A Chow-less University side meant we had an opportunity to secure our first win of the season but a macabre sequence of events confounded us in the end.

The match can be divided into three parts. In the first, Dave succeeded in building on an opening with which he is familiar and combined this with not getting short of time! He soon had a forced mate. By now l was a piece up for three-pawns but had easy piece play, winning a second piece...and with a strong attack on an exposed king. Two points virtually in the bag!

Part two saw consolidation on the top four boards. With black, both Nigel and Mike were holding fairly comfortably. Martin's position looked safe, and Javier had sacrificed a-pawn in the wild sort of game in which he excels. The black games were duly drawn. Nigel had engineered a blocked position where his knights had more scope than his opponent's bishops and the draw was agreed after 44 moves. Mike conceded a-pawn, knowing that he could hold the opposite coloured bishops ending that might ensue. Javier saw through the complications better and cashed in to leave us 3-1 up.

Just how we couldn't scrape at least one more draw in the final stage is inexplicable. (Well, except I suppose for the brutal fact that we didn't play the best moves.) In fact I turned a draw down, so sure I was of winning. Are we jinxed? It was like something from a spooky Alfred Hitchcock ending as victory crept stealthily away into the murky night. Uggh! At least we did gain a precious point. After this I give up on predicting how we might do in the following matches although we certainly have the capability to Improve results.

On second thoughts, here's a prediction. DandFB will stay up. You heard it here first!