With the possible exception of Clifton A, I don't think many people would bet against Bath A winning the league this year. They've lost only once this season in the league (and once in the knockout) and although the keen observer might notice something about the teams in those matches, we were without both Richard and Oscar, making our treble a serious ask. Keith, who had been robbed in time trouble last time, stepped up as super substitute. Neverthless the average grading difference was over 20 points per board in Bath's favour.
Nigel was in a theoretical line where white develops a centre and apparently, bolsters it with a Ke2. The play then appeared to be focussd on the queenside. I was lucky enough to see the same opening that Mike had faced just before Christmas and remembered his analysis that playing a Maroczy Bind as black was a fair route to equality. I saw Andrew was battling against a solid Caro-Kann and knew we could soon expect a solid half point. Joseph was taking a lot of space but Dominique was striking back and-pawns where getting tangled. Ian had exchanged his good bishop against the French, but his knights were finding good squares and pieces were being swapped off quickly. Keith, not fearing yet more time-trouble, was taking plenty of time to find the right moves against an Patrick's Evans Gambit.
Having reached a minor piece endgame, the surprisingly rare "good knight vs good bishop", Ian decided that the wind was in our favour and agreed a draw. Then with Roy choosing a plan that was not as aggressive as it could have been, white was forced into some exchanges and while there may have been the tiniest of edges, it was unclear as to who held it and we split the point. Though the match still looked difficult, I took a few moments to enjoy the achievement of having not lost for over a year (since this haunting loss).
Something was missing. Andrew had not offered a draw. Its absence was palpable. When I went to look at the game the reason became clear. My first assessment was that he must've played an e6 or f7 sacrifice but the pieces were level. Somehow the position had been ripped open and Andrew appeared to be attacking with no fewer than 5 pieces. Mate was temporarily held at bay by black allowing a royal fork that ended the game in any case. Let that be a lesson to us all; accept a draw when Andrew offerrs it, lest he have to play!
We were temporarily winning 2-1, but Buckers had advanced his a and b-pawn majority and with some heavy piece exchanges he managed to snaffle Nigel's a-pawn and make them passed. 2-2. A draw would be a good result for us and it felt a little cheeky to hope for more. Keith was definitely better and after Patrick tried to regain a-pawn found his knight trapped. An exchange sacrifice lost the least material, which meant Keith had one minute plus incremement against thirty to win. Fortunately, Keith was able to cooly ignore some ominous pawns and checks to focus on his own pawn promotion which guaranteed us at least the draw.
Dominique was under pressure but had more time on the clock and tried to open the locked position. White quickly exchanged off and invaded with his rooks. The time pressure started to mount but it looked as if Joseph would save the match for Bath. Down to less than a minute, white started to play too passively and Dominique leapt in with a serious attack of his own. Though a draw was agreed before the final scramble, there's plenty of scope for analysis that might even favour black.
A second 3.5-2.5 win against the mighty Bath A. A third for the season. It's probably fair to say that we really are their bogey team. Now we have to hope that they win the league so we have something to brag about!