University B returned to Downend after they had last week narrowly beaten our previously undefeated D-team. They were clearly likely to have a strong team and even at this early stage look to be one of our main rivals for promotion, along with Cabot A.

We had an early advantage, due to the late arrival of 5 of their players, although we did not start their clocks until we had to under the League rules. Their Board 6 did turn up on time and it looked at one stage that John would finish his game before any of ours started. When the University players did arrive, there were some new faces and more unknown strengths. It looked set to be a close match - and so it proved.

Nigel was first to finish when a draw offer was accepted in an equal position and with most pieces swapped off. Dominique proved his strength and solid style was more than enough to share the spoils on top board. A good start for us and for him.

Neil had a wonderful game which can be found here on board 3 to quote "the best [he] has played for a long, long time". His early attack drew his opponents King one square forward and that was all it took for Neil to steadily build up a mating net. An excellent win.

In my game, Sam played his moves so quickly and accurately - I'm sure that his coach will be impressed - that I was soon at a substantial time disadvantage, even though I was building up a slightly risky attack. One weak move then offered me a winning position - which I then nearly squandered by my own inaccuracy. With only 3 minutes left, I finally found some forcing moves which resulted in my opponent losing his rook. 3-1.

John had been holding the position but was slowly being worn down by Luke, who kept finding good moves. In the end John's position collapsed under a barrage of threats. At 3-2, that left James in need of a draw to win the match. He looked to have lost a piece but then seemed to recover it and thought he was doing well - although later analysis may reveal that James overlooked a resource. However, a draw offer was accepted by his opponent to leave a reversal of the 2.5-3.5 score that our D-team achieved last Tuesday. A good win.

Four points in our first two matches equals our tally for last Season! Let's hope that our fortunes continue.