And how did we need it!
As stated in Andrew's notes it looked difficult after an hour or so. Nigel had arrived in a rather passive position and against such a strong player as Chris, Grendel's new recruit, it seemed likely that he would slowly lose as he appeared to have little or no opportunity for counter-play. Javier's and Michael's games looked rather even and maybe even dull!? (How unkind to our captain!) Martin looked to be doing very well, controlling the position and his opponent was suffering. Ian's opponent was playing just as quickly as he did when he beat me (that's Andrew) last year with Ian well behind on the clock in what seemed an awkward position (but actually not so bad according to other players) - although the time factor meant things were strongly in their favour. Dave's opponent had managed to create a defence that looked very difficult to break down if Dave was to get the win that surely we needed to have any chance in the match. Dave also short of time. Not looking good.
Well... probably no real surprises on 1, 3, 4 and 5 which went as anticipated. (Well, not as I anticipated, thank you, Andrew! But Martin's win was clinical and lovely to watch from the next board.) 1.5-2.5 down. But looking to be drawn on both remaining boards and both our players behind on the clock. Javier down to about 1 minute v 4 minutes and I thought also looking in the worse position. Dave's opponent finding good moves that picked up a-pawn (or two?). Then Javier goes into overdrive and gets counter-play whilst moving far quicker than Alistair, 30 seconds to go and their time is now equal and Javier probably winning, Javier promotes a-pawn and with 1 or 2 seconds left and wins on time!! Great result! Dave's opponent also Queens, illegally, pressing the clock without replacing the-pawn, but Dave misses this and somehow has fallen well behind on the clock, with only a minute left. Then all Dave's pieces disappear except for a Bishop and-pawn whilst his opponent promotes another Queen, again without changing it and makes an illegal move (moving a-pawn horizontally on the back rank) with 4 seconds on his clock against Dave's 60 seconds or so. Confusion reigns. Dave claims an illegal move but does not stop his clock, Geoff, being an arbiter, is asked for help to resolve the confusion in what otherwise could have been a controversial end to the evening. Somebody suggests they agree a draw and this resolves the situation. 3-3. Our first point!
Over to Ian now... Javier's handling of the closing stages (both moves and clock management) was indeed a masterpiece which enabled us to scramble an unlikely point. I'm keeping the whole set of "Chance" cards up my sleeve for the next match. We'll probably need them as it is the mighty League Champions, Downend and Fishponds A who are next up!