In the history of this site (and probably going back a few more years), the A-team had never failed to get at least one point from its first three matches, so as captain it's nice to be setting club records. Again missing two players; Oscar due to Spain having better weather, and me thanks to medication. With Stephen and Ian replacing us, the team presented a good challenge for Bath A. In fact they were almost too much of a challenge.

Buckers launched in with a reputable opening, which shows how serious the Savory threat is even with black, and although Richard was pushed into the defensive he was largely holding his own. There was a hairy moment when Buckers had lined everything up and chose to sacrifice, but wasn't flamboyant enough to make it stick. Chucking the rook instead of the knight would've gained the point but as it was, the defences held and the point was split. Stephen decided to out-unorthodox Roy and the result was a fairly normal looking position within 10 moves. Symmetrical pawns and pieces ensued and the point was split there too. 41 grading points neutralised.

On board 3 Nigel locked the centre and then both sides ignored the traditional chess advice, "attack where your pawns point", perhaps because the pawns weren't pointing at kings. After a defensive sacrifice under pressure, white was free to return the favour and did so with a double whammy of sacrifices that opened a mating file on the trapped king. Martin hasn't sent his game, and, in so doing, has refused to share the secret of how to win with the rest of the team.

Dominique had the fun of facing a white hippo which became so blocked it was difficult to see how any progress could be made. Although white dominated the only file of note, black's knights provided far more defensive prowess than the white bishop pair and a draw was agreed. Ian was on the bottom board playing out of his skin against Horia. Minor pieces danced around harassing black's queen and the rest of the already awkward development. Though a quicker win was missed in the midgame, Ian settled for a rook endgame with two extra pawns. Horia took the only chance that was realistically left to him and went to flag white. Unfortunately for us, this proved to be a successful strategy and the final full point fell to Bath, which meant a disappointing 2.5-3.5 loss.

Let's hope we can turn it around next week at Grendel!