This was our first match defending the only trophy we currently hold, and it was comforting to know that we had our full squad out to do it. You may have noticed that tonight's fixture, along with May's final, are exact repeats of last year's, fixtures, not exactly desirable, but hardly surprising considering the size of the field. But with a weaker Ipswich this year we expected an easier ride to the final, and while the score-line is better than last year, it was by no means an easier ride.
  When Ipswich's board 1 arrived almost exactly at 7:30 as the players were settling down at their respective boards, he immediately went to sit at board 3 because that's where he usually sits, and indeed where he did sit last year. He was a little taken aback when his captain corrected him and pointed him towards board 1, which he departed for with a wry smile.
  As the match started, Panagiotis and Rowland were both immediately off the blocks, with Andy and Phil taking it more cautiously, although there were early queen excursions on all four boards. Panagiotis was showing no mercy on board 1 and was soon in control. Andy's early queen excursion led to the win of a pawn that forced the exchange of queens and a comfortable position. Phil's opponent gave up his c-pawn in an English but it proved to be a very tricky game, while Rowland produced his usual array of complications that seemed to bamboozle his opponent. With the final result of the first round at 3-1 we thought we could relax, there was no way we wouldn't get the 1½ points we needed in the next round was there?
  Well, Panagiotis was again off at lightening speed and while the material remained level, he certainly looked to have the advantage, especially after the exchanges left his opponent with an isolated pawn that was a prime target. And at this stage (passed move 30) Panagiotis still had more time on his clock than he did when he started. However, when the final pair of minor pieces came off leaving a two rook and four pawn ending things started to slow down. Somehow his opponent had managed to get both of his rooks on the seventh and Panagiotis' rooks were reduced to defending mating threats from two directions. But Panagiotis declined a draw at this stage because the situation on the other boards was far from clear.
  It wasn't long after that, that Phil went down, which was somewhat against the run of play. He came out of the opening with a slight plus, and he looked good for at least a draw. Even after the pieces came off, his bishop against knight with equal pawns looked better, but with time running low he missed a number of knight manoeuvres that left him in dire straights facing a 4-2 pawn deficit, and with his opponent's king entering the fray there was nothing left but to throw in the towel. The outcome of the match was now definitely in doubt, we still needed one point from Andy and Rowland and that looked in jeopardy making the possibility of a blitz decider uncomfortably close.
  Andy's opponent sacrificed an opening pawn, but it didn't seem to be the right opening in which to do so and Andy played the rest of the game a pawn up with no compensation for his opponent. His opponent also helped by occasionally forgetting to press his clock, not the sort of thing you want to do in a rapid play game. However, it wasn't that much help for as the ending approached Andy was running desperately low on time and a killer blow seemed illusive. The tension was not helped by the fact that Rowland's board was a chaotic mess that could go either way, so we were desperately hoping that Andy would not have to settle for a draw because he had run out of time. It was a long five minutes when Andy's opponent played a rook to the seventh, overlooking the fact that he was facing a mate in one, and finally the tension was gone and Panagiotis could go back to his board to accept a draw.
  Rowland was dicing with death in a game that at times looked as though the pieces had been assembled on the board at random. Rowland would not agree with that assessment, "I had it all under control" he said, although he very nearly won the game on time when his opponent was literally down to his last second when making a critical move. A point was reached where Rowland could repeat moves around his opponent's undefended king, or set up a mate in one and hope that his opponent would not find a mate at the other end of the board. He chose the latter and a king hunt followed, which Rowland had correctly calculated would not succeed and when his opponent ran out of checks and could not defend the mate in one, he resigned.
  The final score line was very much more than we had anticipated just ten minutes earlier, but as they say in football, it doesn't matter if it comes of a knee, a shin or your backside, so long as it goes in that's all that matters.

We played Stowmarket in our first match of the season and they gave us a bit of a drubbing, which is the only league defeat we have so far suffered. Mind you, that is the only match this season that Stowmarket have been at full strength, which is probably why we are still above them in the table. Tonight we met them again, this time in the first round of the Divisional Rapid Play Cup, and they were almost at full strength again, missing only their board four. That probably goes a long way in explaining the improved score line, even though we still lost.
  And talking about lost, we were in danger of that being just that on our journey there. First, an accident on the A14 at the Needham Market junction, although only a minor detour was involved, but there was a long queue getting to it. And then there where major road works in Stowmarket itself, which had closed all of the approach roads leading to The Rookery, Stowmarket's venue. After several attempts at penetrating the barricades we ended up having to park in a nearby supermarket car park and get collected by Stowmatket's captain and guided on foot for the last few hundred yards. Our twenty minute buffer was less than five by the time we got there.
  The first round saw us beaten 3-1, but at times Bob and Graeme were so close in their games that we could so easily have had one, or even one and a half points from their boards. The second round was a much more respectable 2-2 in which the highlight was Simon's very impressive draw against his much higher rated opponent.
  This result sees us ejected from the competition, which is a great shame as we made it to the final last year, being narrowly beaten 4-4 by Woodbridge on board elimination.

The least said about tonight's performance the better, but at least we went out to the current holders of the competition. Thankfully Adrian saved us from a whitewash, and while both Martin and David put up a good fight and deserved to come away with at least something, John threw away 1½ points on a single move in each of his games. And as they say in the world of football, this gives us the chance to concentrate on the league, although that's not something we necessarily want to do.