We welcomed our old friends from Clevedon; as usual we outrated them but they are always tough opposition. Humphrey was our Board 6 this time, so we looked forward to his exciting approach to chess.
After his marathon efforts in the last two matches Oli was no doubt pleased to get a quick win. He established a lead in development which granted him a significant advantage which he chose to press home with an exchange sac. With his King somewhat exposed Matthew blundered a whole rook. 1-0 to us in less than an hour.
Attention then shifted to my (Nigel) game on Board 3. The crowd thought I was in trouble, and quite rightly, as my pieces were tied in knots and my King was under fire. Luckily for me Dave E over-pressed, when bringing all his pieces forward would have been unanswerable. This allowed me to scramble out into a position with rook and pawn for bishop and knight. He was still better but short of time so the point was split.
The remaining games looked good for us on Boards 4 and 5, Haroon was under pressure on top board whilst Humphrey’s game was messy on board 6. Next to finish was Mark on Board 5; he had neutralised David P’s early activity on the Kingside and was pressing forward himself on the Queenside. However he neglected to castle and as the Queenside opened up this afforded David the chance to equalise which he duly seized. One that got away but we were still 2-1 up in the match.
The remaining games went the full distance. Reinhold had played well in the early middlegame and came close to a mating attack but this fizzled out into a favourable ending with Paul fighting hard. Ultimately a rook ending was reached and Reinhold just managed to activate his rook in time to draw the game.
Haroon had still not managed to coordinate his pieces as Rob pushed forward. Rob didn’t find a clear way through but then gave up the exchange to establish a powerful knight on f6 and this shepherded the passed h pawn forward to equalise the match - Haroon’s first loss for Downend!
The fate of the match hung on Board 6. I never fully understand Humphrey’s games, in this one he was two pawns down in an ending but with activity and Stuart’s King somewhat trapped in the middle of the board. Stuart was very short of time and offered a draw but Humphrey decided to chance his arm. This proved to be a successful gamble as Stuart blundered into a neat mate with rook, knight and pawn soon afterwards so we won a tense match 3½-2½.
This takes us to the top of the table level with Clifton A on match points and with a lot to play for before we travel to Clevedon and the coast in March.
Nigel Hosken