This was our final match of the season, and it was a showdown between the two contenders for second place in the table. League leaders Stowmarket had suffered a surprise hammering by Felixstowe the day before, but the half point they got was just enough to secure their place at the top. And this result puts us in great stead, for while it doesn't guarantee our second place, it means that Ipswich B will need to give Stowmarket an even bigger hammering of 4-0 to go above us. Not very likely but we will have to wait until the end of the month to find out.

While these two teams are very close on paper, there is an appreciable difference in their results this season, although not on this occasion. It was a close match from the start, especially on the top three boards where material equality was maintained for most of the match. And it was Rod who finished first. His opponent had opened with his unusual Stonewall pawn formation (d4, e3, f4) that Rod handled with care and eventually boiled it down to a rook and knight v rook and bishop ending with equal pawns. Barring disasters, this had looked like a draw for some time before it was eventually agreed.
  Bob followed a little later, playing his Modern system with double fiancettoed bishops. As the game developed Bob seemed to have a slight edge with his 4v3 king's side pawn majority as his opponent's 3v2 queen's side majority looked stalled. There was pressure exerted on both sides as the pieces were gradually traded off, eventually resulting in a bishop v knight ending. His opponent defended well, and although Bob commanded a lot more space there wasn't enough in it to break through those defences.
  Graeme's was easily the most entertaining board as it followed a familiar Graeme pattern, i.e. highly tactical and highly complicated. It sprang from a Ruy Lopez in which his opponent had played Nge7 (instead of the more reliable Nf6) which has the disadvantage of blocking in Black's dark squared bishop. Graeme immediately pounced on this and initiated a withering attack in the centre, and that bishop, as well as the king's rook never moved from their home squares. Graeme had already busted up the queen's side pawns, but his opponent still castled that side to avoid the heat in the centre, but the threats were numerous. Graeme's only disadvantage was a large deficit on the clock, but the pressure was too much for his opponent, who eventually more or less walked into a mate.
  This meant we could keep our unbeaten match deficit to one and all eyes now turned to Simon, who was coincidentally playing the same opponent he had faced the previous week in the Norfolk and Suffolk Cup, but with the black pieces this time. Simon's Caro-Kann appeared to be going quite well, but as the pieces came off his queen's side came under a lot of pressure that eventually gave his opponent a passed and protected c-pawn. Although material was level his opponent pressed his advantage and mistakes followed. The two rook and pawn ending meant that Simon was still in with a chance, even after his opponent went two pawns up, but his opponent was nothing if not persistent and after over 2½ hours of play he eventually sealed Simon's fate, although not by queening one of his pawns, but with his clock running down Simon went the wrong way with his king after being checked and got mated.

Bury D arrived at Manningtree with three 'Harrisons' but a board down, defaulting on Board 1 due to illness. As the remaining boards got underway and out of the openings, it seemed unlikely that any of them would result in a draw, with each having several imbalances.
  On Board 2, Bob found himself facing an all out attack on his king, with his opponent unleashing a kingside pawn storm and then sacrificing piece after piece to open things up. The attack did not really look sound however, and Bob confidently found the right moves and avoided the traps. Had he captured black's hanging rook he would have suffered checkmate by both bishops. Eventually white ran out of pieces, however, and having also opened up his king, resigned.
  Board 3 had even more fireworks. Facing a Nimzo-Larsen opening, Rod also fiancettoed his dark square bishop (these bishops stared each other down the whole match) and opposite side castling followed. Rod was fastest to open up lines against white's queenside king, and kept the initiative throughout the middle game. In the end there were just too many threats, with both bishops looking dangerous and both rooks on open files. Rod finished in style, shocking his opponent with a queen sacrifice on the back rank to create a forced mate.
  At this point things were also looking good on Board 4, with Graeme keeping one step ahead and winning one pawn and then a second. For this he gave up his 'good' light squared bishop, leaving the other bishop very inactive, and with a weak pawn on f4. Black steadily activated his pieces, and the number of variations to consider ate into Graeme's time. With a few minutes left, black offered Graeme a draw, and though his pieces were still a bit uncoordinated, Graeme rejected the offer as he was still a passed pawn up. Shortly afterwards, with time very short, Graeme missed a back rank check that dropped a whole knight, and the game was gone.
  Overall another good result for the team that keeps us in pole position for a second place finish.

Woodbridge visited the fortress of Manningtree's Methodist Church Hall venue in the keenly contested battle for second place in division 2, bringing with them a full strength side and significantly outrating us in the process.
  First to finish was Simon on top board, facing an exchange variation Caro-Kann. He found some accurate moves to equalise in the middle game, and was fairly surprised to receive a draw offer with queen, rooks and a minor piece on the board. Still, the position was objectively equal, and he decided to bank a half point for the team. Fischer would not have approved, but the players can take solace in having played 22 moves each with 97% accuracy.
  Graeme finished next, and it didn't go unnoticed that a clear victory with white was secured despite not playing f4 early in the opening for once. He fianchettoed both bishops and then pushed in the centre. His opponent missed one opportunity to grab a pawn and initiative, and after that Graeme found a great tactic that sacrificed his knight temporarily for a much better position and eventual material gain. Black resigned shortly after.
  Bob's game departed theory early on, with a lost h pawn and doubled pawns on the f file, opening the f and g files in front of blacks' king that could have been the source of a strong attack. Bob, however, was uncastled, and couldn't create an attack on these files before facing mating threats of his own, with the pressure leading to a nasty royal fork and Bob had to resign.
  Jim meanwhile had played a very good opening and middle game to create a huge space advantage with the black pieces on board 3. He forced a bind on d4 and then lodged a formidable knight on it. The position was complicated though and material was equal. After white managed to exchange pieces on d4, Jim ended up with an advanced, passed pawn that no-one could decide if it was an asset or liability. With everyone else in the room watching on, a draw was agreed and a relatively early night beckoned.
  Another top team effort, with a shout out to Graeme for bringing home a full point and earning us the match draw.

We went to Stowmarket hoping to cling on to the coat tails of the clear league leaders, and to perhaps put a dent in their 100% record - super-subs Jim and John filled in for the absent Rod and Bob and played a significant part in doing just that.
  The games finished in reverse board order with John putting the first point on the board. It was a Marshall Attack of the Ruy Lopez, but his opponent declined to take the bait resulting in a somewhat stodgy middle game and a rapid exchange of the major pieces. In what looked like an equal ending with same colour bishops and a knight, he cleverly traded off his bishop to leave him with a more powerful knight outmanoeuvring his opponent's weaker bishop. After that he began picking off pawns and converted seamlessly.
  Graeme, with the white pieces, created a typically sharp position from his 2.f4 answer to the Sicilian, winning the exchange at the cost of 2 pawns. He had excellent attacking chances and put his opponent under a lot of pressure, eventually finding what looked like the killer move that would win at least a piece. It was an illusion however and black found the perfect defence, which left Graeme with a choice of exchanging a bishop for an unfavourable position or lose a piece himself. Not seeing the trap Graeme chose the latter and his unfortunate run of poor form continued.
  Jim finished next. His opponent played the exchange variation of the French defence, which has a reputation of being very drawish. So determined was his opponent not to exchange queens that when Jim played an early Qe7+, instead of defending with his own queen he got himself tied in knots and Jim came out of the opening with a plus which he kept throughout a tactical middlegame. However, even though White was stuck with a King in the middle of the board Jim failed to open the position in time to take advantage, so with his opponent very short of time, Jim offered a draw before going into an even endgame, which was readily accepted.
  In spite of being hugely out-rated, Simon was the last to finish. In a fairly unorthodox Kings Indian defence position, black played a good opening, capturing Simon's bishop on e3, doubling pawns on the e file. Simon's knights were deployed to defend the e-file pawns while he tried to push in the centre, always seeming to be one tempo behind getting in his desired c5 pawn push. Eventually he managed this through a combination of tactics and threats, and the resulting exchanges simplified the position and eliminated black's bishop pair. With time low on both clocks, a draw was agreed in what did seem a very equal position, albeit with queens, a rook, a minor piece and four pawns all still on the board.
  Overall a great team result given we were significantly outrated, and this keeps us firmly in pole position in the race for second place. It will take heroic victories in our final four games to win the league this year, but anything is possible!

You would have thought that as Felixstowe were without their top two boards, were a player short, and sportingly played that default on the bottom board, that they would be in for a drubbing tonight. You would have thought wrong, and tonight's result demonstrates once again (as if that were really necessary) how a game can turn on a single move.
  It was clear as the games progressed through the opening phase that there were not going to be any fireworks on any board - careful positioning and manoeuvring were the order of the day. And it produced an unusual coincidence on boards two and three in that although they were quite different openings, they both entered the middle game with only one pair of knights exchanged and nothing else. And it was quite a while before the first pawn exchange took place on either of these boards. Another coincidence was that they both finished within minutes of each other and they both finished with the catastrophic loss of a piece.
  In Jim's case he had overlooked a bishop getting trapped near the edge of the board by some advancing pawns, which was a shame because he had picked up a pawn several moves earlier and looked on course to convert that into a comfortable win. In Graeme's case the situation was much worse as he had overlooked a discovered check that not only lost him a rook, but exposed him to a mating net in the process. His position had been difficult as his opponent had castled long and was advancing on a broad front across the rest of the board. Graeme responded by advancing on the queen's side, and while progress was slow, there was little to separate the two sides until the blunder.
  Rod's opponent had also castled long and sought to apply pressure on Rod's King's position. Rod defended well and applied equal pressure on the queen's side, which eventually netted him a rook for a piece and a pawn. As the game wore on his opponent was consuming more and more time trying to break down Rod's defences and in the end it was the clock that did it for him. Although it has to be said that by this time Rod was on a clear path to victory anyway.
  Not exactly the result we were expecting, but we are not too bothered (apart from Jim and Graeme that is) for it keeps us comfortably in second place with even less chance of catching Stowmarket in three weeks.

Even though we won tonight, we drop off the top spot due to Stowmarket's 3-1 win over Felixstowe two days earlier, which puts us behind Stowmarket due their match win over us. This win over Ipswich B is interesting in that while this is their first match defeat of the season, they are the only other team we are expecting to finish above us. They probably still will, but only if they can improve the appearances of their nominated squad. If they don't, and Simon is able to maintain the appearance of his five man squad, it could make the last match of the season for us quite a big one.

Time was when a club with the strength in depth possessed by Bury St Edmunds would have had a B team that would have made mincemeat of our B team. But that was before the pandemic when Bury's B team were division one contenders quite capable of taking on our A team and winning. How times have changed.
  Once again we were at full strength while our opposition were missing two of their nominees. And once again we came off victorious and must spend at least another two weeks sitting at the top of the table.

Here we have two fairly evenly balanced teams but from opposite ends of the table. And tonight's result keeps them there. Mind you it has to be said that the chances of Manningtree B staying on top for long are pretty slim, and when Stowmarket and Ipswich B play their games in hand we will almost certainly drop to third place. This is still extremely good when you consider that our squad has the second lowest rating in the division, and this says a lot for Simon's captaincy and the team's dedication in making themselves available for nearly every fixture.
  We had a full nominated line-up again for this match. The evening had barely got going when Graeme won the first point for Manningtree. Playing board 4, Graeme rolled out the Budapest Gambit to great effect. His opponent, seemingly unfamiliar with the opening, was incited to play d5 instead of accepting the gambit by taking on e5. After 3. Bc5, Bg5?, and then 4. Bxf2, Kxf2, 5. Ne4+ things quickly unravelled for white who resigned on move 10, leaving Graeme to make it home early.
  The rest of the matches all had play in them, but nothing so explosive, and ended in draws. Simon faced an English defence on board 3 with black relentlessly attacking his e4 pawn. Things remained equal throughout apart from one golden missed opportunity late in the game where Simon could have ignored a queenside attack and pressed on the kingside. Once this one move opportunity was gone, things traded down to an equal rook and pawn endgame that was clearly drawn and a draw was agreed.
  Bob turned down a middle game draw offer to create some tactical pressure in the centre of a complicated game involving his usual modern defence. Things simplified however down to bishop and knight and five pawns each, at which point a draw was agreed.
  Rod was last to finish on board 1, in a fairly sharp and imbalanced game against a resourceful opponent who seemed to have all the required answers to Rod's questions. Rod seemed always one tempo away from being able to sacrifice a knight on the kingside to open up black's king, but that tempo was denied and eventually a draw by repetition ended the game with only a minute on his opponents clock.
  We came away happy with another win, though perhaps we could have had more from this match, at least from Simon's game.

An outstanding team performance against the second highest rated team in Division Two, and it puts us on top of the table, at least until the teams below us play their games in hand.
  Bob was the first to finish playing his usual modern defence structure. With most pieces remaining on the board well into the middle game, a complicated and congested position ended sooner than expected when his opponent blundered a minor piece.
  Simon finished next after having messed up the opening in a Queen's Gambit Accepted and ending up two queen's side pawns down. For that he had significant compensation in the form of a much better pawn structure and a more active rook and king in the endgame (although the computer was not impressed). Fortunately this activity told in the endgame as the pressure forced an error and Simon was able to queen a pawn with check, ending the game.
  Graeme, who had driven all the way from Hampshire, leaving at 3pm and taking over four four hours, played a very solid game, winning a pawn on move 6 and further damaging his young opponent's pawn structure. He traded down pieces and relentlessly converted these advantages all the way through to the endgame.
  Rod had a most complicated and sharp game on board 1, sacrificing (or losing) a pawn with compensation of rook activity and multiple threats. As time became shorter for both sides and both kings under attack, there was not enough time to calculate the lines and mistakes started to creep in. Rod held his nerve and started to open up black's king, forcing the telling mistake under time pressure that ended with a mate in one when a perpetual draw was on offer.

Since losing their top board Felixstowe are struggling, but they should avoid further relegation if they can put out their nominated squad on a regular basis. Tonight they were one short, which gave us a huge advantage that turned a potential draw or even loss into a comfortable win.
  Simon had his work cut out on the top board, but did very well and was close to snatching a draw for his efforts. Bob and Rod had pretty straightforward wins while Jim was struggling to find a breakthrough on his board. On any other day he would no doubt have taken the full point, but 2½ points is a good win and should put us in good stead for the rest of the season.