The fight for the top spot could hardly be closer, although in truth no one (not even Ipswich B) relish the consequences of promotion that could go with it. With three teams hot on the heels of Ipswich B, all on 22 points and all with a game in hand, the run down the final straight in this division is going to be interesting. Simon finished first with a creditable draw, followed by Bob who achieved an even more creditable draw. Graeme and Jim on the other hand will both be very disappointed with their results, but had they got another 1½ points between them we would be sitting at the top of the table, and do they really want that?

This is a very tight division indeed, with just three points separating the top six sides. In fact, before the start of this match we were second from bottom in the table. And while this raises us to 4th, we are just two points behind the leaders, with a game in hand. We play that game next week, where we hope to take our place immediately behind the promotion spot.

As we get to the business end of the season, we are keen to put points on the board and keep in touch with league leaders Ipswich B. With a full team we were optimistic.
  Things started promisingly. Some opening prep allowed Simon to get a good position on Board 1 with a Queen's English Defence. Jim's French Defence had achieved an excellent position, Bob had plenty of play, and Graeme quickly established an advantage in the opening in a sort of Ruy Lupoz after his opponent delayed playing a6 and lost his e pawn.
  Things then took a turn for the worse. Simon's game continued in a balanced fashion with battle for control over e4, as is typical in these structures. Minor pieces were steadily traded off and things were heading for an endgame when Simon overlooked a queen sacrifice tactic by white that ended up winning a whole bishop, and the game went from even to lost with that one mistake.
  Bob was facing an aggressive kingside pawn storm by his opponent, which hemmed in his light squared bishop. With some manoeuvring he managed to break up these pawns and open up for his bishop, but at the cost of a pawn and a dangerous passed e pawn for black. In the ensuing tactics Bob lost a rook and he could not find enough complications to hold after that.
  So we were two points down, but things were looking better. Graeme had full control on board 4, having turned pawn structure and positional advantage into pressure that won a bishop, and he never looked like making any mistakes with a dominant pawn structure too. Pawn after pawn fell until checkmate was imminent and the game won.
  Jim's game was going the distance. Faced with a terrible backward pawn on c3 that would ultimately fall, his opponent launched a dangerous kingside pawn storm that succeeded in opening up Jim's king. Jim won a pawn with some clever tactics, but with checkmate on the open g file coming he had to give up the exchange in order to get the queens off the board and nullify the threat. This proved an excellent decision as with a devasted pawn structure and only 2 minutes on the clock, white could not handle Jim's knight which ran amok and mopped up pawns and eventually won the exchange back, entertaining the spectators and leading to a resignation.
  The overall match draw was probably a fair result, but Jim's heroics to find a win at the end really deserved better from the top boards. There's a crucial game against Bury St Edmunds in March where they can show what they are made of.

Before tonight we were comfortably in line for second place, with an outside chance of even finishing top, while Ipswich C we languishing in the bottom two. Factor in a significant rating advantage and you would think that we would be comfortable winners tonight. However, the same situation presented itself last October when our rating advantage over Ipswich C was even greater, but we still came unstuck. And thus we suffered our second defeat of the season, and both of them to Ipswich C.
  Simon finished first after a fairly level game that finished in a pawn and minor piece ending. When his opponent offered the draw Simon accepted as there were no clear chances for either player. John finished next after his opponent lost one, and then two pawns but put up stubborn resistance, almost locking the pawns across the board. John had to give up his advanced, protected h-pawn to force a breakthrough.
  With one and a half points from two you would be forgiven for thinking that we were looking good, but unfortunately things were far from good on the remaining boards. Graeme had sacrificed two pawns (at least we assume he sacrificed them) for a hectic attack with the action taking place on the central files. His opponent defended very well but as the attack was faltering Graeme managed to get one of those pawns back by clearing all of the queen's side pawns at the cost of slightly disconnected pieces. The 3v4 pawn deficit on the king's side looked more manageable but it led to an unusual ending with two rooks and two knights each. Easy to slip up in such uncharted territory, and while attacking one of the knights Graeme overlooked the fact that the attack could be ignored because the other one was able to deliver a mate in one threat from which there was no escape.
  Meanwhile Jim had found that he hadn't quite handled his advanced French with sufficient care, and once again his opponent played far better and more accurately than his rating would suggest. Already being the exchange down and facing multiple threats, Jim too had to surrender when there were no escape routes for his embattled king.
  A brief look at the table will show that this hasn't made much of a dent in our objective of finishing second, but it certainly reduces our chances of catching Ipswich B.

We came into this match knowing a three point win would leave us clear at the top of the division for the Christmas break, and also knowing on paper we would be clear favourites to win.
  Things started quickly and well. Most games were still in the opening when Graeme's game finished. One moment pieces were being developed, and at next glance there were no pawns in front of his opponent's king and it was being chased from square to square by Graeme's queen. Resignation followed and Graeme could spar with club mates for the rest of the evening.
  Jim played a form of Sicilian Defence. Instead of creating a sharp attacking game, his opponent quickly went for simplification, early king activation, and an endgame with an extra pawn. Jim was a tempo (and a pawn) behind. Still, it felt like he would have drawing chances but when it came to the final position white had the opposition and Jim was forced to yield.
  Simon had faced an exchange Caro Kann and soon managed to create an isolated queen pawn to play against. He followed a strategy of trading off minor pieces to target this pawn, and in the process found a tactic to win a pawn and then another. The endgame was drawn out but when faced with a five pawn deficit his opponent finally conceded a straight forward win.
  So we had two points, and were looking to Bob for the crucial third. This game was complicated throughout, with Bob having fiancettoed both bishops, played h5 and g4 early on, conceding the centre space to his opponent. Bob created a key weakness by doubling black's f-pawns and blocking them both with his own f-pawn. However, this exposed his king as the h-file was semi open and then e and g files fully opened. With most of the minor pieces swapped off, black had excellent attacking chances but missed his opportunity to win a rook. With material equal but the position highly imbalanced, Bob was offered a draw. When he declined, black tried to incorrectly claim a draw by repetition. As black had used a lot of time analysing an attack which would not work, Bob declined the offer and then seized his opportunity to win most of black's pawns. Although his opponent tried to draw the game via perpetual check, Bob was able to get his king to a safe square and eventually create a second queen, by which time they were about to start on their second score sheet it took so many moves.
  Top of the festive table!

Saxmundham are the highest rated team in this division - over 100 points higher than us. But that only counts if you can field your nominated team, and so far Saxmundham haven't been able to do that even once so far this season. And this is only the second time they've fielded their top three, which made it pretty tough for our top three.
  It was Jim's turn to take the heat on board one tonight, who's opponent was here only last week holding off Panagiotis to a draw. The early advance of all three c-e pawns was a sign of things to come and Jim had to cope with lasting pressure, but even after the loss of a pawn Jim fought on, making his opponent work for his point. Meanwhile Bob had managed to maintain parity on his board, trusting in his Modern, and after the minor pieces came off, he was if anything looking slightly better. It was only slightly however, so when his opponent offered a draw Bob accepted.
  Simon was facing Saxmundham's veteran of the board and was very soon under a lot of pressure. It was not looking good, but when that veteran miscalculated, Simon picked up the exchange and the game turned on its head, which just left Graeme to determine the match result. This game was far from the usual, and started with both players making two of their first three moves with the same knight. The next unusual feature of the game was that it developed into a middle game with all four minor pieces exchanged but not a single pawn. Graeme then set about opening up the h-file and eventually a pair of pawns was exchanged. But it was difficult to see how either player could make any headway, and Graeme's opponent belied his much lower rating by finding just the right moves in spite of his shrinking time. Graeme turned down a draw offer but was still unable to find a way in, and after using up his own time he had to bow to the inevitable and return the offer.

We had a slight hic-cup before tonight's match in the form of a lighting malfunction. The lights in the main hall failed and when a quick search for the circuit breakers also failed, we set about playing back upstairs again. One thing that can be said for upstairs is that the lighting is brilliant. On the downside the floorboards still creak a lot and the room somehow seems smaller than it used to be.
  A look at the league tables before the match would suggest that we were the favourites tonight, and while the end result reflected that, it was far from a foregone conclusion. The results finished in board order with Bob opening the score after steering a powerful central advantage to an impressive victory. It was a game in which both players had castled behind a fianchettoed king's side but it wasn't long before Bob developed a significant special advantage. His control of the centre with steadily advancing central pawns slowly but surely increased the pressure on his opponent's defences and eventually he had to surrender a knight to halt the advance. As well as the piece Bob had also picked up two pawns and although the game went on for several more moves the end was never really in doubt.
  Simon made it 2-0 after facing an early f5 response to his English. After half an hour's play he had a slight advantage with the bishop pair and a significant time advantage. However the complexities of the position meant the time advantage soon disappeared and it was difficult to see who stood better. Either an oversight or a miscalculation allowed Simon to pick up a pawn, and after the major pieces came off that extra pawn proved crucial. Simon did very well to force the victory for it was far from straightforward and his opponent was not going down without a fight.
  Shortly after that Jim made it 3-0. Like Bob's game, Jim's featured a double fianchettoed king's position. But that was the only similarity. It was looking like a battle down the open a and b files, but in the end it was a mating attack down a half open central file that Jim's opponent appeared to have overlooked that sealed the game.
  With only Graeme left, was it possible we would get a clean sheet? Unfortunately not. Graeme had faced a Caro-Kann along with some very tricky positions, and following a queen exchange he decided not to castle. Graeme entered the ending with a pawn or two for a bishop, but he was unable to hang onto his pawns and made a valiant attempt to swindle a stalemate in a rook v rook and bishop ending. It went on for quite some time but in the end his opponent was nothing if not extra careful, and in spite of both clocks running very low, Graeme resigned when his king was facing a mate that could not be made stale.

Woodbridge and Manningtree B are two very closely matched teams, but tonight we came out on top due in large part to a very early lead given to Simon. Bob played a solid Modern, keeping his opponent at arms length and keeping the team ahead. As the evening wore on it looked as though John was in trouble and Jim was heading for victory. As it turned out John had managed to equalise into a rook and bishop ending when his opponent left his bishop en-prise, and Jim underestimated his opponent's threats and his game turned on just a handful of moves.

On paper this is a match that we should have won in reasonable comfort, but on the day it looked to be heading for complete disaster. At about half time all four boards looked to be in trouble, and the spectre of a 4-0 defeat was hovering, especially after Graeme moved his queen into the fray that left a bishop hanging. Lady luck then played her hand. Simon was put under constant pressure, but had weathered the storm well, however just as he had turned the game in his favour he missed a one move check that ended it all. Unfortunately Bob was unable to turn his game and luck was not in his favour as he attempted to retrieve a below par opening strategy. Luck now turned in our favour after Graeme's opponent failed to spot that hanging bishop and followed it with some less than accurate moves that Graeme took full advantage of and in the end cruised to victory in a king and pawn ending. Meanwhile Jim was struggling to salvage his game after he had to give up a piece earlier in the game. With just a rook facing a rook and bishop he was able to whittle away the pawns with persistent checks that in the end left his opponent with little choice than to accept a draw. We came away with that distinct feeling that we should have done so much better, but also relieved that it wasn't a whole lot worse.

We arrived at Ipswich to begin the season very early, with full nominated teams on both sides. Ipswich switched around their board order, but so did we to keep everyone on their toes.
  Quite early on in the match things were looking good. Simon had the best out of the early opening in his match, and the other boards were looking even better. Graeme quickly caused problems in the centre and won a pawn. Jim's opponent went for a dubious knight sacrifice, netting only two pawns for it and not nearly enough compensation, and Bob soon found himself able to simplify to a rook endgame with an extra pawn on both sides of the board. Graeme, Jim and Bob each made it look relatively straight forward to convert their advantages, and never looked in any danger.
  Simon, on the other hand, facing a familiar KID, sacrificed his c pawn for queenside activity. This proved unwise and he was always on the back foot after that. The game went the distance though, and with 2 minutes left on the clock he overlooked a single drawing chance, and after that the game was up.