The D team out-rated Yate B so we had hopes of securing some points. This was most marked on boards 5 and 6 where Nigel and Dave were the first to finish. Nigel's clock management was better than Lester's which enabled him to survive a tricky attack on his King and eventually win on time. Dave grabbed the e file with his rooks before invading with a knight and winning one of Julian’s pieces with a pawn thrust. So 2-0 up!

Meanwhile Aleksei and Alejandro, on boards one and two, were rather mirroring each other with plenty of exchanges leading to single rook endings with level pawns. Aleksei’s were all on the Queen-side, while Alejandro’s were less tidily spread out but they had one thing in common - they both looked to be heading for draws.

Which left it to Alan and me (Ian) to cement the points. I was also heading for at least a level ending and, having won a pawn out of the opening and with the two bishops, felt fairly comfortable. But Chris used far less time and when we reached a critical position I misguidedly gave up the exchange and went rapidly downhill. It was just as well that Alan was calmly converting from a possibly slightly inferior position to finding a key break-out move, gaining the two bishops and then getting the heavy pieces off to reach an ending a pawn up. In severe time trouble Max blundered a piece, leaving us with a 3-1 lead.

It was just left for Aleksei and Alejandro to shake hands with their opponents to clinch the match win, 4-2.