Manningtree A opened its campaign with a well-earned victory against opponents who outgraded the home players by ten points or more on every board. Following a routine that has served well in the past, Manningtree scored a full point on board four and closed the match out with draws on the other three boards.
  Bob proved a convincing winner on bottom board, while Jim held steady on the board above him to achieve a comfortable draw with the black pieces. On board two, Phil started well as his spatial advantage in an accelerated Sicilian Dragon caused black developmental problems, but when he passed up the opportunity of a promising exchange sacrifice, his opponent began to wrest the initiative away from him. An exchange of queens neutralised the position and a draw was agreed with mutual time trouble looming.
  On board one, any time shortage was a one-sided phenomenon. The Manningtree captain coped with the surprise of a Polish Opening as the Felixstowe player came racing out of the blocks, having used up only five minutes by move 17, but Leon then took too much time in seeking an initiative. It was only when his clock had run down to less than five minutes (after just 30 moves!) that he started to outplay his opponent and build up a superior position. Some thirty moves later with about ten seconds showing on his clock, Leon took the precaution of forcing a draw by perpetual check, thereby ensuring Manningtree won the match, only to discover afterwards an exchange sacrifice that would have led to mate in three.

For the second league fixture in succession, Manningtree A found itself outgraded by ten points or more on boards two to four. This time, however, with the return of our resident FM to the team, we held the advantage on top board and Andy made it count. On the other boards, the Manningtree players successfully resisted the downward pull of gravity that a grading comparison might have suggested. It was perilously close, though, as Leon and Phil walked tightropes of their own making before reaching the safe haven of a drawn game, while Bob was never in trouble.
  Leon was first to finish. He was caught out in a side-line of the English Opening that seemed at first sight to be innocuous, but which in fact packed some venom. All it took was a couple of inaccurate moves from white for Leon to find himself on the defensive for the rest of the game. After the game, our friend the computer found a winning line for black, available for one move, but the human players missed it and the moment passed. Leon, desperately short of time as is his wont, was happy to accept the offer of a draw when the danger had been averted and the pieces started coming off the board.
  Bob and Andy soon followed with a draw and a win respectively. Bob gained a small initiative with a queen´s side pawn advance in the Réti Opening, but after a period of manoeuvring, pieces started to be exchanged and black was able to safeguard his position. A draw was agreed after 30 moves with each side having two rooks and seven pawns still on the board. Meanwhile, on board one, the Ipswich player boldly sacrificed his f-pawn to destabilize Andy´s king´s side, but, in an unbalanced position, he found little compensation for his lost material. Andy returned his extra pawn for initiative, and his opponent´s uncoordinated forces were unable to avoid catastrophic material loss.
  This left the game on board three, with the match score standing at 2-1 in Manningtree´s favour. Phil, systematically outplayed by an opponent who had defeated him on two previous occasions, took the decision to give up the exchange for the gain of a pawn and some slim chances of survival. As the clock times ran down, however, it looked for all the world that the home team would have to settle for a draw against old rivals when white found a winning plan, only to stumble at the last as he allowed one of Phil´s remaining two central pawns to advance up the board towards the queening square and force a liquidation of all the material except the bare kings.

This loss to Bury St Edmunds C has to go down as a missed opportunity to see Manningtree A return to the top of the league table. Our players travelled to Bury in the expectation of competing against a team that outgraded them on every board - and significantly so (with the exception of board one), but when they arrived at the venue they discovered that Bury´s top two nominations were not playing. This levelled the playing field, if not tilting it, so to speak, slightly in our favour. We were not able, however, to take advantage of this unanticipated turn of affairs. Our bottom two boards, after sterling work against higher graded opposition in the previous two league fixtures, were not on song against opponents who had grades close to their own. On the higher boards, Andy followed up his win in the last match with a win and Leon followed up his draws in the last two matches with a draw, but this was not enough to save us from our first defeat of the season.
  In his game, Andy gained an early structural advantage from a Queen´s Gambit Exchange Variation, but over-finessed and left a pawn en prise. Fortunately, the pawn-grab would have given Andy some attacking chances and, even more fortunately, his opponent spurned the opportunity to gain a pawn, electing instead to exchange queens to reach a prospectless endgame. Seeking activity, he followed this up with a pawn and then an exchange sacrifice, but this only worsened matters, enabling Andy to claim a relatively quick and comfortable win.
 On board two, Leon emerged from the opening with the better game and proceeded to  exert pressure in the centre. He engineered a couple of difficult chances in the early middle game to make his initiative pay before his opponent could complete his development, but then he hesitated long enough for white to equalise. When the Bury player offered a draw with both players down to less than two minutes on the clock, Leon concurred with his opponent in deciding that it was unwise to be taking risks in an unclear position.
  Phil went astray against his opponent´s trademark 1 … Nc6, losing a pawn in the opening and seeing his kingside wrecked. From then on his king was hunted relentlessly across the board, with no hope of escape or counterplay in sight. Despite his reputation for resilience in saving lost causes, the result was never in doubt.
  Bob responded to white´s king´s pawn opening with his usual Modern Defence. After a lot of manoeuvring (nineteen moves passed without anything being taken), with black threatening to attack on the kingside and white positioning for a counterblow on the queenside, Bob forced the issue and exchanged off his white-squared bishop for a knight. In the ensuing play, black grabbed a pawn in the centre and followed this up by winning a pawn on the queen´s side. Despite this seeming to offer good winning chances, subsequent computer analysis suggests pursuing the kingside attack by black was the correct way to proceed. When white offered to exchange queens, black declined and, in doing so, lost his e4 pawn immediately to check and an unstoppable attack by white which was well executed. One to put down as a learning point.

Not for the first time, and not even for the first time this season, Manningtree A relied upon a win on the bottom board, while the other three games were drawn, to record a narrow victory in a league match. The successful outcome was only achieved, however, after some uncomfortable moments in a couple of the games.
  Boards one and two were fairly uneventful affairs that neither team deserved to win. Andy´s game started in an enterprising spirit, with his opponent offering a Morra Gambit. After that bold start, however, both players proceeded with excessive caution. Andy declined the gambit, and his opponent opted for one of the less interesting lines of the c3 anti-Sicilian. An equal opening led to a level middlegame, which in turn fizzled out into a drawn endgame.
  Leon developed some initiative with white after a symmetrical English Opening appeared on the board, but active defence on his opponent´s part saw to it that the point was shared when an unclear, but evenly balanced, middle-game position was reached with both players down to less than ten minutes on their clocks.
  The team was less secure on the lower boards. Jim was rather lucky to hold the draw in that his opponent ran low on time calculating a myriad of complicated ways to win rather than just gaining a pawn and converting to a simple endgame, while Phil misplayed the Rossolimo variation against the Sicilian, giving black a dream of a position, with white´s pieces poorly coordinated and his queen in danger of being trapped in mid-board. The Ipswich player, however, seemingly unaware of his good fortune and intent on securing a draw, mishandled the game, first exchanging queens and then a good bishop for a knight. This surrendered dark-square control and the initiative to white. Black reacted poorly and blundered away his knight, leading to resignation a few moves later.
  So Manningtree A achieved victory once again by the narrowest of margins. The match score this season (three wins and one loss) is as good as any in the league, but the failure of the team to impose itself in the comprehensive way that it has managed to do in the last two campaigns sees it sitting third in the league table behind the two teams that it is due to play next. An interesting month lies ahead.

For the second time this season, Manningtree A performed outstand-ingly in winning a match in which the team was outgraded on every board. The result against Ipswich D was arguably a greater achieve- ment than the win against Felixstowe A in the opening fixture of the present campaign in that the total grade differential amounted to 76 grading points (or an average of 19 per board) as against 51 grading points in the earlier match. Not only that, but the victory was against the team at the top of the table after four rounds of the competition.
  Despite the defeat Ipswich D retained top spot (although subse- quently displaced two days later by Bury St Edmunds B), since Manningtree needed three points to catch them up. This target was almost reached as in our only individual loss Phil seemed to be heading for a draw after his customary Caro Kann Defence. His Ipswich opponent played a line of his own invention, castling on the queen side and commencing to storm the black king with his king-side pawns. Black countered on the queen side and an exciting game with even chances resulted. Black, however, miscalculated a queen exchange and allowed a transposition into a rook and bishop versus rook and knight ending, where the vast superiority of white´s bishop quickly proved decisive.
  On the other boards, Manningtree was more secure. Bob got us off to a good start with a win. After a slow opening in which white gained space on the kingside and in the centre, a slight tactical error on his part allowed Bob to win the a-pawn. Following the exchange of all the pieces except black´s dark-squared bishop, which was now a dominating piece, and one of White´s knights, white resigned when faced with the prospect of losing a second pawn in the centre, leaving black with a three-to-one majority on the queen side and a won ending.
  John scored a comfortable draw against a player graded 37 points above him, who came to the board with a 100% record in the league this season. The game started with 1.b3 and it soon saw black lose his e-pawn after a miscalculation. The cost to white was a slightly cramped position, but black had to allow simplifications to avoid the loss of a second pawn. As the game developed, the Ipswich player succeeded in restoring material equality, but the pawn he regained was a doubled g-pawn, which left John with a slight advantage in the ensuing rook and pawn ending. The advantage, however, was not enough for a win and a draw was agreed after a repetition of moves.
  This meant that the result on the top board would decide the match. Leon had offered a draw early in the middle game in a critical, dynamically balanced position, when it had seemed that Phil was likely to draw his game, but his opponent declined the offer only to find himself with an inferior game a few moves later. Black´s attempt to exchange all four rooks to reach a position he hoped to hold foundered on a tactical resource available to white, which left Leon with a won knight ending after he forced the exchange of queens. The knights came off the board, pawns of both colours rushed to queen, but a timely check allowed white to exchange queens for a second time in the game before another of his pawns became the fifth queen to appear on the board and decide the match in Manningtree´s favour.
  Next up are the new league leaders, Bury St Edmunds B, who will be coming to Manningtree at the end of the month for a clash between two teams that have each won four matches and lost one.

Although Fabiano Caruana probably felt more despondent about dropping three points in the games he played on 28 November, the Manningtree A team also had reason to rue a similar outcome on the evening of the same day. In the home encounter with Bury St Edmunds B the previous season, Andy and Leon had faced identical opponents as in this match and had been held to well-contested draws, but in that fixture the lower boards (Jim and Bob) had rallied from difficult, not to say losing, positions to secure the one-and-a-half points that guaranteed a home victory. History, or perhaps simply good fortune, was not to repeat itself on this occasion, however, as Nathan and Phil went down to lower graded opposition.
  On board one, Andy developed a promising position from the opening, offering a pawn sacrifice for the two bishops and open lines against his opponent´s king. Among several plausible ways of playing the position that presented itself, Andy decided to enter an endgame with an exchange for pawn advantage. This, however, turned out to be a mistake as it allowed considerable prospects for the defending side, and his opponent held the ending without difficulty.
  Leon came up against the fast-improving junior star of the Bury club on board two. A barren line in the Symmetrical Variation of the English was enlivened when Leon carelessly inverted the correct move order in the opening to reach a positionally inferior game, but one not without attacking possibilities for white. An inaccuracy on black´s part in the middle game in the choice of file on which to place his rook allowed Leon sufficient activity to equalise, but no more than that. The ensuing ending was always likely to finish in a draw even if the move repetition in which play abruptly terminated had not occurred.
  Nathan, making his debut for the first team, had the misfortune to come up against an opponent who, in his own words, played the game of his life. The opening was an English with a queen-side fianchetto in which Nathan unwisely swapped his dark-squared bishop for a knight to give his opponent the advantage of a powerful bishop pair. This allowed white to keep the black pieces tied down and gradually to improve his position until eventually finding a nice bishop sacrifice to win material, but the game had been lost for a while before that point.
  Phil chose to play the Rossolimo Variation against the Sicilian Defence, but he fared no better than Caruana had done with the white pieces in the same opening in the World Championship play-off earlier in the day. Having taken possession of the half-open h-file in a blocked position, Phil sought another front in opening up the a-file. This turned out to be an error as it granted black, who had hitherto looked passive, active play. In trying to straddle two horses, on the a and h-files, Phil went for a kingside breakthrough, winning the black g-pawn with a tactic, but the Bury player had seen further and, with rook and queen concentrated on the a-file, invaded the seventh rank with mating threats. White, in responding to the danger, miscalculated, allowing his bishop to be pinned and then won, after which black soon forced resignation.
  It was a disappointing result against the league leaders, who came without one of their regular stalwarts and were significantly outgraded on three of the four boards. Manningtree A has scored a couple of memorable wins this season in matches where it has been outgraded on all boards, but it has now also slipped up twice in matches which on paper seemed to be well within its grasp. The last fixture before Christmas is an away match against Saxmundham A, currently propping up the league table with one draw and five losses.

Manningtree A scored its fifth win in seven outings by the score of 2½ points to 1½ points. The result has put us in second place in Division One at the mid-season stage, when, with the exception of one match between two other teams still to be played (or notified), every team has played once against every other team. This is a creditable team performance, given the absence of our highest graded nomination for all matches, but our seeming inability to register more than the minimum required to win a match, if it continues, is likely to see us in mid-table at the end of the competition. This year´s contest is one of the closest ever, with five teams all within a point of each other chasing the league leaders Bury St Edmunds B.
  A set-back on board three in the match against Saxmundham A meant that we did not make the most of our opportunity against the team propping up the division. Phil had looked to be doing well against his Saxmundham opponent in the early middle game, but he found the ultra-solid, if cramped, Fort Knox variation of the French Defence as impregnable as its name suggests. His downfall was brought about by the weakness of a backward d-pawn that was eventually lost, yielding control of the central files to black. In the tactical melee that ensued, black was able to effect multiple exchanges neutralising any threat to his monarch, winning a rook for a knight and transposing into an easily won ending.
  This was the last game to finish. The first to end was the encounter on board two. Leon reached an even position out of the opening and accepted his opponent´s early offer of a draw. The result was perhaps not unexpected - the two players were within one grading point of each other and Leon had drawn five of his previous six league games - but what was unusual was that Leon managed to avoid his perennial time trouble, taking up only seven minutes of his clock time for the whole game (all 17 moves of it)!
  The other two games were won by the Manningtree players. Jim did not have too much trouble converting the advantage that he had gained from a well-known tactical trick in the opening combined with a commanding pawn presence in the centre, whereas Andy had more of a battle on his hands. He obtained a central pawn majority and an early advantage in a Queen´s Gambit Declined, but his opponent defended doggedly, and it was not until move 42 that his resistance finally crumbled when, desperately short of time, he missed a tactic that won the game for white.

An early draw on board two gave no indication that Manningtree A would, by the close of play, have chalked up its most comprehensive victory of the season. In the end, the match score of 3½ to ½ by no means flattered the away side. A solid performance all round saw the opposition, on three of the four boards, buckle under steady and relentless pressure to bring the Manningtree team to within half-a-point of the leaders in Division One (and would have given it top spot but for a 4-0 win by old rivals, Ipswich C, the same evening).
  For the second game in a row, Leon, playing with the black pieces and barely out of his opening preparation, was content to share the point with an opponent of similar grading. This peaceful outcome did not set the tone for the evening, though, as the other Manningtree players soon established dominating positions. Jim was the next to finish, his two fianchettoed bishops trained on the centre of the board like rifles at a shooting range made life difficult for the Felixstowe player. It was a combi- nation of queen and knight, however, which decided the issue when white offered his resignation faced with a rare case of smothered mate.
  Phil was next to finish. Playing the 3.Bb5 line against the Sicilian, he found himself tied to the defence of his e-pawn, but this situation was compensated for by a lead in development, allowing him to exploit the position of black´s uncastled king and his disconnected rooks. A combination of threat and restraint resulted eventually in the win of a pawn. This was followed by an exchange into a double rook endgame, which saw Phil win a second pawn in the process. After a pair of rooks came off, black, two pawns down and very short of time, soon resigned.
  On board one, Andy´s opponent elected for an unusual Old Indian set-up, but never threatened to gain equality, and in a bid for nebulous counterplay offered a pawn sacrifice on move 25. Andy accepted the pawn, and by move 40 had every aspect of the position under control - except his clock. Playing on the increment, and reduced to less than a minute on the clock, the only danger was that Andy would somehow blunder away his dominant position. However, as so often happens, it is the player who is attempting to exploit his opponent´s time-trouble who ends up blundering. On move 53, defending a dire position, his opponent made a final un- necessary error and resigned immediately after Andy´s routine response.
  All in all, a promising start to the New Year.

At the mid-point of the match, it seemed that Manningtree A might secure a narrow win as the team appeared to be on the point of emulating one of its familiar routes to victory - draws on the top three boards and a win on bottom board - that had already accounted for Felixstowe A and Ipswich A earlier in the season (and other teams before that). But, on this occasion, the bottom two boards proved not to be as durable as in the past.
  The first game to finish was on board two. Leon played the same equalising line in the Sicilian Defence against the Maroczy Bind as he had essayed against Saxmundham A just before Christmas and achieved the same result - an 18-move draw which never left current opening theory, while on top board Andy, who had gained an early positional advantage with a knight outpost on d5 against a backward pawn on d6, met with stubborn resistance from an opponent avoiding any further concessions. It was not until move 32 when Andy achieved a break through, winning queen and pawn for two rooks. The material exchange favoured Andy; however, both sides were reduced to less than two minutes on the clock and Andy cautiously offered a draw in a promising position.
  On boards three and four, the chances of a draw and a win respectively were compromised by in- accurate play on the part of the  Manningtree players as the evening wore on. In a symmetrical Bishops Opening on board three, Phil´s opponent soon achieved equality, which then turned into a small but consistent edge, courtesy of a spatial advantage and a mobile king-side pawn majority. All the same, after multiple exchanges, the resultant ending held good prospects for a drawn outcome, but the combination of Phil´s time shortage, his opponent´s fine endgame play and continual pressure against white´s passive setup led eventually to a clear win for the Ipswich player.
  While the gradual erosion of white´s position on board three was taking place, a similar shift occurred on board four. Jim had played impressively to build up an opening advantage that saw him win a pawn and wreck white´s king-side defence, but at a critical juncture in the game he underestimated a defensive resource in his own position and fearful of the loss of the exchange gave up his queen for a rook and minor piece. The ensuing endgame looked bleak, but Jim managed to engineer an unassailable fortress that persuaded white to take a draw by perpetual check.
  The opportunity for a match victory was lost in the last hour of play and now Manningtree A finds itself in a dogfight for second place behind Ipswich C, which consolidated its position at the top of the table with this result.

An outcome that produced four draws may at first sight give the impression that the players spent a fairly peaceful evening over the chessboard, but this is far from what happened. The Manningtree team knew beforehand that a score of three points in the match would see it head Division 1 again. With this in mind, the home team pressed hard and had its chances on all boards, but in an evenly contested encounter Bury St Edmunds C successfully held out.
  On board one both players had opportunities for a win. Andy never got quite enough compensation for a pawn sacrifice, but his opponent allowed a nice breakthrough which led to the win of an exchange for a pawn. This should have proved decisive for Andy, but the Bury player deserves credit for finding a nice double pawn sacrifice in a difficult position for an attack against the black king. Indeed, Andy was close to losing on the clock, but improvised a desperate defence in the nick of time. His opponent cashed in his activity for a notional material advantage in a dead drawn endgame. On balance, this was a fair result.
  On board two, the Bury player walked into a prepared line and came out worse from the opening. Leon, however, missed a couple of forceful opportunities to cement his advantage and even allowed black to mount a serious counter-attack. In a dynamically balanced middle game, with both players down to less than three minutes on the clock and neither king entirely secure, a draw was agreed.
  The opening on board three, a hybrid Pirc/King´s Indian Defence, saw black emerge with a reasonable position, but then a rather unnecessary and passive knight move allowed white to seize the initiative and win the exchange for a pawn. Black, however, was left with a monster of a protected knight on e5 as compensation, which white decided to remove at the cost of the exchange. After surviving various tactical complications, Jim successfully defended his king to reach a major piece endgame a pawn to the good. As on board two, with both players running short of time, a draw was agreed. Post-game analysis suggested that had black found the correct sequence of moves a second pawn would probably have been gained with a distinctly winnable position.
  If boards two and three, when facing the prospect of time trouble, agreed with Falstaff that discretion was the better part of valour, then what maxim could possibly apply to the extraordinary draw that occurred on the bottom board? Phil was a whole knight ahead by move 13 and envisaged a clear and simple win, but he stumbled, allowing black to win back the knight with a tactic. This still left him a pawn up with a stranglehold on what soon became a rook and opposite bishop ending. When Phil subsequently managed to win two more pawns, he had every expectation that black would resign at any moment in the face of the march of massed passed pawns towards their queening squares. With multiple ways to win outright, however, Phil over-finessed only to find - shock, horror - that he had allowed black to manufacture a perpetual check from seemingly nowhere. Phil, himself, supplies the appropriate maxim for this game from Sun Tzu´s classic The Art of War: "When without resources, rely on resourcefulness itself". Truly a game of scorned opportunities!

Manningtree A travelled to Ipswich looking for a substantial score to maintain its chances of holding onto the Division One title. Although the match was won, it may be that the failure to win by more than the most slender of margins will prove costly at the end of the competition. The inability to achieve more than two-and-a-half points in any match, except on one occasion, has put a brake on an otherwise successful campaign in which the top three boards still remain unbeaten.
  The first game to conclude was on board three, where Jim ensured that his unbeaten record remained intact with a quick draw. The active position of his opponent´s queen on a5 within proximity of the white king that had castled long seemed sufficiently menacing to justify a repetition of moves. Phil´s game was next to finish. Although he had come well prepared for his opponent´s customary Veresov Attack and took a strong early initiative, a sequence of ill-judged exchanges rapidly dissipated all advantage, allowing a transposition into a rook and opposite-colour bishop ending, with white a pawn up. Phil plugged on and was rewarded for refusing a draw offer, despite having slightly the worse of it, when a series of aimless moves and severe time shortage left the Ipswich player´s bishop entombed and saw his pawns falling one by one.
  On board one, Andy gained a slight advantage from the opening by a tactic which forced the doubling of the h-pawns in front of his opponent´s king. However, his opponent defended solidly and avoided further concessions. He was rewarded on move 27 when Andy blundered away an entire exchange. Nonetheless, the doubled h-pawns and a prowling knight on the king-side created difficulties for his opponent, and it was not entirely surprising that, with both sides down to only five minutes on the clock, he cautiously offered a draw, which Andy was relieved to accept.
  The last game to finish was Leon´s (for a change!). His opponent´s choice of a rare, but dubious, side-line against the Accelerated Fianchetto variation of the Sicilian Defence saw black win a pawn in the opening for very little compensation, namely control of the d5 square. Yet, when white posted an untouchable knight on that square after the light-squared bishops had been exchanged, it proved difficult for black to make headway. Leon expended a considerable amount of time in seeking to turn a slight advantage, which he never relinquished, into something more until eventually, knowing the results on the other boards and finding himself with only a few seconds plus increment to finish the game, he proposed a draw, which was readily accepted.
  The league season is rapidly reaching its climax with four, possibly five, teams still in with a chance of lifting the trophy at the end of the season. Manningtree A is one of those teams, though perhaps not the favourite, and the narrow victory against Ipswich A saw it appear briefly at the top of the league table before other matches played later in the same week changed the picture. For the remaining three matches, comprehensive wins will be required if Manningtree is to sustain its challenge for the title.

The Manningtree A players lined up against a full strength Ipswich D team knowing that a 3-1 win on the night was the bare minimum to keep alive a slender chance of retaining the Division One title. By the end of play, the target had been achieved after Andy eventually had to concede a draw in a topsy-turvy encounter, Leon benefited from his opponent´s lack of resistance as the clocks started to run down, Jim demonstrated his resourcefulness in an inferior ending and Phil reaped the reward of a below-par performance on the other side of the board.
  Andy´s opponent opened in uncompromising style: sacrificing not one, not two, but three pawns for a king-side attack. If these were somewhat dubious, his fourth sacrifice, that of a piece, was excellently judged and, had he followed this up correctly, Andy would have been forced to resign. However, Andy just about survived, and his extra material should have been decisive, but short of time, he missed the most exact way to convert his advantage. The game concluded in an interesting theoretical endgame of two bishops and rook´s pawn against rook, in which Andy´s opponent found a neat way to draw by sacrificing rook for bishop, leaving Andy with an extra bishop and the "wrong" rook´s pawn for a well-known draw.
  For the second time this season in a match against Ipswich D, Leon found himself facing a Dutch formation against his English Opening. The opponent was different, but the result was the same. It was a cagey affair until black decided to force the issue with a central pawn advance. This was what Leon had been waiting for, instead of initiating a conventional advance of pawns on the queen´s side, and he pounced, seizing control of the centre. Black responded by grabbing a hot pawn and duly got his fingers burnt. Two slightly inaccurate tactical shots on Leon´s part could have allowed his opponent back into the game with a fair chance of making a draw, but the clocks were ticking (metaphorically speaking nowadays) and some hurried moves by black made life easier for Leon, who wrapped up the point and ended a sequence of six draws in league matches.
  Jim, up against a redoubtable board three, essayed a variation of the classical King´s Indian Defence from years gone past, rumoured to have been a favourite of Tal, but seen infrequently in the twenty-first century. It did not turn out too well, however, and Jim found himself defending a difficult endgame, but some of the trickery for which Tal was famous must have rubbed off for he found an ingenious way of holding a draw in a knight-versus-bishop ending that had threatened to end badly.
  Phil chose to respond to his opponent´s Sicilian with a b3 system that quickly led to a closed position, with white having a spatial edge in the centre and a knight on f5, but no real prospects against correct defence. His opponent, however, advanced his g-pawn rashly, allowing white to target it with queen, bishop and h-pawn. He missed the chance to defend it with a timely f6 and soon lost it, exposing his king to a direct attack. When, five moves later a knight fell victim to a pin on the h-file, with further material loss inevitable, black resigned.

Manningtree A´s hopes of retaining the Division 1 title came to an abrupt end at Bury St Edmunds as the home team asserted its grading superiority on the bottom three boards and won the match to improve its prospects of finishing top of the table. The match was notable for bringing to an end the unbeaten league records this season of two of the players, the top board for Bury St Edmunds and Manningtree´s board two. Leon had, in fact, last lost playing for Manningtree A two years ago (in March 2017), thereafter establishing a run of 27 consecutive games undefeated.
  The match started inauspiciously, with Bob finding his opponent, whose grading had shot up in the January list, too hot to handle. The opening was a Modern Defence, which arose after 1 Nf3 g6, in which Bob made a couple of small errors that enabled white to win a central pawn and apply pressure on the kingside. The pressure steadily grew and the Bury player was able to mount a sustained attack that would have led to checkmate. A good game that white executed well and deserved to win.
  Equally inauspicious was the start of the game on board 3. Losing a knight for a pawn in six moves as white to an opponent graded 20 points higher, is not a promising start to any game. However, seemingly dazzled by his good fortune, the Bury player failed to come up with a coherent plan to make his advantage tell. Phil´s plan was to avoid piece exchanges and skulk behind a wall of pawns but, emboldened by black´s dithering, he advanced in the centre, won a second pawn and lined up queen and bishop with mating threats against the castled king in mind. Seeing a way to win back the piece, Phil took it, but, in so doing, overlooked a forced win through an exchange of knight for bishop, followed by decisive kingside penetration. In the game, exchanges followed, black grabbed back a pawn and in mutual time shortage, Phil, who had the draughtier king, offered a draw that was immediately accepted.
  The game on board two started better from the Manningtree perspective. Leon successfully neutralised white´s unambitious opening play and netted a pawn when his opponent overextended in the centre, but from that point onwards, he sat back, ignored Nimzowitsch´s words about a passed pawn´s ´lust to expand´ and allowed it to be securely blockaded. Refusing a draw and frustrated by lack of any progress, he paid scant attention to white´s own threats and suddenly found himself on the defensive. Unfortunately, he didn´t adapt to the change of fortune at all robustly and conceded too much ground to hold the position.
  Meanwhile, on board one, Andy made steady progress in his game when his opponent submitted to the Maroczy Bind. By move 20, he had succeeded in exchanging several pieces, but Andy still held a strategic grip on the position in a queen-less middlegame. On move 32, his opponent attempted to relieve his constriction with a central pawn-advance. But this only made matters worse, and Andy quickly gained an overwhelming material advantage as a second unbeaten record bit the dust that evening. It is worth noting that the victors on the top two boards are themselves still to lose a league game this season.

Manningtree A completed its league programme with a comfortable win against a depleted Sax- mundham side to finish third in Division 1, narrowly missing out on second spot by a mere half-point. The grading disparity was too great on the bottom two boards for the visiting team to make an impact and a serious error on top board sealed its fate.
  Leon was faced with an innocuous side-line against his Sicilian Defence and soon took control of the position, eking out a clear advantage in the centre and steering towards a superior ending, when the game came to an abrupt end on move 22 as white overlooked a pin and lost a piece.
  Phil was outplayed in the opening and by move 17 he found himself a pawn down in a difficult position, but he succeeded in taking command of the c-file, which allowed him to infiltrate and force white´s pieces into a passive back-row huddle. Indecisive play on black´s part, however, could have let his opponent off the hook, but the Saxmundham player chose instead to blunder and bring the game to a speedy conclusion after the loss of his queen for inadequate compensation.
  In Bob´s game, all the pieces bar a rook for each player had been exchanged by move 21, but the good news was that Bob had acquired an extra pawn in the process, leaving him with a 3 to 2 pawn majority on the queenside and three pawns a-piece on the king´s side. Black helpfully exchanged the final rooks leaving White clear to establish a passed pawn and win the game. The only cloud on an otherwise bright horizon was Jim´s loss on board two, surrendering his unbeaten record for the A team this season. A king-side attack against his opponent´s monarch after the two players had castled on opposite wings proved ineffectual and he succumbed to a powerful breakthrough in the centre.

Both our A and B teams were playing alongside each other tonight and both were playing their first league match. Both were also without their top two boards, and both achieved the same result with the same score. Although due to a number of postponed division three matches, Manningtree B are sitting on top of their table, while Manningtree A are in the middle. But it is of course, very early days.
  Adrian was the first to finish, creating a lot of space from his open English, and efficiently outplayed his opponent, who eventually succumbed to the middle game complica- tions and lost the exchange. Carl followed a little later, having successfully prevented his opponent castling, and nabbing a pawn in the process. It wasn´t long before he also nabbed a piece, and before the game was over he added a rook to his tally, giving us a useful two point start. But it was clear that things were not going to continue that way.
  John´s four knight´s game started quietly enough, but soon followed the lines of his previous game against Stephen Gregory, and not seeing the danger in time meant he was constantly one move short of safety. Mark brought up the rear and ensured we won the match. An open game left him an isolated e-pawn, but he turned that into an asset, marching it up the board supported by his major pieces. It hit the buffers in the end, and a draw was eventually agreed.
  All in all, not a bad start to the season, and looking at the team nominations for this division, we could be in danger of winning it again and yo-yoing back to division two.

Bury E are among the weaker sides in this division, so we were expecting a comfortable win tonight, and for the most part that´s what we got. And we were a whisker away from a full house.
  Carl finished first for his opponent was far too worried about Carl´s dark squared ´Trompowski bishop´ and got himself into a tangle fearing the pin. Carl wasted no time exploiting those inaccuracies and finished well ahead of the rest of the team.
  Likewise, John´s opponent didn´t handle 1.b3 very well either, and a dubious and premature attack on his c2 square was easily repulsed with the result that his opponent´s queen´s knight made four of the first eight moves, ending back at b8 where it remained for most of the game, hemming in the queen´s rook in the process. (He didn´t handle his clock well either, and needed a couple of reminders to press it.) A central thrust netted a couple of pawns and John was spoilt for choice for ways to win more material. It´s true to say that he probably didn´t make all the right choices, but he still ended up with two pieces and a queen against his opponent´s solitary king. His opponent didn´t resign however until he was one move from mate, no doubt hoping for a stalemate.
  By now Adrian was ploughing ahead, more troubled by some uninvited but persistent flies than his opponent´s play. In the rook and pawn ending his opponent had only one pawn, but it was a passed a-pawn, supported by his king, just a couple of squares from queening. It was clear that Adrian would have to give up his rook for that pawn, but was he bovered? Not a bit! He had four, yes four, connected passed pawns on the other wing, and they didn´t even need the help of their king to march up the board.
  Only Bob was now left, and his was the only board to reach the first time control. His Modern didn´t go quite according to plan, and he found himself with a rather tricky middlegame, with his pieces far less coordinated than he would have liked. But as the ending approached he saw the possibility of snatching a potentially dangerous passed h-pawn that was slowly but surely making its way up the board. It was a nice snatch that clearly took his opponent by surprise and meant that for once Bob now had the upper hand. His opponent however proved quite resourceful and could certainly not be underestimated. It´s probable that Bob missed a winning line, but as is so often the case, one can see the first move but miss the follow up. On balance a draw was probably a fair result, and we certainly can´t complain now that we´re firmly placed at the top of the table.
  As an aside, we nearly witnessed another player losing on time in a game using the incremental time control. Twice, a player in another match was down to the last second, hand wavering over the pieces, desperately deciding his next move, before making it hitting the clock and have it jump up to sixteen. A few quick moves later he built up over a minute, and that game ended in a draw.

After a brief spell in second place, Manningtree B are back at the top. Mind you, we were expecting more than a draw from this match, and we should have got more. On the other hand, as we were in reality Manningtree (B+C)/2 things could have been worse. And they very nearly were.
  Alan disobeyed one of those unwritten rules of the game and moved the same piece twice in the opening. He suffered the consequences as his knights were pushed up the board, giving him a cramped position from which he was unable to recover.
  Bury are deservedly famous for developing juniors, and you couldn´t get much more junior than David´s opponent. It must have been way past little Amy´s bed time as she took to the board, but she proved to be no pushover. In fact she managed the game very well to the point where David went astray and lost the exchange as his king, queen and rook couldn´t all move together. However, it was now David´s turn to harass his opponent´s pieces with his knight, and it wasn´t long before he won the exchange back. All things being equal David offered a draw, to which his opponent readily accepted. John started in a very similar fashion to his previous game against Clacton, winning a pawn in the opening and pushing his advantage towards a won ending. He was careless however and with his king safe from enemy attention he needlessly lost the pawn back, with the added complication of exposing diagonals to his king. After the exchange of all the minor pieces he was again a pawn up, but at the cost of losing control of his second rank, and only a fortuitous perpetual saved him from mate, or a disastrous loss of material.
  Adrian managed to save us from defeat with a steady handling of his Sicilian, which eventually gained him a piece for a pawn. And while his opponent had two connected passed pawns over half way up the board, they were effectively stalled, so Adrian continued chipping away at his opponent´s position until his opponent resigned rather than face the hoovering up of his few remaining pawns.
  In our next match we have our full B-Team squad available, something we haven´t had for some time, so we´ll be looking for a good win to secure our position at the top of the table.

Not as convincing a win as we were hoping for, as Manningtree B continue struggling to find their form. But we can´t complain, for things could have been a lot worse. We got off to a good start after Jim´s opponent blundered, and lost a central pawn in the opening without any real compensation. Jim soon gained a dominant position and converted the pawn advantage into further material gains before his opponent resigned on move 30.
  John then followed, but was disappointed that after 55 moves he was unable to convert his extra connected passed pawn into a win. In a bishop of same colour ending his opponent´s bishop was reduced to hopping between only two squares, but his well placed king was immoveable and prevented John making any progress.
  Mark then leveled the score, but he seemed a bit unlucky. Coming out of the opening with good chances, he somehow allowed his opponent too much space, and the game ended with both players having several passed pawns on opposite wings. It was the combination of weak knight against strong bishop, and his opponents better placed king that decided things
  .With the score level, it looked as though it would stay that way as Bob was struggling to get his pieces co-ordinated, but still looked good enough to hold the draw. As the end approached he thought he could see a way to level the game by sacrificing his bishop in a B&R ending. His opponent not only failed to see the flaw in Bob´s strategy, but soon after blundered catastrophically to lose his own bishop instead. A genuine case of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, and very lucky for us, for it keeps us top of the table, albeit by just half a point.

This was our first visit to Woodbridge Chess Club (not to be confused with Woodbridge School), and what can one say about the venue? Well, the Cherry Tree is a very nice pub - cosy corners, background chatter, soft music and pleasant staff. The only trouble was that you could hear it all in the playing room. Mind you, it´s surprising how quickly you get used to it, and none of us can use it as an excuse for our performance.
  Considering we outgraded them on every board, we should have come away with much more than a draw tonight. But once again our lack of form showed, except in Adrian´s case, who´s English netted him a piece quite early in the game, after which he simply cruised to victory.
  Alan was likewise a piece up, but in his case it was a sacrifice on his f7 pawn that was responsible. Alan had to weather the storm for a while, and eventually give the piece back to enter a rook and pawn ending with both players having passed pawns on opposite wings. His opponent gave up his rook for Alan´s last two pawns and Alan now faced three pawns with his own rook. Believing he couldn´t stop those pawns advancing, and fearful that one of them might queen against his will, he decided a draw was his safest option.
  Bob´s Modern didn´t give him the edge he wanted, and try as he did, he was unable to gain sufficient advantage to get the full point and his game simply fizzled out. John was last to finish, and just when the game had swung in his favour he blundered a crucial pawn that left his king´s side teetering on the brink. He could probably still have gotten at least a draw, but he chose the wrong strategy and that sealed it.
  Although a disappointing result, it put us back at the top of the table, at least for a while at any rate.

We started off this evening in a bit of a panic. With an A-Team match alongside us, we needed the extra sets (not to mention the extra water flask) from the reserve equipment box, but the envelope marked ´Equipment Box Key Enclosed´ was empty. We searched our cup- board several times, pointlessly looking in places we´d already looked, but no sign of the key. By chance the History Society were meeting downstairs, so we accosted them for a screwdriver to take the lock off. Just before one of their number arrived with a set of screwdrivers Bob found the errant key, in another envelope, also marked ´Equipment Box Key Enclosed´, which must have fallen from the box in the cupboard. Panic over, the boards were set up and the matches got under way.
  We knew that even a 4-0 win tonight would not be enough to catch the C-Team, but we wanted to get as close to that score as we could, and on paper it shouldn´t have been a problem.
  Bob got us off to a good start after his opponent´s response to his Modern allowed Bob to beat off an early attack and eventually cruise to victory with a pawn on the seventh, supported by all the pieces, and there was no chance of stopping it gaining promotion.
  Mark´s unusual 1 ... c5 response to 1.d4 slowly transposed into a sort of Queen´s Gambit, but gave him a good edge which he patiently nursed to his advantage to bring home our second point.
  Meanwhile Adrian was trying hard to get something from his English, but his opponent played a steady and safe game, which Adrian could not find a way to upset. In the end he just had to accept that a draw was all he was going to get.
  It looked as though we were going to get our third win tonight after John´s opponent overreached himself in his attack, and lost first, his crucial spearhead pawn, and then a piece, although his attack was far from over. Springing a counter, John suddenly realised a perpetual resource at his opponent´s disposal and spent ages trying to find a way to prevent it. Needless to say, no such way was found. This was a clear case where a little patience would have been very helpful. And with that in mind, we´re not going to let it worry us that the C-Team have stretched their lead at the top, we´re still going to catch them.

We didn´t notice it, but Ipswich F had changed their nominations before this match, so instead of finding Les Jones on board one, with much weaker opposition on the lower boards, a new face appeared, and Ipswich F were suddenly a more formidable side than the one our C-Team squashed 3-1 just three weeks earlier. No matter, we were not going to let that put us off, we had a job to do, and that was get back above Manningtree C in the Table. And yes, we did have to pull in a couple of C-Team players to achieve this, both of whom incidentally, contributed to the aforesaid squashing.
  And it was Rowland who got us off to the start we wanted. It was a lively game with bishops on both of the long diagonals threatening to win the exchange. Rowland took his advantage, while his opponent thought his mating threat more valuable than getting the exchange back. It wasn´t, but by this time Roland was comfortably in control of the open board.
  Bob finished soon after, and was well on top of his game from the start. Employing his trusty Modern Defence, everything just went right for him and he was soon a pawn up. Not long after that his opponent decided to exchange a piece for two pawns, so Bob progressed a piece for a pawn up. And as if that wasn´t enough, a well advance central pawn was a real problem for his opponent, and there was no doubt how this game would finish.
  Carl had been working on the compensation he had gained from giving up a pawn in the opening when he lost a second one, also with some compensation. But it was doubtful if the two ´compensations´ outweighed the two pawns, so Carl had to dig deep, and eventually got both of his pawns back. By this time however, there wasn´t much play left in the game, apart from some risky play, so they agreed to divide the honours.
  John persevered with the Nimzo-Larsen Attack, especially as it had finally sunk in what 1.b3 actually is. A fairly quiet game ensued, more strategic than tactical, which developed into a fight for control of the open c-file. It petered out into a 2N v B&N ending with 2N John having to repeat moves or allow the breakup of his pawns, something that the post- mortem proved was more disastrous than it looked.
  So we ended the night repeating the C-Team´s score, and climbing 1½ points above them, althought they do have a game in hand. The B v C Derby in the new year is going to be the crunch match - if the C-Team can grab 1½ or 2 points, they could well take the top spot by beating Ipswich E later in the month.

This was a bit of an upset for Manningtree B, who now face the very strong likelihood of seeing Manningtree C finish above them at the end of stage one of the season. But it could have been a lot worse for them as the C-Team were a hair´s breadth from causing an even bigger upset as a 3-1 victory was more than just a possibility.
  All boards were strongly contested, and all provided some very entertaining games. On board 1, Carl chose the line in the Trompowsky that involves sacrificing the b2 pawn, his strategy being to exchange and nullify white´s lead in development. Carl appeared to have successfully achieved this aim before overlooking a second pawn sacrifice on e5. The position then became seriously messy with both Jim and Carl overlooking some obvious and better moves. Upon entering mutual time trouble Carl ´generously´ offered a draw in a winnable position, although Carl didn´t know it was winnable at the time, and Jim felt he was no position to refuse, as he didn´t know that Carl didn´t know.
  On board 2, John kept with the Nimzo-Larsen attack to which Rowland responded with gusto. Allowing the opening of his g-file for a king-side attack, Rowland´s chances looked promising, but John´s defences were more than adequate, and after the queens came off, attention turned to control of the c-file. It was here that Rowland won John´s a-pawn, leaving himself with two passed a-pawns of his own, but by this time it was just knight v bishop, and John´s passed and protected c-pawn kept Rowland´s bishop from supporting the advance of those a-pawns. At this point the game was clearly drawn, but John thought otherwise and it wasn´t long before he paid the price for that misjudgement.
  On board 3 Simon responded well to Bob´s Modern Defence. It was a very active and open game, filled with all sorts of tactical possibilities for both sides. Bob appeared to have the upper hand after going a pawn up, but while Simon´s mating threats might not have been perfect, they were enough to cause Bob some concern and could not be ignored. As the pieces came off, it boiled down to a queen and pawn ending, with both sides having an opposite coloured bishop. It was an ending with draw written all over it, but Simon was down to his last minute, and even though we were on the incremental time control, Simon´s flag fell, and with it, the B-Team´s humiliation was spared.
  On bottom board Mark had employed the King´s Gambit, and John had accepted it. Mark´s early (and somewhat risky) 3.Bc4 soon meant that he was unable to castle, and the usual complications this opening produces followed. John spurned the more defensive lines and after castling queen-side he continued his counter attack. Both players held their nerve, and having successfully negotiated the threats posed by their opponent, honours were divided. Unfortunately this is Mark´s last game for us, as he is now leaving the area and returning to Sussex. We wish him all the best.

We said at the end of the first phase of this division, that if the scores of the first matches are repeated in the return matches, Manningtree C will increase their margin at the top by another point. Well the first of our two teams´ six return matches was precisely that, a repeat of the first one, but it should not have been. We had high hopes of a 4-0 victory tonight, and that´s what it should have been.
  Adrian finished first and came out of his English Opening with a strong position, and was about to go a piece up. But he was concerned about his opponent´s counter, which looked at the time as though it could be dangerous. But it was a phantom, and as if by some other magical force, a little later Adrian found himself a rook down instead of a piece up. This was even more of a surprise as this was Adrian´s first loss for Manningtree this season.
  John levelled the score, but it was not an easy ride. The threats posed by his Nimzo-Larsen never seemed quite enough to deliver a knockout blow as his opponent defended well, and there was a real danger of this game petering out into a draw. But thanks to a single blunder, he was able to use the back rank mating threat to win a piece, after which it was plain sailing.
  Bob was looking good to put us a point up, after steadily building a strong position, and exchanging the pieces for a winning ending. The double rook and pawn ending soon become a single rook and pawn ending, and Bob was in the driving seat. After exchanging the final pair of rooks Bob inexplicably missed the winning line, made worse of course because it not only threw away the win, it turned the game completely on its head.
  This just left Carl, who´s opponent had failed to fend off the many threats posed by Carl´s Sicilian, and got himself into a right pickle. When asked, ´why didn´t you trap his queen?´ Carl´s response was, ´Yes, that was one way of winning, I chose the other way´. And with that the match was drawn, and now Manningtree B not only have Manningtree C breathing down their necks, but also Woodbridge B, who both face each other next week. And after that match, Manningtree B will almost certainly drop to third in the table.

We said at the end of the first half of this season that if the results of the first half are repeated in the second half, our C-Team will increase their lead over our B-Team at the top of the table by another point. And all four of the matches played so far have done precisely that! In board order, the games tonight went thus;
  Bob somewhat prematurely overcommitted his king side pawns in the opening before castling, which backfired when Carl correctly sought counter play in the centre. This soon left Bob a pawn down and his pieces uncomfortably short of options. He eventually managed to castle queen side, but the damage was done, but when Carl offered a draw in what was probably a won position, Bob was both surprised and relieved, and gladly accepted it.
  Rowland handled the English pretty well, but the middle game was swinging in Johns´ favour when Rowland offered one of his doubled e-pawns. John accepted it, following which Rowland threw his g and f pawns up the board. John was hampered by a hemmed in light squared bishop but knowing that his knight could get pinned if he took a second pawn, he ran the risk. He should have thought one more move and after the knight was lost it looked as though the game was as well. However, the extra pawn eventually reached the seventh and Rowland had the choice of giving up his rook or give perpetual check.
  Not surprisingly David also faced an English, and he appeared to have only one thing on his mind - swap pieces and keep it simple. So when Adrian appeared similarly inclined the result was never in doubt, although David may have had a slight edge when the draw was agreed.
  Simon played the King´s Indian well, waiting for John to overplay his hand. John built a significant space advantage but the position became somewhat blocked, and as neither player wanted to risk the outcome of opening it up, a draw was eventually agreed.
  So three points from the C-Team´s last match against Bury F next week will guarantee they take the Trophy, and as that´s exactly what they got first time round, they must be odds-on favourites. Anything less than that gives our B-Team a faint chance in their final match against Woodbridge B the following week, but as the B-Team have lost both Jim and Mark, it would seem the C-Team can start celebrating now.

Manningtree B needed at least a draw tonight to avoid the embarrassment of dropping even further down the table, and for quite a while it seemed more than likely that they weren´t going to get it.
  Simon finished first in a somewhat unconventional opening in which his opponent delayed advancing any pawns beyond his third rank for quite some time. Simon did the opposite and built quite a spatial ad- vantage, but he didn´t quite capitalise on it, and when his opponent´s pawns did start to advance, the position solidified with prospects for either side diminished.
  John was next, responding to a French Defence with a pawn thrust through the centre, and when that didn´t work he was about to try one on the kingside when he was offered a draw. It was a fair offer, but because both Bob and Adrian were looking decidedly dodgy, he turned it down. Hastily removing a knight that was hindering any kingside advance he suddenly realised he´d blundered and left himself with two rooks and bishops of opposite colour, making any pawn advance impossible. Two moves later his opponent had locked the pawns and that was that.
  Now things got very tense, for Adrian was looking quite lost, and Bob was looking far from good, with a draw being the best he could hope for, and that would mean our first league defeat of the season, and ending up third in the table. For over half an hour our prospects looked bleak until Adrian made the first breakthrough. He was on the black side of a Queen´s Gambit, with a somewhat unconventional move order, but it left him on the defensive with a rook for two pieces down. As the ending approached, his opponent added to his advantage an unopposed if isolated a-pawn far from the action. Rather than play it strategically, his opponent was looking for a killer move, and this allowed Adrian to position his rooks for maximum effect. Suddenly Adrian managed to pick off two pawns, including the lazy a-pawn, and offered a draw. This was accepted, for if anything, Adrian was the one with the advantage now.
  Meanwhile Bob´s game was going to the wire, but the tension was calming, for by now his opponent´s grip on the open c-file had been neutralised and Bob was looking good for a draw. In the rook and queen ending his opponent´s pieces had surrounded Bob´s king´s position, with Bob´s king hiding at the edge of the board behind his rook. It took a while to realise, but it was Bob who was in the driving seat, for while his opponent was threatening mate in one, he had left his own king vulnerable. Spurning any repetition of moves, Bob made a series of checks, picking up pawns as he went, and when he finally brought his rook back into play with a check, his opponent resigned, for now he was the one facing mate.
  We breathed a collective sigh of relief, but really, we cannot regard this season as a great success - we have had far too many slip ups. It is somewhat ironic that the one match we won with a convincing 3½-½ score, was the one that was expunged after Bury E folded at the beginning of the season.

It was the opening match of the new season for both teams this evening, and on paper we were clearly the favourites, especially as their board three had forgotten about the match and arrived ten minutes late and ten minutes down on the clock. Oddly enough that didn´t put their game behind the others, for they reached move thirty while the others boards were still in their teens. But it was Rowland who finished first.
  This was Roland´s third appearance for Manningtree, and his first win. He faced a Centre Counter, and developed sensibly as his opponent went off-book straight away. An injudicious pawn advance lost the pawn to a neat little combination, after which Roland more or less coasted home without putting a foot wrong.
  Adrian put us two up after his opponent had blun- dered a bishop earlier in the game. And although a bishop down, his opponent played on to the very end. We were looking good on the remaining two boards, so a hefty win was on the cards.   John and Carl had both opted for the incremental time control, as both have a reputation for time trouble. John discovered however, that you can still lose on time when you´re down to the increments and you don´t make your move within the fifteen seconds (his opponent discovered that too, as he seemed more astonished than anyone when John´s flag fell). It was a great shame, for John was on top of his opponent in every way (apart from the clock of course), but he was clearly looking for that killer move rather than exchanging queens and simplifying.
  Carl´s game followed a very complicated opening, but he emerged with a definite plus and things were looking good. Somehow the game drifted, and in a very tricky position he went from having a ten minute advantage to a two minute deficit in just one move - which was to give up the exchange. Unfortunately it didn´t save him, and that hefty win we were expecting proved to be no win at all.

Manningtree C, heading to Bury without their top board player, could not have got off to a worse start when Alan, playing Tim Kent on Board four as black, found himself in a strong winning position that unfor- tunately soon turned into a win for Bury.
  Fortunately it didn´t take long for Manningtree to level the score when David, attacking his opponent Hugo from the start, played a knight sacrifice for a pawn on move 24, which resulted two moves later with Hugo resigning.
  Adrian, playing on board 2 against the young and impressive Amy John, was having a hard fought game and it wasn´t until the end was close that he was able to capture Amy´s rook which lead to not only piece power but a swift check mate ending.
  Now all eyes fell on board 3 with John playing Black, against the young Rowan Kent. And although Rowan had a far superior time on his clock, John was able to use the Fischer control to his advantage to secure a very hard fought win.
  So with a 3 - 1 victory, and movement up the table, Manningtree C left Bury very satisfied.

The C-Team´s home match against Ipswich F saw them rise to joint second place with only a point behind Manningtree B and with a game in hand.
  First to finish was John Price playing Patrick Glason on board 4 securing the first win for Manningtree C. John played a queen´s pawn opening and in spite of some unorthodox moves, Patrick held his own until move 20, when he over-reached himself with a lone knight attack on the queen´s side. This resulted in John trapping and winning the piece. With the piece advantage John duly wrapped the game up by move 26, finishing, unusually for John, with plenty of time on his clock.
  Rowland Kerr was next to finish on Board 3 against Mike Spalding, controlling the game from the start until the inevitable resignation from Mike gave us our second point.
  Guaranteeing a win for Manningtree C followed with David Welsh on board 2 playing against Angus Irving. The game was very evenly fought and was looking drawn at one point, until Agnus pushed looking for the win, but once he played his rook out of position, David was able to capitalise on it and go on and win the game.
  Finally Carl Phillips on board 1 was doing his best to hold off Les Jones and both players only had minutes left on the clock. But after a long struggle Les was able to mate Carl to salvage a point for the travelling team.

Manningtree C travelled to Woodbridge knowing one and half points would be enough to leapfrog them over Manningtree B and put them top of the table. However the night did not start well when Alan Story, playing on board 4 against Patrick Ross found himself in a guaranteed winning position but somehow miscalculated and went on to lose the game.
  Next to finish was David Welsh playing black on board 2 against Mike Pepper. This game was a very steady, evenly fought out game between the two opponents, with neither player making a mistake or being willing to allow their opponent the advantage, so on move 26 a draw was agreed.
  Playing white on board 1 Carl Phillips faced Sam Gaffney who had an unusual defence to Carl´s Tromposky attack with the advanced black knight on e4 retreating to d6 instead of the usual f6. A tense game ensued with the players castling on opposite sides of the board followed by rapid pawn advances. Both players ran short of time in the complications and each only had two minutes left for the eight moves necessary to reach the time control. With material roughly level and an unclear position a draw was agreed.   All eyes now fell on the remaining game between John Price and Bernard Ross where John opened with the Queens Pawn opening. It wasn´t long before John established a strong attack with Bernard struggling to defend. John declined swapping a rook for two minor pieces which allowed Bernard to attack strongly on the queen side pawns. The game continued leading John´s white king to be forced to act as a defending piece behind his pawns having to avoid being pinned. Bernard tried to bring more kingside pawns to support his attack, but this proved to be his undoing because the white bishop was able to get behind the pawns and John was then able to sacrifice his rook for the attacking knight and then win the remaining black rook in a combination. This left John with a queen and bishop to only a queen for Bernard and check mate followed quickly to conclude a really tough game between the two opponents.
  So the C team left Woodbridge with smiles on their faces as the 2 - 2 draw meant they were 1 point ahead of B team and sitting at the top of the table of division 3.

The C Team travelled to Ipswich knowing a good result would keep them on top of the league, and the night couldn´t have gone much better for them.
  First to finish was Alan Story, playing black against James Stow on board 4. James began with a tight defence, limiting his ability to attack, and allowing Alan to take control of the centre limiting white even further. This ultimately allowed Alan the upper hand, forcing his opponent to trap his own pieces. Alan continued by playing a well-placed knight, which was exchanged for a rook by James who came to the realisation three moves later that he was down on piece power, position and time, resulting in his inevitable resignation and Manningtree C´s first win of the night.
  Next to finish on Board 2, in his debut for the team, was Simon Webber. Simon began with a version of the Advance Variation of the Caro-Kann, but unfortunately the opening didn´t go to plan, which resulted in his opponent gaining a pin on his knight.With Peter not taking the bishop exchange, he lost his central pawn structure and Simon was able to apply pressure down the queenside.Simon advanced, opening the a-file and with his Rook moving to a3 it meant his opponent had to retreat his queen. This was followed by a tactic that gave black a free piece, which resulted in pieces being exchanged and with black having the extra knight, then white resigned.
  David Welsh´s game finished third where he was playing white on Board 1 (in place of our missing board 1) against Roger Holt. Although outgraded David´s tactic was to attack from the start, which he did very successfully until move 22 when his opponent sacrificed the exchange for a mating counter attack. David defended gallantly and when black offered the draw on move 37 David happily accepted.
  The last game to complete was John Price on board 3, playing white against Michael Spalding, with John opening with the Queens Gambit, which his opponent declined. Michael chose to castle on the queen´s side, however he failed to push his kings side pawns which allowed John to seize the initiative by advancing his queen´s side pawns against the black king. White managed to pin (with a rook on an open file) a black piece against both black´s queen and king. Giving the black pieces movement problems so the inevitable swap off of pieces came. This enabled John to win a couple of pawns and with the pawn advantage on both wings Michael´s resignation soon followed.
  So Manningtree C left with big smiles on their faces knowing that the B team will still be chasing behind regardless of their result in their forthcoming game.

This was a bit of an upset for Manningtree B, who now face the very strong likelihood of seeing Manningtree C finish above them at the end of stage one of the season. But it could have been a lot worse for them as the C-Team were a hair´s breadth from causing an even bigger upset as a 3-1 victory was more than just a possibility.
  All boards were strongly contested, and all provided some very entertaining games. On board 1, Carl chose the line in the Trompowsky that involves sacrificing the b2 pawn, his strategy being to exchange and nullify white´s lead in development. Carl appeared to have successfully achieved this aim before overlooking a second pawn sacrifice on e5. The position then became seriously messy with both Jim and Carl overlooking some obvious and better moves. Upon entering mutual time trouble Carl ´generously´ offered a draw in a winnable position, although Carl didn´t know it was winnable at the time, and Jim felt he was no position to refuse, as he didn´t know that Carl didn´t know.
  On board 2, John kept with the Nimzo-Larsen attack to which Rowland responded with gusto. Allowing the opening of his g-file for a king-side attack, Rowland´s chances looked promising, but John´s defences were more than adequate, and after the queens came off, attention turned to control of the c-file. It was here that Rowland won John´s a-pawn, leaving himself with two passed a-pawns of his own, but by this time it was just knight v bishop, and John passed and protected c-pawn kept Rowland´s bishop from supporting the advance of those a-pawns. At this point the game was clearly drawn, but John thought otherwise and it wasn´t long before he paid the price for that misjudgement.
  On board 3 Simon responded well to Bob´s Modern Defence. It was a very active and open game, filled with all sorts of tactical possibilities for both sides. Bob appeared to have the upper hand after going a pawn up, but while Simon´s mating threats might not have been perfect, they were enough to cause Bob some concern and could not be ignored. As the pieces came off, it boiled down to a queen and pawn ending, with both sides having an opposite coloured bishop. It was an ending with draw written all over it, but Simon was down to his last minute, and even though we were on the incremental time control, Simon´s flag fell, and with it, the B-Team´s humiliation was spared.
  On bottom board Mark had employed the King´s Gambit, and John had accepted it. Mark´s early (and somewhat risky) 3.Bc4 soon meant that he was unable to castle, and the usual complications this opening produces followed. John spurned the more defensive lines and after castling queen-side he continued his counter attack. Both players held their nerve, and having successfully negotiated the threats posed by their opponent, honours were divided. Unfortunately, this is Mark´s last game for us, as he is now leaving the area and returning to Sussex. We wish him all the best.

We knew before this match that we would start with a one point advantage and therefore need only one more point to finish top of the table and overtake our B-Team. And all three boards got off to a brisk start in anticipation of achieving that goal, such that after only ten minutes all three boards had either reached or exceeded ten moves. The pace then slowed down a bit, such that 45 minutes passed without so much as a single pawn coming off any of the three boards. Then, at move 15, a pair of knights were exchanged on board 4. It was another ten minutes before anything else came off any board - at move 23, a pair of pawns were exchanged on board 3. At the 90 minute point the first exchange appeared on board 2 - a pair of bishops on move 24.
  A picture is thus painted of patient and steady manoeuvring on all three boards, although once the exchanges started on board 3, it was anything but. Rowland´s Caro-Kann didn´t follow the well trodden paths in the book, and deviated further with an early b4 from his opponent. Making sure the queen-side was locked and safe Rowland responded with a king-side assault with both g and h pawns (and the f-pawn in support) with the pressure aimed squarely at the g4 square. Both sides concentrated their fire on this critical square but Rowland´s five attacking pieces outnumbered his opponent´s by one, and then it was time to strike. With his position facing collapse, Rowland´s opponent blundered a piece, only to follow it up with two more that lost him his queen. Even without the blunders however, his position was untenable after control of g4 was lost, and Rowland´s exploitation of that weakness was swift and brutal. It´s worth noting here that although this was 100 minutes into the session, Roland still had the best part of an hour on his clock.
  It was now official, Manningtree C were half a point clear of Manningtree B - and it wasn´t long before John extended that lead. John´s opponent responded to his queen´s pawn opening with 1…g6 and a long struggle for positional advantage ensued. After the first exchange of knights, John´s pawn advances were carefully managed to obtain a passed d-pawn, and with it a significant edge. He was later able to surrender that d-pawn for a piece, and after further exchanges he was cruising to victory with R+2B v R+B. His opponent then placed his rook en-prise and promptly resigned when John gladly took it.
  The question now was, could David stretch that lead even further? He faced a Sicilian, and played it cautiously. After a lot of manoeuvring for position, David committed himself to a king side attack, but his opponent´s defences were good, and David´s pieces didn´t quite coordinate as well as he would have liked. His opponent´s counter in the centre left David´s queen side weak, and was looking close to collapse when a number of exchanges left both side with just a queen and a rook, and 5v6 pawns in his opponent´s favour. David put up a heroic fight, setting his opponent any number of traps, and was a number of times was just one move from a perpetual, but his opponent stubbornly refused to blunder, and in the end his two advanced, connected and advanced pawns could not be stopped, with by now, just rooks on the board.
  So we end this phase of the season with both our teams having the same match scores, but the C-Team achieving a superior board score, equalling or exceeding the B-Team´s score against every opponent except Felixstowe. Now will follow the top and bottom halves of the table playing their respective return matches, and if the scores of the first matches are repeated in these return matches, the C-Team will be Champions with an increased lead of 2½ points.

Manningtree C came out tonight with their strongest squad determined to return to the top of the table, and this result virtually confirms they will finish in the top two, with a good chance of being top. The games all had a similar look about them - all were QP openings, except Roland´s, which was an English, and all involved a lot of strategic manoeuvring. A long haul was in the offing, especially as after an hour of play only two pairs of pawns had been exchanged across all four boards.
  David was the first to finish and he began with some early queen side activity before either side had castled. His opponent defended well and switched wings, and after all the minor pieces were exchanged his opponent won a pawn right in front of David´s king. David was now on the defensive, but in spite of stubborn resistance his opponent managed to exchange both pairs of rooks, gain another pawn, and create a passed central pawn. It was clear the queen and pawn ending would only end one way, and when his opponent forced the exchange of the queens, David resigned.
  It wasn´t long before Rowland levelled the score. His English was met with a Dutch variety, and once the pieces started to come off, Rowland had a slight edge with an active knight against his oppo- nent´s somewhat hindered bishop. I wasn´t an easy task to capitalise on, but Rowland managed to keep the threats coming, and once his opponent probably missed his best drawing chance, a knight sacrifice netted Rowland his opponent´s queen for a rook. The queen v rook and bishop ending however, was far from easy to convert, but having hoovered up all of his opponent´s pawns he managed it well, even finishing half an hour ahead on the clock.
  Carl kept the score level after a cautious game of positional play in which both players played at a rate almost half that of the rest of the team. It was a difficult position for either player to open up, and although Carl spotted a couple of potential sacri- fices, he couldn´t quite work out all the ramifications, although the post mortem suggested that one of them would have worked. So after three hours of play, 24 moves played, and just one minor piece and two pawns exchanged, a draw was agreed.
  This just left John, whose game was also one of a patient positional struggle. Both players were finding it difficult to find a line to open up the game, such that at move 21, with just a knight and bishop off the board, John was offered a draw. He declined and pressed on, and not unusually, found himself behind on time. He did however manage to create chances, but his opponent hung on until the rook and pawn ending, and even though John was down to his last minute plus increments, he declined a second draw offer hoping to convert one of his c-pawns. It was not to be however, and in the end he had to settle for the half point.
  As an aside, it was noticed that two of the Woodbridge players were still using descriptive notation, which is against the rules and hardly ever seen these days. Mind you, the penalty for such an infringement is only that the score sheet may not be used in evidence.

We said at the end of the first half of this season that if the results of the first half are repeated in the second half, our C-Team will increase their lead over our B-Team at the top of the table by another point. And all four of the matches played so far have done precisely that! In board order, the games tonight went thus;
  Bob somewhat prematurely overcommitted his king side pawns in the opening before castling, which backfired when Carl correctly sought counter play in the centre. This soon left Bob a pawn down and his pieces uncomfortably short of options. He eventually managed to castle queen side, but the damage was done, but when Carl offered a draw in what was probably a won position, Bob was both surprised and relieved, and gladly accepted it.
  Rowland handled the English pretty well, but the middle game was swinging in Johns´ favour when Rowland offered one of his doubled e-pawns. John accepted it, following which Rowland threw his g and f pawns up the board. John was hampered by a hemmed in light squared bishop but knowing that his knight could get pinned if he took a second pawn, he ran the risk. He should have thought one more move and after the knight was lost, it looked as though the game was as well. However, the extra pawn eventually reached the seventh and Rowland had the choice of giving up his rook or give perpetual check.
  Not surprisingly David also faced an English, and he appeared to have only one thing on his mind - swap pieces and keep it simple. So when Adrian appeared similarly inclined the result was never in doubt, although David may have had a slight edge when the draw was agreed.
  Simon played the King´s Indian well, waiting for John to overplay his hand. John built a significant space advantage but the position became somewhat blocked, and as neither player wanted to risk the outcome of opening it up, a draw was eventually agreed.
  So three points from the C-Team´s last match against Bury F next week will guarantee they take the Trophy, and as that´s exactly what they got first time round, they must be odds-on favourites. Anything less than that gives our B-Team a faint chance in their final match against Woodbridge B the following week, but as the B-Team have lost both Jim and Mark, it would seem the C-Team can start celebrating now.

Unlike in their previous performance against Manningtree B, Manningtree C came out of the blocks tonight chasing wins not draws, knowing that 2½ points would make them unbeatable at the top, while 3 points would ensure they were Champions.
  John got them off to a good start, building a solid positional advantage and then launching a powerful kingside attack. His pressure down the half open h-file was like a vice slowly turning the screw on a penned in king on h8.
  When Simon followed suit Manningtree knew they were well on the way to their target. His was an interesting game that started conventionally enough, but entered the endgame with Simon three pawns down, just four pawns facing his opponent´s seven. He did however have significant compensation in a form of a rook, while his opponent had only his king. Had that king been better placed to support the advance of his pawn majority things might have been different, but the king was well away from the action and Simon was able to pick off the excess pawns with relative ease. His young opponent (characteristically of children) refused to resign, and perhaps with some justification, for he´d boxed himself in and threatened Simon with a number of ways to create a stalemate. Simon wasn´t tricked, but he had to deliver mate before the game was conceded.
  Carl´s Najdorf produced the usual complications with both players fighting for control of the c-file. Initially it looked as though his opponent was getting the better of it, and even picked up a pawn in the process. But as the game wore on, and with threats on the king-side, the position began to swing in Carl´s favour, and he wrestled control of the c-file for himself. The position was not entirely clear however, so knowing that 2½ points was their minimum target, and that David was comfortably on top of his game, Carl offered a draw, which was readily accepted.
  Having chased a win throughout the game, and with a winning position, David was taking no chances, and immediately offered a draw as well. His opponent was delighted to accept it, for he had probably been contemplating resignation for the past half dozen or so moves, and while he had a pawn on the seventh, his rook was stuck in front of it, with David´s rook behind it. By this time David also had a pawn approaching the seventh and the luxury of an extra knight to support its advance, which had he used, would have won the game in a handful of moves.
  So once again, the result of the first round match has been repeated in the second round, and Manningtree C are champions of Division Three. Unless of course, Manningtree B pull off a miracle next week and score five points from their remaiong match against Woodbridge.

The weakened team that travelled to Bury St Edmunds for the initial round of the Suffolk Cup was more or less matched in grading performance by the home team and a tight encounter was expected. That is indeed how it turned out, with the distinct possibility at one stage in the evening that Manningtree A, former winners on two occasions, would make a sensational exit from the competition at the first hurdle. Phil and Carl, with the black pieces, both managed to lose a pawn early on for no compensation, but Leon and Bob, playing white, had useful initiatives. If they could be converted, Manningtree A would win the match on board count.
  Carl did indeed lose and Bob won, but Leon went astray in a tactical sequence that should have seen him net two pieces for a rook and he found himself instead in a position in which he had lost any advantage. Discouraged, he accepted a draw, as it became apparent that a simple ending was about to ensue. Phil in the last game to finish, however, rallied to save the day, salvaging a draw a pawn down in a rook ending as white faced mounting time pressure. Thus Manningtree A live to fight another day … but only just.

The semi-final encounter with Division 2 title contenders Sudbury ended in a drawn match in which the home team proceeds to the final by virtue of the elimination rule which subtracts the result on the bottom board in the event of a tie. It all seemed to be plain sailing towards a comfortable win for Manningtree A until board two went badly astray in time trouble, squandering a winning advantage. It is unusual for all the games to be won by the players with the black pieces, but this is exactly what happened in the Suffolk Cup match, although white began promisingly enough on every board.
 On board one, Andy´s opponent obtained an opening advantage from a c3 Sicilian, but spoiled a favourable position by pushing his central pawns too quickly. Andy missed a simple tactic to net a pawn, instead sacrificing a piece for three pawns. The latter, however, proved equally effective when the Sudbury player, missing a combination in a difficult position, soon surrendered material and shortly afterwards the game.
  On board two, Leon built up a dominating position, imprisoned his opponent´s fianchettoed bishop on h8 and won a pawn, but in seeking to avoid perpetual check, he back-pedalled instead of pressing home his attack and played a series of weak moves that allowed the hitherto incarcerated ecclesiastic back into the game with a vengeance.
 On board three, white obtained the customary spatial plus against the Caro-Kann Defence, but missed the chance to inflict serious damage on black´s pawn structure at move 18, after which Phil took control with a plan based on dark-square domination. Faced with the threat of a deadly knight sacrifice on g2, the Sudbury player, very short of time, walked into a mating attack.
 On board four, young Rowland´s debut for the Manningtree A team was a sobering one. He was unable to reproduce the spectacular form he had demonstrated throughout the season in Division 3 and, although his English Opening commenced smoothly enough, his more experienced opponent gradually wrested the initiative and went on to win material and ultimately the game.

Manningtree A travelled to the neutral venue of Bury St Edmunds for the Suffolk Cup final aware that on ratings alone they were marginally the underdogs, but with the knowledge that they had beaten Ipswich D twice in the league this season. It was by no means obvious which of these indicators offered the better guide to the evening´s outcome, but once the games got under way the first signs were that Manningtree had made a good start, material up on boards three and four, stable on board one and unbalanced on board two. As the evening wore on, the narrow advantage that Manningtree had appeared to secure early on persisted. Victory on board four, with the concession of a draw on board three being counterbalanced by a breakthrough on board one, meant that the match had been won before capitulation on board two.
 The first game to finish was John´s on board four, which saw the Ipswich player advancing his c-pawn to c5 in a QGD. White proceeded to line up his queen and all his minor pieces on black´s king´s position, leaving the defending side somewhat cramped. Whether it was from impatience or from the realisation that black´s defences were quite sound, he then decided to sacrifice a piece for two pawns. This might have worked better had he not exchanged queens and his remaining minor pieces in the hope of trapping black´s light-squared bishop behind the locked pawns on the queen´s side. As it turned out, John carefully monitored his opponent´s 5-2 pawn majority on the king´s side and was able to break through on the other wing to allow his d-pawn to reach home.
 Next to finish was board three. In a well-known line in the Caro-Kann from way back when, Phil´s opponent, as black, sprang an early gambit, inspired by some computer analysis, obtaining active chances and the advantage of the two bishops for the pawn, with opposite-side castling adding to the tension. White grabbed a second pawn, countering Black´s king-side attack with central play. Multiple exchanges led eventually to a double rook ending, where black regained his pawns with some advantage. Sensing difficulties, but seeing black well behind on the clock, Phil offered a draw and was pleasantly surprised and somewhat relieved by its rapid acceptance.
 On board one, against his opponent´s King´s Indian Defence, Andy closed the centre early on and set up a threatening, advanced pawn-chain on the king´s side. His opponent avoided weakening his king-side defences and counter-attacked on the queen´s side. This lead to multiple piece exchanges that completely neutralised Andy´s king-side initiative. Andy was offered a draw on move 28, but with the match outcome still uncertain, decided to play on. However, on move 33, he could find nothing better than to offer the exchange of queens. Surprisingly, his opponent avoided the exchange, and this proved the fatal mistake. Andy forced the exchange of black´s key defensive piece (his king´s bishop) and his queen strolled into black´s weakened king´s side. Black´s misplaced pieces could offer no defence, and his position rapidly collapsed. This result was the one that guaranteed the Cup would return to Manningtree.
 Meanwhile, on board two, Leon had chosen to play a risky line in the Sicilian Dragon. The sharp variation he decided upon was quite tenable, but in weighing up the tactical hazards of leaving his king in the centre, he started to play too slowly. The combination of risk and slow play in the opening proved to be a lethal cocktail as the sense of danger deserted our captain when he was obliged to speed up. The failure to castle on move 20 or 21, when he still had the chance, was Leon´s downfall as the position opened up and his king was caught in cross-fire.
 Despite the result in the final game, Manningtree A completed a hat-trick of wins over Ipswich D in the current season and, more significantly, ensured that for the fourth year in succession they had some silverware to show for all their efforts.

The long hot summer was becoming a distant memory as Manningtree set off for their first match of the new season in typical chess playing weather - wet, cold and dark!. Well not exactly cold, but certainly wet. This wasn´t a match we particularly wanted to win, but naturally enough, no one wanted to lose their board either. And it gave Manningtree B the opportunity for a pop at the big guns, but unfortunately it proved not to be a giant killing night for us again this year.
  Bob finished first, but he didn´t really get off the starting blocks. The trouble started at the beginning, and then things went downhill. Facing the certain loss of the exchange Bob had several options to try and limit the damage, none very appealing, but Bob chose the very worst of them. Mind you he didn´t lose the exchange, just his queen, following which he resigned immediately.
  John followed next, and in more ways than one. By move 23 he was definitely on the back foot, but still had a few options to make his opponent work for it. Unfortunately, a knight fork of king and queen that he had been aware of for several moves suddenly hit a blind spot, and his opponent´s immediate execution of it led to another immediate resignation. It was now confirmed, Manningtree B were in the Plate.
  Jim salvaged a little pride with one of his typically complicated games where he gave up the exchange for a couple of pawns. Also included was a temporary rook sacrifice, and Jim thought long and hard before deciding against making it permanent. And after recapturing the rook Jim was three pawns up, but with a slightly misplaced queen. His opponent could easily regain a pawn or two, and if Jim wasn´t careful, a lot more besides. But then again, if his opponent wasn´t careful he too could lose a lot as well. Jim offered a draw but his opponent played on only to repeat moves and settle for a draw anyway.
  Carl was now bringing up the rear, and by this time his position was hopeless. It didn´t start that way of course, but having given up a pawn in the opening, Carl never really got sufficient compensation, and a long struggle ensued and another couple of pawns were shed. The game eventually resulted in a rook and pawn ending, but his opponent was making heavy weather of it. We should qualify the phrase ´rook and pawn´ however, because Carl didn´t have any pawns while his opponent had three, and he wasn´t minded to share them. Anyway, Carl persevered in the hope of a stalemate, but it was not to be and we ended the night with a 3½-½ defeat.
  Not entirely unexpected, but we are not downhearted, one day we´ll surprise everyone and make it to the second round.

As Bury A have defaulted all of their away matches so far this season, it came as no great surprise when we received an email early on the day of the match to say that they couldn´t raise a team. And of course, this would have to happen on one of the few occasions when we had our full nominated squad available.
  It seems a bit odd that a club like Bury should have their A-Team default their way out of the Cup and Plate, and sit at the bottom of Division Two in the League. Shouldn´t your A-Team be your flagship team?

We had realistic hopes of winning The Plate back this year, or at least of reaching the final. But this is another one of those that simply got away after we had it well and truly hooked.
  We all got off to a reasonable start, although Bob lost a pawn in the opening for little compensation and had to plan his counter with care. He managed to fend off his opponent´s bishop pair and following sustained pressure on his opponent´s king´s position, he came away a queen to the good.
  Adrian´s Sicilian was met without the customary 3.d4, but he managed to build a commanding position and converted it without too much trouble.
  Meanwhile John had patiently turned a closed game into a comfortably won ending, when a catastrophic blunder undid all the hard work.
  Jim was last to finish, and we now needed at least a draw to avoid going out on board elimination. It was getting a bit tricky for by now Jim was the exchange down for a couple of pawns. It is quite likely that there was still a draw in there somewhere, but Jim was down to his last couple of minutes (plus increments) and his opponent was determined.
  That was in fact Jim´s first loss for the club this season, and while it sees us leave the competition against our expectations, it does mean we can now concentrate on the League.

Well, this wasn´t supposed to happen. Travelling with what is probably our strongest U145 squad, we went to Clacton expecting a comfortable win tonight, especially as we knew that all of the Clacton squad were under 130.
  It was not to be however, and things started to unravel when Bob´s Modern ended with his king in the centre, surrounded on all sides by enemy pieces, and facing more mating threats that could ultimately be fended off.
  Things got worse when, instead of pulling us level, Mark blundered in a completely won position, after he had negotiated a tricky middlegame to achieve total control and a three pawn advantage.
   John then pulled us one back after winning a pawn in the opening and nursing it through to a won queen and bishop ending, but we were clearly going to need a lot of luck to get any more from this match, as by now Carl´s position had deteriorated badly.
  Carl had sacrificed a pawn for the initiative early in the game, but not only did his opponent defend well, he also picked up another pawn as the first time control approached with Carl rushing to meet it (we had no choice but to use the guillotine time control as Clacton do not posses any digital clocks). Not long after that, Carl was three pawns down and eventually gave up a piece to reduce the deficit. But with the final guillotine fast approaching it was clear that even if Carl could survive on the board (highly unlikely), he wouldn´t on the clock, and so the anticipated comfortable win was achieved, but not by us.

Not a bad result, but certainly not good enough to put us in contention for this trophy this year. Alan was first to finish and had an excellent game in what he considered to be his best game so far. He held out against steady pressure, taking great care not to allow his opponent to take advantage of his passed central pawn in the major piece ending. John followed next, and once again a momentary lapse in care cost him a piece. His kingside attack was looking good, but it was at the cost of queenside development, and it was that that cost him the game when his attack stalled.
  Mark put in a solid performance, but the game lacked any real bite and looked heading for a draw long before it became one. Trailing by a point, it was left to Bob to bring up the rear. His was an interesting game with his opponent pushing first down the centre, and then against his king´s position. His opponent overreached himself however, and left a piece hanging, which Bob was happy to take. A few move later with his attack in ruins, his opponent allowed a knight fork of king and queen, and that was that.

This win puts us on top of the table, but unless there´s a fortuitous result in next week´s Woodbridge v Bury match, we won´t be there for long. And after that, well we will have to wait until April for our final match against Bury, by which time we´ll know if that mathematical possibility of winning this trophy is in any way realistic.
  John finished first tonight, on the black side of a rather quiet Italian Game, and after all the minor pieces came off, it was his opponent who had the better options while John had to repeat moves to prevent the loss of a crucial pawn. His opponent chose to repeat the threats rather than find any new ones, so the game was over relatively early.
  Mark finished next, and somehow managed to come back from the dead after his King´s Gambit was declined and a chaotic looking game ensued. He was the exchange and a pawn down, and appeared to be soon out, when he suddenly managed to thrust his queen deep behind enemy lines, and the tables were completely turned. His opponent then did that rather odd thing that some players occasionally do - he spent about fifteen minutes thinking when there was only one legal move available.
  Bob put us further ahead with another solid performance in a double fianchettoed Modern and at one point it looked as though he was going to get all a, b and c pawns connected and passed. His opponent managed to thwart that plan, and even though he broke them up, the damage was done and Bob´s single advancing pawn proved decisive.
  Carl brought up the rear and was beginning to regret not taking the more complicated line in his Sicilian and consequently spent most of the game a pawn down. He had invested a lot of time consider- ing his options, and consequently spent most of the game considerably behind on the clock as well (at one point he had less than a minute to his opponent´s 25, and would certainly have lost much earlier had we not been on incremental timing). He was not without compensation for the loss of his pawn, but as the ending approached, and the pieces thinned out, he was unable to save a second pawn and thus had a 3v2 pawn minority on both wings. No one could accuse him of giving up without a fight, the game went beyond the normal three hours, and it was about move seventy before he was forced to throw in the towel.

We entered this match needing 3½ points to retake the U145 Trophy - Bury St Edmunds just needed 1 point to do the same. It was clearly a tall order for us, especially as two of our team had to pull out just before the match, but thankfully Adrian and David were on hand to fill the gaps.
  Chess is very much a ´non contact´ sport but Adrian, with his safe English opening, and his opponent´s even safer responses, managed to raise the term ´non-contact´ to another level! The moment a minor piece ventured over halfway and was exchanged, a draw was immediately agreed.
  David handled the Scotch opening in his own defensive style by swapping off minor pieces before they could do any harm. The position got complicated with David advancing his queenside pawns while his opponent did the same on the other wing. David´s advance left him with a backward pawn on d6, which became a prime target and was soon lost. The complications continued, but after the queens came off his opponent´s pawn surplus proved decisive.
  John achieved a winning position from his Nimzo-Larsen attack, a pawn up with a 3-1 majority on the queenside, while his opponent had doubled f-pawns with his 4-3 majority on the kingside. But then he did his usual trick this season and let a won position drift, only to cap it off with a catastrophic blunder. Mind you, the game should have finished half a dozen moves earlier when John illegally moved a piece while in check, and the only way to get out of check with the touched piece would have been to give it up. But neither player appeared to realise that at the time, and the game continued with the king being moved. Such outrageous behaviour did not go unnoticed by the spectators.
  Bob brought up the rear and played his usual modern defence, but appeared to struggle to locate his king to a good square when the queens came off very early. He then blundered a pawn, and although his opponent managed to retain the bishop pair, he failed to open the position up quickly for his bishops and Bob managed to get a protected knight on e5. This knight was a monster and helped salvage the game. In the end it boiled down to a rook ending with his opponent having two connected wing pawns to Bob´s none, and Bob´s only compensation was that his opponent´s king was stuck on the opposite wing. When his opponent placed his rook behind the wrong pawn Bob was able to bring his own king in front of them and stall their advance.