly - witness their position of fourth in the table.

From the C team's perspective the match got off to a very bad start as the scoresheet showed that Pete had lost to Jack in double quick time, with White to boot! It was quite a relief when somebody noticed the result had been written down back to front. The opening had been the same as Pete's much more long drawn out win against North Bristol A, just a few weeks before. In both games Pete adopted a cunning plan to give up two minor pieces in order to snare the Black Queen. At North Bristol he had made a bit of a meal of it but this time his little grey cells were spared as Jack decided it really wasn't worth flogging a dead horse and resigned on move 7.

Things also looked hairy on Dave's board where he was taking twenty minutes deciding whether to re-capture a bishop with his King or a knight. It was only move 11! Eventually he chose the riskier of the two and kept his fingers crossed that John didn't know the strongest follow up. I suppose if you insist on playing openings like that you must take chances and on this occasion Dave got away with it because he was able to wreck John's pawn structure while keeping the White King stuck in the centre, leaving all to play for.

Meanwhile I had shed a pawn by move 14 but at the cost of Dave giving up his better bishop and having lost the right to castle. I had a strong attack and really should have converted the win fairly comfortably but for some inexplicable reason I stubbornly refused to play the best move (Qg3) on moves 21, 22, 23 & 24 and the fourth time it threw away most of my advantage. We were both down to two or three minutes by then and the saving grace for me was that I was still asking all the questions and when Dave finally played one inaccuracy I was able to win sufficient material to force resignation. It was a pity for me that I spoiled what should have been a nice win and a pity for Dave that, after hanging in for so long, he went wrong in the end.

By the time the dust had settled in Dave's game, with the Queens off and John's King still exposed, Dave was in fact a pawn down. However, John's pawns were just about as horrible as could be imagined (on a2, c2, c3, h2 and h4) and his King was forced to march halfway across the board before Dave mopped up the h pawns. Now, with two connected passed King-side pawns, Dave finally forced the win on move 47. For those fortunate enough to be able to retire downstairs a full post mortem on the opening in question was available, courtesy of Dave.

So it was over to Steve to see if he could get anything out of Black against James. A quiet opening burst into life when James won a pawn and, having castled himself, had Steve's King caught in the centre. Steve's main compensation was a pair of knights on c4 and e4 and open lines to attack the castled King. Those knights were able to win an exchange although there was such pressure in return that the engine still called it level for several moves. Steve returned the exchange and pieces were swapped off to reach a Q and P ending where Steve was able to garner a majority of four to one, which proved more than enough once he managed to exchange the Queens. It had been a tough game where James fought very hard but in vain in the end.

So it was 4-0 and just what the C team needed to stay top of the table and improve our game points total as well. With three rounds to go, the question is can we hold our nerve and win a trophy for the club?

We took the opportunity to bolt on three additional games which will be rated, although they will not count in the League. Two stalwarts, Grant and Geoff succumbed to relative newcomers, Tom and Nick, while another new face, James, won the junior battle with Senna.