We obviously couldn't have hoped for a better result, but it was far from plain sailing. Bob was probably the least troubled and got the upper hand quite early. To prevent a smothered mate Hugo had to give up the exchange but was mated anyway a few moves later. Panagiotis had a typically complicated game that appeared to the novice observer that it could have gone either way at times. Meanwhile Phil ground down his opponent one pawn at a time putting us 3-0 up.
  Andy's game was another long grind. John Feavyour put up considerable resistance, particularly after an enterprising exchange sacrifice, which meant Andy had to be equally enterprising. As the ending approached it seemed as though John's bishop was sufficient to hold his position together so Andy gave the exchange back for an advantageous rook and pawn ending. That however was far from guaranteed and Andy had to advance his pawn majority with great patience as John proved a very resourceful opponent. Eventually Andy succeeded and John resigned when the queening of a pawn could no longer be prevented.
  A comfortable win on paper, but a lot of work went into it, keeping alive our challenge for the top spot.

We travelled to Stowmarket knowing that Ipswich Sports Club had taken 3½ points from them just two weeks earlier, so we needed to do at least the same to have any hope of retaining the division one trophy. And it is a great credit to the team for achieving that because they had to fight for every square as Stowmarket put up stubborn resistance on every board, even when losing. The match began without any fireworks but rather with more cautious manoeuvring with each player seeking that crucial positional advantage - in fact after half an hour of play not so much as a single pawn or piece had been exchanged.
  Nowhere was this more evident than on board three where Phil had tried a queen's side fianchetto to his opponent's Sicilian but got himself stuck with a backward central pawn. After two hours of manoeuvring the board was looking rather crowded and cramped - just a single minor piece and a single pawn from each player had left the board and it was hard to see how either side could make much progress. Not long after that Phil and James reached the same conclusion, thus each team chalked up half point to open the scoring.
  Andy wasn't far behind as his position had started to open up before the others. His opponent, Stephen Lewis, tried the Barry Attack for the third time in succession - with an identical result to their previous two encounters in this opening. Stephen started off in enterprising fashion with an early h4, but that never troubled Andy's King's side. Later Stephen got his minor pieces tangled up after unwisely taking a hanging pawn and had to concede a piece for two pawns and a lost endgame with two bishops v one on move 17. Needles to say, the extra bishop was more than a match for the two pawns.
  Panagiotis wielded his English with his customary flair for complications, which cause Tim Lunn to consume considerably more time. However, Tim is nothing if not resourceful, and was able to mix the game considerably. After a complex series of tactical exchanges Panagiotis was able to pick up a pawn, but this was no longer a game in which the pawns featured very much - the 4v3 pawn advantage Panagiotis enjoyed was unusual in that all seven pawns were isolated. It was the piece play that now dominated and each tactical threat seemed to be answered with another one. Tim may have been able to hold things together had he not missed a crucial line in the closing minutes, but then he was getting very short on time and the position was still on a knife edge.
  Bob had faced probably the most aggressive start with a phalanx of three pawns approaching the centre of his Modern Defence. It took a while for him to get to grips with the game and as the middle game approached the endgame, things were still all square. Then Bob saw the opportunity of grabbing what appeared to be a defended pawn with his knight, but a second pawn would have fallen if the knight had been captured. Although a pawn up the ending was far from won - they had a bishop and knight each with the bishops being of opposite colours. Josh Cobbold is clearly capable of playing a lot better than his rating would suggest, but he made a strategic mistake of exchanging his knight for Bob's bishop, significantly reducing his drawing chances. The game was probably still drawn but Bob was determined to get the 3#189; points we needed and in what looked like one of those puzzles we had in our coaching sessions where you have to find the only winning move, Bob played a blinder and found that very move.
  An excellent result for us, but unfortunately 24 hours later Ipswich Sports Club defeated Sudbury with another 3½-½ scoreline keeping themselves firmly in pole position.