With four of the club's five strongest players, Clifton B were unlikely to be a pushover. As usual, I made my predictions in the team email about who we'd face on each board and for a change managed to get it just about right. It's just a shame the six of us were least likely to bother win any prep.

Stephen, filling in for Oscar, grabbed the centre while Chris attacked it with fianchettoed bishops. With Richard missing, I was on 2, and decided an outing with the Dutch. White expanded on the queenside but things remained fairly level. Nigel ceded the centre and appeared to be playing with extremely light-coloured black pieces.

Oli, filling in for me, looked to be under pressure quite early on as sacrifice threats seemed to be looming on f7 or e6, but when they finally materialised, it wasn't entirely clear how white would follow the attack and black's two knights seemed to have more potential than white's extra rook and pawns.

I cannot overstate how long I've waited to use this joke.

Andrew, filling in for Martin, seems to making the most of his new opening plans and was launching an f-file battery while black had managed to expand on the queenside but develop nothing. Rob, filling in for Dominique, offered his usual mega-dull opening and white accepted. Though a shuffling of pieces was in order before the inevitable draw offer, black was able to shuffle to more imposing squares and appeared to be gaining an edge.

Having possibly achieved equality, I decided I must be better and lashed out with an invasion that really required at least one extra tempo. Seeing the tide turn, I sacrificed a knight, but it was little more than a blunder that sped up the inevitable. Still, this was a tough team and I played on just in case.

Andrew and Rob managed to crash through, Andrew with a well-spotted tactical queen sacrifice that netted a rook, and Rob with a constricting attack that left white tangled and worse. Nigel offered a draw after equalising, but had to wait another 15 or so moves for the opposite coloured bishop ending and black to accept. Clearly it's my influence that gets Nigel drawing. After exchanging all the queenside bits, Stephen and Chris agreed a draw with the summary being that if either side pressed for a win it'd probably cost them the point. So at least one match point in the bag. When I heard John offer Oli a draw I decided I didn't have to play on any more and resigned...

This is the exact opposite of my experience of the Dutch.

Only to discover that Oli was considering going for the win! After a few minutes thought, Oli decided to guarantee the A-team 2 points and take the safer draw, for which I am very grateful.

Thanks to all four substitutes (and their three points between them) for keeping our sudden momentum going, but let's hope we can get a full team out before Christmas!