To paraphrase Buckers, Bath weren't at their fullest strength, but had their optimum substitutes. We were again without Richard but Mike volunteered to play a second game in two nights. All in all, both teams were as strong as they could hope to be.

Oscar started by temporarily going down a pawn for good development, but in a game with David, it's hard to really say whether that's how it stays.Nigel and Roy appeared to be playing a solid Bird (you'll have to ask Nigel how that happens) and it seemed like the action would be bubbling under the surface for a while. I attempted to avoid mainline Sicilian theory and we both ended up confused from early on. A premature pawn break meant I was ahead a pawn and trying to swap off as quickly as I could without reaching an opposite coloured bishop endgame.

Martin took all the space as black and though the white squares looked troublesome early on it appeared to resolve itself quickly and black had a slight plus. Mike was attacking the King's Indian Defence as if it were a Dragon and it looked like there was going to be fireworks as soon as the last bastions of black defence could be removed. Dominique allowed a sacrifice that opened his king and it would've been fine, except the defensive knight was pinned to his own queen. Still, it happens to us all. Oscar was now down two pawns for good development.

Despite what felt like unending endgame mate threats, I was able to force the extra pawn through and the match was brought level. Nigel offered a draw, but Roy fancied a few more moves and considered what I'm told would've been a very interesting line kingside hack. Mike found that in removing some of the defenders his own attack was without its sting and his game ended in a draw too. Oscar was now down three pawns for good development.

With the match looking fairly level, the rest of the games finished in a sudden flurry. Martin haven't lured white's queen into his space, contrived to win an exchange (after brazenly deciding not to allow an Qh1 mate in the fianchetto pawns) and despite black being low on time, white then hung the knight by defending it with a pinned pawn. Being down a rook was enough to end the game. Oscar, deciding that four pawns was probably a bit much, decided it was time and his attack came crashing through, showing how important development is. With the match result fixed, Nigel and Roy decided to split the point.

Well done to the team for bouncing back after last week's defeat!