No room at the inn this weekend as the date was changed by a week during the summer after the hotel negotiations had finished, leaving them short of rooms. So we stayed at the Travelodge, about a mile away in Sheldon, which looked promising as it had a Toby Carvery attached and also a lot cheaper that the Holiday Inn.

KJCA were a bit of an unknown quantity, containing a load of juniors plus Chris Ward GM on Board 1, and having won their first two matches. Sure enough the match started looking pretty ropey early on with David finding himself outplayed by a-pawn sacrifice in a familiar opening, while both Chris and Nigel struggled into difficult positions. Aitor looked good when his opponent misplayed a sharp line of the Sicilian and was forced to sacrifice a-pawn, but then he misplayed his advantage and allowed a huge amount of counter-play.

Fun fact: Getting a shot of an 8-player Downend & Fishponds team all at the board is believed impossible.

Max planted the first seeds of optimism when he played a well-timed d5 break in an IQP position, and obtained a telling initiative. This game ended fairly quickly, by which time David had been squeezed to death, setting the score at 1-1 with the remaining games all rather unclear.

Nigel played carefully to beat down his opponent's initiative and gain a passed c-pawn which seemed likely to win the game and when Rich started pressing for a win it all looked a bit more fruitful. Charlie had an initiative against his opponent's isolated-pawn which soon dropped off the board, but the actual game was a bit less clear as he had to work hard to maintain the advantage. Meanwhile Chris managed to consolidate into a Q+5 ending where his weaknesses were of little significance and Henry not only held off a strong initiative but even managed to lure his opponent into taking risks which led to a losing major piece ending.

Soon Aitor consolidated and outplayed his opponent who tried a desperate piece sac and soon lost. Henry also won and when Chris found a way to force a draw the match was looking pretty good. Rich misplayed slightly on the last move of the time control and transposed to a K+P ending which turned out to be only a draw, leaving the score at 4-2. At this point Charlie decided he had had enough and would offer his opponent a draw for the match, only to see him blunder a piece on the next move. Nigel had no such good fortune and decided a draw was enough leaving the score at an excellent 5½-2½.

In the evening we duly went back to the Travelodge and dined at the Carvery with Max and Matthew Turner coming along, but it turned out a grave disappointment more in line with the one-star reviews than the slightly optimistic four-star offerings from other recent visitors. Possibly it is variable depending on which set of staff are on duty, but it is hardly likely that we will explore this establishment further.