Last year, on 4 October, the Manningtree A players travelled to Ipswich with a weakened team to play a match against the reigning champions of Division One. This year, on the same date, the Ipswich C players travelled to Manningtree with a weakened team to play a match against the reigning champions of Division One. How far would history repeat itself? Well, to a quite remarkable extent, but it had its limits. Last year, the visitors drew their games on the top three boards and won on the bottom board. This year, the games on the top three boards were again all drawn, but it was the home team on this occasion that triumphed on the bottom board.
  The Manningtree players began confidently and were soon significantly ahead on the clock in every game, but the positions on the boards began to tell another story. As could be foreseen, the meeting between the two teams that had each finished top of the league twice in the last four years was a close affair - and a tense one with the outcome in the balance for most of the evening. The one exception to the excitement was on board three, where Leon, with the black pieces, steered the game to an effortless draw. The result was agreed in sixteen moves when a stolid opening was about to be transformed into an equally stolid, heavy piece ending, with little of a middle-game to intervene.
  Adam, who was the second to finish, reached a queen-and-knight ending with no more than an additional pawn to show for all the dominance he had enjoyed earlier on. But the extra material was offset by an exposed king, which made a draw inevitable.
  Two draws and the results of the remaining two games unpredictable. It made for an entertaining, but nerve-racking end to the evening. For a while, Andy was under severe pressure on the black squares with even a hint of a king-side onslaught to keep him occupied, but the decisive change in fortune came when he was able to free himself with a timely queen´s pawn advance. After that, it was his opponent´s turn to hang on, playing mainly on increment, with a dogged defence that was to be eventually rewarded with a half-point.
  Meanwhile, on board four, the advantage see-sawed from one side to the other. White seemed to be in complete control of the board but he could find no way through a solid defensive formation. Then, as so often happens in such situations, he started to overpress and, in the blink of an eyelid, he had lost all his queen-side pawns. It was time (especially since his opponent didn´t have much of the precious resource left) for Phil to go all out, lunge forward in desperation. And, lo and behold, it worked! In the next blink of another eyelid, Phil was two knights up. The match was won and everyone could calm down again. Until the next time, that is.

On the evidence of two matches in the league so far, it would appear that Manningtree A have adopted a novel strategy to win their matches - draw on the top three boards and win on board four! Leon duly obliged in this plan against Bury St Edmunds B, while the players above him fought hard but ultimately divided the spoils. The match result improves upon our performance in the corresponding fixture last season, which ended in a two-two draw.
 The battle on bottom board was to all intents and purposes over by move fifteen, when the Bury player grabbed a toxic pawn and paid the price - the loss of a bishop, although he insisted on continuing in a hopeless position until he was mated.
 Meanwhile, the advantage in the games on boards one and two swung one way and then the other until equilibrium was eventually established. Adam had the better of the position that arose from a symmetrical English opening, but a moment of carelessness allowed his opponent to take control and force him onto the defensive, a task that he showed he was entirely up to.
 Andy played a sharp line of the King´s Indian, which saw him pressing in the endgame after having overcome difficulties earlier on, but it was to no avail and a draw was agreed with bishops of opposite colours on the board. This was the last game to finish, as Phil had already called time in a deadlocked endgame which had resulted from a contest that had been evenly balanced throughout.
 So Manningtree move up the league table and are now placed third, with a match in hand over the majority of teams. In the other match played at the venue the same evening, Bury St Edmunds C scored a convincing four-nil victory over Ipswich D (our next opponents) to post notice of their challenge in the league this season. It is time to review the strategy alluded to at the start of this report, as our top two boards would certainly agree. Until now, they have been held on the leash, but that surely will not last for too long. Watch this space, as they say.

As predicted in the report on the last A-team outing, the full force of Manningtree´s top two players was ready to be unleashed, but a reversal of fortunes on board four, where we had collected full points in the previous two fixtures, meant that our run of victories by the narrowest of margins continued unabated. Last season we scored a 3-1 win in the corresponding encounter.
 The two wins on the top two boards were achieved in contrasting fashions. Adam raced through his game at breakneck speed, while his opponent deliberated long and unsuccessfully on how to stem a dangerous king-side pawn advance that was eventually to result in the white king being stranded and mated on the h3 square.
 There was a slower fuse to Andy´s game as he outmanoeuvred the player with the black pieces, acquiring diagonals for his two bishops and files for his two rooks until he commanded the board. Deep into the final hour, as tables and chess sets were being put away for the night, this led to the gain of a pawn and a transposition to a won endgame in a master class of controlled, strategic dominance.
 Meanwhile, things had not proceeded quite so smoothly on the lower boards. On board three, first Leon and then his opponent missed one-move opportunities to take a strong initiative in a game that started as an English Opening but soon crossed the channel, as it were, into a French Defence, before ending appropriately enough in a form of détente (known in chess lingo as a repetition of moves).
  Phil found himself paired with the same opponent as he had faced in an eventful game last season in the away match against Ipswich D. On that occasion, he recovered from an inferior position, might have won, and finally only drew. This time it was a very different story when he surrendered a pawn in the opening and never found sufficient counterplay. The result meant that Manningtree A had failed to break its recent habit of winning matches by 2½ to 1½ points. We shall look to change that in the coming clash with Ipswich A.

A convincing home win against Ipswich A saw Manningtree A move to the top of Division 1, if only for one day. (Bury St Edmunds C, only a half-point behind, were due to play the following evening.) The most remarkable aspect of the match against Ipswich A was the contrasting fortunes of the two Manningtree players with the white pieces and the two with the black pieces. The lesson from the former pair was about the dangers inherent in not knowing opening lines and the lesson from the latter pair was the importance of the timing of tactics in the middle game.
 Adam and Phil secured won positions very early on by comprehensively outplaying their opponents in the opening with thematic pawn sacrifices to penetrate the black defences, Adam by planting his bishop on d6 and Phil by the advance of his e-pawn to e6. Both the Manningtree payers proceeded to convert a decisive advantage gained in the first ten moves into a trouble-free win. It was not long before Manningtree was two-nil ahead.
 With the black pieces, Andy and Leon were well prepared to enter into sharp lines against the Veresov Attack and the Morra Gambit, respectively. Both games served as salutary reminders that in chess the margin between defeat and victory is sometimes no more than one move!
 In his game, Andy countered vigorously, arriving at a double-edged position more usually seen in an open Sicilian, with opposite castling. He consumed an extraordinary amount of time, leaving him with less than 30 minutes on his clock after just 11 moves. The position, however, appeared to favour him, and after he landed his knight on the e4 outpost his opponent took the pragmatic decision to sacrifice the exchange to eliminate it. Down to less than 5 minutes, Andy sacrificed his remaining queen-side pawns to open lines against the white king. Just as his defence was about to collapse, the white player sacrificed a piece to launch a menacing attack against the black king, but the game was to have one final twist. Andy sacrificed a rook to initiate a nineteenth-century style king hunt, driving the white king from c1 to an eventual mate on h5. A severe test of nerves for players and spectators alike.
 On board three, Leon rattled through his first fourteen moves in confident style, but a misguided capture two moves later left his uncastled king exposed to a powerful sacrificial attack, which should have won the game for white. The critical moment arrived on move 31, when the eventual outcome was effectively decided. After making his previous move, Leon had seen how white could win a piece and he was contemplating an immediate resignation had the best move been played. Instead, after thinking for several minutes, white chose a different attacking option against a pinned knight, which Leon happily relinquished to reach a drawn rook-and-pawn ending. It was only later on that he realised he had also had at his disposal a counter-attacking rook move that would have won white´s queen and the game.

A perfect score, even if the play was not always perfect. For most of the evening, the Manningtree players were on top on all boards. Their ascendancy could be attributed, on the even numbered boards, to the fact that the home players had white and outgraded their opponents by a considerable margin, whereas on the odd numbered boards, where the grading differences were less substantial, it was significant that both Manningtree players opened with the Sicilian Defence and clearly knew their stuff. Nevertheless, it was not plain sailing by any stretch of the imagination. As the games progressed, the Bury players came back into it and could easily have stolen half points - or even full points - here and there to make it a much closer, if not an entirely different outcome.
 On board one, Andy´s game was a classic Open Sicilian with opposite castled kings, and a race to determine which side´s pawn-storm would break through first. Andy appeared ahead in the race, but overlooked a clever resource: his opponent in severe time pressure found a dangerous piece sacrifice that forced Andy´s king out into the open. In the game, the clock worked in Andy´s favour: his opponent, with only seconds remaining, chose a plausible but flawed method of continuing the attack. It enabled him to recover the piece, but in so doing he fell into a trap that allowed a routine mating combination.
 Adam seemed to have it all his own way on board two, effortlessly winning a pawn and transposing into a superior ending. The only problem was that it rapidly became too simplified an endgame with a rook and three pawns against a rook and two pawns all on the same side of the board, and then a rook and two against a rook and one. Draw agreed? No, Adam doesn´t play like that. A few moves later, the placement of the respective kings with a white rook and pawn against a bare rook was the guarantee of a textbook win.
 Leon´s opponent found himself in serious trouble out of the opening, a bad version of the Grand Prix Attack, and seemed to be heading for a quick loss, albeit one replete with tactical opportunities in which each player, at one point in the game, had a queen sacrifice as his best option! Just when it seemed the dust had settled and the game was all but over, one careless move by black almost allowed the Bury player to escape with an unlikely draw. He hit upon the right idea, but his execution was faulty, leaving Leon with an extra bishop and a prosaic end to a game full of incident.
 On board four, Phil took full advantage of his opponent´s modest ambition in the Pirc Defence to obtain a dominant position, only to allow an exchange sacrifice that liberated black´s hitherto passive knights, giving him counterplay with some unwelcome threats. White successfully stifled these, exchanging black´s rook and opening files for his own remaining rook, but he failed to find a decisive plan of invasion. Instead, he left his opponent with a move not too hard to find at his disposal, which would have threatened mate in one, turned the tables and given black winning chances. Black, however, wasn´t watching his clock and his flag fell to decide the result of the game. Overall, the moral of the match was surely that, as so often in chess, the victory goes to the player who makes the penultimate mistake!

Manningtree A continues to make steady progress towards the retention of the two trophies that it won last year. Following a walkover in the Suffolk Cup quarter-final in December, when Saxmundham A defaulted, the New Year started with a comfortable win in Division 1 of the Suffolk League against heavily outgraded opponents.
 It could have been our second successive four-nil victory in the league, but for the fact that, on board four, John faltered in sight of victory after comprehensively outplaying his young opponent, allowing white´s a-pawn to rush down the board to win the game. The three players on the boards above him, who have yet to lose a game this season, made no such mistake.
 Andy´s opponent was left to lament ´´where did I go wrong´´ after his king-side ambitions in the King´s Indian were stymied by accurate play and a counter-initiative on the queen-side, as often happens in this defence when a tactical breakthrough fails to materialise. Adam, meanwhile, had only to play soundly and sensibly against the London System, while his opponent thought and thought to no avail beyond putting himself into hopeless time trouble and blundering away his queen.
 Leon was faced with another of the bright Bury juniors, who knew his opening theory well enough but still has a few lessons to learn about strategic management in the middle-game (and, incidentally, when to resign a lost game). After a bad decision to give up two minor pieces for a rook on move 21, black´s fate was effectively sealed, but he cheerfully played on and on until checkmate was delivered on move 63.
 The same evening at the same venue Bury B and Bury C fought out an entertaining two-all draw, which was all to Manningtree A´s advantage in the title race. The Manningtree team is now 3½ points clear of Bury C (and 4½ points clear of Ipswich C, its next opponent), all three teams having played the same number of matches.

Manningtree A concluded the first half of its campaign with a second victory over one of its most serious rivals, leaving the team four points clear at the top of the table. The result, however, was in doubt until the very last minute of the match.
 Adam had got the team off to the best possible start with a rapid win after an unusual knight fork on e8 of queen and bishop led to his opponent´s resignation. Leon´s game finished soon afterwards, when an early draw was agreed in a partially blocked and significantly simplified position (all the knights had disappeared). It was surely pure coincidence that the brevity of their games allowed the two Manningtree players the opportunity to slip away mid-match to mark their birthdays (Adam´s on the day and Leon´s two days later) with a visit to the local hostelry!
 When they returned to the chess venue, Jim had already carefully steered his game to a draw against his higher-rated opponent, who is undefeated in the league this season, thus ensuring that Manning- tree´s unbeaten record remained intact. All the excitement, though, was on board two - and still to come.
 Andy´s provocative treatment of the Modern Defence was rewarded with an inferior position, in which he felt he had little choice but to gambit a pawn for nebulous compensation. His opponent, however, soon went wrong in the early middle game, lost control of the dark squares and had to offer back an exchange just to stay in the game. This should have been a decisive material superiority, but starting to run short of time, Andy misplayed his advantage, and embarked on a dubious sequence of exchanges that led to an endgame with exchange for pawn advantage, but left his opponent with dangerous looking passed a+b+d pawns. It could all have gone horribly wrong at this point. Andy was reduced to just seconds on the clock, but his opponent simplified the position further, trusting that his trio of passed pawns, backed up by a rook and a bishop would be enough against Andy´s two rooks. The intervention of the black king, however, left white´s seemingly unstoppable pawn mass curiously paralysed, and it was Andy´s own pawn majority that triumphed.

One way or another, Manningtree A contrives to keep its winning streak going. Turning out with a weakened team against Bury St Edmunds B, who also played without its usual top board, Manningtree resorted to the type of performance that brought it victories in the first two league matches of the season, namely draws on the top three boards and a win on board four. This time, however, the strategy was not as smooth as the description suggests.
 While the regular first-team players, Andy and Leon, were never in any danger of losing and, in fact, both pressed for the full point, Jim and Bob gave the home supporters some anxious moments. Jim was first to finish, salvaging a draw after losing a pawn to a nice tactic in a queenless opening. Bob´s game was even more eventful and once again the exchange of queens played a significant part in the result, which saw white come back from a piece down to exploit the fact that black´s bishop was stranded on g2 (a novel fianchetto!) to launch a decisive attack against his opponent´s king.
 Meanwhile, the point had been shared on board three. The game had gone well for white from the opening and the young Bury player came under sustained pressure, but held his nerve and was rewarded when Leon, short of time and concerned about his king cover, agreed an over-cautious draw when still in a somewhat better position. It was perhaps Leon´s only mistake of the evening in which he had done everything right except win!
 It should come as no surprise to learn that Andy´s game was the last to finish. As usual, he strove actively for a win, but against a strong opponent with the white pieces who chose to play the London System and sit tight, Andy never managed to achieve anything more than a slight edge that saw the game simplify to an ending with a queen, two minor pieces and all but a pair of pawns for both sides. As the clocks ticked down to the final few minutes, Andy offered a draw that was immediately accepted, thus ensuring Manningtree of its eighth successive win in the league this season and a return to the top of the table.
 It is looking increasingly as if Bury St Edmunds C, who are one point behind in second place but with one extra match played, will present the only serious challenge to Manningtree A´s attempt to retain the Division 1 trophy. The two teams meet in the penultimate round of the season on 22 March. Before that encounter, though, we still need to do well against four other teams to keep our fine run going and possibly earn for one of our top boards the Player of the Year award, but more of this nearer to the end of the season.

Manningtree A notched up its tenth league victory in succession (counting back to the last game of the previous season), but as on many other occasions the result was only achieved following several twists and turns before the chess pieces were put away for the night. Against Ipswich A, Andy and Leon soon opened up a two-point lead for the visiting team with smooth technical displays, but it is fair to say that on this occasion Adam and Phil were not firing on all cylinders.
 Leon was first to finish. His opponent failed to find a coordinated plan in adopting a King´s Indian Defence against the English Opening and soon drifted into an inferior position that was punished by a central thrust which won a piece on the twenty-second move and the game shortly afterwards. Andy responded energetically to a Closed Sicilian with a queen-side pawn advance and when he won the exchange the result was never in doubt.
 The same could not be said for the top and bottom boards. The expression ´´a lost position´´ comes to mind to describe the state of play early in Adam´s game and late in Phil´s game, but the two Manningtree players demonstrated a depth of resourcefulness to convert a potential nil return into a welcome point-and-a-half. Adam got back into his game after a poor opening, first with an exchange sacrifice and then, as his opponent ran short of time, with twin pawn advances to the seventh rank on the b and h files that black´s rook and king could not handle. Black resigned when the queening of one of the pawns became unstoppable.
 Phil´s escape was even more remarkable. His game had initially looked promising until he found his queen trapped forlornly in the middle of the board. Undaunted, he relinquished his main piece for a bishop and began picking up pawn after pawn before proposing a draw at the psychologically appropriate moment. Much to the delight and incredulity of the other members of the Manningtree team, his harassed opponent, in severe time trouble, accepted the draw offer. A lucky let-off!
 As the season approaches its climax, Manningtree A leads its nearest rival, Bury St Edmunds C, by two-and-a-half points with a match in hand. This is a healthy lead as thoughts begin to turn to the destination of the Player of the Year award where our top three boards (Andy 7½, Adam 7, Leon 6½) are all potentially in the running and, of course, intent on preserving their unbeaten records.

Who saw this coming? A home match and a healthy grading advantage on each board, averaging 25 points, against a team in mid-table that had lost more matches than any other team in Division 1, promised a comfortable evening. The truth of the matter was that all four Manningtree players had an off-day at the same time, but this should not detract from the performance of the Ipswich D players, especially on the top two boards, who played enterprising chess. Their team deserved the win and, had all the chances been taken, it would have been within sight of a total whitewash of the league leaders.
 Leon, as has been his wont this season when the opening has not gone his way, took an early draw. In this match, however, he took this practice to an extreme. A pawn down with scant compensation, he gratefully accepted his opponent´s offer of a draw on move 10. At this stage, it was too early to have any sense of how the match was going to turn out, but soon the warning signs of what was to come began to manifest themselves.
 Adam´s opponent, known for his eccentric openings and tactical ability, won one pawn with a pseudo-sacrifice of a piece and followed it up with more of the same to win a second pawn and eventually the game. Andy´s attack against black´s King´s Indian formation soon began to falter and his decision to castle queen´s side (he had little choice by then) left his king the more vulnerable of the two. The Ipswich player proceeded vigorously, also offering a pseudo-sacrifice of a knight, and appeared to have the upper hand until an untimely pin turned out to be no pin at all and Andy cashed in with a straight- forward tactic that netted him a whole rook.
 Attention turned to board four, where Phil´s early initiative had been repulsed and, under pressure, he had blundered away the exchange. The endgame that resulted, where Phil had a bishop and pawn for a rook seemed to be objectively lost, but with both players finding inferior moves in time shortage hopes were raised that the Houdini of the bottom board would carry off his second successive, miraculous escape. And he should have, coming within one move of forcing the Ipswich player to take a draw by repetition, but his luck ran out when he chose the wrong square for his checked king and had to admit defeat.
 So Manningtree A´s fine run and Adam´s unbeaten record have come to an end, but an adverse result earlier in the week for Bury St Edmunds C, the only team with a real chance of catching us, means that our position at the top of the league is as secure as it had been before our spring awakening. We face Ipswich D again in a month´s time, in the semi-final of the Suffolk Cup. It will allow us an early opportunity to make amends for a below par result. Let us hope we can take it.

After this result, Manningtree A has edged significantly closer to retaining the Whiteley Challenge Cup awarded to the premier club team in the Suffolk championship. Without a full strength team, the main aim of the evening was to avoid defeat against the only remaining competitor for the Division 1 title and this was managed eventually - and eventfully - by the end of play. Indeed, so intent were the nominated first-team players to secure the points needed for the title, that they all offered their opponents draws early in their games - and all three offers were rejected!
 Not for the first time this season, the replacement player enlisted for the occasion saved our blushes. John was the only Manningtree winner on the night as half points were squandered and saved on all the other boards. With the black pieces, he made no mistake about taking the initiative in the face of passive play by his lower-graded opponent and he was amply rewarded with the win of a piece and the game to post a positive score on the team sheet.
 Leon was next to finish and he should have doubled the point count for Manningtree, but time pressure took its toll. The game, which had started with 1 b3, soon took on a blocked character. The first capture of any kind occurred on move 24, but already by then, Leon was running short of time and, in a better position, offered his opponent a draw three moves later. As the game progressed, the decision to decline this offer looked to be a poor decision as Leon clinically dismantled the white structure, but extreme time shortage (Leon was down to six seconds at one stage) allowed his opponent, who had seemed down and out, to wriggle free with a threefold repetition, despite a deficit of a piece and two pawns at the end.
 On the other boards, Andy was happy enough to achieve a draw after being somewhat outplayed in a queenless middlegame after black´s defensive opening setup had prevented him from displaying the characteristic attacking flair we have become used to seeing when he has the white pieces, while Phil entertained us (or not) with a see-saw struggle that had each player in turn offering a draw before Phil´s blunder decided the day, confirming the adage that the player who wins is the one who makes the last-but-one mistake.

Manningtree A travelled to Saxmundham knowing a minimum of 1½ points from the match would ensure that the Division 1 trophy remained in its hands. The team hit that mark, but hardly distinguished itself in a narrow defeat against opposition that it outranked on every board.
 The two Manningtree players with the black pieces showed themselves to be conscious of the required target and agreed draws within minutes of each other, but in hindsight perhaps prematurely as far as the match result was concerned. On board two, Leon weathered early pressure in a prepared line against his Sicilian Defence but only at a cost to his time management. As his position on the board improved, the situation on his clock grew decidedly worse. At this stage in the game, his opponent, realising that his attack had been successfully neutralised, offered a draw, which Leon, despite the prospect of an ending with a good knight against a bad bishop, accepted, recalling Falstaff´s advice that discretion is the better part of valour (Henry IV, Part One).
 Meanwhile, on board four, Jim countered white´s expansion on the queen´s side in an English Opening with a counter attack in the centre. As white appeared happy to leave his king in the centre, black soon gained significant pressure and managed to restrict the white queen to only two viable squares. Jim, having a perpetual on the white queen guaranteed, spent more time than was wise analysing various direct attacks on the king. When he failed to find anything decisive that didn´t involve the risk of exchanging into an inferior endgame, he opted for the easy option of a draw instead.
 In the two games with the white pieces, the Manningtree players did not have things their own way. On board four, a slow, closed Ruy Lopez only erupted into life as black ran desperately short of time. Phil, having incautiously left his queen exposed in mid board found himself faced with its loss for a rook and bishop. It was time to offer a draw, which black, down to playing on increment alone, readily accepted. A lucky escape, since black had played well under tremendous clock pressure.
 This left Andy, as has happened so often in the past, to decide the result in Manningtree´s favour in the dying moments of the match. For the first time this season, however, he failed to achieve the desired outcome. A dubious pawn sacrifice had left him somewhat worse from the opening. Yet he contrived to develop compensation, even spurning a draw repetition in the endgame to embark on an interesting sacrifice of the exchange for a pawn. His earlier problems from the opening and middle game, however, had left their mark: short of time, he chose the wrong retreat square for his bishop, allowing his opponent to trap the piece and win the game.
 So, in the race for the title, Manningtree A has limped across the finishing line in first place with one match to spare. That match is a return fixture against Saxmundham A. It offers an immediate opportunity for revenge, but perhaps more importantly it is an occasion to put an end to a winless streak of three matches that has unaccountably followed on from ten victories in a row.

The Saxmundham players proved to be doughty opposition in the league this year, but Manningtree did just enough to conclude its campaign with a narrow victory, thus exactly reversing the score line of the previous encounter with the same team in March. To do so, it relied upon Plan B.
 For the uninitiated, Plan A is to rely upon the nominated top two boards - Adam and Andy - winning their games while the lower boards act as the supporting cast, as occurred no less than six times this season. Plan B is called upon when the fire power on boards one, two and three has been neutralised and the bottom board secures the only win of the match. The match against Saxmundham saw this scenario unfold for the fourth time this season! In the other three matches, all of which Manningtree failed to win, neither Plan A nor Plan B worked.
 All credit to first-team debutant, Mark, for making Plan B effective this time. His was the first game to finish, when his opponent in an equal position blundered away a piece and resigned. Second to finish was Phil. His Caro-Kann Defence was good enough for equality, but no more than that, and with his opponent´s passed pawn advancing down the board, Phil judged it advisable to take a draw by perpetual check.
  Leon built up a strong spatial advantage against erratic play by his Saxmundham adversary, who after 17 … Bg8, had successfully lined up all his pieces on the back rank (apart from his queen, which was semi-fianchettoed on g7). No pawns had been exchanged, however, and the position soon became blocked, thereby denying white the opportunity for a decisive breakthrough. At this stage, Leon, with one eye on the clock and the other eye on his undefeated record in the league this season, offered a draw, which was immediately accepted.
 While Leon was concerned not to lose, Andy, still in with a chance of sharing the Player of the Year award, was doing his darndest on top board to win. He came perilously close, but it was not to be. After a complex middle game had resolved itself into a Q+N v Q+B endgame, Andy held the advantage, but then mistakenly elected to exchange queens in order to win a pawn. In front of a crowded gallery (there had been three matches going on in the club that evening), his opponent demonstrated the value of bishop v knight in an endgame when there are pawns on both sides of the board and, despite his pawn minus, held the draw comfortably.

Stowmarket may be among the weaker sides in this division (in fact they were only spared from relegation last season because Felixstowe and Woodbridge entered new teams into the league), but it was pleasing to notch up a victory in our first match after returning to division two.
 Most of the games started at a fairly brisk pace with John finishing first after his opponent made in injudicious queen exchange that allowed decisive rook penetration along an open c-file. Adrian finished second, and unfortunately finished second in his game as well. He came out of the opening well enough, and had developed a promising king-side attack with a pair of menacing bishops supporting his queen. But he lost his way a bit and when the smoke cleared he found himself with scattered pawns which could not all be defended at the same time.
 In contrast to the others, Jim´s game was anything but brisk - over 90 minutes of play and they still hadn´t reached move fifteen. Facing the Scandinavian Jim produced another of his ´´specials´´, increasing the complications with each move until his opponent was overwhelmed by the numerous threats. He resigned at move eighteen when faced with the loss of a rook for nothing at all.
 With the match 2-1 up it was down to Bob to determine the final result. After a lot of manoeuvring Bob had managed to corner his opponent´s king with bishop, knight and distant queen, but it was difficult to find a decisive line. Probing carefully Bob could easily have repeated moves on at least two occasions, but he sensed a breakthrough. His opponent however put up a stout defence, and after a number of exchanges Bob emerged with only a pawn to the good, and an isolated one at that. With just a bishop each left on the board Bob tried a number of plans but his opponent defended very well, so in the end a draw was offered.
 So for the moment at least, Manningtree B sit second in the table. Second to Felixstowe A that is, who we face in two week´s time.

Felixstowe A are on paper the strongest side in this division, and after just three seasons in division two they must be favourites for division one next year. Which is quite a turnaround considering they´ve spent most of the 21st century at the foot of division three. Not surprisingly therefore, we came off second tonight.
 The games finished in board order, with Jim by far the earliest. His French received the sharpest of responses, giving Jim little chance to conjure up one of his specials. And in trying to save a pawn he lost a piece, which is not a good idea at the best of times. Jim struggled on, but the end result was never really in doubt.
 It was an hour or so before Mark´s game finished, and once again he put in a tremendous performance. They were very quickly into the endgame, with two rooks and six pawns each. Mark´s was by far the better pawn structure, but the position was such that he couldn´t hold on to one of his pawns, and a long rook and pawn ending ensued. It was difficult to see how Mark could have played it any better, and full credit must be given to his opponent, who played out the ending with great precision.
 John M then got us our first half point, although luck played a big part in it. He didn´t come out of the Ruy Lopez very well, but just when he thought he´d contained all the threats and was achieving equality he blundered the exchange. He was able to get a pawn in compensation, and it was this humble pawn (with the help of a bishop and knight pair) that saved the day for him.
 Although significantly out-graded, John P brought up the rear with an admirable performance adding another half a point to our tally. John had been gifted a pawn in the opening, and cautiously steered the game away from complicated tactics. Careful defence kept his opponent at arms length, and in a somewhat locked position his opponent (after two offers) accepted the draw.
 We expected to lose this match tonight, hopeful that it would not be a whitewash, so 1-3 was quite acceptable, keeping us in the top half of the table.

With a drastically reduced B-Team tonight we were expecting to go down heavily, knowing that 4-0 was a distinct possibility. But it should not have been. In fact, by half time it would not have been unthinkable that we could actually win the match, although one and a half points was more realistic.
 Jaco´s game got off to a brisk start and his was the first to finish. It wasn´t long before Jaco had a material deficit, which grew as the game progressed, with little chance of the tide turning.
 It was some time before John M followed, having once again opened with 1.b3, taking the game away for well prepared lines. It was well over an hour of play before the first exchange took place on move 15 - a couple of pawns. At this point the game looked quite tenable, but after a few more exchanges John, now a pawn down, could see a second one was about to fall, but failed to see that it would end with the loss of a piece as well.
 Alan, outgraded nearly 2-1, was making great progress in his game, and by mid point he looked much the better, with strongly placed pieces and a promising attack under way. It´s hard to say what went wrong, but his opponent managed to survive the threats and eventually turned the tables, and with it went at least half a point we were hoping for.
 But we still had John P in the fray and we were confident of a full point from his game. He had put in another excellent performance, gaining the upper hand and eventually going the exchange and a pawn up. It looked a plain sailing path to victory, but somehow John had an aberration with the time control, thinking fifteen more minutes would be added to his clock when it reached zero, but forgetting he needed to pass move thirty to get them. It was a sad outcome for John and the team. The last time we went down 4-0 was almost two years ago to the day, 7th October 2015, the day we last visited Sudbury.

Although we have the second highest grade average in this division, we are doing a remarkably good job at propping it up. And while this result takes us half a point above rock bottom, we clearly need a change of fortunes if we are to avoid dropping back to division three next season. In fairness to us though, that second place in the grades table is by a very slim margin, and the team tonight (with one possible exception) put in a very creditable performance, even if it did give Clacton their first match win of the season.
 Jim performed well on top board, having accepted a pawn sacrifice, he reached a critical position offering tempting possibilities. Getting short of time, and wary of the risks, he offered a draw, which got the team off to a very respectable start.
 John was served a Scotch gambit, and although he´d not before seen the line he faced, he did see a lot of phantoms, and so played far too cautiously. His opponent slowly but surely achieved a strong positional advantage, but in the end it was a simple miscalculation that lost him a knight, after which there was no hope.
 Carl started 1.d4 d5 2.Bg5 and got a very active and unbalance game. With two pieces for a rook, he looked to have most of the initiative, but never, it seemed, quite enough to force a breakthrough. Not for the want of trying, he eventually agreed to share the spoils.
 Bob had to admit to feeling somewhat under the weather tonight, although from his efforts over the board you wouldn´t have thought it. With the black pieces he neutralised white´s starting initiative and built a good central pawn advance. His opponent remained resourceful, and after the pieces had fallen, the ending was just a pair of bishops and three pawns each. But Bob didn´t give up yet, play continued for some time before he had to admit there were no winning chances left.

It´s been a bit of a strange week this week in division two, what with Stowmarket (the only team we´ve beaten so far this season) defeating Sudbury 4-0, the same score that Sudbury defeated us by. And top of the table Felixstowe going down 1½-2½ to Saxmundham B despite substantially out-grading them on every board (with an average of 30 points).
 Now add to this an unusual set of circumstances that meant Manningtree B were without all four of their nominated players. John M had a remote chance of playing, but rather than leave Bury with the high risk of a top board default, informed them of the likelihood in advance. It turned out that Bury too were having problems raising a team, so suggested we play the match over three boards, with a double default on board 1. Considering 0-0 is better than 0-1 this was agreed. You might be thinking, why not just postpone the match. Well, the difficulties experienced fitting the Plate and U145 matches in made that a very unattractive option.
 So the match went ahead as scheduled. Carl and John put up a good fight but both miscalculated their tactics and paid the price. Adrian played a Sicilian in which the white squared bishops were exchanged on d7. His opponent played rather passively allowing Adrian to dominate. His oppponent eventually blundered the exchange while trying to win it for himself with a knight fork. A good result that stems a brief drought of wins for Adrian, and avoided a whitewash for the team. Clearly, we have a lot of catching up to do if we are to avoid the yo-yo effect, but there´s still plenty of time.

At last Manningtree B have halted their run of four successive defeats, thanks in no small measure to a couple of C-team substitutes. We´re still propping up the division, but we´ve at least gained a little ground on the rest, which, with a bit of luck (or a lack of bad luck) will see us climb up the table to a more respectable position.
 John M finished first, and paid the price for miss-judging the quietness of the position, and had to give up a pawn to salvage some semblance of control. He could have salvaged the game as well if only he´d had an extra move.
 Adrian followed some time later, although his draw was surprising, not so much because Adrian was a bishop up, but because he couldn´t do anything with it. After losing the piece his opponent had managed to lock the pawns on the opposite colour, and taken control of the only open file. Maybe with more time a way through could have been found, but the obvious option had the potential to backfire so they agreed to share the point.
 Jim and David´s games both went to the wire. An unusual feature of these games was that as we entered the last fifteen minutes of the session, all four players were within a minute or so of each other, with both Manningtree players on top. This made for quite a tense and exciting finish, knowing that both wins would give us a much needed boost. Jim had played with his usual active style and kept the pressure up all the way through. First one pawn fell, then a second, and with a text book demonstration of how to deprive his opponent of counter-play, he was eventually four pawns to the good. You can gather from this that his opponent played on well past the normal resigning point.
 David finished just minutes later, concluding both an exciting end to the match and an exciting game. His answer to the French appeared to take his opponent out of any prepared lines, and developed into a game of opposites. His opponent castled queen-side, David king-side. His opponent launched a king-side attack, David a queen-side one. His opponent sacrificed a pawn in his attack, David didn´t. David controlled the open e-file, his opponent didn´t. And finally, David won, his opponent didn´t. It was a terrific performance from David, who had to suspend his queen-side attack to counter a very dangerous assault on his king, and he did it with care and precision. It was a major piece ending, but it left David with two connected king-side pawns facing a complete absence of enemy pawns. It was a test of nerves, especially as both players were down to their last couple of minutes. In the end it was his opponent who blundered a rook, but he was quite lost by this time anyway.
 We left Saxmundham in good spirits that even the rain couldn´t dampen, looking forward to our next match against Ipswich B, who had just lost their first ever match in Division Two to Bury St Edmunds D, one our close rivals in this division. It´s strange to think that for four seasons between 2008-2012 Ipswich B were Division One Champions (and also won the Cup twice), and who, as far as we can tell have never before been out of Division One. So if now, even Bury D can beat them, then so can we.

This was a match of two halves tonight, with the top half of the team doing well, and the bottom half not so. On paper you would have expected Manningtree B to have squeezed a win from this match, although it was not for the want of trying.
 Jim gave us a good start, resurrecting an old line of his that served him well tonight. And when it became clear the game was heading for a bishop of opposite colour ending it was Tim who offered the draw, and Jim was happy to accept.
 Meanwhile Mark appeared to be making most of the play in his game, but his opponent always found the right move to keep his position together. Pretty much the same could be said for John´s game. Although he was given plenty of opportunities, his opponent stubbornly refused to blunder, but then right near the end, there was a pawn to be won, and an ending with it. Unfortunately John took the wrong pawn, and his pawn advantage proved to be short lived. Even so, he spurned a draw offer in a level rook and pawn ending and continued pressing, but in the end just had to settle for half a point.
 Bob finished last after quite a game. It was slightly unusual in that while his opponent couldn´t have (legally) castled any earlier, Bob didn´t castle at all. Both sides were marching an army of pawns up opposite wings and it was very difficult to see who would prevail. Both players held the other at bay, and as piece by piece left the board, the tension reduced, and for the fourth time tonight, a draw was agreed.
 Manningtree B´s last two results have certainly been an improvement over their previous four, but this rise to three places off the bottom is clearly only temporary as all teams around us have game(s) in hand.

Felixstowe A look odds-on favourites for Division One next season, leaving Ipswich B to spend only their second ever season outside of the top division. We did our part to advance Felixstowe´s ambitions tonight, although that was not our intention. It was another occasion when several key Manningtree players were not available, and the fact that there was an Under 125 match taking place, quite literally alongside us, didn´t help. So, for the second time this season, Manningtree B was a player short. Clearly we are going to have to be a lot less optimistic in our ability to cope with such fixture clashes in the future. Apart from a last minute illness that caused us to default a board in the Under 145 Cup four years ago, you have to go back thirteen years since Manningtree defaulted a single board.
 The three board contested were all heavily weighted in Felixstowe´s favour, but we were not overawed by our higher graded opponents, and put up a good fight. Jim tested his opponent´s metal with a solid performance, and missed (to his annoyance) an opportunity to win a pawn, along with a superior position. It was to be a costly miss, but even so his opponent had to dig deep to secure his victory.
 There is a good reason why certain opening moves are played in the order they are, and John was given a reminder of the importance of that tonight. He varied his usual response to the English and his opponent promptly punished it. Although on the back foot from several lost tempos throughout the opening, John´s king-side thrust gave his opponent something to think about and netted John a pawn. But the defects of his strategic position proved more decisive, and after the queens were exchanged it was simply a matter of time.
 Carl proved to be the one to save our blushes, and save us from a whitewash. He started in his usual careful way and then sacrificed a pawn for a positional advantage. And any suggestion that he just lost the pawn and was on the defensive are a scurrilous rumour circulated to weaken our morale in our struggle to avoid relegation. It wasn´t clear who was closing in on who, but as the final minor piece was exchanged the scene was set for an epic pawn and two rook ending. Sensing that the odds were against him Carl opted for constant checks with his well placed pair of rooks and offered a draw. With the position far from clear his opponent accepted, although opinion was divided as to whether the decision to accept the offer was correct. Post mortem analysis proved that indeed, the position was in fact, far from clear.
 So we came away with a bit of a mauling, leaving us 2½ points adrift of our nearest rivals, and Felixstowe one point (plus a game in hand) clear of theirs. But we are not downhearted; two points from each of our six remaining matches should see us safely out of trouble. No team has ever finished last in a fourteen match league with 23 points.

After our last match we reckoned that two points from each of our remaining matches would see us safe from relegation. Well tonight we only got 1½ points. Close, but annoyingly short of our target, although it may still be enough, for two points from each of our remaining five matches should still be enough - no team has ever finished bottom in a 14 match league with 22½ points. Well, not yet at any rate.
 The games tonight finished in board order, with Bob clearly having the toughest task on board 1. Unfortunately his trusty King´s Indian did not go as planned and he overlooked an obvious loss of the exchange. But Bob fought on, although try as he may, his opponent refused to return the compliment with an obvious slip up of his own, consequently things continued on their downward path.
 On board 2, Jim responded to his opponent´s Sicilian with c3 instead of an immediate d4 and a sharp tactical game ensued. As is so often the case in such games, copious amounts of time are consumed by both players. And while there was still plenty of play left in the game a draw was agreed as neither player wanted to risk uncertain continuations that neither would have time to evaluate. One can´t help but wonder if incremental time controls would have made a difference here.
 John´s opponent kept white´s opening initiative from an aggressive Italian Game, but with the game at a critical point, and when it was looking doubtful if John would survive without a material deficit, his opponent gave him two free moves. From that point the game turned completely on it´s head, although care was still required to ensure that another winning advantage wasn´t squandered. Patience paid off, and with that the score was levelled. Curiously his opponent refused to resign, even when his lone king was facing two queens!
 Mark brought up the rear and had been engaged in a tough tussle with a French Defence in which his opponent refrained from castling and started advancing his king side pawns. It didn´t look particularly dangerous as most of the action was taking place on the queen side, but after all the pieces came off, the king and pawn ending proved particularly difficult thanks largely to his opponent´s well placed king. Both had pawn majorities on opposite wings but in the end it was his opponent´s queen side wing that won the race.

We didn´t reach our two points target tonight, but we were up against Clacton´s strongest possible side. But all is still not lost if we reach that target in our remaining four matches (and three of those are the three teams immediately above us in the table, and they are all at home to boot). Only one team has ever finished bottom with 21½ points in a 14 match division, and that was in 1996-97. Mind you that same team would have finished last with 22 points in 1992-93 had the bottom two teams played their matches against each other. And that team was…. oh dear, it was Manningtree. Let´s change the subject. Tonight, everyone gave a good account of themselves.
 Mark finished first after a very solid performance with the white pieces, in which he did not allow his opponent much scope to upset the balance. With equal and symmetrical pawns, and just a knight each, the draw was finally agreed on the second time of offering.
 Bob finished next after a long and complicated struggle arising from an English in which queens were exchanged in the first half a dozen or so moves. Fending off a constant number of threats, hindered by the fact that his un-castled king kept his king´s rook out of the game for a long time, Bob eventually lost a piece. Bob struggled on for a while as his opponent´s king´s rook was out of the game for even longer that Bob´s (his opponent castled queen´s side). But, barring a miracle, the end was never in doubt, and once his opponent´s rook was free, Bob resigned.
 Adrian finished third, facing a standard Queen´s pawn opening in which he appeared to be doing OK for most of the time. There were no major mistakes on which the game swung, just a steady advance of his opponent´s pawns and a position that slowly deteriorated.
 With only half a point to our name, it was now up to John to get the other 1½ points we needed. John faced a Scotch, and just when he thought he had achieved parity, his opponent sacrificed a pawn and John now realised he faced a double threat that looked impossible to meet. Fortunately his opponent took a long time deciding how to play it, giving John time to find the only surviving move. Not wishing to exchange queens, his opponent not only allowed John out of the hole, but soon found the advantage had now swung 180 degrees. It was a slim advantage, although it has to be said, it could have been pressed a little better.
 So we left Clacton with just one point to our name, half a point less than our previous encounter this season, back in October last year. But we´re not going to admit defeat until the maths proved otherwise.

Once again Manningtree B failed to reach their two point target, but they were up against the second placed team (temporarily first placed) in the division, and the team was little more than our C-Team. So we didn´t do too badly, all things considered. With just three more matches to go we need to raise that target to 2½ with one 3, and considering we have the three bottom teams in the division (excluding ourselves of course) that is not as crazy as it might sound.
 Although significantly out-graded on all but board four, the team put up a commendable performance. John finished first after his Nimzo-Larsen didn´t go quite as planned and he found his king-side pieces getting in each other´s way. Just as he thought he had untangled them, a pseudo knight sacrifice lost him the exchange, although it was a dozen or so moves later before a simple blunder lost him a piece, and sealed the game for Tim.
 Adrian levelled the score after an excellent game in which multiple pins won him a piece, and this was followed by multiple pieces being en-prise so it looked as though that piece could be converted into a rook. But it didn´t matter as Adrian carefully pressed his advantage and kept up the pressure while gradually reducing his opponent´s material.
 At this point it looked as though we had realistic hopes of getting that two points, for David was looking promising with a pawn to the good, and Carl was looking complicated with lots of possibilities. For some reason David thought he had to surrender the exchange, but his 4-2 pawn majority kept him in the game, and he made the most of. It might have worked, but his opponent´s 3-2 pawn majority on the other wing created a back rank mating threat that could not be countered.
 It now rested on Carl to pull something out of the bag. He had started with his usual Sicilian, but after a dozen or so moves the position looked as though each player had played a different variation. It´s a good job Carl knew what was going on, the rest of us weren´t so sure. In a complicated position, the fate of the game boiled down to - ´´does his pawn capture, or does mine, win the game?´´ With time running low they decided not to test either option over the board and agreed to share the honours.

Well, this wasn´t supposed to happen. We were supposed to gain some ground on Bury D so that we could leap-frog them in the final match of the season. That is still possible of course, but on this form our chances must be regarded as pretty slim at best.
 Jim finished first tonight and played his part in the master plan by putting us one up after just 23 moves. His quiet classical King´s Indian developed into an interesting position with seven pieces all on the a1-h8 diagonal. Jim calculated that with the correct order of exchanges it would leave him a piece to the good. The execution of those exchanges proved Jim´s calculations were correct.
 Adrian kept us in front, playing it safe with his favourite English, and not giving his opponent any scope to upset the apple cart. John, on the other hand, faced an English, and steered the exchanges to give him much the better prospects for winning the endgame. With just queen, rook and knight left, his opponent clearly felt he had stabilised his weaknesses and offered a draw. John turned this down and on the very next move blundered his knight by mistakenly thinking that the pin on it could easily be broken.
 By some strange process, the dark force caused Bob to do the same, so we were treated to the spectacle of both Bob and John attempting to fight a rear-guard action with just a handful of pawns against a knight and pawns. Such engagements rarely succeed, especially when the enemy king is well placed in support.
 So we remain bottom of the table with two matches to go. This could prove to be a very interesting end to the season.

Well, this is more like it. If we could have found this form all season we wouldn´t be sitting at the foot of the table today. All we need do now is beat Bury D next week and we´ll be off the bottom for the first time this calendar year. And of course, we´ll stay off the bottom, as that concludes our season. We were quietly confident about tonight´s match, as Stowmarket were one of the only two teams we had beaten this season, and our confidence increased when they arrived without their top board Stephen Lewis, who had played in every other Stowmarket match thus far. Before the match started, all boards were offered the chance to use incremental timing, and all but board one agreed. Mark got us off to a very quick start and was offered a draw on move 33 after just one hour´s play. It´s fair to say that the position was level, and neither colour looked to have much to upset it.
 Carl finished next, after a very lively game resulting from a Sicilian. With pawns pressing down the centre, Carl developed a powerful attack, penetrating down the centre with his major pieces, and supported by a knight. One couldn´t help but think that there must be a win in there somewhere, but his opponent defended well, and seemed to find just the right move to hold his position together. With just 4 minutes, to his opponent´s 45, Carl offered a draw, and having been under the cosh for some time, his opponent was happy to accept.
 Bob´s was the only game with a guillotine finish, and as it drew to a close Bob was way behind on the clock. It made for slightly nervous viewing, as Bob´s complicated attack had to succeed, or else it was probably curtains. As black, Bob utilised his Modern Defence to good effect, and initiated a massive king-side pawn advance. In fact his king looked decidedly naked for a while, as his pawns were halfway up the board and all of his pieces were engaged in duties on the other wing. Bob effectively tore into white´s defences and opened up several lines of attack. But it was still unclear if it would succeed until his opponent, given the choice of a knight move that would hold things together or lose almost immediately, chose the latter.
 John´s game went to over 70 moves, but only because his opponent wanted to be mated rather than resign. John had faced a Centre-Counter and as the game progressed it appeared to have draw written all over it. In order to get a protected passed pawn John had to concede a bishop for a knight, leaving bishops of opposite colours (plus rooks). To save the game his opponent needed to immediately transfer his bishop to the opposite wing, but he delayed the manoeuvre, which meant he was one move short of holding back the pawns. Being careful to advance the pawns at the right time, John ended the game with a rook and a bishop to his opponent´s thin air. It probably took ten moves longer to finish the game than it should have, but that´s because John´s never actually had to do it before, and he was also nervous of stalement (it would have been easier without the bishop).
 So, only our third match win of the season, with our position at the bottom depending on us getting a forth. That may not however, be enough to prevent us being relegated as that will all depend on how they structure next year´s divisions.

Manningtree B needed to win tonight to avoid finishing bottom, while Bury St Edmunds D needed only a draw to avoid the same fate. Nevertheless Bury D fielded one of their strongest squads this season, signalling their determination not to have a Bury team at the foot of all three divisions of the Suffolk League. Fortune favoured Bury, and Manningtree B repeat history and yoyo back to division three after just one season in division two.
 No one can say we didn´t try, but Jim and John M both lost a pawn in the opening and couldn´t quite find enough counter-play to overcome the deficit. Meanwhile Carl and John P had put on a good show, but it seemed the gods had decided that Manningtree B were going finish with a fifth 1½-2½ defeat of the season. So while we were able to gather six points from our final three matches, the fact that we´d only got fifteen from the previous ten proved to be our downfall.

Our second C-Team season got off to a good start with this convincing win over a somewhat weakened Bury E side. Alan started by repeating his performance in the Cup match of two weeks ago, but this time there was no lapse in concentration as he completely outplayed his opponent. Towards the end he was so well on top he was spoilt for choice regarding which path to take to victory.
  Unlike Alan, David did not repeat his outstanding performance in that Cup match, and he would probably agree that the less said about his game tonight the better.
  John started his season in fine form, building a commanding position with a far superior pawn structure, plus one pawn to the good. A nice knight manoeuvre forced the exchange of queens, which allowed John to promote his extra pawn to passed, protected status. With a strongly placed knight, coupled with pressure down the open b-file, and you could almost feel sorry for his opponent as he tried to defend a position that was essentially falling apart.
 It was left to Adrian to bring up the rear, and for most of the time it looked as though we were heading for a drawn match for we feared Adrian´s run of poor form was going to continue. He came out of the opening about as tied up as you could get, and spent the next dozen or more moves with very few options, all defensive and all the lesser of many evils. But somehow he managed to start exchanging his passive pieces (which were all of them) for his opponent´s active ones, (which were also all of them) and turn the tables with a broad pawn advance down the king´s side. With the tables completely turned his opponent could have resigned when he was zugzwanged, but he carried on until he was a piece down and barely a pawn to his name. All in all, a satisfying result, which puts our C-Team on top of the table, albeit jointly.

Woodbridge are the new boys on the block, and are not to be confused with Woodbridge School, last seen in 2013 playing just one match in the U125 Cup. Before this match Woodbridge were top of the table, and this result keeps them there, for the time being at least.
 The match got off to a promising start, and it wasn´t long before Alan was a piece up. It had cost him one, and then two pawns, but he still looked got good for the full point, except for a pair of connected passed central pawns that kept his opponent in the game. It was another good performance from Alan, and if he keeps this up he should see his grade in three figures by next season.
 Mark finished next, keeping the score level. He had come out of the Sicilian with an isolated d-pawn, which was eventually picked off. The resulting queen and knight ending however, did not give his opponent enough edge to convert that extra pawn into a win.
 How David managed to avoid defeat is still a mystery. A miscalculation cost him a piece for a pawn, which was bad enough until he repeated the exercise and went two pieces down. Undeterred he carried on when his opponent returned the favour, thus David entered the ending a piece for two pawns down, a mirror image of Alan´s situation, which coincidently produced the same result.
 With the match still level, all eyes rested on Carl, whose Trompowsky had served him well, giving his opponent a lot to think about. Carl had patiently built up a commanding position with an unopposed central pawn advance, and a rook on the seventh. His opponent (somewhat annoyingly) kept finding very resourceful moves, but after he allowed the queens and a pair of knights to come off it looked as though his resources had run out. In the double rook ending his pawns were scattered and isolated, while Carl´s menacing central pawns loomed large. Then the most annoying resource of all, a rook sacrifice (known in the trade as a swindle), took us all by surprise (as well as one of the central pawns), but short of time, and thinking it would lead to a draw, Carl took it, to very shortly discover that taking it was fatal, just as fatal as his flag falling. His opponent left the building with the look of someone who had cheated death, leaving Carl with the look of someone who just wanted to kick himself.
 This result keeps us fourth in the table, although we do have a game in hand over all of those above us. And with Felixstowe B next week, that should see us rise to third.

Our C Team´s away fixture to Felixstowe proved to be an incredible end to the night.
  First to finish was David playing black against Gary Hemsworth. Although David attacked from the start, Gary defended solidly for the entire match and a draw was agreed on move 34.
 Soon to follow was Alan, playing black on board 4, he found a very worthy opponent in Felixstowe´s captain Henry May. Although Henry had the piece advantage having Queen and two Bishops to Alan´s Queen and Rook, Alan defended well bringing an exchange of Queens resulting in a well-earned draw for both opponents.
 Board 1 saw Carl playing white against Alan Lewis and right from the start this was a well fought evenly played game which inevitably ended in an agreed draw. So now with three games drawn all eyes fell on board 3 where John was playing white against David Robertson.
 This was a very hard fought game between the two opponents and although John was in the stronger position, the clock was ticking fast for him whereas his opponent had the luxury of time on his hands. David offered a draw which John declined for the spectators to witness an exciting and spectacular ending. Queens were exchanged allowing John to advance two Pawns and his King for a Queen promotion that would have resulted in a check mate move. Unfortunately when the Queen promotion was achieved John only had one second left on his clock and although his next move mated, his clock fell before he was able to cement the win, this match was literally lost over 2 seconds.
 And so for the second week running the C Team lost the match and the game by the fall of the flag.

It started off well with board 2 finishing first, David earned a well-deserved draw attacking his opponent from the start, with the end game resulting in both players having bishops of opposite colour, and although white had an extra pawn, with it being doubled the inevitable draw was agreed.
  Unfortunately this draw was followed by a loss on board 4 where Alan found his opponent too strong and with the advancing pawn the game was lost.
  Board 1 saw Carl playing a strong opponent in Les Jones and although Carl fought hard and matched him for most of the game, his opponent eventually broke through to win.
  Last to finish was John on board 3, where his opponent Michael Spalding defended very well, and despite John´s best efforts he was able to hold John off to earn a deserved draw.
  So the night ended with us losing 3-1, but standing top of the bottom half of the table.

OK so Manningtree C didn´t win tonight, but at least they´ve put an end to a string of defeats and remain comfortably in the middle of the table. Jaco got us off to a good start, although he certainly didn´t have it all his own way. For the first half of the game he was a pawn down, but he managed to equalise in the second half, and there followed a very double edged game in which both players were engaged in aggressive king-side attacks - Jaco coming down the queen´s side attacking the king´s position from the flank, while his opponent attacked Jaco´s king´s position head on. It wasn´t clear who was going to prevail, but Jaco kept his concentration (and nerve) and earned a well deserved win.
  Adrian´s Morra Gambit didn´t quite go to plan, and he had to steer his way through various pins and forks while hampered with an un-castled king. In fact his king´s rook spent most of the game as a mere spectator. Somehow Adrian managed to survive, and in the process break up his opponent´s king pawns, and as the tension eased his opponent offered a draw, which Adrian happily accepted.
  John played a careful and steady game against his opponent´s queen´s pawn opening and looked the better as the game developed. He kept probing for weaknesses, turning down the odd draw offer, but wasn´t quite able to make the breakthrough he wanted, and eventually accepted that a draw was all he was going to get.
  Mark was the last to finish, and you might be wondering what was going on on his board. It´s no secret that John Mc has been turned to the dark side, but this is the first time it has involved a Manningtree team. Mark faced 1.b3 and the game was soon entering unfamiliar waters. After much manoeuvring Mark dropped a pawn, and his two knights against two bishops was proving difficult to manage. Once the pieces came off however, the rook and pawn ending proved equally difficult to manage thanks largely to Mark´s poorly placed king. But Mark wasn´t about to give up, and put up a stout defence that went to over sixty moves before the advancing pawns could no longer be stopped.
  Not a bad result, all things considered, but in our next match (away to Saxmundham C) we hope to return to winning ways.

On paper Manningtree C should have made short shrift of Saxmundham C tonight, and we started the match expecting the score to be the other way round - if not better. But the gods had other ideas, and we were subjected to our fourth defeat of the season.
 We started well enough after Alan steered a four knights opening away from complex tactics, and held the balance throughout. He was definitely on top as they entered the ending, but with the memories of his last match still fresh in his mind, Alan offered a draw, which all things considered, was a pretty fair result.
 The other three games were all heavily influenced by the clock in one way or another. David was taken by surprise when his opponent sacrificed a bishop for his g and h pawns, and found himself subjected to a king-side pawn advance that threatened to become an avalanche. Careful defence kept his position safe, and as the game progressed, David began to get the upper hand - at least in terms of material. He was a rook for a pawn up when his opponent offered him a draw. You might think that being a rook up David would consider that an insult, but his extra rook had spent the second half of the game stuck on h3, plugging the dyke. In addition to this, the position was fairly locked, and it would take time and patience to unlock it. Add to this the fact that David was down to eight minutes to his opponent´s twenty. Or so David thought. He was kicking himself afterwards when he realised that the additional 15 minutes had not yet been added, and he accepted the draw under a delusion.
 With the score 1-1 things were starting to look a bit dodgy on the remaining two boards. John´s game opened like a French, but it didn´t look very Gallic after half a dozen or so moves. Disdaining quieter moves John played very actively to the point where he´d given up two pieces (and the odd pawn) for rook and an attack. Unfortunately this had taken its toll on the clock, and after an hour´s play John had consumed 45 minutes to his opponent´s 15. In a tight spot John had to give up the exchange and so entered the ending a piece down. He continued to resist, but barring a complete meltdown by his opponent, the end result was never in doubt.
 Mark was the last man standing. He´d faced an English and never seemed to quite get on top of it. That being said, the material balance remained level almost to the end when his opponent gave up the exchange for a pair of connected passed pawns in the centre. It was rook v bishop and was very difficult to call, and here is where the clock played its final role. With just half a minute to his name, his opponent claimed the game - Mark´s flag had fallen, much to his disbelief. He swore blind that only a short while before he was fifteen minutes ahead, and just couldn´t believe the clock was right. It must be faulty, but the settings were checked and no fault could be found. It´s a salutary reminder of how quickly time can pass when you´re deep in thought.
 In spite of this loss, we temporarily climbed up one rung of the table, as Felixstowe B were not playing this week.

Half way through the season, and while our match record doesn´t look very impressive, we´re still mid-table, although probably not for long.
 Carl did extremely well on board one, and looked in control of his game throughout, capping it off with a very elegant finish. Both John and Adrian´s games produced blocked positions, with possible break-throughs effectively stopped.
 Alan was not a happy bunny tonight. First he had to contend with a very full house at Ipswich, which produced a lot of background noise. Second, he´s quite sure this distraction affected his game, causing him to miss an early opportunity to take the game by the scruff of the neck. And third… well he lost, which meant the rest of the team had to listen to him unwind all the way home.

Along with Manningtree B, Manningtree C ended last year at the foot of their table, but with the New Year, we were looking for a better start and it would have been understandable to think this would happen at some point. We were off to a good start by winning the first game where Alan, playing on board four against Sean Ramsey, held off Sean´s early attack and then gained a piece to go on and win the game.
 Board three finished next where Adrian squared up against Richard Dickenson. This was an evenly fought game, if not a very exciting one, and although Richard had a slightly better position, the game was heading towards an opposite colour bishop ending. When that became inevitable, a draw was agreed. So with two games completed and a win and a draw under our belt, we were optimistic of a good result, but alas, this was not to be.
 Although on board one David attacked his opponent Anthony Taylor from the start, and was in a strong position, he ignored the advancing pawn on the a file, which was to be his downfall, and on move 39 he had to resign.
 Last to finish was board two, where John was involved in a hard fought game against Christopher Shepherd-Rose in which he looked as though he had the advantage in the ending. But it was not to be, and it was his opponent who tipped the balance and pushed through to win the game.
 Manningtree C have therefore carried on where they left off last year with another 2½-1½ defeat, although we are not bottom of the table any more.

Manningtree C went into tonight´s game against Felixstowe B knowing they desperately needed points, and ideally a win.
 First to finish was David playing Gary Hemsworth on board 2 and although David attacked Gary from the offset, as in recent games his opponent held fast and slowly pushed forward until the inevitable draw was agreed. David´s drawn game was soon to be followed with both Mark, playing Alan Lewis and Adrian, playing Dave Robinson games also resulting in draws.
 Mark played a very solid game against his opponent which neither player could edge an advantage in, and Adrian and Dave´s game looked as though it was going to be a draw from early on as the board became very blocked, which wasn´t allowing either player to gain an advantage.
 So with one game remaining and both teams having 1½ points, all eyes were on Alan playing, Henry May on board 4. Unfortunately Alan declined the offer of a draw, which proved to be his, and the teams downfall as Henry went onto win the game easily in the end, with Alan missing earlier opportunities to gain the advantage.
 So again the night ended with Manningtree C losing 1½ points to 2½ points and effectively rooted at the bottom of the table, for although we are above 1½ points above Felixstowe C, they have two games in hand. Mind you, this is a very close division, as we are only 2½ points off second place!

It would be fair to say that with Manningtree C on their current form, going to Woodbridge with the strength of the Woodbridge team (along with the fact they beat us at the beginning of the season) and now with an even stronger team, no one expected Manningtree to come away with anything tonight, but this wasn´t the case.
 Predicatively board one was the first to finish where David was playing the highly graded Phil Hopkins (173), and although David made a good account of himself, a mistake on move 24 lost him his knight, after which it wasn´t long before the game was concluded with the win going to Phil.
 However, following board one´s defeat came Manningtree´s first win of the night on board four, where Alan played very solidly and strongly attacking his opponent Michael Pepper until taking a well-deserved win. But Manningtree wasn´t finished there, things were about to get even better. Adrian was playing white against Mark Weidman in a very hard fought game, which at one point was looking like a potential draw. But slowly Adrian pushed on to gain the upper hand and once Mark made a mistake late in the game the win soon followed.
 Last to finish was board two where John was up against Timothy Wesson and although John fought very well, as the game got towards the latter stages Tim started to gain the advantage, eventually forcing John to resign.
 Manningtree left Woodbridge very pleased with themselves, knowing they were playing the top of the league team, were highly out graded, and were still able to take the draw.

Manningtree C notched up only their second win of the season, having not tasted victory since the very first match, back in September last year. And it proved to be a very exciting affair, with three Sicilians and an English.
 It was Mark who put us ahead in his first win of this season. He took command of the position from the start, steadily building up pressure down the centre until eventually a well placed knight fork won him a piece. He continued to outplay his opponent and a direct attack on his opponent´s king´s position produced too many threats that cost even more material to counter. With more material dropping, his opponent resigned.
 David followed shortly after, emerging from the opening with a backward d-pawn, which proved hindrance enough, but it was added to with a significant deficit on the clock. With the black pieces, his opponent looked primed for a sacrificial onslaught after his a-rook had made the journey all the way to h5, but David held everything together and weathered the storm well. His opponent took so long deciding whether or not to exchange queens that the clocks were almost levelled, and after a few more moves were played out in the rook and minor piece ending the draw was agreed.
 Adrian put us further ahead and sealed our victory, and no prizes for guessing his was the English. The queens were exchange early, and neither player castled, but a very tense and tricky game ensued. Adrian handled it well and was about to win a pawn (and the promise of more) with a superior position, when his opponent surprised him with a knight sacrifice. Adrian responded with a bishop sacrifice, and they came out of the foray with material level, but with Adrian holding a far superior position. A number of exchanges followed resulting in a double rook and pawn ending. Adrian encircled his opponent´s king in the centre and began picking off the pawns, and then surprised us by offering a draw. What was more surprising was that his opponent turned it down, presumably thinking his advanced king would decide things in his favour. It didn´t, although it´s fair to say that Adrian made a bit of a meal of it, thinking his opponent´s threats held more danger than his own. After a score or more moves, which exchanged one pair of rooks, and with his opponent´s final pawn in the bag, Adrian began advancing his key c-pawn. But it was not that pawn that won the game. His opponent had an aberration and blundered his rook by taking Adrian´s other pawn, which happened to be defended by his king.
 With the match won, all eyes turned to Carl. His Sicilian was responded to without a d4 (or even a d3), which resulted in Carl gaining total control of the d4 square, providing an ideal outpost for a knight. And although planting a knight there proved more difficult in practice, Carl looked to have the better position and certainly the better pawn structure. Both players consumed copious amounts of time, resulting in a time scramble to reach the first control. By then Carl´s superiority had somehow evaporated, although it was far from clear how that had happened. Facing a serious loss of material Carl attempted a swindle, for there was always the chance of a back rank mate. The final result will tell you that the swindle didn´t succeed, but it was entertaining nonetheless, and there´s always next time.

Unfortunately Manningtree C were unable to maintain their new found winning ways, and suffered their fifth 1½-2½ defeat of the season. It´s a pity, for had the score gone the other way, Manningtree C would have swapped places with Felixstowe C in the table.
 John P (so identified to avoid confusion with John M, who was playing for the enemy tonight) finished first, facing the unusual 1.b3 and double fianchettos. John responded with a queen-side pawn advance, but had to be wary of his opponent´s king-side threats. It developed into quite a complicated game, and after the tension eased John was offered a draw. He thought about it for quite a while, and eventually decided that that was probably the safer option to risking upsetting the balance once more.
 Alan finished next, and although he had not been well this past week, he turned out anyway to avoid the team taking a default. He started out very well, and came out of the opening a pawn up with a promising position. But he then lost his way, and somehow managed to lose a piece. He battled on, making the most of his extra pawn by pushing it as far up the board as he could, and then he overlooked the obvious and lost a second piece, at which point it was time to throw in the towel.
 Adrian´s game was a little unusual in that no pawns were exchanged, although the same could not be said for the minor pieces. With the position more or less locked, with little prospects of picking that lock, a draw was agreed.
 This just left Carl, who now needed to win to save the team another defeat, and John M was not about to just give it to him, not even for club loyalty´s sake. Carl´s Trompowski, with an early exchange of the light squared bishops and long castling, led to a fairly open game, but Carl allowed John M a little too much time to put the pressure on his king´s position. A well placed knight looked to both players as if it was going to win the exchange, but after a lot of thought, Carl found the saving move, and that well placed knight remained just that. Carl also found the right squares for his defending pieces, and a well placed knight of his own left two options - a long hard struggle, or an early draw. And considering everyone else had finished, and that the A137 was closed, Carl was offered the former.
 It was just as well, for not only was the A137 closed, meaning we had to come home via Dedham, but the A14 was also closed outside Felixstowe, which took us through Trimly, and along a very odd single track road (now known to be Morston Hall Road), and then all the way to Warren Heath before we could return to the A14 at Ransomes. All that must have added at least half an hour to our journey home. Oh well it could have been worse, it could have started snowing again, in which case, we´d probably still be there.

Manningtree C went to Saxmundham knowing that a good result would help keep them away from the bottom of the table, and they couldn´t have got off to a better start with Alan playing black on board 4 securing an early win. His opponent Lee Osmon attacked him from the start, sacrificing a bishop to open an avenue to the King, but Alan defended well and it wasn´t long before piece power and the loss of his opponent´s Queen resulted in white resigning.
 Next to finish was board 2 where David´s opponent, Peter Chadwick, who was playing white, opened very solidly to launch an attack that David held off, slowly pushing back with pieces exchanged until tables were reversed and it was David attacking his opponent´s defence. With the game starting to look very balanced white offered the draw, which David decided to accept.
 Board 1 finished next where a very nice, evenly balanced game was being played between Carl and his opponent Peter Collicott. And although this game went on for a long period, the inevitable draw was agreed.
 All eyes now fell on board 3 where John was playing against Mark Nevison, where the result of this board was so important to secure an overall win for Manningtree or a draw for Saxmundham. This game proved to be very interesting with John looking the stronger for the majority of the match, but unfortunately towards the end his opponent managed to edge forward looking likely to take the win. A mistake towards the end by his opponent allowed John to secure a draw and the much needed points and a win for Manningtree.

With the Bury C´s nominees in mind we thought we were in for a right drubbing tonight, particularly as we were without three of our four B-Team regulars. But it proved to be nothing of the kind - in fact at one point we were looking good for at least two points from the top three boards and were in serious danger of actually winning the match. And that would have put paid to Manningtree´s hopes of retaining this one of it´s five trophies in our very first match of the season!
 Alan finished first and was strongly positioned with a couple of pawns to the good, but a momentary lapse saw his queen sent off for the cost of a rook. Alan battled on, but with a rook and two pawns for a queen, the end result went as expected.
 John followed next, and was pretty much in control of his game from move one. His opponent consumed over half an hour more on the clock, and was always on the back foot, and when the pawn ending arrived is was a straight forward win. Unfortunately John didn´t see it, and thinking that his opponent could keep the opposition, he accepted a draw. It was a crass delusion, made worse by the fact that he had over twenty minutes to see through it, for the opposition was easily reversed. So snatching a draw from the jaws of victory, John was left to kick himself while Mark and David continued the fight.
 Mark started his second season with us with an outstanding performance. With the black pieces he was undaunted by his opponent´s lofty grade and was more than equal to the task of taking on board one for the B-Team. With a pawn to the good, he entered the ending with every chance of at least a draw, if not the whole point. But as is so often the case when the queens are still on the board, one slip can be fatal.
 David´s game ended soon after, and it was quite a tussle. It became quite unbalanced with David a piece for two pawns down, and it was difficult to see who stood better. But with time running short on both sides a draw was agreed.
 The end result was as expected, although it bodes well for the B-Team´s survival in Division Two this season. It´s worth noting that alongside us tonight Manningtree A dispatched Felixstowe to the Plate, who were the team we defeated in the Plate final last season. Felixstowe have since beefed up the team, although with Bury St Edmunds B in the Plate as well, we´re going to need a lot more luck than we had tonight if we´re to keep it.

Manningtree A´s campaign to retain the Suffolk Cup was off to a solid, albeit slow start, defeating their plucky, heavily out graded, visitors from Felixstowe by an underwhelming 2½-1½.
 Adam´s opponent´s hopes of a classical Sicilian Dragon were dashed by Adam´s unusual 3 h4!?. Adam continue to improvise, his opponent could not keep up with the riff, and the music stopped on move 25. Andy was worse from the opening, but had control of every aspect of the position, except his clock, by the late middle game. His opponent continued to press on the clock, but finally resigned on move 58 with Andy down to just two minutes, but with a hopelessly won pawn endgame. Surprisingly, both other games were still in play.
 Adrian had the worst of a locked central-pawn structure, lost his a-pawn and resigned with a minute left on his clock and nothing left to play for. Phil could perhaps have made more of his advantage in a R+B endgame, but somewhere lost his way, and needed to play some accurate moves to arrive at a drawn R endgame.
 A creditable performance from Felixstowe, who could hardly have failed to improve on their 4-0 thrashing at their last appearance in Manningtree (March 2016). And the match might have had a different outcome. Had Andy acceded to one of his opponent´s many draw offers, and had Phil significantly over pressed his endgame plus, it would have been Felixstowe journeying into the 2nd round. This was a salutary reminder that absolutely anything can happen in a Cup match!

March had been a poor month for Manningtree A, but the first match in April saw the team put an end to a run of under par results. A narrow win against an unambitious Ipswich D means that Manningtree qualifies for the final of the Suffolk Cup for the third year in a row. The games finished in ascending board order with the match outcome in doubt until the last game had finished.
 On board four, Jim played the King´s Indian Attack and typically with this opening concentrated all his minor pieces against the enemy king. After a neat but unsuccessful combination failed to break through, white was left with an endgame advantage of the two bishops and slightly better placed rooks. No obvious winning plan presented itself, however, and Jim, who by now was well over thirty minutes behind on the clock and running short of time, decided it was prudent to agree a draw.
 Soon after this result, Manningtree´s chances of reaching the final received a massive boost when Phil emerged victorious, having met his opponent´s trademark 2.f4 against the Caro-Kann Defence with a prepared line that led to a spatial advantage and allowed him to exploit the weak dark squares around his opponent´s king. After missing a sacrifice of queen for knight that would have led to mate, Phil was given a second opportunity when his opponent chose the wrong square of the two available for his king, allowing black to double rooks on the seventh rank with a forced mate in three to come.
 Manningtree were ahead and the top two boards decided to shut up shop soon afterwards rather than risk playing on with only nebulous chances of a win. Leon offered a draw in a game that had never ignited after the opening when his opponent chose, not for the first time, to play a symmetrical response to the English Opening that resulted in a game of neutral character in which neither side had more than a slight advantage at any stage. His opponent, with six minutes left on his clock to Leon´s fourteen, immediately accepted the offer of a draw.
 Attention turned to the top board. Andy´s opponent´s modest choice of opening had suggested that his ambitions were confined to a half-point - as the game proved. Andy equalised easily, even missing a chance to go a clear pawn ahead in the late middle game. The move he chose instead led to a complex position in which he had the better chances, but his opponent defended resolutely. Mindful of the match situation and having lost all his earlier advantage, Andy felt compelled to offer a draw with each side down to four minutes. A more bellicose opponent might well have decided to play on, since a win would have given the visiting team victory on board count, but the young Ipswich player, deputising on board one, accepted with alacrity. It was a good result for him, but a better result for Manningtree A, who will now play Bury St Edmunds C in the final.

On a sultry, steamy June evening, Bury St Edmunds C defeated Manningtree A by the narrowest of margins to take the Suffolk Cup.
 Boards 2-4 were drawn. Phil and Bob both achieved solid draws. Andy was better for most of the game and closest to victory. However, his opponent defended dourly and earned his half-point.
 The Board 1 encounter between Ed Player and Adam decided the match. Ed netted a pawn from the opening, but Adam fought back: conjuring up counterplay (almost from nowhere) in a major piece endgame. Indeed, Adam appeared about to regain the lost pawn with an advantage; but, in a tricky tactical sequence, Ed created a threatening passed pawn on the sixth rank and exploited the temporary displacement of Adam´s pieces to exchange queens, enabling a trivially won rook endgame.
 Congratulations to the gallant victors: Bury St Edmunds. Perhaps it was about time that a Suffolk team won the Suffolk Cup!

The omens for this match did not start well tonight. First David was held up at work and was running late and had to make his own way to Saxmundham. Adam was caught up in London traffic and was likewise running late, but as he was providing the transport, that meant Andy and Phil would also be late. John and Jim were therefore our only two players on site at 7.30, but as Saxmundham didn´t appear to be in any hurry for a prompt start, we weren´t either. Meanwhile, our three top boards managed to make up some time on their way and arrived just before the match got under way (was that Adam´s driving, or just an empty road?). Unfortunately David was not so lucky and also had a problem locating the venue and went home a very unhappy bunny. Omens not withstanding, we managed our first win in this competition, at least the first win we can find a record of. Last year we drew both of our matches 3-3, and before that we have to go back thirty six years before we can find a record of Manningtree appearing in this competition, and we lost that match 4-2. Of course, we may have made other appearances that have yet to be unearthed that may show us winning, but one thing´s for certain, this is the first time Manning- tree have reached the final of the Suffolk section of this cup.
 Jim finished first and faced 1.b3, a move that seems to be having something of a renaissance. Steady development on both sides led to a rather bland game, and with an early exchange of queens and three minor pieces the prospects for fireworks were virtually zero. John followed in similar fashion and after thirty moves was offered a draw. After looking at the other games, and being unable to determine if they would deliver sufficient points he turned it down, only to offer it himself several moves later when the position had become even more sterile. Phil then levelled the match. From a Scotch Opening by transposition, he eventually won his opponent´s a-pawn and advanced his own a-pawn to the seventh rank, tying his opponent´s queen rook to passive defence. His opponent tried a counter action on the king´s side with queen, rook and h-pawn, but Phil responded with an advance of his e and f pawns, creating a passed e-pawn, which also reached the seventh with decisive threats, forcing immediate resignation.
 Adam now put us in front with a somewhat unconventional opening, but very active piece play in which Adam was ´´forced´´ to sacrifice the exchange. Mind you, his opponent was unwise to accept it, and while the ending looked doubtful to most of us (even though Adam now had two pieces for his rook) Adam was in no doubt, he saw the win and executed it with his usual precision. We now had the minimum three points we needed to progress to the final, as board elimination would see us through in the event of a tied match. Although at this stage the tie-break appeared purely academic as Andy was cruising to victory (or so we thought). After a long game, with two extra pawns in a Q+B v Q+N endgame, Andy appeared to be making slow, but inexorable, progress towards victory. In an easily won position, Andy sacrificed queen for knight to force home his passed a-pawn, expecting his opponent to resign. But wait: the queen capture prevented the pawn´s advance, leaving Andy with a lost position! However, his opponent (perhaps rather generously) felt that he did not deserve the full point, and sportingly accepted Andy´s draw offer.

Throughout the last 2 seasons, Manningtree A have started most matches as favourites. However, on this occasion the Manningtree team were not unduly burdened by the weight of expectations.
 The Norfolk-Suffolk Cup has slightly different rules from the other competitions in which Manningtree participate. A nuance of these rules is that each club may only enter one team. This rule tends to advantage larger clubs, and meant that on this evening we faced the might of the Bury A, B, C teams and Junior club combined. Added to that, we lacked two of our regular A team members, Adam & Leon. Hardly a propitious outlook for our final match of the season!
 This match had a unique atmosphere, created by regular cheers from an inebriated audience packed into a nearby bar, watching the England-Belgium World Cup match. Would Bury v Manningtree turn out to be another Germany v Korea?
 Alas, it was not our night. Heavily out graded, our Boards 2-4 did not overly trouble their Bury counterparts. Andy had more chances in his game, but playing uncharacteristically swiftly, missed a nice tactic by his opponent and soon lost.
 The positive highlights of the Manningtree performance were provided by boards five and six. David obtained a creditable draw against Bury´s most promising junior. Carl outplayed his higher rated opponent, won the exchange and was about to start eating his opponent´s extra pawns. But short of time, Carl cautiously offered a draw. Had this game been critical for the match, one would have expected Carl to go on to win. (Indeed at the point when the draw was agreed, aside from the time situation, his opponent´s position was almost resign-able.)
 1-5 sounds an alarming score-line. But with a fair wind we might have held the match to 2½-3½. No situation is without hope; and perhaps one year Manningtree will add the Norfolk-Suffolk Club to their silverware collection. I can hardly wait for next season!

There´s only one F in Felixstowe … and that´s a fact. It´s also a fact that last year we beat them 3-1 in the Plate final, having dispatched Felixstowe B 4-0 in the first round. This year, despite entering three teams in the league, Felixstowe have only entered one in the Cup, and they were promptly consigned to the Plate when they came up against our A-Team in the opening match of the season. One final fact … they gave us a good hiding tonight.
 It should be pointed out though, that when we beat them last year they were a significantly weaker side, and we had our full B-Team squad out against them. This year, we didn´t have a single B-team player out, so the beefed up Felixstowe were in fact playing our C-Team. And full credit must be given to our plucky C-Team members for stepping into the breach and taking on, what are sure to be the Division Two Champions this season. A brief look at the league tables will show the enormity of the task that was before them. For that reason we will not dwell too much on the games themselves, except perhaps to say that our guys made all the right moves, although not necessarily in the right order.

Well this is one trophy we won´t be retaining this year - not unless miracles occur, that is. John M was expecting Les´s Italian Game tonight, so he came prepared. Except that he wasn´t prepared for what actually happened - an exchange sacrifice on move 15, followed by a piece sacrifice on move 17. None of this works with the correct responses, although the piece could not be immediately taken. However, John rejected the best refutation for the second best, and then followed it up with the one move guaranteed to lose in two. And so we were one down after less than half the session had passed.
 It wasn´t too long before our newest recruit followed. Playing his first competitive game for us, Young Rowley opened by the book and followed it well enough, but an injudicious pawn advance (instead of an exchange) gave Phil Mortonson a tactical resource that led to a pawn fork on Rowley´s bishop and knight. Rowley tried to mix it up in the hope that his opponent might go wrong in the complications, but Phil managed to hold his advantage to the end, leaving us two-nil down.
 But all was not lost (yet). John P put in another solid performance, and entered a complicated middle game a pawn to the good. He steered the game to an advantageous ending and started picking up more pawns on the way. It was another good example of denying your opponent opportunities for counter-play, and as most of the pieces came off and John´s king started to march up the board, John was cruising to victory.
 The fate of the match now rested on Carl´s shoulders, and by now he had nine pairs of eyes watching him (ten if you count Alonso). Not that any of them knew what was going on. In fact you´d be hard pressed to find anyone sufficiently qualified to comment of Carl´s game, and that includes Carl. By move 14 both sets of pieces were all over the board, more akin to draughts than chess. It looked a bit like a position set up for a film or something by someone who doesn´t know the game. At some point, we´re not sure when, the tide turned against Carl, and by the end he was facing disaster as Alonso was about to get a second queen amid the rubble of Carl´s king´s position. But Carl was not out yet. He spotted a brilliant swindle, saced a rook with check and had a perpetual in his grasp that could not be avoided. That´s not strictly true, it could have been avoided but only by getting mated. Unfortunately, with barely a minute to his name, Carl made a knight check, and the king escaped. There is some irony to this outcome, for had Carl not given several minutes to Alonso a little earlier by forgetting to press his clock, he may have had time to see the perpetual he was seeking.
 Obviously it is still possible to turn this tournament around, but the smart money must be on either Ipswich or Bury St Edmunds.

That´s 1-7 over the two legs against this team - you wouldn´t think that we were the current holders of this trophy would you? But we can´t lay any blame for our poor result tonight on the venue. Maybe it was because it was so close to Christmas, but the playing room tonight was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.
 The score line however, doesn´t really reflect the games. By half time we were all pretty much on level pegging, but then both John M and Rowland made a single poor move each, that looked OK at the time, but meant both were on the back foot for the rest of their games. Fair play to their respective opponent´s, who didn´t let either of our guys off the hook.
 David had an interesting game in which pawns a-f were all locked, with only half open g-h files to play with. Prior to that, David had missed a number of opportunities to turn over his opponent, but having missed them, it was his opponent who had more space and heavier artillery bearing down those half open files.
 With the match hopelessly lost, it was left to John P to avoid the whitewash. And for most of the time it looked as though he would, and a repetition of our first match against this team looked likely. He played a solid Q-pawn opening and maintained the initiative well into the middle game. Then things started to unravel and with a set up that looked as though it could have been contrived by a problemist, John opted for simplifications, exchanging the minor pieces, leaving just rook and pawns. John´s opponent was two pawns up, and even though they were a pair of doubled a-pawns, he should have had no trouble marching the up the board. But he played defensively and then made just about the only move that would have given John realistic drawing chances. Unfortunately John had only two seconds left, which meant only one outcome.
 Our remaining matches in this competition are in March and April next year, by which time the Ipswich v Bury matches should have been played, which will probably mean the U145 Trophy will already be in the hands of Ipswich by then.

We had already lost this trophy before tonight, having been soundly beaten in our first two matches by Ipswich, so it was just a matter of whether Bury could get the necessary points from us to be the next U145 champions. The chances are high, for they only needed three points before tonight, and now that´s obviously down to just one. But nothing can be taken for granted. We snatched this trophy from under Bury´s nose last year when, in the final matches, our bottom board (Alan Story) won a dead drawn bishop of opposite colour ending, while Bury´s bottom board lost to a player graded some 45 points below him, giving us the trophy (for the first time) by just half a point.
 Tonight however, there were no major upsets. Carl finished first following an active Trompowski that produced its usual flurry of possibilities, and although it drew his opponent´s king into the centre of the board, there was not quite enough to turn him over.
 Mark wasn´t long after, having won the exchange, but feeling compelled to return it later in the game to keep his chances alive. The final position was one with possibilities for both players as both kings faced mating nets on opposite wings. It was difficult to work out over the board whose possibilities stood better, but the post mortem revealed that there were indeed serious possibilities for both players.
  John M put us ahead,  having faced the wild pyrotechnics of the Evan´s Gambit. With the safety of his king hanging by a thread he was finally able to extricate his queen onto a good square, and two moves later his opponent blundered the exchange. It was a gift John M was grateful to accept.
 John P brought up the rear, and for most of his game he looked pretty much in control. It was a queen´s pawn opening in which John P had gained a good special advantage on the queen´s side of the board. On the king´s side however, both players were at loggerheads with all their heavy pieces (and the odd minor one) squared up against each other. If John could only have advanced his g-pawn things might have been very different.
 Well two points is exactly twice as many points as we have obtained so far in this competition this season. It remains to be seen if we can get 3½ points in the return fixture, which would hand the trophy to Ipswich.

From being the U145 Cup holders, to finishing last in just one season. Well that happens so easily with such a small field. We started this evening knowing we were finishing last whatever the score, but also knowing that Bury needed at least one point from us to take the trophy, otherwise it would go to Ipswich. The question was, therefore, could we deny Bury the trophy (having pinched it from under their noses last year) or succumb to their superior grading strength? It proved to be a very much closer call than we expected.
 We adopted for the incremental time controls tonight, and it served us well. Adrian finished first, facing an English (sort of) with both players developing sensibly, and neither chancing anything risky. With the game pretty much level throughout, a draw was agreed and with this Bury were half way to their target. John M finished next, facing a Marshall Attack in the Ruy Lopez. As the main line of this variation stretches to well over twenty moves, both players were in the unusual position at move 15 of having more time on their clocks than when they started. That soon changed when John departed from the book with his own (not necessarily sound) continuation that invites black to offer a second pawn, or become less aggressive. His opponent chose the former, and it is characteristic of this line that if white can weather the storm he will likely win the ending due to the extra pawn (or two in this case). And that´s more or less what happened, leaving Bury still chasing that one point target.
 John P followed a little later having adopted a Modern approach as white and developed naturally after a king-side fianchetto. His opponent´s queen-side advance was successfully halted and then reversed, during which his opponent lost a pawn after forking John´s queen and bishop, but overlooking the fact that the supporting pawn in the fork was pinned. Fortunately for Bury, John was unable to turn that extra pawn into a wining advantage, and perhaps with his eye on the one point target, John´s opponent offered a draw, which given the position, and the fact that he was unbiased in the Bury v Ipswich outcome, John accepted.
 With the trophy safely in their hands board two was bringing up the rear. Carl´s Sicilian received a lively response and a very complicated game developed. As the ending approached both players had advancing passed pawns, and unusually, both pawns were on the same file. Carl had to surrender his but cleverly placed his rook and bishop on very dangerous squares. His opponent then sacrificed a piece thinking it would enable him to queen his pawn, and with little time to work though the complications, Carl accepted the sacrifice, which was a pity, for his well placed bishop and rook would have won him the game had he refused it. After the pawn was promoted and the smoke had cleared they entered a rook and pawn ending, and after ensuring the pawn count was level (although the position was far from it) Carl offered a draw. Understandably this was turned down, but also with little time his opponent completely misplayed the ending, and after losing a pawn it was his turn to offer a draw. Also with little time, Carl accepted, although Carl´s extra pawn would probably have won the game, and with the incremental time control, it was probably worth a try. However, it was an entertaining end to the match, and while Carl may have come away feeling a little bit annoyed with himself, it was a little satisfying to know that as a team, we were unbeaten in our two matches against the trophy winners.

This is probably a case where the less said about this match, the better. Suffice it to say that our U125 team were not at their best, and all came unstuck in a variety of ways.
 Jaco finished first after his king side pawns were busted in the opening, and a pawn was last. The open g-file proved insufficient compensation and his opponent nursed that extra pawn to the end. Alan followed soon after, having been subjected to a sustained attack on his vulnerable f7 pawn, he got into a bit of bother, of which we shall say no more.
 David had made an early queen excursion and reached the sort of middle game position you´d think someone had made up. His uncastled king faced two ominous looking pawns advancing down the centre, and in the complications that followed he did well to last as long as he did.
 Adrian brought up the rear, trusting once again to his English, he faced an early king side attack, which came too early for him to castle. First the odd pawn, then the odd piece began to fall as Adrian´s king was forced into the open, and was eventually mated in the middle of the board.
 Apart from the Norfolk/Suffolk Cup, (and division two, which we didn´t enter), this was the only trophy we didn´t win last season, and it´s probably true to say, we aren´t going to win it this season either. Never mind, we´ll just have to take it out on the Ipswich Dunnos next month.

This is one competition where Manningtree does not have a lot of spare resource, so if one of the regulars is unavailable, it can be difficult raising a full team. So it´s thanks to Ray for stepping in at the last minute to help out.
 Alan finished first, playing a very evenly hard fought game, but unfortunately for him, his opponent managed to edge the advantage towards the end of the game and take the first win of the night. David finished next, and with the white pieces he attacked his opponent from the start and was always in control of the game. After a while he was a pawn up, and a little later increased the margin to a piece, following which the win was inevitable, and the match score levelled.
 Adrian, as black played a Sicilian Rossolimo and managed to get all his pieces behind the row of pawns so that he found it impossible to get out unless his opponent committed pieces to break in. This he didn´t, and Adrian was happy to agree a draw. Ray had a satisfactory position in his game but unfortunately blundered a piece and with it the game.