Of course a match report for the A-team can't start with the customary "We were missing two players" and the thanks to Rob and Keith for stepping in at very late notice. Unfortunately, despite the enthusiasm and talent of the team, on paper at least, we were on the receiving end of a bit of a drubbing.

Oscar appeared to be making progress against the mighty James, having not shied away taking on an IQP position and a timely d5-break. As time was getting low though, white made a capture that complicated matters rather than simplifying and after a good deal of thought black was able to cause enough problems to claim the point.

Nigel and Gareth had a theoretical and then presumably not-so-theoretical game with minor pieces becoming the big players. An asymmetrical pawn structure endgame was reached, but even when black lost the extra queenside pawn, the extra white pawn was never likely to make much progress if it could be swapped for a piece and a drawn endgame.

I went for complications in a complicated opening that I still fancy were probably good for white, even if it left both king's dangerously exposed. Unfortunately, I almost immediately hung a bishop and struggled to really make my threats felt.

Martin got tangled in the opening and while he managed to defend smartly into an endgame, the lingering echo of a white advantage seemed to play a part and the kingside pawns started to find themselves dropping off.

Rob, star of the night and possibly team in general, held an edge from the start. The midgame did seem to push the "queen and rooks and exposed king" motif quite hard, but it white never really fell into too much danger. Simplification left a rook and three pawns against a rook, which was converted without any trouble.

With Keith coming from one of his best games, but also a follow up of one of his worst, it was exciting to see which Baxter would be gracing the board. In a closed position, it appeared like white might start to take a space advantage, but that black was perfectly fine. Unfortunately for black, the space advantage appeared to be the deciding factor.

Perhaps we deserved a bit more, perhaps we didn't. We fought well and some of the games were closer than the results suggested. Since we're not in the running for title and not in danger of relegation, maybe we should focus on getting our fourth knockout title in four years starting with Grendel next week. To paraphrase Nigel, who cares about consistent results when luck and nerve can win some silverware?