The Mighty C's pulled off an excellent and most important victory last week away to Thornbury who were lying in second place in the league (until they succumbed to our unstoppable force).

First to finish was Dave, who after playing some aggressive chess, achieved a won position, only to blunder a rook.

Losing a rook is usually fatal (I know that), but Dave's position had been so strong that even with this setback, he managed to hold the draw.

Next came a loss for Aron, which is a phrase I've hardly ever had to write, such is his strength and consistency.

I was then held to a draw in a game in which I had held the initiative all the way through, but I could not find the win that a better player might have.

So a point behind with "all to play for" as the football pundits would say, and we pulled off a stunning performance on the remaining boards to take the match.

First, Jack converted a rook and pawn ending, by showing more knowledge and better technique than his opponent, and then Keith played dazzlingly well for a beautiful win and so we had turned the match into a 3-2 advantage, with Elmira's result still to come.

Once again she did the job for us by sacrificing the exchange to convert to a clear winning endgame and close out a 4-2 victory.