Last night was the start of a crucial eight days for the A team with home matches against two of our nearest rivals. First up were South Bristol A, no doubt heartened by Patryk's and Stephen's success in the previous weekend's Bristol Tournament, coupled with Humphrey's strong form. They brought their strongest possible team so it was just as well that we were also at full strength.

The first challenge was to hold their top three, especially since of course we had Black in two of them. In fact it was these two games that finished first, with a net result that was highly satisfactory. Henry equalised fairly safely against Stephen and was then presented with a simple combination that won the exchange and quickly the game. Meanwhile Nigel reached a blocked position against Humphrey with no prospects for either side and hostilities were swiftly concluded.

The other Black game looked risky from our point of view as Richard obtained sacrificial chances against Michael's castled King. Soon two minor pieces had been invested in the attack and perhaps Richard was spoilt for choice because he selected not the best continuation allowing Michael to free his position and once a Queen exchange was threatened the attack collapsed.

Conversely Mike was also attacking wildly against Shane's castled King, while leaving his own monarch somewhat denuded. In his case he won a knight but Shane had plenty of counter chances and indeed our silicon friend suggests Shane stood better. Meanwhile Chris was manoeuvering skillfully against Patryk and built both a positional and time advantage while Richard also developed a position where his knights obtained threatening outposts and his King side pawns were ready to advance against Iain.

Chris and Richard's advantages turned out to be overwhelming, so they soon clinched the two match points. Richard's attack involved a knight sacrifice followed by a pawn storm and is well worth a look. Mike's game was last to finish after Shane missed his best continuation and the attack duly crashed through to complete a win by 5.5 - 0.5.

We had survived a couple of scary games but some very solid play brought home the bacon. And now for Horfield - a match that could decide the Championship.