Our C team was neck and neck with Yate A so we were cautious about what to expect when they visited the Cross Hands, especially as we were without top board, Peter.

In fact we got off to a good start when Kevin, facing an opening with which he was not completely familiar, tried to nudge a knight away with a pawn push. This backfired spectacularly when my Queen was able to invade, forcing mate. It was just one of those nights - we've all had moments like that.

Tom also gained an early advantage with a pin to win a knight. Ollie had no real compensation but countered to win back an exchange when Tom, in his words, did his best to throw it away. But to no avail as it transpired, when Ollie, in turn, made a couple of howlers from which there was no recovery.

The other two games lasted considerably longer. Dave's somewhat blocked position looked very promising from the early middle game, with threats on the light squares against various pieces. To compound Will's problems his Black squared bishop was stranded in front of his pawn chain with precious little possibility to influence the game. When the light square weakness resulted in the loss of the exchange, the writing was on the wall and Dave then grabbed the only open file and was able to force off a pair of rooks, leaving him the exchange and a pawn up with a fairly straightforward winning ending. If that all sounds a bit too easy it was, in fact, a very well played conversion of his advantage.

Steve's more open position meant that complications abounded. While his King was relatively secure, Jeremy's was more exposed to tactical possibilities and it was a pseudo-sacrifice of a rook which netted a key pawn. At the same time this neutralised any serious attacking possibilities that Jeremy was trying to develop. Even after Steve got the Queens off, there were plenty of tactics to be dealt with, notably a small coup which forced off the remaining minor pieces. This left Steve with much better placed rooks in the ending which, combined with an outside passed pawn, clinched a solid win and an excellent 4-0 team victory.

Across the room the F team did well to hold Clifton B to a 2-2 draw, with wins for Mark Morris and John Stubbs. The third home match of the evening did not take place since Thornbury found themselves unable to raise a team to play our D team. The D team has sportingly agreed to a postponement. The E team also won away to Yate B the previous evening making it a very successful 24 hours for the club. Wins came from Mike Passmore and Frazer McAllister with a draw from Nigel Wilcox. Please note Mike was winning games for the club 55 years before Frazer was born, which must be a record that will be hard to surpass!