Mike was feeling under the weather for our key match against Thornbury, so we were grateful that Jerry was able to stand in at short notice, especially as they brought a strong squad.

As our webmaster has pointed out, we essayed three gambits, two Danishes with White and a Budapest. My more prosaic offering was showing positional promise as Lynda was unable to castle. A quick look around indicated that Dave had broken his opponent's position in a wild game and James was also pressing - two promising Danishes!

The so-called chair gambit arose (or should that be fell?) when mine collapsed providing some entertainment as I gradually toppled over. A little shaken but otherwise unharmed I was happy enough when Lynda accepted my draw offer a few moves later. James was able to capture a knight that, if retaken, would have led to a swift mate. So he simply won a piece and duly forced Mike's resignation. Meanwhile Jerry and Andrew were seeing how many pawns they could interlock and, although Jerry possibly had all the chances of forcing something on the queenside, a draw was agreed without much bloodshed.

That left us 2-1 up with good prospects in all three remaining games. The first to finish was Andrew, whose pressure in a tricky game full of possible complications led to the win of a piece and, shortly after, the game. Martin was three-pawns up at one stage but had used a lot of time getting there. One was relinquished and then he forced repetition with a knight manoeuvre, checking backward and forward, thus clinching the match points.

Meanwhile, Dave's highly promising start had slightly receded into a much muddier position and, although a-pawn up, there was the possibility of an opposite coloured bishops ending looming. He was also lower on time but found a series of moves which won first a second pawn and then a third. With time pressure all round his opponent made a series of illegal moves, two of which Dave noticed, causing automatic win of the point.

So 4.5 to 1.5 was adequate revenge for the awful night we had at Thornbury last December. Now to try to improve our promotion chances next week against our C-team.