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.