It was always going to be a risk rearranging this match for two days after the knockout, but since the only A-teamers in attendance at the knockout, Oscar and Richard, had said they wouldn't be available for the Thursday I thought it'd be fine. It was not fine. After polling almost the entire club, it seemed like most people were unavailable or unwilling, and if they were, The Duffer had already snagged them for the C-team match. Thus, a special thanks go to Elmira for making a fantastic Divison 1 debut and Rob for coming out of retirement for a casual win.

The University were suffering too. They had another match that night and were fresh from their BUCA campaign (some rogue is developing on the live site this week and next, and the PGNs need to be fixed, so this isn't the best time for the plug) and found that availability was reaching Downend A-team levels.

I was a late owing to traffic, but only a little thanks to finding the best space in Clifton. Nigel took all the space on the queenside while Ian was pressing in the Classical Dutch way. Andrew was developing solidly. My opponent, who had also travelled hours to get there played an unusual move order in the Nimzowitsch, which meant I spent the evening greatly overestimating my chances. Dominique was exchanging quickly, Rob was taking space all over the board, and after Elmira put a stop to a long diagonal mate threat, the a and b-pawns starting storming across the board.

In fact, board 4 was exchanging pieces so ferociously that they had to agree a draw before even Andrew could make his own offer. Needless to say, it came soon after and evening of analysis was their reward. Rob, in his first game for years, had a finish that was so lovely that it was almost a shame to go for the mate rather than the windmill. Elmira followed quickly after winning all sorts of material with the-pawns. With three points, a draw or win from Nigel would guarantee us the win. Denis then offered me a draw and I declined.

On board 1, Ian appeared to have expanded too quickly on the kingside and Nigel was able to do some thumping damage in the centre for a tough but favourable endgame. The attack I fancied instead of the draw never appeared on the board. so I then offered Denis a a draw and he declined.

Soon black appeared to be weaving an audacious mating net around my king and it took some active defence, and some luck to hold the position. It was difficult to see a plan that could win material without exchanging into an opposite coloured bishop ending and in pushing to avoid that, the opposite coloured bishop ending appeared with equal pawns. We shuffled pieces for a few moves to satisfy ourselves it really, really was a draw.

With less than 3 minutes in total left on the clock, Nigel managed to win a minor piece, followed by black's last pawn. Then the combination of skewering the rook, mating the king, and promoting the-pawn won the point for Nigel. He seems to be really up on his endgames.

It was a difficult night for the students, but given that the night saw at least 5 alumni in attendance, it wasn't a bad night for the University.