This week was overshadowed by the very sad news of Ian Ponter's passing. He will be deeply missed by the club. Downend players commend South Bristol's webmaster, Bob Radford, for his generous tribute to Ian, mentioning Ian as 'an opponent or adversary that cannot be overcome'. Ian, too, had faced his nemesis, but there was unfortunately only ever going to be one result: a loss on time, which waits for all men. Prior to the match there was a minutes silence and reflection, led by Tyson Mordue who also had some kind and considered words. The match itself was then played in a somewhat stunned and very respectful manner by both teams.

With Martin also unavailable, and our B and C-teams each having two matches in 8 days, we were forced to call on any two willing substitutes: Jerry and Michael M gratefully obliging. I think for the first time this Season we actually out–graded our opposition!

Ian's game was the first to finish, when he successfully attacked Andy's King which had become firmly stuck in the centre: "He had an off night and played rather passively and my moves were quite easy to find ". Shortly after this, Nigel had comfortably neutralised any danger on board one and agreed a draw after most of the pieces had been exchanged. At this stage, the other games looked fairly even, although I was again struggling in an indifferent opening.

Michael B then sacrificed the exchange for a very promising position. Then Jerry won a couple of-pawns, so the match result began to look safe. However, Michael B then appeared to miss a difficult chance and Iain battled back well to hold the position. Having spent considerable time recovering the position though, and with his time running out, Iain tried to manoeuvre his forces across the board – but after giving back the exchange, then blundering another, he resigned on the spot. Meanwhile Bob had been under severe pressure from Jerry and ran out of time in an apparently quite inferior position, despite winning back a-pawn.

With the match won, I rather quickly agreed a fortunate draw with Gerry in a rook and opposite coloured bishop ending with both of us having little time on the clock. Finally Michael M, in another time scramble, showed the onlookers how to effectively convert an endgame a piece down, even spurning a mate in one!

So we stay in mid–table, with South Bristol's B-team now looking slightly uncomfortable at the bottom and the top two League positions seemingly to be decided between South Bristol's 'other' and perennial Champions Clifton A.