The D team's game with South Bristol B evolved in three parts.

First, on the bottom boards, Danny got into trouble but Nigel had a relatively easy time of it so they paired the score.

Then, on the middle boards, I could see that Alan had a comfortable enough game as White, while I (Ian) had the opposite as Black. After a mass exchange of minor pieces Alan may have been level but a timely Ba3 stopped his opponent from castling and, soon after, Black made probably the worst move of the evening, which left him facing the loss of at least a knight and a rook!

I struggled on and managed to get a blocked position where my knight had several options and Gareth’s pawns were backward or doubled. Quite a bit lower on time, I was happy to agree a draw.

Which left the score at 2½-1½ in our favour but unfortunately we didn’t get anything from the top two boards. Alejandro was the first to succumb and then Alexei arrived at an ending with rook against two bishops. As White also had an extra pawn it was pretty straightforward to escort a pawn home.

All of which left us with a loss by 3½-2½. Close, but no cigar!