You never quite know what to expect from Horfield B. Against our A-team they were missing Messrs Harris and Tunks and came badly unstuck. They were back in action against the B-team although, going by grades, their starting order was, as usual, unpredictable. However, this was in part due to the fact that they knew board two with Black was to be played at the faster time limit. It seems they were not exactly queueing up for this particular pleasure so Captain John put himself forward. In fact, knowing whom he would be playing, he had predicted Chirag's opening and soon found himself with a healthy advantage on the clock.
First blood came on board six, where Andrew tried a provocative pawn advance in order to open attacking lines. Michael probably erred by exchanging off his fianchettoed bishop which led to holes on his dark squares while Andrew also seized control of the f-file. A couple of moves later his Queen put herself en prise on f8, knowing that if she was taken the reply would be Rxf8 mate!
Chirag, meanwhile, had seen slightly more in the struggle for control of the Queen-side and emerged into a heavy piece ending a pawn up. It was a strong passed a-pawn and his kingside pawns were also superior, being linked, while John's d-pawn was isolated and potentially a target. After Chirag eliminated all except one rook each, Black's difficulties multiplied as Chirag rapidly moved his King from g1 to b4, freeing up his rook to maraud. Although he was playing on the increment by now, Chirag calmly converted the ending in excellent style, giving us a 2-0 lead.
We had no particular worries on any of the other four boards. Possibly closest to a winning advantage was Steve, who by move 10 had comfortably equalised and was "slightly better". He was able to maintain a small plus thanks to his better placed minor pieces and was next to finish when he banked a solid draw.
Oli matched this as he also equalised against Paul, carefully coming down to a level Queen and pawn ending, which left us needing just one more draw to clinch the match points.
There was a delay of at least half an hour before Horfield yielded. Knowing that any more draws would cost the match, both Dominic and Peter carried on in the hope that something would turn up against Mike and Martin. Suffice if to say, it didn't and never really looked like it would. Mike still held a slight advantage in a rook and knight ending when hostilities ceased and Martin was a pawn up in an opposite coloured bishop ending.
With two wins and four solid draws the B-team had seen off Horfield B in style, despite being quite heavily out-graded on most boards. As Mr Punch would have said "That's the way to do it"!
Judy was unavailable for comment.