To be drawn in the only knockout quarter final against Horfield, a pairing which could easily pass as a strong final, was very much tough luck of the draw. We had our two surprise players; Tyson, who wanted some knockout action and played out of the kindness of his heart, and Lewis, who played like a ruthless mercenary because I agreed to disgrace myself in the 4NCL for his team. Nevertheless, the average grading difference was 1 point in the favour of Horfield, which I'm sure any reader will agree is substantial.

I got there really early, as you can tell by light from the new window.

Board 1

In what was my only correct board pairing prediction of the night, Steve wasted no time in repeating openings and while Derek technically deviated, it was basically the same sort of thing. Despite playing a type of anti-Caro, a completely classical Caro position was reached instead of the closed position of last time. Bits were exchanged, heavy pieces lined up on the d-file, and when Derek had a spare moment he pushed his kingside pawns towards black's king. Though there wasn't a lot of space to work with, Steve injected a rook and then a queen into white's spacious kingside and wreaked havoc offering a choice of exchanges that'd leave defensive holes or position concessions. After snaffling off a third pawn in this manner, and with only queens left, Derek conceded the point.

Board 2

Horfield were quick to take their only point of the night as Richard misplayed his opening after stirring up complications and fell to a tactic that cost him a piece in the midgame. Well done to Stephen for his scintillating play!

Board 3

Tyson appeared to have been under some space pressure in the opening but was quick to untangle and resolve the thorny white-pawn on d5 issue. Once the position had been levelled and black had a comfortable presence in the centre and on the kingside, black offered a draw which was quickly accepted.

Board 4

Lewis had a slow grind of a game that combined all the quietness of an Italian, the manoeuvring of a Spanish, and the likelihood of a win from a Petroff. Despite some piece exchanges, Lewis was able to win a-pawn which appeared to be lodged on c7. Not content with that, he then gave that extra-pawn back for an even more concrete passed-pawn on d6. The endgame was then Lewis' rook and knight pressing the-pawn forwards against Paul's rook and bishop. Though Paul had the textbook definition of a good bishop, Lewis' horse slipped around the board like it belonged to Odin.

I've been listening to a lot of the Myths and Legends podcast on the drives from Northants.

The final hammer blow came when Lewis defended the-pawn tactically and Paul lost his rook for the knight.

Board 5

After his success against Horfield the other week, Nigel appeared to be punting another new opening. Despite a backward-pawn that was, I'm sure, always part of the plan, Nigel managed to arrange his pieces into a solid array that provoked Mike into launching a wild kingside attack. After making sure that his own king was safe from aggressive mating threats, Nigel proceeded to show that white had not taken the same cares and invaded with a queen and rook.

Board 6

Phil decided to play a different wild line from the last time because that one had been too much effort to beat me. Though the opening was quite theoretical, we deviated relatively quickly and there was none of that "is my knight going to have long-term positional value on this square" nonsense, but raw "I'll go here and he'll go here" analysis. Chess at its finest. As is fairly standard playing that way, we both missed plenty, although I think the queen-winning/mating attack I missed takes the biscuit for the night. We reached a queen vs two rooks ending but the activity of the queen was able to stir up promotion threats more quickly and ultimately a checking tactic won the rook and game for white.

Board 7

Mike B faced a quirky opening from Mike H but found himself back in familiar territory after a transposition. It wasn't long until the position was at best equal. Mike B chose not to take a few pawn offerings for the obvious attacks it could stir up for white, but the computer has decided that it should have been safe to do so. Once those opportunities had passed, the position had symmetrical pawns and both sides had a rook and a queen. There was a few quick checks and then a draw was agreed.

Board 8

Oli had launched into an attack before two Horfield players had even arrived, it was that quick. Unfortunately it meant that although black wasn't developed in a way to defend, white wasn't fully equipped to chuck an h-pawn up the board and mate either. Black struck back in the centre and there was some great jostling from both sides over white's d5-pawn. Even looking over the PGN now, it's hard to safe for sure who most dictated the play. John liquidated the position and the resulting endgame of rook and 3 vs rook and 2 and outside passed-pawn is probably worth some technical study, but to be honest I'm more than happy to assume it's a fair draw.

Though our team seemed to all play extremely well on the night, the score feels a little much to me. Horfield played solidly and well too and were certainly unlucky that things didn't swing more in their favour. In any case, we next host league monsters Bath in the semi-final in February, so we'll have to see if we can rustle up any more surprise players with a radio station named after them. Stay tuned!