Clifton B are quite a different outfit to the one we played earlier in the season. Their two new strong players have rejuvenated their spirit and they play in smart new surroundings. It really feels as if they are buzzing. On top of that they have moved from facing relegation to having the temerity to challenge us as top B-team. We faced their full strength team with two IMs leading.

I am afraid I was the first to finish. By playing the Saemisch against my Nimzo, Andrew completely negated my preparation and led me to a variation I was less familiar with. My strategy was based on clamping down on his central pawns but I am afraid the clamp broke and he came surging forward in a scary way. For him it was poetry and he did play well, but for me it was a sad little game. Stephen and Chris on 1 were in a heavyweight contest. First white occupied the centre then soon black held more space but Steve cheekily grabbed the a-pawn. At the end both kings had their castles weakened, there were several pins and all looked to be about to burst. So they agreed a draw.

At first Ian was doing well with his Najdorf facing Mark's English Attack and his position looked promising, but then Mark was able to set up a strong defensive position and also drive Ian's f6 knight to h5 where is was to remain an onlooker for very many moves. Ian's king was also stuck in the centre and to get it castled the d6 pawn was sacrificed which allowed Mark to break through. Ian fought back and obtained a near equal ending, but now in time trouble it was too difficult and material loss settled the matter.

Then we were two times lucky. Martin reached a double rook ending with many scattered pawns. He looked to be better but was very short of time. Manuel managed to get double rooks on an empty seventh, so draw we thought. But no. Presumably because of his big time advantage, Manuel tried to play for a win. Now Martin came into his own and played very well and quickly in converting a rook ending with an extra pawn. Meanwhile Andrew obtained a very nice position with his closed Sicilian against Anton but seemed to switch plans and soon became worse shedding a pawn. Near the end Anton was pushing d and e connected passed pawns whilst Andrew's lined up queen and rook looked dangerous. But Anton was very short of time. In order to speed his pawns and exchange queens Anton sacrificed his knight. He pushed the e-pawn to the seventh but the queening square could be covered by Andrew's bishop. Now instead of queening the pawn and winning Andrew's bishop leading to a probable draw, Anton, in spite of time shortage, played for a win by pushing the d-pawn to join its mate. But it was too slow. Andrew managed to blockade and remain a piece ahead and so winning. It's nice to see these Clifton Bs buzzing and playing for wins, but they were just too optimistic.

Everything once again depended on Oli's game. This was a game of ups and downs. Dominic set up a stonewall type position against Oli's London system and some minor piece exchanges left him slightly better. Oli then took advantage of a tactical possibility advancing his g-pawn, complicating things and reaching equality. Dominic sacrificed a pawn but it was not effective and soon Oli had an advanced supported f pawn. He was however very short of time and just momentarily he missed a good, possibly winning, chance when instead of blocking a mate threat with a rook he used his queen. Natural enough when short of time and playing blitz but the chance was gone and with a queen exchange things were equal. Now both players were short of time and playing, what to the observers, was impressive blitz. It went down to a rook and three scattered pawns each but black looked better and Dominic at speed converted to a win in impressive fashion.

Never mind. We are still ahead of the Clifton Bs