We didn't manage to put a dent in Ipswich C's record this season, who remain the only team in the league without a match defeat. Mind you our U1800 team were undefeated, which was more important as that competition is determined on match points rather than board points. The chances are the league itself will follow suit sooner or later.
  After three successive league defeats our C-Team's hold on the second position had shrunk from 4½ points with a game in hand to just a single point. And in the final matches we were facing the league leaders, while Ipswich D, our rival for second place, faced Sudbury who they had defeated 3-1 in their first encounter earlier in the season. The omens were not looking good.
  John M was immediately thrown out of his book when his opponent responded 1 … f5 to his 1.b3. An alternative strategy was therefore required, so while taking control of the centre and attacking down the queen's side, he found one. David didn't come out of the opening too well, and was facing pressure down the centre as well as a broken queen's side. He put up stubborn resistance but the damage was already done and his opponent took full advantage.
  John H faced a Sicilian that included an aggressive placement of the enemy queen on d3 before John had been able to castle. The exchange of queens soon followed which resulted in a series of exchanges on the d-file and the c1-h6 diagonal. His opponent had castled long and strong pressure netted him two queen's side pawns. He then initiated a series of exchanges in order to strip the board of all its pieces leaving an easily won king and pawn ending. And unlike their previous encounter, John's opponent didn't miscalculate the exchanges this time.
  Bob played his usual Modern opening, which developed into a very aggressive game. Bob had managed to take control of the seventh with both rooks and support from his queen, and was threatening a mate in one, but before countering it his opponent initiated a mating attack of his own with an exchange sacrifice. Things looked decidedly dodgy but Bob managed to find the correct defence at the cost of retreating his queen. It was now a finely balanced position that could have gone either way depending on who messed up first, and seeing no more than a repetition of moves a draw was agreed.
  This result put us 2½ points clear of Ipswich D, who would leapfrog us if they took 2½ or more from Sudbury in their match taking place at the same time in Ipswich. As it happened, Ipswich D only managed to take 2 points from Sudbury, leaving us feeling very satisfied to have achieved our goal, although it was a very close run thing. It might be a little churlish to pint out though, that had this league been based on match points, Ipswich D would have finished above us.

Tonight's result has done us no favours in our hopes of emulating our other two teams and finishing second in the table. We're still in with a chance, but we have to face runaway leaders Ipswich C, while Ipswich D take on Sudbury C in our final matches so it will come as no surprise therefore if Ipswich D are able to overcome the one point lead we currently have on them.
  John H finished first tonight having played a Sicilian in which his very young opponent castled queenside. White's pieces were better developed while John started pushing pawns against the castled position. White moved his rooks to the other wing, under an obscured threat from John's diagonal bishop, resulting in a finely balanced game with good opportunities for both sides. At this point John made a suicidal error by moving his knight to attack a trapped rook before he'd moved his bishop both to snap up a free pawn and to support the knight. The knight was lost for nothing, but the game continued routinely for a while, despite the imbalance, with an exchange of queens. It was edging to a painful checkmate for John, with a rook and knight squeezing his king into the corner.
  The other boards were looking reasonably good, although Jim was engaged in a tough fight that resulted from his King's Indian response to his opponent's French. Jim had won a pawn as the game developed but he found it difficult to capitalise on it as it wasn't without significant compensation for his opponent who was able to exert considerable pressure. Without a clear path to victory for either side a draw was eventually agreed.
  John M found his opponent's English difficult to break down at first, but he eventually picked up a crucial pawn that led to an advantageous knight and pawn ending. His opponent then virtually handed the game to him on a plate by offering the exchange of knights with a check, which unfortunately hit a blind spot, so instead of exchanging the knights John moved out of check instead. This allowed his opponent, who could hardly believe his luck, to exchange the knights himself. This single blunder turned a pawn ending that could have won itself into one that was completely lost.
  With only half a point to our name we were now facing our third match defeat in a row, and it was up to David to make that defeat look a little bit more respectable. And he was doing very well, having had a bit of luck earlier in the game, he had won the exchange and was developing a strong attack on the enemy king. The pressure was mounting and his opponent cracked by placing his knight on a square that he thought was safe, but realised it wasn't when David took it. His opponent couldn't recapture the rook or he would have been mated on what would have become an open h file, so he attempted a perpetual against David's rather exposed king instead, but run out of checks very quickly. David could have got there quicker by lining his rooks up on the h file instead of the g file, but he got there in the end giving us a valuable point that returned us back to second in the table after spending a day in third place.

Up until last week Manningtree C hadn't lost a single league match this season, tonight's result makes it two in a row. We weren't helped by the fact that we were a player short, but not because we didn't have a full team, we did but we had to transfer one of our number to the B-Team, one of whom had missed his train and couldn't make it. We still hold on to our second place in the table, behind the runaway leaders Ipswich C, but we need to return to winning ways if we are to finish there.
  David finished first tonight and was doing fine until he slipped up in the middle game and lost his queen for a knight. He battled on gamely but his opponent wasn't about to return the favour and simply piled on the pressure until all hope was gone.
  John M finished next having faced a King's Gambit, which was a strange coincidence as he'd faced his first King's Gambit in over a decade less than two weeks prior. He took his opponent out of the main book lines and the game was finely balanced but eventually petered out into a bishop v knight ending. In his haste to get his pawns off the light coloured square not covered by his bishop, his opponent missed a killer on the opposite wing that lost him all of his pawns and resigned as the last one was about to fall.
  With the match now one down it was down to John H to attempt a rescue. John's game was a regular king's pawn opening, which he followed up with pawn advances to dominate the centre. After move 17 all of his opponent's pieces, with the exception of two pawns, were stuck on the first two ranks. This resulted in something off a standoff as the enemy king was heavily defended and John was unable to penetrate so he offered a draw on move 26. His opponent declined and eventually the board eased up and options appeared after two simple exchanges. With time ticking away John made a catastrophic oversight allowing his queen to get pinned against the king by a rook, supported by a distant bishop. And that ended it, and the match.

Both Ipswich C and Manningtree C were the only two teams left in all three divisions that hadn't lost a match so far this season, so the questions was, would it remain that way or would it end with just one team remaining undefeated? Unfortunately the odds were stacked against us as we were only able to raise three players tonight and had to concede a default for the fourth time this season. Mind you we had our chances and a 2-2 draw was a definite possibility after John H put us level.
  John had played a Sicilian, which followed the usual exchange of pawns on d4 and king's side castling. White had a tempo as John retired his knight to h7 anticipating an attack on the diagonal with bishop and queen. White then threatened a queen/rook canon up the d-file, in which John declined a queen exchange until White forced it a little later. Fortune smiled as his opponent miscalculated the consequential exchanges at either end of the d-file, and instead of just coming out of it a piece up, John came away with a whole rook. The rest of the material was level with five pawns and a knight apiece and John had a full twenty minute time advantage, therefore without much further play his opponent resigned.
  With the game now levelled things were looking reasonably good on the other two boards. John M had faced a Vienna, which he hadn't seen for about forty years, and soon developed a good looking queen's side attack after his opponent castled long. Unfortunately he underestimated his opponent's counter on the king's side until it was too late and he was on the back foot for the rest of the game. Also unfortunate was the fact that his opponent didn't put a foot wrong for the rest of the game after John chose the wrong defensive strategy.
  It was now down to Jim to keep our record intact and he looked to be doing just that. He had deployed a King's Indian to his opponent's Caro-Kann and developed a strong initiative, especially after his opponent has castled long. Huge pressure on the enemy king down the b and c files gave his opponent quite a headache, but he managed to keep things together, largely because Jim's light squared bishop was out of the game on g2. In the end Jim had to give up his queen for two pawns and two rooks in order to defend his back rank, and while he was no doubt still theoretically winning, he had very little time and one false move could spell disaster. Not wishing to risk that Jim offered a draw, which his opponent was happy to take, especially as it maintains Ipswich C's 100% match record. We face them again in our last match of the season, it will be interesting to see if we can't put a dent in that then.

There were ten boards being played tonight as our C-Team played alongside our Norfolk and Suffolk Cup team, and some of the games in both matches bore an unusual resemblance - quite a few of them went 12-15 moves before so much as a pawn was exchanged.
  David was the first to finish, putting us in front and on track to keep our unbeaten run of matches intact. It started lively enough, but when David won the exchange he was always on top and when his opponent lost his other rook for nothing he immediately resigned.
  John finished next and the score was levelled. John had played a cautious opening having fianchettoed his kings bishop and castled safely behind it. His opponent had responded with a king's pawn opening and pawns started clogging the centre with all pieces still on the board after 13 moves. John exchanged a bishop for a knight on f6, opening up the g-file, but his pieces were tied down on the other wing by some dangerously advancing black pawns, spearheaded by two that were protected and passed. John countered on the king's side but his opponent then sprang an elegant checkmate with his queen on f2 supported by a bishop to finish the game before other pent up threats had unwound.
  Jim kept the match score level after a tough positional game, which was one of those that progressed well into the middle game before anything came off the board. Eventually Jim was able to plant a knight in the heart of his opponent's position, and in removing it a series of exchanges followed that led to a rook and opposite coloured bishop ending. With equal pawns the prospects of this ending in anything other than a draw were slim indeed, so Jim, somewhat reluctantly took the half point.
  This just left Graeme, whose game started as a Ruy Lopez, but it didn't go very far down the well trodden paths before Graeme sacrificed a pawn to break up his opponent's queen's side pawns giving him a clear advantage. As the game progressed however, things got rather complicated, with both players threatening mates in one way or another. There appeared to be simultaneous king hunts going on and each player had to be careful with their own hunt lest they slip up behind. One thing was certain, this board wasn't going to end in a draw, so the match was in the balance for some time before Graeme's hunt finally captured its prey first and gave us our sixth match win of the season.

We were pushing our luck in keeping our unbeaten run going tonight, at least on board two, but sometimes you need a bit of luck, and this welcome bit keeps us on track of emulating out B and C teams and finishing second in the table.
  John H's opponent responded to his king's pawn opening with a fianchettoed bishop on g7. The early play was then all pawns and knights leading to a very congested centre. By move 24 all four knights had gone and John was a pawn down, but with a better pawn structure. Unfortunately he then overlooked a pawn advance, hitting a bishop in the centre while exposing his rook on a1 to that fianchettoed bishop and he was then a bishop down. Worse followed when he lost the exchange to a fork from the other bishop and was now a rook down. After the queens were exchange John bowed to the inevitable and resigned at move 33. All in all, a decent start to a game that quickly unravelled through the complexities of a busy board.
  John M levelled the score, but for the second time in three games he gave away a piece in the opening, and for the second time in three games his opponent let him off the hook by failing to spot it. It was another Nimzo-Larsen that didn't go too well after his opponent played unfamiliar responses to the main line, and John was on the back foot for most of the middle game. Just when the tide was turning into a comfortable ending John thought he could win the exchange, but it was a trap and he lost the exchange instead. However, his rook and bishop were far better placed that his opponent's pair of rooks, and while it was looking good for a draw his opponent overlooked a double check that lost his one of his rooks and he promptly resigned.
  Jim then put us in front with a Sicilian that should have been a French, and was gifted a piece in the transition. But his opponent wasn't about to throw in the towel and Jim had to work hard for his win. It took a rather long time before he was eventually able to swap off the pieces and simplify the situation and convert that piece into a win.
  Last to finish was David who was playing black against Hugo Smith who played the Orangutan (b4, Bb2, e3) which is an opening David had not played against before. It was a well fought game and produced a lot of queen's side pressure, which eventually gave Hugo a passed (but isolated) a pawn. David slowly got on top of the game, attacking and advancing his pieces, but Hugo defended extremely well and he pushed that isolated a pawn, which resulted in David having to exchange pieces in order to neutralise it. After the dust settled David had a rook and three pawns to his opponent's knight and four pawn. However, his own pawns were in a mess and after a few moves of king and rook dodging the knight while holding on to those pawns a draw was agreed, and with it came our fifth match win.

Manningtree C are one of only three teams in the league without a match defeat so far this season, and may that run continue. Bury C are not the weakest team in this division according to their nominations, but they have been using this team to initiate a lot of novices and two thirds of their boards have been filled with such players, which does make it the weakest side in practice, hence their position in the table. Even so, they put up a creditable fight that was more creditable than the score-line suggests.
  Starting at the top, Graeme's opponent played the English and kept the position very tight by always selecting defensive options at every opportunity. After a bit of manoeuvring Graeme got both of his knights very active, causing headaches for his opponent, who attempted to relieve the pressure by exchanging a rook for a pawn and one of the knights. However, Graeme managed to double his rooks on an open file and it was soon game over.
  Early in his game John M's opponent surrendered a knight for nothing rather than lose the exchange and a pawn. But with nothing else off the board except a pawn each, John found it very hard to find a plan, especially as his opponent seemed to find just the right moves to foil each attempt at simplification. It took another thirty moves (which included a narrow escape when it looked for a moment as if John would have to give the piece back to avoid a back rank mate) for his opponent slip up and allow John to force the exchange of the queens, which effectively ended the game.
  David found his opponent to be steady and careful and after an even opening David was offered an early draw, which he of course declined. He then pushed on, slowing exchanging pieces and making headway down the board until he had a clear advantage in a rook and pawn ending. He continued pushing and furthered that advantage until his opponent resigned on move 53.
  John H gained an early advantage by capturing his opponent's knight on h6 with a bishop and thus opening up the g file, exposing the enemy king. But two moves later he missed a discovered attack, losing a knight, which got worse when a passed d pawn was heading for promotion. Eventually he was able to bring his queen to bear on the exposed king clearing three pawns in the process, but in removing the threat posed by the d pawn he had to give up the exchange, and was now a rook for three pawns down. However, with just a queen left on the board John gratefully found a perpetual check and thus salvaged half a point.
  A nice win for the team, which keeps us comfortably in second place, which is exactly where we want to be.

We managed our first four matches of the season with success, but unfortunately due to reasons beyond our control we have had to field our third default in a row. And with it our fourth draw, which means (on the brighter side) that we are still unbeaten in the league, although we have had to surrender the top spot to Sudbury, albeit temporarily.
  John M was the first to finish, and can consider himself very lucky to have come away with the full point. His opening was careless and he had to give up two knights for a rook. He then had his first lucky break when his opponent miscalculated a sacrificial attack, giving up a knight for two pawns. After the queens came off he had the exchange for two pawns, but his own three pawns were all isolated, and in keeping hold of them he was reduced to repeating moves. His opponent declined the third repetition only to blunder his bishop, and with two rooks v one, the end was no longer in doubt.
  John H, who followed next, is the newest member of our squad, playing in only his second match for the team. Unfortunately he wasn't able to maintain his 100% record, although he came out of the opening with a clearly winning position. Unfortunately he missing the winning continuation and got his queen trapped, forcing him to give up the exchange in order to save it. After that he was on the back foot and then worse was to come when he lost a piece and went into the endgame with just a king facing a king and rook as well as an ultimate mate.
  Jim pulled up the rear in a long and finely balanced Sicilian. As the game wore on Jim's position always looked the better, but there were no knockout blows in the offing. After the final pair of rooks were exchanged it was an ending with same colour bishops, a knight and five pawns each. It was still a tough nut to crack, but with some very accurate play on Jim's part, helped by a few inaccuracies from his opponent, Jim was able to establish a passed and protected c-pawn two rows from queening, which tied his opponent's king and gave Jim free range to pick off the enemy pawns on the other wing. Well it would have done had his opponent not resigned at the prospect.
  Our next match is a month away against bottom of the table Bury E, when we are likely to jump ahead of Sudbury in the table again, but by then, if Ipswich C do their job we should be able to cede the top spot to them for the rest of the season.

It was cold and dark as we headed off to Sudbury, and it's a good job John had Jim in the car with him for when they encountered a road closure in Hadleigh he wouldn't have known which way to go other than turn back, and would no doubt have been very late. But after a detour around a single track road, which fortunately saw no oncoming traffic, they arrived at the Quay Theatre in good time.
 The risk we knew we would have to take on entering a C-Team this season struck again and unfortunately we had to default our board four, so we started the match a point down. But there is some compensation in that because we don't get to stretch our lead at the top - the last thing we need is promotion. John finished first and put the match level, but it was not plain sailing. His opponent's first four moves were, h4, g4, g5 and c3, which unsettled him a bit as he didn't quite know what to do for the best. As the game wore on John's main advantages were a passed, protected f-pawn and his opponent's underdevelopment, but everything else was level. Finally the opportunity presented itself to win his opponent's h or g pawn, but in protecting them with his, as yet undeveloped knight, his opponent forgot that that knight was protecting a rook, which was now en-prise and immediately taken. His opponent played on for a while, but after leaving another piece en-price he resigned soon after.
 It wasn't long after that that Jim finished his game and put us in front. He had faced a Caro-Kann and immediately took his opponent out of the book. This had the desired effect and won him an early pawn and an advantageous position. Jim kept up the pressure, but it wasn't until the ending that his opponent finally cracked and lost a rook, and unlike Sudbuty's board two, he resigned immediately.
 David was looking good for another full point, and like Jim he had won a pawn in the opening. His young opponent however was very tenacious and put up stubborn resistance, and David was using a lot of time trying to find a way through. While his extra pawn was not of itself very much (two of his pawns were isolated and doubled) his pieces were well placed and he had a good special advantage. With still much to play for, but with the tide swinging in his opponent's favour, it was the clock that defeated him in the end and levelled the match.
 We remain top of the table but Ipswich C's 4-0 thumping of Bury E puts them only two points behind us with two games in hand. Surely that's going to be enough for them to take the promotion spot away from us.

We knew at the start of the season that with only one substitute for this team that we would run the risk of having to default the odd board or two, and tonight that happened. But all things considered we haven't done too badly as this will remain the only one in this half of the season.
  Jim and John both had fairly straightforward wins, but things did not go so smoothly on board three. Adrian thought he was going to win the exchange but instead came away a piece down and was then fighting an uphill battle to stay in the game. He tried to make things as difficult for his opponent as possible (who, give him his due) played his advantage very well and snuffed out any counter play while gradually increasing that advantage until it was overwhelming.
  This result still sees us top of the table, but with Ipswich C having two games in hand there's every chance they'll overtake us by Christmas.

Bury E may be the lowest rated team in the league, but not by much. However they are clearly using this team to break in their novices as they have only played one of their nominated squad so far in both of their two matches, and with the same result in each. It's a pity we didn't have David and Martin available for this match, it would have made it a little more even, but we are grateful for our newest member John H (and Graeme) for stepping up to avoid any defaults.
  John M finished first after his opponent threw caution to the wind as well as a couple of pieces in the sort of attack you don't often see these days, but which can still make you think just in case you've missing something. John H was next and was likewise faced with the sort of opening moves you don't often see, but he played sensibly and deserved the full point. Graeme made it 3-0, but was getting slightly concerned that it was taking him so long. He had won the exchange and was slowly but surely pressing home his advantage. After putting up a lot of resistance, once Graeme had taken control of the seventh his opponent's position collapsed very quickly. Adrian was facing the only one of their team who was from their nominated squad, and it was clear that he was a lot more experienced than his team mates (he was also the only one of their nominated squad to play in their previous match). He had handled Adrian's English pretty well which led to a finely balanced middle game, but then almost out of the blue, the advantage seemed to swing in his favour. Adrian was facing a dangerous incursion from a queen and knight, and suddenly found himself having to give up his queen for both enemy rooks. As it turned out this was quite a fortuitous exchange as it quite unexpectedly led to mating net.
  A common characteristic among beginners is to never give up regardless of the position, and Bury's beginners were no different - all four had to be mated to end their games. This result puts us two points clear at the top - now this was definitely not in the plan! But if it was you can be sure that we wouldn't be here. We can't go on winning like this, division two is no place for us. Come on Saxmundham B and Ipswich C, pull your fingers out.

No Sax Please, we're British - well not quite, but there was very little sight of Saxmundham this week as most of their players would appear to have disappeared for one reason or another. Yesterday on Tuesday 8th they could only muster one player for their home match against Ipswich Sports Club, giving the latter a significant advantage in their challenge for the top spot. Today it was again just one solitary player making up the team for their away fixture against our C-Team. It would appear that Saxmundham B had attempted to spread the word of their impending defaults within their own team, although it would have been nice if they had spread it to us, or at least to their solitary player who turned up completely unaware that he was the sole representative of his team tonight.
  Unfortunately the advantage this conferred on Manningtree C, keeping us on top of the table, was far from welcome; the last thing we want is to finish in the promotion position for Division Two. We gave our opposition 15 minutes before starting their clocks, thinking they had been held up in traffic - we all know the journey between Manningtree and Saxmundham can be troublesome at times. Unfortunately their solitary player could not start his game because he didn't know what board he was playing on, so after five more minutes we called their captain half expecting him to be driving, or stuck on the Orwell Bridge, but he was in fact stuck in hospital. Now that we were in the picture we considered Adrian to be the most appropriate player to be lined up against Hugo Brown and they finally got under way. Adrian handled himself well with the black pieces and in a pretty level game throughout it wasn't long before a draw was agreed.

Manningtree C were on good form tonight against one of the newest teams in the Suffolk League, Sudbury C. Sudbury haven't had a second team in the League since 2011-12, although you would have to go back to 1990-91 to find another Sudbury C. The difference today however, is that there is no Sudbury B. Such are the peculiarities of Suffolk Chess.
  On paper Sudbury C are the weakest team in the league, but what they lack in rating points they make up for in enthusiasm. Martin's game got off to a flying start, and they were well into the middle game while the rest were still negotiating the opening. Unfortunately Martin starting to lose material, and his opponent concentrated on exchanging pieces so by the time the ending came Martin was a whole rook down. When the final pair of knights were exchanged Martin had nothing but pawns to fend of his opponent's rook and resigned.
  Adrian levelled the match in what was a very unusual game. His opponent opened with 1.h4 and started advancing pawns on both wings. Adrian kept his cool and played sensibly and carefully and managed to turn the game comfortably in his favour.
  John put us ahead with his customary Nimzo-Larsen, but was more or less out of the book by about move two. Changing tactics he swung to a more conventional queen's pawn opening and won a pawn in the middle game and had a strong grip on the centre. His opponent decided to give up the exchange to relieve the pressure, and after John forced the exchange of queens the rook pair proved decisive.
  Jim stretched that lead after a game that was difficult to classify. His opponent attacked with little regard to casualties and while Jim had to be very careful, he went from being the exchange up to being a whole rook up come the ending. It was a peculiar rook though, having not moved from h8, and blocked in by his king it didn't seem to be doing much, but it proved crucial in defending the king's position as Jim moved in for the final assault.
  A pleasing result for the team that puts us on top of the table, but only because half the teams below us are still to play their opening match.

Manningtree C Team return started with their opening game away to Ipswich D Team.
  David, playing Black on board 2, was the first game to finish after a delayed start as David's original opponent failed to show and was substituted by Martyn Colebrook. David had to defend against a strong attack by Martyn and after holding the advance off was able to slowly push forward. Once he was able to play his rook to e3, threatening to win a pawn and pushing forward to obtain a Queen, his opponent defended with his knight missing that by doing so David was able to mate with his rook.
  Next to finish was Martin playing black on board 4. This game started off steady although Martin's opponent failed to capitalise on an early mistake by Martin, which would have resulted with Martin being a piece down. After developing the pieces and both side castling Martin put everything into an attack with as many elements as possible, this was beaten back and his opponent then mustered his own attack, which was successful ending in him winning with checkmate using a rook and queen.
  Jim's game finished next with Jim playing white on board one. This game was hard fought with both sides attacking but as the game went on Jim started to get on top and with a strong finish with his Queen and rooks won the game.
  All eyes were now on board three where Adrian was playing white against his opponent and at one point Adrian looked like he was going to mate but his opponent held him off and pressed on to win the game and a share of the points.