The first match of 2026 brought our old friends from Clevedon to Downend for the semi-final of the Knockout Cup. We were favourites on paper but Clevedon have a reputation for punching above their weight so nothing was to be taken for granted.

The first game to finish (on Board 4) bore this out. Matthew had successfully cleared off many of the pieces against Steve and even stood a little better in the final position as he had infiltrated down the c file. Both players were happy to draw.

Next came Humphrey on Board 8. He built up a strong attacking position as his opponent (Dillon) showed little concern with covering a weakness on d6. Humphrey rushed in when the key move Nd6+, trapping the king in the centre, could have been prepared first. He was left with a small advantage but then Dillon ignored the danger and this time the attack finished off with a rook sacrifice which produced a mate - a typically aggressive performance from Humphrey.

Board 5 saw another typical game from me (Nigel). Paul and I tried to build an unbalanced position which soon petered out to a draw.

There was no such disappointment from Peter on Board 6. Both sides developed sensibly but then David opened the position when it would have been wiser to castle first. A flurry of tactics saw Peter miss the most precise line, which was to respond to a check by allowing his rook to be pinned. Instead he played the natural move, tucking his king away in the corner, which was also effective as the black King was left deprived of cover against Peter’s attack, greatly aided by a bishop raking the King from b2 and a rook dominating the d file. Peter duly finished off the game in fine style to give us a 3-1 lead in the match.

Three of the remaining four games looked promising for us, and Oli on Board 1 was the next to score a victory. In a strategically clear position from a Grunfeld, Rob had established a passed d pawn (so typical of the Grunfeld) and the key question was whether it could advance or be successfully blockaded. Oli won the exchange but had Rob pushed the pawn to d6, things would not have been so clear. He missed his chance, the pawn was stymied on d5, after which Oli’s rooks infiltrated to the seventh rank to clinch an important win. Board count would still favour Clevedon, so we needed a draw from somewhere.

Mark had been pressing for some time, with knights strongly placed on d4 and f4. Stuart made life very difficult for him but after some searching he found the correct way to win an exchange and thus the game and thus the match was safe.

James had had a switchback ride in his game; he won the exchange but Dave whipped up some compensation by pushing forward with his central pawns in an impressive roller. James slipped up in the face of this onslaught and lost a piece to leave him down by two minor pieces to a rook. He generated some play with his knights, whilst Dave’s knights were also very active. Time ran short for both players and a draw was agreed when Dave still held some advantage but in a time scramble anything can happen.

Finally on Board 2 Haroon was playing a complex game. He had attacked early and nearly decisively but been pushed back to a position where he was clearly better and his moves were possibly easier to find. This phase of the game started at move 17, by move 33 his advantage had grown slowly to a very significant size, but Oleksii kept finding resources. Time pressure began to tell, Haroon let the advantage slip for a fleeting instant by playing an incorrect knight check and there may have been a moment when he allowed the possibility of a queen sac, based on a back rank mate. Eventually a double check by the knight clarified everything, the game was won and the final match score was 6½-1½. It looks decisive but there were moments when games could have gone against us.

We can now look forward to a tough final against Clifton, and visiting Clevedon in the league in what may be a warm March evening.