The usual season opener was the A v B match and before play started we were able to present Oscar with the Club Championship trophy which he won for his rating performance in Division One last season - 2298, no less!

Both teams were missing a regular. We were delighted to welcome Indy and Dan for their first matches at the Cross Hands, the latter as a stand-in for Reinhold. We also have a new A team captain, Dave, who will normally be non-playing ("Phew"! did I hear?) but on this occasion he stood in for Steve.

There were two relatively early finishes. Dave proved to have too much experience for Dan and won a central pawn, after which a Queen invasion also netted a piece. Aron, fresh from his great exploits at Torquay, had the dubious pleasure of Black against one of Oli's pet openings. It was going OK until he put his Queen on the wrong square and then suffered a surprisingly quick mating attack. He won't fall into that trap again any time soon! So it was one apiece and the other players hunkered down for the long haul.

The next two games to finish were both decisive and both went in favour of the A team. How many times have we seen Nigel build a space advantage and not bother to castle! Well, he did it again and this time the key difference between the two sides was that once it reached a position with only the heavy pieces and one minor one each, Mark's was a bishop hemmed in behind pawns of the same colour. While he was trying to mobilise it, Nigel found a tactic to win a pawn and then cement his knight on c6, after which more pawns followed. There was a curious similarity in Martin's game with Dominique. Here also Martin had a knight on an unassailable outpost against a bishop with limited scope. Once the pawns started to fall, the writing was on the wall and Martin sealed matters by forcing his a pawn through. Two very well played wins for White. (No pun intended!)

So, at 3-1, the match result now depended on boards one and four. Peter built pressure with doubled rooks on the b file. He possibly missed a move to net the exchange, after which they reached an endgame where both sides had a Queen and a rook threatening to maraud at will. Graham had linked passed pawns on the Q-side but to try to advance them would leave his King exposed to numerous potential checks so, in the end, he simplified things by grabbing a perpetual of his own. Possibly the most intriguing game was Oscar v Indy. Oscar eschewed the win of a pawn in favour of provoking weaknesses in Indy's king-side pawns. After much jockeying for position with both knights seeking optimum squares, suddenly an opportunity arose to take a draw and Indy duly accepted a perpetual check after forty moves of hard struggle by both players.

All of which meant the A team ran out 4-2 winners. A handy start for them but the B team demonstrated that they will be no pushovers and a fascinating season beckons.