Yate has been a tricky place to visit over the years, so we were certainly not over-confident when we went on Tuesday. As it transpired, we were favourites on paper — at least on grades. We had to contend with a few early commotions but managed to overcome them one way or another.

One way was to agree draws with Black, which I did after exchanging Queens and agreeing a cessation of hostilities after nine moves. Why not let those with White do the hard work? A bit later Mike also sealed a draw with Black.

James, Martin and Andrew then each achieved wins by creating pressure which led to significant material advantage and Dave followed up with a slightly more long-winded one, although if his game had continued to its ultimate conclusion he may well have demonstrated a memorable mating net! Probably just as well his opponent resigned, otherwise we would be hearing about it for the rest of the season!

Anyway, this was another highly satisfactory 5-1 win, which keeps us in the running for a top place. Next we are away to Clevedon B on December 1st.