Manningtree A started the season with a stutter. Its opening two home matches having been postponed, it began its campaign with an outing to Felixstowe in the hope of repeating last January´s win, if not by quite the same margin (3½-½). But the home team put up stiffer opposition this time. Honours were soon shared on the bottom two boards, with white coming out on top in both, but the contest on boards one and two went down to the wire with both Manningtree players playing on increment at the end. On each of these boards the player with the black pieces turned down a draw offer, but to no avail. That´s how it ended up, thus producing what in recent years has been a fairly rare occurrence for the A team - a tied result.
 On board one, Andy´s opponent equalized easily in a Nimzo-Indian, and obtained a comfortable game. Andy used up most of his time trying to make something of the position, and was rewarded with a small advantage after the queens were exchanged on move 31. However, an ill-timed pawn advance on move 36 detonated his position, and he was fortunate to confine his losses to a single pawn in a bishops v bishop & knight endgame. Black´s connected passed e- and d-pawns looked impressive, but Andy´s passed h-pawn and bishop-pair proved sufficient for the draw.
 On board two, Leon came out of a tactical skirmish in the opening with two knights for a rook. After prolonged, and what at times appeared aimless, manoeuvring, white´s isolated queen´s pawn fell and Leon seemed to be heading for a win in the endgame. A combination of time shortage and his opponent´s resourcefulness, however, left Leon with a critical decision to make on move 62 with three seconds left on his clock. Unable to calculate the ramifications of a position with both players having a pawn on the seventh about to queen, Leon made the decision to simplify for a draw, when all three results were possible.
 On board three, Phil played an anti-Sicilian with 3 Bb5+. Black opted for 3 … Nd7, which does not enjoy the best of reputations, and followed it up with a tempo losing early queen check. This allowed white to activate his pieces rapidly, whereas by move 12 the only black pieces off the back rank were his knights. Playing on the queenside, Phil mounted a double attack on black´s isolated b-pawn that fell to 15 Nxb5. In response, black sacrificed the exchange to get rid of the troublesome horseman, intending to regain it via a tactic that misfired badly, and soon resigned, his queen the only active piece against four marauding white ones.
 On board four, Jim was unable to reproduce the form that he had shown against Felixstowe in his last encounter earlier in the year and suffered a disappointing, early season defeat. Against a placid stonewall, he found himself a tempo down and in trying to gain some initiative allowed his kingside pawns to become untidy. His opponent defended well and countered the various white-square threats with a well-played attack. The key moment came when Jim had to return his bishop from its active role on b7 to a defensive role on c8 in order to stop white´s rook entering e6. It was all downhill after that.

The evening began and ended with the Bury team late. Traffic delayed their arrival and the time lost on the clock, despite Manningtree allowing a grace period of ten minutes, had a bearing on the finish of the final game. Between arrival and finish, an enthralling match saw white exerting pressure on all boards and black defending stoutly - with the exception of board four.
 Board two was the first to terminate. Although he had an advantage in space and the two bishops in an open game, Leon acceded to his opponent´s early offer of a draw, conscious of the potential shortage of time that seemed to hang in the air.
 The second result of the evening saw Manningtree go one up. Rowland, making his first-team league debut, continued his sparkling form in Division 2 for Manningtree C this season with a crushing victory in 28 moves. The attack he fashioned from an English Opening may not have been totally sound, but it demonstrated a flair for open play and piece placement that his higher-graded opponent was unable to deal with, eventually blundering away his queen.
 The issue now was if the two Manningtree players with the black pieces could weather the storm that was brewing. Phil, facing the Réti Opening, was left struggling to untangle his queenside logjam after two dubious early moves. White, meanwhile, eschewed the win of black´s over- extended c pawn in favour of furthering his development and central control. This, however, allowed Phil to get all his pieces into play, advance on the queenside and gain a monster passed pawn on c3, which might in the long run have been sufficient to decide an endgame in black´s favour, but sensing that he was starting to drift, he immediately accepted the Bury player´s thirtieth move draw offer.
 This result ensured at least a tied match for Manningtree and left all to play for on board one, where Andy achieved a dynamic equilibrium from the opening and, conscious of the team situation, offered a draw on move 23. His opponent, however, strove for the win and attempted a risky and aggressive advance on the king-side. With both players short of time, Andy came under great pressure after his opponent sacrificed a pawn for activity in a R+B v R+N endgame. Andy jettisoned his extra material for a counter-attack and appeared on the verge of victory, but after missing several wins he was forced to take a perpetual check. His opponent, however, still hoping for a win, let his clock run down and lost on time in a completely drawn position.
 Never let it be said that Manningtree home games are devoid of drama! The outcome of the evening´s activities meant that the team was nudged a few places up to a respectable mid-table spot at this early stage in the competition.

Manningtree A moved to the top of the table (albeit for just two days) with a convincing away win. The home team was heavily outgraded by twenty points or more on three of the boards and the visitors made that disparity count, while the more evenly contested game on board two was drawn.
 The first result was posted before play on any of the other boards had moved out of the opening phase. Phil is unlikely to have an easier task for the whole season than he did on this occasion. An ill-judged early pawn thrust by his opponent allowed a queen check on h5 and a move later her majesty was at f7 with threats in all directions to which black found no adequate response.
 Andy was second to finish. He gained an early advantage in a deeply theoretical King´s Indian Defence, trading his central advantage for a dangerous passed c-pawn. His opponent never looked equal to the challenges of defending such a position and, under considerable pressure, made one tactical error too many, suffering catastrophic material loss on move 32.
 Leon thought for 15 minutes before making his sixth move in a side line of the Open Sicilian, deciding between a solid and a sharp continuation. He chose the former option and the game proceeded in a slow and safe fashion in which neither side could claim a flicker of an advantage. As the time control approached, the players agreed eventually to cease hostilities, if such a word may be used for such a placid encounter.
 This left Jim to complete the drubbing. Facing the Austrian attack against the Pirc, he soon reached a favourable Benoni-type position. When white delayed castling too long, Jim was able to employ various tactical threats on the open e-file to net a couple of pawns. Black then proceeded to eliminate pieces and any counter play in order to reach a comfortably winning endgame as the onlookers savoured the cautious approach that had rejected a number of opportunities to finish the game more quickly!
 A note on the opposition: this was not the Ipswich C of old, with whom Manningtree A has enjoyed many a tussle in the last few seasons. The Ipswich teams have rebranded themselves this season and players who were formerly stalwarts of Ipswich C have migrated to Ipswich A, the team that Manningtree A faces next in the league.

Ipswich A, the old Ipswich C team in all but name, deservedly won the battle of the only two teams who had remained unbeaten in the league before the evening´s encounter. Manningtree A was missing its strong top board, but Ipswich A arrived without its nominated second-board player. So an evenly balanced match was in prospect with the visitors starting as slight favourites. The final result, however, reflected the grading disparity more starkly than might have been expected.
 The first game to finish was the contest on board four between two well-matched opponents. The English Opening led into an uneventful middle game that favoured neither side. A draw was always on the cards. Meanwhile on board two, Phil had a rush of blood to the head. Nine moves into a Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation, he saw the opportunity to sacrifice a knight for three pawns, stripping the black monarch of pawn cover. Unfortunately, it was a totally unsound idea, as black´s active pieces were able to chase the white queen around the board, allowing the Ipswich player to mount a series of threats that hindered white´s attempts to develop and he finished in fine style with a flurry of tactics that ended with an unstoppable mate.
 The opening on board three transposed into a variation of the Pirc Defence in which white often castles queen´s side to launch a quick attack. On this occasion, however, white castled on the king´s side and took complete control of the d-file after black missed a well-known queen exchange tactic. To achieve some counter play Jim gave up a pawn that resulted in a highly tactical endgame in which he missed a neat trick towards the end to complicate the position with chances to save the game. Instead, his experienced opponent navigated his way safely and surely to victory in the game and the match.
 On board one, the Ipswich player gave up a pawn in the opening, but never gained full compensation for it. After queens were exchanged, the game took on a closed nature in which black nursed his extra pawn, but found no opportunity to benefit from the material surplus. With the match result decided and both players short of time, a draw was agreed somewhat prematurely, for there was still plenty of play left in the position.

Manningtree A bounced back from their loss last week to record a victory by the same margin as their previous defeat to move up to second place in Division One (albeit for just one day). The first game to finish by some distance was on board four, where young Rowland followed up his successful debut for the team with another resounding win. He was a piece up in next to no time and gained the full point before the players in the other games had fairly got into their stride.
 Phil brought us closer to a match win with a carefully harvested half-point. As he commented, gaining any advantage against the Berlin Defence to the Ruy Lopez is difficult enough anyway, even more so against an opponent who demonstrated a superior theoretical and practical understanding of this well-respected line. As it turned out, black achieved a swift and easy equality when white was obliged to allow multiple exchanges to avoid playing at a disadvantage. By move 25 a double rook ending with symmetrical pawns was reached and a draw was the logical outcome.
 Leon was next to finish. Continuing his caretaker role on top board in the absence of Andy, he was content to draw with the black pieces for the second game in succession against a higher-graded opponent. For a while it looked as if more could have been achieved as black broke in the centre against an uncastled king, but white marshalled his defences and the position was equal when peace was declared.
 This left Jim with the responsibility of securing the match for us. Not for the first time, he rolled out a Pirc type set-up against a d4 opening and soon gained enduring pressure along the h8-a1 diagonal but without an obvious way to make a break through on the queen side. To compensate white started to play actively on the other flank and obtained some pressure against the black king in the course of which he went fatally astray by allowing the f-file to open up and exposed himself to either mate or huge material loss. Job done!

It has to be a good result to beat the league leaders and the highest-graded team in Division One (when it is at full strength), but at the same time it should be recognised that Bury St Edmunds C fielded an understrength team and defaulted on board one. Nevertheless, on the remaining three boards players of approximately equal grades were pitted against each other, so the margin of the win was still a satisfying achievement. The result was not seriously in doubt when Jim won a miniature on board four and Manningtree A had a small plus in the other two games. In fact, Leon offered a draw soon afterwards to ensure match victory, while Phil had to toil for at least another hour in a marathon game to achieve his draw.
  Jim was the first to finish. His King´s Indian Attack worked like a well-oiled machine and the game ended abruptly when his opponent missed a simple queen retreat, one of those so-called quiet moves, on move 22 in the course of a king-side attack and black was lost. Post-match analysis indicated that black should have sacrificed the exchange on move 20, when his two powerful bishops would have compensated for the loss of the exchange.
  Leon faced an unorthodox riposte to his usual English Opening and soon assumed the initiative, which he maintained throughout the game. The gradual draining away of time on his clock and the knowledge that half a point secured a win in the match for Manningtree, however, outweighed any temptation to continue and his offer of a draw was immediately accepted.
  It looked at this stage that the evening would be short and everyone could go home, as Phil´s game appeared deadlocked, but his determined opponent had other ideas and prolonged the game to over 80 moves. As black, Phil achieved swift equality plus by move 13, when queens were exchanged, leaving white with an isolani d-pawn and a potentially bad bishop against black´s impregnable knight on d5. Phil missed a clear win on move 22, but reached a position in which he had two pieces for the cost of the exchange and two pawns. White, with united queen-side passed pawns, probed Black´s defences with his active rook for many moves but achieved nothing, with black seemingly happy to repeat the position until white squandered a pawn searching for active play. Phil, then, seized the initiative but scorned the win of a second pawn that would have given him good winning chances. The draw, when it came, saw Manningtree move again to the top of the leader board, if only for one day, before Ipswich A defeated Bury St Edmunds B the following evening.

In the last match before the Christmas break all the games were won by the higher-graded player, which was bad news for Manningtree A´s board two, but overall it meant that the away team took the match and second place in the league, a position it will occupy at the end of the calendar year (unless Bury St Edmunds C wins its outstanding fixture four-nil).
  Manningtree went two-up quite quickly with wins on boards three and four, where the grading disparity was substantial. Jim´s opponent seemed determined to exchange pieces at every opportunity. The eagerness to do so led to inferior choices of exchanges and it soon resulted in pawn losses, which left Jim up three pawns in a queen and rook endgame. With no hope of saving the game the Ipswich player resigned on move 25.
  Phil added a second point to the Manningtree score in a game that witnessed a contest in the Exchange Variation of the Caro-Kann for the third time between these two players. Phil struck first with a pseudo-sacrifice on h7 that could not be accepted, but then dithered and allowed black to defend his kingside. It seemed a long struggle might be in prospect, but the game finished abruptly when black overlooked a one-move, back-rank checkmate by the white queen.
  Leon also found himself in the same variation as he had had against his opponent on two earlier occasions, but in the Sicilian Defence. In the past encounters, he had fared well with black, but this time he lost patience in a cramped position and reacted extravagantly with an exchange sacrifice that had little chance of success.
  On top board, Andy´s opponent´s choice of an unusual flavour of Indian Defence was met by an early pawn sacrifice for a central initiative. Andy´s strong passed d-pawn cut his opponent´s position into two and black never looked close to rallying his uncoordinated forces. After the d-pawn advanced to d6, Andy´s advantage soon became overwhelming.
  So, as the half-way stage in Division 1 approaches, Manningtree A finds itself well-placed, one-and-a-half points behind the leaders, Ipswich A, who have won all their matches so far. It is this team, as it happens, that Manningtree A will face first in the New Year.

Manningtree A started the New Year with a difficult match against the league leaders and came away with an honourable draw that kept it in second position in Division One. The result was all the more commendable in that Ipswich A, who had previously won every match in which it had played, had to fight hard to secure the draw after going 2-1 down.
  The game on board three was first to finish. Leon, who found himself battling not only a doughty opponent but also a heavy cold, offered a draw on move 20 in the same line of the English Opening that the same two players had debated the previous season (and drawn). The offer was accepted instantly.
  This result was followed by another uneventful draw. Board two was an affair of multiple exchanges. By move 15 all four bishops had been exchanged and by move 28 the four rooks, the two queens and two knights had followed suit. This left only a pair of knights to play with in a game that had a symmetrical pawn structure and no entry points. Phil had no hesitation in accepting the draw offer from his higher graded opponent.
  On board one, Andy played it safe and solid with the Exchange Variation against the Slav Defence. His opponent never quite equalized, and he made matters rather easy for Andy when a "temporary" piece sacrifice on move 20 turned out to be a permanent material loss.
  It seemed at this juncture that Manningtree might be heading for victory, for the material on board four was equal in an ending in which white´s knight was pitted against black´s bishop. Jim´s opponent, the doyen of Ipswich chess, who is noted for his endgame technique, had other ideas. Alternating threats on the king´s side and queen´s side, with his king better placed, he slowly and surely created weaknesses on both wings until the position became untenable. The game concluded with a fine sacrifice of white´s remaining minor piece.

Felixstowe A has proved to be our bogey team this season. All three encounters between Manningtree A and Felixstowe A have seen the opposition stage a late turnaround when on the brink of defeat, first in the away match in the league, then in the first round of the Divisional Rapidplay competition, and now in the home match that puts a check to our championship ambitions. For the earlier setbacks, see the reports on those matches elsewhere on the website.
  As for the latest meeting, Rowland got us off to a steady start with a well-played draw that went all the way down to an equal ending. Andy was second to finish. He offered an unusual, but playable, version of the Benko gambit, and obtained the queen-side counterplay characteristic of this opening. A mistake on move 17 from his opponent gave Andy the opportunity for a precise tactical sequence, which would have resulted in the net win of a piece for a pawn. Andy spent 20 of his remaining 36 minutes looking at this possibility, but couldn´t see the tactics to their conclusion. The game ended on move 28, when Andy, down to 5 minutes, offered a draw which his opponent, who now had a slight advantage and significantly more time, cautiously accepted.
  The game on board two was next to finish. Somewhat surprised by his opponent´s response of 1 … b6 to his English Opening, Leon obtained no advantage from the line he chose to play and the game plodded along on an even footing until a queen and knight ending was reached. When his opponent offered him a draw on move 34, Leon looked over to the remaining game and seeing Phil pressing for a win with his opponent short on time, he accepted.
  At this point of the evening, it looked likely that Manningtree A was heading for a narrow win, but a rush of blood to the head saw Phil sacrificing a rook unsoundly with his opponent under extreme time pressure, when an advance of his passed h-pawn would have caused all manner of problems. Thus, in the proverbial phrase, the expectant onlookers saw defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.

A drawn match was not the result that Manningtree was hoping for, given a healthy grading edge on three of the four boards, but all credit to the visiting team in securing two fairly quick draws in the games in which its players had the black pieces and then managing to share the spoils in the other two games that lasted quite a bit longer. Not for the first time in recent years, the outcome of the match remained in doubt until the final seconds of an exciting time scramble on board one.
  There is not too much to say about the two games in which the home team had the first move. Leon played a lacklustre line in a variation of the English Opening that he had used to beat the same opponent six years earlier, but the Ipswich player responded on this occasion more directly by exchanging off pieces to reach a simplified position. When he offered a draw, Leon saw no point in continuing the game. Meanwhile Jim had essayed the King´s Indian Attack to no avail, even to the point of losing the exchange, but the compensation he had in active play was sufficient to save the game.
  With the score at one-all, disaster struck on board three. Phil, who seemed to be holding his own in a well-balanced middle game, decided to move his queen into the middle of the board to attack a vulnerable pawn only to find that white´s riposte had trapped his most powerful piece forthwith. He extricated his queen at the cost of a piece, but the eventual result was never in doubt.
  The same could not be said of the contest on the top board. Andy´s game commenced as a carbon copy of his previous meeting with the same opponent last year, when he responded to an early Bf4 with a rapid ... Qb6, eyeing the loose b-pawn. As in the previous game, Andy snatched the "poisoned-pawn" and his opponent replied with a king-side attack, throwing in further material in his quest for the initiative. This time, though, Andy declined further material gains, even offering a temporary pawn-sacrifice to force exchanges. The dust finally cleared on move 32, with Andy evidently on top with an extra pawn in a three-piece endgame, but with only three minutes left on the clock. His technique, however, proved sufficient and he claimed victory twenty moves later to the relief of the home supporters.

Manningtree A secured a comfortable win against Ipswich D, repeating the match score of the away fixture, to retain second place in Division 1. The result could have been even better for the home team since it was only determined defence by the visiting players on the middle boards that saved the two draws. Nevertheless, Manningtree A move to within half a point of the leaders, Ipswich A, who have a game in hand.
  Rowland maintained his excellent record for the first team as he got Manningtree off to the best possible start. Attacking from the word go, Rowland pressed on the h-file and when the defence held on that flank he switched his attention to the central d-file, when an injudicious check from the black queen saw his opponent´s defences crumble.
  The next game to finish was on board three, where Phil recovered from a poor move selection in the Advance Variation of the Caro-Kann to obtain serious winning chances in the middle game. His opponent, seemingly unaware of the opportunity afforded to him in the opening, allowed black first of all to achieve equality and then to infiltrate along the c-file. The Ipswich player, however, dug in and engineered an opposite-coloured bishop endgame in which neither side could make progress.
  Leon benefited from his opponent´s early decision to exchange his fianchettoed king´s bishop for the white knight on c3 in a symmetrical English Opening. From that point on, black had a difficult game, which Leon exploited to win a pawn and transpose into a favourable ending, but with time running short he allowed the Ipswich player to set up an effective blockade and bring the game to a peaceful conclusion.
  Andy´s opponent started off in aggressive style with the Cutty Sark attack, perhaps unaware that his treatment of this opening is known as "The Toilet". If so, after only 11 moves, with white struggling to contain his disadvantage to manageable proportions, it became apparent that chess openings often acquire the name and theoretical reputation that they do for a reason. To be fair, the Ipswich player made the most of his meagre resources and right at the end of the evening seemed on the verge of a remarkable draw. Andy was a whole piece up but a draw by perpetual check from the two white rooks on the seventh rank seemed an almost certain outcome. With less than a minute left on the clock, however, Andy´s rooks and extra bishop suddenly sprang to life and coordinated perfectly for a four-move forced checkmate combination. Now wash your hands.

Manningtree A goes top! The encounter with the reigning champions saw both teams playing with under-strength teams, which still saw the home side at a slight grading plus on three of the four boards. To draw the match under such circumstances was a satisfactory result.
  Leon, deputising on board one, took a fairly early draw. His opponent, seeking to capitalise on white´s inaccurate move order, missed the best continuation in the opening and found himself on the back foot for the rest of the game, but the speed of his play soon put him half an hour ahead on the clock. On move 27, Leon weighed up the benefit of a better position on the board against the disadvantage of a worse position on the clock and proposed a draw, which his opponent was pleased to accept.
  On board two, Phil´s run of disappointing results in 2020 continued in a game in which he overlooked a check that cost a knight and the game, when he was well on the way to reaching a drawish minor piece ending after his opponent had earlier surrendered the bishop pair to shatter black´s kingside pawns for a risky looking attack at the expense of development and the gain of a pawn.
  John´s opponent also netted an extra pawn after having essayed an unfamiliar line in a QP opening, but black´s counterplay in the middle game against a splintered pawn structure always looked sufficient for at least a draw. This was indeed the result when white, after much thought, acceded to a threefold repetition of moves.
  This left Bob the opportunity to become Manningtree´s saviour, a role he performed with brio! From a position in which he had cramped black´s pieces, Bob launched a neat pseudo-sacrifice of a bishop, which prompted his opponent to go in for a tactical sequence that extended over several moves. Bob, however, had everything under control and when he pinned black´s knight to his queen the spectators knew what the final outcome would be long before the resignation that eventually followed.
  So Manningtree moved back to the head of Division 1, albeit that Ipswich A have two games in hand.

Manningtree B were disappointed to start their first league game of the season having to default on board four after one of our number was unwell, but Felixstowe C were also unable to field a board four player, so we didn´t start the match one down. The match therefore kicked off with both teams a player short with just three boards competing.
 First to finish was board three where Adrian was playing the English against Victor Brazkiewicz. This game was looking like a draw early on and did indeed result with points shared.
 Next to finish was board two, where Henry May was playing well against David. But as the game went on, David slowly pushed forward attacking down the left side and after move 25 with checkmate only moves away, Henry resigned.
 All eyes were now on board one where Manningtree´s very own John McAllister (playing for Felixstowe) was up against the ever improving Simon Webber. Wanting to chase away Simon´s dark squared bishop, John failed to spot the blunder until just after he played it. Faced with the choice of losing two central pawns, or the exchange with active pieces, John chose the latter. Simon surrendered a pawn back, and facing an active bishop and a passed pawn, he was offered a draw. After thinking for a minute or two, he accepted.
 This gave Manningtree a win on the night, and even more important, a wining start to the new season, placing them on top of the table.

Ipswich E might have been without their nominated top board (which made it a more evenly balanced line up) but nothing can take away the impressive performance of our B Team tonight.
 Alan finished first. Not surprisingly after having reached a rook and pawn ending in less than an hour. It was a game with chances for both players, and Alan did well in the end to hold out for the draw.
 It was some time later before Adrian put us ahead, but after winning a piece he still had to work at it, finishing with a nice attack on his opponent´s queen that also contained the threat of an indefensible discovered check.
 Simon put us further ahead after taking control of his game and entering the rook and pawn ending three pawns to the good. The snag was that one of them was an isolated g-pawn and the other two were doubled e-pawns. His opponent put up stubborn resistance but with patience, and carefully avoiding a stalemate trap, Simon was eventually able to advance the forward e-pawn to the point where mate could not be avoided.
 All eyes were now on John as both players were reaching the final stages of a Queen´s gambit declined. By this time John was a pawn up, but with queen and rook still on the board it was not a forgone conclusion. But after the queens came off John´s task was made a lot easier, although his opponent was not going to give up, even after surrendering his rook he played on until he had just a king against John´s rook and three pawns.
 With this sort of form, who knows, Manningtree B could be realistic contenders for the title of this division. But probably best to wait until Christmas for those sort of comments.

On paper we should have been soundly beaten tonight - without our captain and being outgraded on every board (average; 17 points). But the team demonstrated why they are "struggling" at the top of Division Three by digging their heels in and giving the impression that they might actually win this match.
 First to finish was Alan, having reach the endgame while the rest of the team were still pondering their middlegame options. Despite the speed, he had hardly put a foot wrong in a well fought game with missed chances on both sides. Alan had even managed to win the exchange, but there was sufficient compensation for Alan to agree to the draw.
 Adrian kept the score level, after a typically tactical game. It followed a familiar pattern - Adrian´s opponent applying the pressure, and Adrian resisting it without getting in much pressure of his own. Adrian was happy to get the draw having got away with a fortunate win when Mark blundered in their previous encounter.
 Simon´s game started with a King´s Indian/Pirc type opening. His opponent had some early pressure with pins on his f and e pawns, but after he managed to get in e5, his opponent thought for about 15 minutes before playing d5 and closing the position. This gave Simon more initiative and he began a fairly typical King´s Indian kingside expansion. After his opponent exchanged the dark square bishops Simon lost a piece to a pawn fork, but it cost his opponent his kingside pawn structure, opening up his position nicely. Simon had great compensation on the open file with his rooks both much more active than his opponent´s. Sadly he then missed the tactics required to take advantage, and after allowing the exchange of queens, the opportunity was gone. However he was still in with a fighting chance, having two pawns for the piece, when he then inexplicably blundered a rook, trying to force a mate that wasn´t there.
 This left John to bring up the rear, and even though it had been a hard game, John was comfortably ahead on the clock. He was also comfortably ahead positionally, and barring any blunders, we were confident of stretching our run of unbeaten league games to 14. And John did not disappoint, slowly surrounding his opponent´s king and gradually squashing the life out of the poor monarch´s defending pieces. When it became apparent that he could hold out no more, his opponent resigned, and we all went home quite satisfied with the result, which keeps us 1½ points clear at the top of the table.

With tonight´s victory, Manningtree B maintain their position at the top of Division Three, and extend their unbeaten run of league matches to fifteen.
 John was first to finish and put us one point up after just half an hour. Mind you, Alan wasn´t far behind, after just fifteen minutes of play, with Simon and David still contemplating their fifth or sixth move, Alan´s game had already reached move fifteen. This no doubt contributed to Alan missing the blunder that lost him a whole rook. After that he dug his heels in and attempted to lock the pawns and close down the game, but the deficit was too great and the end result was never really in doubt.
 David put us back in front, taking control of his queen´s pawn opening and thus ensuring that Manningtree B´s unbeaten run continued. Meanwhile things were looking pretty bleak for Simon, and it looked as though we were heading for a drawn match. Having lost the exchange and a pawn in the opening phase, Simon was on the back foot for most of the game. However, he was not going down without a fight, and as the ending approached he had somehow managed to advance his a and b pawns with the support of a rook, and the game had turned 180 degrees. Even with the help of his king and rook, his opponent was unable to stop the advance, and when queening one was inevitable his opponent resigned.
 This was a very good result for Manningtree B, especially as Saxmundham B are, on paper, the strongest team in the division. Mind you they haven´t yet fielded their full nominated team, and this is their third default so far this season, which no doubt explains why they are not higher up the table.

Oh well, all runs must come to an end at some point, so after fifteen unbeaten league matches, Manningtree B suffer their first league defeat since April 2018. The irony is that Bury E and Manningtree B are at opposite ends of the table, and Bury E are (on paper) one of the weakest teams Manningtree B have faced in all that time. And as if that wasn´t enough, Manningtree B were at full strength tonight. On the bright side, Manningtree B are still at the top of Division Three, so we´ll leave it at that.

Manningtree entered the game against Felixstowe C optimistic they could get a result and head back to the top of the table.
 First to complete their game and notch the first win of the night for Manningtree B was Alan on board 4.Although his opponent was a piece up, Alan’s positional play was very strong and after a Queen and Knight attack the game was won.
 The second win of the night for Manningtree came on board 3 with yet another win for John Price against Victor Brazkiewicz. Victor playing white opened with a Queen´s Gambit which John promptly accepted. Victor played aggressive attacking chess, lining up the queen and white bishop with support from the knights to attack black´s king and also queen and rook to attack the back pawns in the centre. John had to counter using pawns to push the white pieces back and out of place. Unfortunately for Victor, he gave less attention to defence and didn´t see a mating attack with the queen backed by a bishop swooping on h1 and a rook capturing the pawn on h2 with the result that the unfortunate white king was mated on f2 in just 22 moves.
 However with 2 wins behind us, board 1 and 2 could so easily have gone the Felixstowe way. David playing on board 2 against Edgar Nightingale missed the pin on move 15 losing his Queen to a Knight and Bishop. He had to defend solidly and slowly took control of the game and knowing a draw would confirm victory he offered this on move 37 and with his opponent running out of time the draw was accepted.
 Simon on board 1 was playing Manningtree’s very own John McAllister. After castling Queenside John created good middle game pressure on Simon’s King, forcing a mistake that lost the exchange and a pawn. Abandoning a futile defence Simon attacked on the Queenside, and though he should really have been too slow with the attack, was allowed back into the game when White overlooked a combination of knight forks (involving 6 straight moves by the same knight). Down the exchange but with passed pawns on the g and h files, Simon now managed to hold on for a draw.
 So the night concluded with a 3-1 win to Manningtree B and top place being restored.

Manningtree B’s visit to Ipswich against Ipswich E ended with a 4-0 defeat for Manningtree, our worst ever defeat in this division.
  First to go down was Alan on board 4 against Roger Smith, and although Alan was in a good position he unfortunately gave away his Queen for a Knight, which contributed to his opponent going on to win the game.
  Second to loose was David on board 2 against Ken Lunn. Unfortunately David was far too slow developing in the opening, which resulted in him having to defend for the whole game, which ended with a comfortable win for Ken.
  Simon on Board 1 against Angus Irving was competing well until late in the game when he lost the exchange to go a rook down and with piece power his opponent was able to secure the win.
  Although 3-0 down all wasn’t lost as on board 4, where John Price playing Phil Mortonson, was looking very good for a win, or at the very least a draw. However, John didn’t keep his eye on the clock and even with Fischer time controls he ran out of time resulting in the final loss of the night.
  All hope is not lost however, for thanks to Felixstowe, Saxmundham also lost tonight, and with Woodbridge only one point ahead, and with a game in hand over Ipswich E, we could return to the top with a good win over bottom of the table Ipswich F in two weeks.

Manningtree B travelled to Woodbridge knowing they would be out-graded on every board and were in for a tough night.
  Unfortunately Alan playing Daniel Such on board 4 lost his rook to a bishop early with a pin and later misjudged tactically resulting in the only loss of the evening.
  Next to finish on board 2 was Adrian playing black against Mark Weidman where he had to struggle out of difficult pressure to arrive at an even position and when offering the draw Mark accepted.
  On board 3 John, playing Alan Lewis, was offered a draw by his opponent late in the game and with John´s clock low on time and with his opponent having the luxury of ample time left, the draw was accepted.
  The last game to finish of the night was board 1 where David had to step in for the missing Simon Webber and certainly made a good account of himself not only attacking his opponent Sam Gaffney, but defending solidly until, with both players having under 5 mins left on the clock, the draw was agreed.
  So although the end result was a loss of 2½ - 1½ Manningtree B were happy to come away with some points from the boards.

This result has just about put the lid on our title challenge this season - our third consecutive defeat, and our fourth defeat in five matches. All we can do now is carry on regardless and do our best to get a respectable points haul come the end of the season and finish in the top half of the table.
  Adrian was first to finish on board 3. His English opening and queenside attack were neutralised, leaving his queen a tempo away from being able to defend a surprisingly strong attack down the kingside. Next up was David on board 2, who played well and managed to exit the middle game a rook and pawn up after some good attacking moves. Unfortunately a loss of concentration in the endgame gave all the material back and he couldn’t hold off the enemy pawns.
  On board 1, Simon faced a Dutch defence and a pretty even game throughout. After going down the exchange for an extra pawn he had good piece activity and a number of mating threats that neutralised the material disadvantage and a draw was agreed with his opponent´s time beginning to run low. Finally, John on board 4 secured a half point with both players ending with three locked pawns and a bishop, and no way through to the other side.

With two key players out of the country, and an U125 match also taking place tonight, we headed out to Saxmundham disappointed that we were carrying a default, but knowing that it probably wouldn´t make much difference to the end result. After all, last year this would have been a Division One v Division Three clash.
 We got off to a prompt start several minutes before 7.30, and both Bob and John opened with the Nimzo-Larsen, and by move ten, both had identical positions except for one of the knights. Their opponents however had chosen different strategies, although both resulted in an isolated passed pawn deep in our players´ positions.
 John finished first, entering a combo a move after analysing it, forgetting that he had just moved a piece involved in that combo. It took him several seconds to realise that he had lost a piece, and several more seconds to realise why. Surprised and annoyed in equal measure, he played on for a few more moves looking for a swindle, but his opponent was having none of it.
 Bob finished next and we were 3-0 down. He had come out of the opening with the initiative in his opponent´s hand, but he was still very much in the game. After a long struggle for control of the central files his opponent had managed to establish a pawn on e3, and while it was isolated, it was proving to be a real thorn in the side. Bob dismissed the move that would have given him a fighting chance, having overlooked his opponent´s deadly threat - swinging his queen from the centre to the wing. After executing that threat Bob was left with no choice but to resign.
 It was now left to Rowland to save us from a whitewash. He had to soak up a lot of pressure throughout the game from an opponent who took his time, and unusually these days, used descriptive notation on his score sheet. Rowland´s performance was outstanding, showing the maturityof players twice his age. And while his opponent´s position was always slightly ahead, his clock was not. As a major piece ending ensued, the initiative was beginning to change ends, and short of time his opponent offered a draw. Sensing he was beginning to crack, Rowland turned it down, and after a few more moves, his opponent joined that exclusive club of players who have lost on time with incremental time controls.

It´s been some time since our second team managed a score like this against a side that outgraded us to this extent. But after several matches where Manningtree only managed a three-man team, we had our full compliment of nominated players this evening, and they put in a star performance.
 Rowland finished first, having had the luxury of playing most of his game a piece up after he´d trapped one of his opponent´s knights in the opening. Even so, Rowland once again showed his potential, for Steve Lovell is a very resourceful opponent.
 John took a little longer to finish his game, facing a Scotch that looked somewhat uncomfortable for the most part, but just when the game was turning slightly in his favour his opponent made a catastrophic blunder, overlooking a discovered attack on his queen, and resignation immediately followed.
 Bob had put up his usual solid defence that eventually boiled down to a rook and pawn ending in which his opponent was shedding pawns in the hope of getting his a-pawn home. At one point Bob was three pawns up, and although they could not be held they were enough to hold the balance of power. Bob was still one (backward) pawn up when the draw was agreed, which gave us a 2½-½ lead.
 Carl´s game was going the distance, with both players down to their last minute or two. Once again it was a Trompowsky, which resulted in a slow but continuous build up of pressure on his opponent´s position. As the minutes ticked by, his opponent had too many things to defend and inevitably one of them cracked. While Carl was building a mating net his opponent attempted his only possible resource - a perpetual check. The score sheet tells you which succeeded.
 Three and a half points against Bury D we were not expecting, but this puts us just over the 50% mark and bodes very well for our survival in this division.

We arrived at Sudbury´s Quay Theatre tonight at about the same time as half of the rest of the town, or at least that´s how it seemed. And it was just as well we had 15 minutes or so to spare or we could have had real trouble finding somewhere to park. It would appear that whatever performance was taking place, it required all of the tables from the playing room, for as we entered the room we were greeted by just a stack of chairs and a box of chess equipment. Tables duly arrived, although three of them were barely large enough to hold the board, let alone the clocks. Score sheets could only be fitted on one side, so if you had the white pieces and were right-handed, tough.
 The only full sized table was reserved for board one, and that must have helped Bob´s concentration as he put in another excellent performance - solid and full of potential. With both players having passed and protected d-pawns it was difficult to say who stood better, and as the middle game progressed into the endgame, the balance was finely poised. Eventually it was Bob´s opponent who offered the draw, and Bob was happy to agree.
 John experienced a little déjà vu as the first four moves of another Scotch followed those of his previous league match. This time however there were none of the hairy complications, and after and early exchange of queens John was sitting on a very comfortable position and was threatening to win a pawn. Or so he thought. The pawn grab cost a piece, although he did get another two pawns in compensation. After that however, one poor move followed another, of which the least said the better.
 Carl´s Trompowsky led to a lively game with Carl eventually having to defend against several threats as his opponent laid siege to his king´s side fortifications. It seemed he was always in with a chance but when the exchange was lost it was clear the fight was over.
 With only half a point to our name we were now relying on Adrian to make the score a little more respectable. Both players were playing it very cautiously tonight, after nearly two hours of play not so much as a single pawn had come off the board. But the tide seemed to be turning against Adrian as he came under a lot of pressure, not helped by the fact that his opponent had planted a dangerous pawn on h6. With the queen´s side pawns more or less locked, Adrian carefully marshalled his forces around his king, and slowly but surely dissipated the attacking pieces.
 We were not disappointed with just one point against Sudbury, it keeps us very close to 50% and with Saxmundham and Woodbridge drawing tonight, it keeps us just above mid-table.

On paper Woodbridge A are the second strongest team in this division, but without their top board the balance is a lot less tilted. We were still outgraded on every board, but with both Bob and Rowland showing good form against strong opposition in this division, we had every reason to hope for a good result tonight. Alas, it was not to be and we suffered our third 3-1 defeat of the season.
 Although he was the most heavily outgraded tonight, Bob had managed to hold his own in his two previous encounters against similar opposition, but despite 41 years between his first and second game against Peter Gemmell, the result of this second game was the same as the first, a loss! A small, but significant strategic error in the opening (manoeuvring a knight) meant White´s pieces were not opti- mally placed when Black launched a kingside attack. When White´s queen was surrendered for a rook and knight, the end was not far away. A post-game review showed how different the game might have been - but not necessarily the result, if White had not embarked on the unnecessary manoeuvring.
 Having seen off some very strong opposition so far this season, Rowland slipped up tonight with only his second loss for the club in the whole of the past two seasons. A great pity, both for the team, and especially for Rowland, but you can´t win them all, as some of us know only too well.
 Carl once again exercised his Tromposky, but after a slow start his opponent defended very accurately against Carl´s kingside attack, counter-attacking in the centre and mobilising his pieces with two strong pawns and the two bishops. Carl always seemed to be one tempo away from an attack and got well behind on the clock. He finally gave up a bishop and knight for rook and pawn on h7. A further sacrifice of a knight for his two central pawns allowed perpetual check or a gain of material but as he was down to his last few minutes he offered a draw. A quick post mortem suggested he would have had an edge in the endgame but without the time to exploit it.
 As black, Adrian took the cautious approach and spurned some riskier lines in a Sicilian (sort of), while his opponent opted for a broad pawn advance. With all four d-g pawns on the fourth rank he tried f5 and a little later d5, to which Adrian responded with e5, locking the pawns. There were still possibilities for both players, but neither wanted to stick their neck out as is wasn´t easy to see who would come off better.
 While we were a little disappointed with the result, we are still 2½ points clear of the relegation spot, with a game in hand. And our next match is against the very team occupying that spot, so a good win there should see us comfortably safe.

The spread of the teams in this division meant that even if we had won this match 4-0, it would not have changed our position in the table. While it looked from the start as though the bottom spot was always going to be occupied by us or Felixstowe, it now looks as though Felixstowe are firm favourites for that position.
  We had advanced notice that Felixstowe´s top board had been take ill, and were offered the option of postponement, but knowing the limited options after our last postponement, it was decided to go ahead with the fixture as planned, which meant Bob put us one-nil up without pushing a single pawn. Interestingly, this left us with white on two of the three remaining boards, but our only win came from the player with the black pieces.
  And that was Carl, who put us two up after his queenside pawn advance left him with a 2-1 minority on the queen´s side, but a lot of pressure in the centre and his opponent´s pair of knights looking somewhat errant. At this point Carl was offered a draw, but declined, following which, in an attempt to bring his knights into the game, his opponent blundered an important central pawn. He followed this up blundering one of his knights, following which the full point was safely in Carl´s hand.
  Adrian´s game was another pretty solid English, with both players risking little to upset the balance. After both players carefully negotiated all phases of the game, a draw was eventually agreed.
  John was last to finish, and while his Nimzo-Larsen was met with an almost mirror image, there were still a number of traps for his opponent to fall into. None proved subtle enough however, and his opponent steered his way through the game with more or less equality. In the ending John´s pawn structure was easily the more superior, but his opponent´s active queen and knight levelled things up, and a draw was agreed.
  This result puts us 4½ points clear of Felixstowe with a game in hand. Without being complacent, this should mean our yo-yo cycle ends this season.

Without their top board all season, Stowmarket are not the force they would otherwise be, and it could be argued that we should have done better tonight. But in reality it could have been a lot worse, and we were quite happy to come away with 1½ points, which raises us two places off the relegation spot (albeit temporarily) and within a whisker of the middle of the field.
  Adrian´s game didn´t last very long, hence he was the first to finish. After an early f4 to Adrian´s Sicilian, the build up of tension with the central pawns didn´t last long either. When Adrian offered the draw things were pretty much level, although he was looking somewhat more exposed than his opponent. Adrian´s passed, but isolated d-pawn might have had some potential, but his opponent must be kicking herself for missing the opportunity of winning it one move earlier. That was a bit of luck for the team, and for Adrian, who maintains his 100% draw record for the team.
  Bob kept us level with another excellent performance on top board, holding off his much stronger opponent and giving us another much needed half point. A quiet and probably passive opening from Bob with the white pieces saw black take the initiative in the early stages of this game. The middle game proceeded with black having more space and threatening to open the game up on the a-file, but Bob was able to counter with his minor pieces in the centre effectively tying black-up. After some forced exchanges, black was rapidly running out of time and although in a slightly better position in an end-game where both sides had a rook, bishop and six pawns, there was insufficient time for black to make his advantage count, so a draw was agreed.
  Carl slipped up towards the end of his game, due in large measure to a shortage of time. Facing two unopposed pawns on the a and b files, and with his position in dire straits he sacrificed several pieces in the hope of finding a perpetual. And even though his opponent´s pieces were on the opposite wing to their king, they covered sufficient squares to deny Carl that lifeline.
  John was not quite sure where he went wrong defending a QGD, but he was soon facing a 3-2 pawn deficit on the queen´s side which eventually became two connected passed pawns verses thin air. It was looking pretty bleak when his opponent missed a winning combo and after exchanging the last pair of rooks, made the injudicious decision to exchange one of his bishops for a knight, leaving just the queens and a pair of bishops of opposite colours on the board. Once the queens were off, John was able to manoeuvre his bishop and king to their optimum squares and his opponent´s extra two pawns were rendered impotent. Mind you it took another 23 moves before his opponent reconciled himself to that fact. A lucky escape for John, and an extra half point for the team.

On paper we shouldn´t have had much of a chance against league leaders Saxmundham A, but they were without two of their regulars, so even though we were without one of ours, the field was a little more level than it was on out last encounter.
 Rowland was first to finish and produced another of his lively and tactical games where you are never quite sure who has the advantage. Well it was definitely with Roland as the middlegame morphed into the endgame, and a final tactic saw Rowland go a pawn up, and a passed one at that. The downside was that his extra pawn was isolated, and worse than that, the remaining pieces were a pair of rooks and bishops of opposite colours. Once the rooks came off it was a simple draw, but rather than plant his king behind the pawn, his opponent planted his bishop there, using his king to defend his other pawns. This gave Rowland the sliver of hope that he might go wrong, but it was not to be, so after much probing, the draw was eventually agreed.
 Bob finished next, defending solidly as black with his trusty Modern. But as the game progressed, his defences were eventually breached to the point where Bob faced the unenviable choice of getting mated or losing a rook for a pawn. It didn´t take him long to decide on the third option.
 John gave us our second half point, and thus equalling our first round score against Saxmundham A. Like Bob´s his was a solid defence as black against a Queen´s Gambit in which his opponent managed to keep his opening initiative throughout the game. With all minor pieces exchanged John was facing a minority attack on the Queenside, but after the queens came off his opponent allowed one of John´s rooks to infiltrate behind enemy lines, and with the threat of losing a crucial pawn, his opponent was forced to repeat moves.
 When Carl was taken sick it looked as though we might repeat our previous encounter with Saxmundham and default a board because there was an U125 match taking place alongside us, and David Welsh was also unavailable. Step up David Johnson. In spite of only a couple of days notice, David stepped into the breech and not only saved us a default, but also the match. His was an unusual game that soon had pieces on unusual squares. David either lost or sacrificed a pawn in the opening, but the compensation he got was enough to disrupt his opponent´s position and eventually won him a rook. After that the net closed, but his opponent didn´t give up until he was mated.
 This result saw us temporarily jump two positions in the table, but then fall back one position when the Bury results came in. But the field above us is very tightly packed, and we have a game in hand over two of them, so we´re still in with a chance of getting in amongst them.

We arrived at Bury in very good time this evening to find the layout of the tables quite different to normal. The reason - they were playing five matches tonight, and six of the teams were their own. Only one of them however was a Suffolk League match, and that of course was ours. The fact that Bury were fielding 24 players tonight didn´t dilute the team we faced, Bury D were at full strength and they clearly wanted revenge for the 3½-½ thrashing we gave them last time. And while they certainly did that, the score line doesn´t do justice to the closeness of the games.
  The games finished in board order with Bob first in what you might call a Grandmaster draw, which unlike the other three boards, didn´t involve a lot of complicated tactics. When, after several exchanges his opponent Jan, offered a draw, Bob immediately accepted and thus repeated his previous result against Jan earlier this season.
  Not wishing to face another Evans Gambit, John responded to Steve Lovell´s 1.e4 with a Modern. He should have done more preparation however because it wasn´t long before he was facing similar complications, and missed his opponent´s exchange sacrifice in the process. He also missed several opportunities to neutralise the attack, even coming out better in one of them had his analysis been a little better. He had rejected that one, along with one of the others, but he didn´t see the third.
  Carl deployed his Trompowsky and Bob Jones responded with an aggressive, if not entirely sound line, and Carl came out of the opening with a lot of pressure and a lot of potential. He then thought the time had come for decisive action and sacrificed the exchange to press his advantage home. Suffice to say, it didn´t quite work out as Carl had planned.
  Simon was making his first appearance for the team, and made a very good fist of it. His Caro-Kann came under a lot of fire, with his uncastled king adding to the complications he faced. He survived very well, but in the complications towards the end he lost a piece, thus in the ending his lone queen was facing a queen and bishop, and after the queens were exchanged the end was not really in doubt. However, before that he could have saved himself for he missed the opportunity of claiming the game by repetition of moves.
  We were very close losing none of these boards tonight, but instead we suffered our worst defeat so far this season. But, on the bright side, we are still comfortably off the bottom spot.

There´s a reason Sudbury are sitting primed to take the Division Two trophy this season, or possibly two. First, their chief rival Saxmundham had just taken a battering at the hands of Woodbridge, only Sax´s second loss this season, the other being to Sudbury itself. And second, Sudbury has so far managed to field their full squad for every match except one. We knew therefore, that tonight´s match was going to be a tough one for us - but as it turned out, not as tough as it could have been, because for only the second time this season, Sudbury were not at full strength.
  John had the benefit of that, although he didn´t make much capital of if. After just 20 moves, with just two minor piece exchanges and a pair of pawns off the board, he wanted to place his knight on a certain square, but his opponent kept stopping him by repeating moves. Rather than find another square for the knight John bottled it and accepted the draw, and was thus the first to finish.
  John may have been the first to finish, but his wasn´t the shortest game tonight. That honour goes to Carl, who´s Trompowsky gave him good chances but as the middle game approached, Carl was not going to risk things in an unclear position, so he offered a draw. His opponent, with two pieces still undeveloped, readily accepted.
  Rowland finished next, back on top form with an excellent performance against one of this division´s strongest players. He developed a strong defence with his Caro-Kann, and while he gave his opponent a lot to think about, his pawn structure was coming off worse, and was not looking good for the ending. But, with queen, rook and knight each Rowland was holding his own, and decided to offer a draw (on several occasions as it happens). After his last offer was turned down Rowland saw the chance to rid himself of one of his weaker pawns and hit his opponent´s queen with it, and in the process opened the long diagonal for his own queen, threatening serious damage in the enemy camp. In fending off that threat it was his opponent´s turn to offer a draw, which Rowland readily accepted.
  With the match still level all eyes were on Bob. He intended a Modern opening, but when his opponent responded to his 1.Nf3 with 1 … b5, it transposed into a sort of Nimzo-Larsen and became rather complicated. In a tactical error Bob lost his e-pawn, and the complications increased as Bob appeared to get some unexpected compensation for the pawn. This caused his opponent to consume large chunks of his time. Facing a pawn advance in the centre Bob hit back on the king´s side. Fearing the worst if he delayed things, he sacrificed the exchange for a pawn to break up his opponent´s king´s position, but he lacked the reserves to continue the attack. He may have missed a perpetual as his opponent was now getting very low on time, but more importantly, he missed the opportunity of using his bishop instead of his rook in the sacrifice, thinking he didn´t have the time to manoeuvre it into position. A great pity because he would have levelled the material imbalance, and would probably have stood better.

We went to Bury knowing that a 4-0 defeat was a distinct possibility, especially as we were without two of our nominated squad and Bury had no other league fixtures to make demands on their players. However, unknown to us, Bury were playing their Norfolk/Suffolk Cup match against Ipswich tonight, and this took their board one away, which gave us a little more hope.
  Bob´s Modern gave him a nice open game, although a fairly well balanced one, with chances for both sides. It was quite well into the game, which looked to be heading for a draw, when Bob´s opponent blundered, overlooked a tactic, and lost a rook.
  Adrian deployed the English and seemed to be holding his own until a bishop sacrifice on his h-pawn turned the tables significantly towards his opponent. Adrian couldn´t take the piece, and so struggled on a pawn down and a difficult position to defend.
  David faced an early king-side attack that cost him a pawn, so with nothing to lose he counter attacked himself, also on the king-side. He certainly gave his opponent a lot to think about but as the smoke cleared it was his opponent who came away with the spoils.
  John came out of an early king-side attack a pawn to the good, and ignoring his own advice before that match (if there´s a chance for a draw take it) he set about creating an attack of his own. For a while he felt comfortably in the driving seat, but allowed his opponent too much slack on the queen-side, and without thinking, defended a central pawn and lost a piece.
  A defeat that could (and probably should) have been a draw, but we have probably done enough this season to avoid the yoyo effect we´ve been experiencing since the 2014-15 season, especially since Felixstowe B, the team below us, have got Sudbury, Saxmundham and Bury A to face, three of the strongest sides in this division. Oh, and they also have us in our penultimate match of the season.

On paper Woodbridge are among the strongest teams in this division, but so far they have been unable to field both of their top two players for any match this season, and tonight, for the second time running, they have been unable to field either of them. So instead of being outgraded on every board (as in our previous encounter), is was us that outgraded them on all boards.
  John finished first, playing the black side of a four knight´s opening, which was dull until it looked as though his opponent might win a central pawn. The saving moves were found, but as more and more pieces came off the position became even duller. Unable to find anything to upset his opponent´s equality, John had to accept that a bishop of opposite colour ending was inevitable.
  Rowland put the team ahead, getting his revenge for his only C-team loss this season. He played the opening exceptionally well. His opponent overlooked the well known tactic of the indirect attack on the e4 pawn associated with Benoni and Kings Indian type of positions. Effectively this gained Rowland a passed b pawn in the opening and by simply exchanging pieces the endgame was going to be a win for black. White therefore had to try and find a forcing attack but Rowland found sound defences and White ran out of counter play.
  Carl put us further ahead, deploying his usual Trompowsky to good effect. After his opponent unwisely castled long, Carl built a powerful queenside attack which led to an unusual array of rook, king and rook on a common diagonal, producing a pin and a skewer at the same time. Carl picked up both rooks for his bishop and went on to win the ending without any trouble.
  Bob was last to finish, although in all of that time, his board had had the fewest structural changes, and the fewest pieces exchanged than any of the others. Bob had miscalculated an opening pawn exchange, failing to realise early enough that he could not recapture and was thus a pawn down quite early. This was made worse by the fact that it was a passed and protected (twice) e-pawn in the heart of Bob´s position. Plan B was in order, so lock all the pawns and shut up shop. There followed a long series of piece play where virtually everything was done at long range. Bob´s defences held out well, and it took his opponent a very long time to come to the conclusion that he could only break down the pawn wall by sacrificing a piece.
  We thus came away with our third win in this division this season, which was particularly pleasing when we faced the prospect of a good hammering had Woodbridge been at full strength.

For the last four years Manningtree A has contested the final of the Suffolk League Cup, winning on three occasions, but this season - with a new divisional format - it fell at the first hurdle after a below par performance on the bottom three boards.
 The first round of games saw Manningtree edge ahead in a score line that reflected the run of play. If Andy was fortunate to win a drawn ending, then Leon was unlucky to draw a won ending, while Jim added a well-earned point and Phil succumbed to a steadier opponent.
 After the interval, when Andy won his second game in succession, it seemed that Manningtree´s passage into the semi-final had been all but booked. Andy´s opponent offered no resistance, providing instead a model example of how not to play against the English Opening, and was forced to resign on move 20 facing catastrophic material loss. This left Manningtree needing one more point from three games or, at a push, half-a-point from boards two and three (enough to win on board count), but it was not to be. Jim blundered and Phil continued to have one of those nights that he would prefer to forget. In the last game to finish, Leon drifted from an equal middle game into a tricky ending and with little time at his disposal failed to find the active defence that would in all likelihood have held the draw. Instead he surrendered the key open file and a few moves later the game.

Like our C-Team match earlier this week, Manningtree B were outgraded on every board (incidentally, the e against the grade indicates that it is a standard rate grade rather than a rapidplay grade). Manningtree B did however, manage a slightly better result.
 Simon did very well on top board, creating a slight advantage in the first game having isolated his opponent´s pawn on d4 and planting an unchallengeable knight outpost on d5. Unfortunately he then over- looked a discovered attack on his rook, which lost the exchange for a pawn, but he still managed to hold out for the draw. In the second game he let slip a very strong position under time pressure, despite having more time than his opponent. With an extra pawn he reached the ending with a passed pawn on b7, blocked by his opponent´s only piece, a knight. His opponent offered a draw as he had to bring his king over to deal with it, and instead of mopping up the kingside Simon made the mistake of advancing his king to support the pawn (which was always going to be late). And that decision proved fatal.
 Adrian´s opponent was a little overconfident in their first game, but he certainly made Adrian struggle to maintain his advantage, which was reduced during the game from a piece to the exchange for two pawns at the end. But that was enough. In the second game Adrian blundered to a pawn fork and it was then a struggle trying to avoid the exchange of pieces.
 David picked himself up in the second game having lost his way in the first, while Alan, who does so well in our blitz events, found rapid and standard play time limits a very different matter.

The U125 Cup is without doubt a trophy within our grasp, and as tonight´s match progressed it looked possible that we were taking a giant stride to obtaining it with a 4-0 victory a distinct possibility. If one thing could be said for Ipswich´s approach to tonight´s match, it would appear to be, sacrifice at the first opportunity.
 John started the ball rolling with a Queen´s Gambit, although after half a dozen moves it was his opponent who had sacrificed a pawn. An early, anti-positional Qf6 merely made the queen a target, and John was quick to oblige. While the harassed queen sought sanctuary John was able to advance his central pawns with his opponent´s entire queen-side still undeveloped. It was an object lesson in how to punish poor defences with each move piling on more pressure until the position more or less imploded. And unusually for John, it took only one hour of play.
 Simon´s opponent had made one his trade mark piece sacrifices that probably shouldn´t have worked, but it meant that Simon, who had already been under a lot of pressure, had to tread very carefully. But if he could survive the complications, we were hopeful this would put us two up. Unfortunately, a miscalculation in a complicated position and Simon lost his queen (and the extra piece) for a rook. There was no coming back from that and now the score was level.
 David faced a Modern Defence, and the game was pretty much even until he was hit with a knight sacrifice on h3. But this too didn´t look like it should succeed and with a mate in two threatening to end it in David´s favour, his opponent was able to give up his pair of rooks for David´s queen, and thus an ending with two rooks and a bishop v queen ensued. With his king denuded of pawns, and his remaining queenside pawns looking vulnerable, David was happy to accept a draw.
 With the score still level, the match had swung from looking won to looking lost for Adrian was in trouble. His Sicilian had been fending a king´s side advance for most of the game while his attempts at a queen´s side counter weren´t getting very far. Short of moves in a tight ending Adrian forced the exchange of queens, but it left him several un-defendable pawns. When it was clear that at least two were about to fall Adrian had a long think and then abandoned any attempt to keep them. Instead he doubled his rooks on the g-file and planted his knight on a crucial square - defending a critical square in his defence and lending support to a do or die counter. With the help of a lone h-pawn Adrian´s attack was severely underestimated by his opponent, and thus Adrian was able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Our first foray into the new structure of this competition and we knew it wouldn´t be easy. The score at half time however did not reflect the games at all.
 Bishop of opposite coloured endings generally give excellent chances of hold a draw, even when you´re a pawn or two down, but the spread of the pawns in Bob´s game meant that even with best play, it could not be saved. John had achieved what must have been a won position, with two pawns up and active pieces, but with time in short supply, leaving pawns and the odd piece en-prise soon reversed that situation. Meanwhile Carl was doing pretty well until he also went astray as the clocks ran dry. Adrian unfortunately was on the back foot early in his game and never recovered.
 In the second half Bob again took his opponent into a minor piece ending, only this time he had a knight facing a bishop, and this was even more difficult to hold that the first game. John again achieved a strong position, and once again nearly lost it, but this time it was his opponent who mishandled things and a single pawn in a rook and pawn ending decided it. In this half it was Carl´s turn to be on the back foot from an early stage after a serious blunder in the opening, while Adrian picked himself up and avoided a repetition of the first round. While we were not expecting to reach the second round, it would have been nice if we had, but as many a football manager has said in the past, this means we can now concentrate on the league.

Although it´s a very small field again this year, we are not taking this competition lightly. Three years ago we won it, and it´s about time we did it again. This result is a good start on that road, although it has to be said, Ipswich were far from full strength.
  Rowland was first to finish, although only by a whisker. As he lay down his king in resignation and almost before it hit the ground John´s opponent did the same. Rowland had played a very sharp line of the Trompowsky, involving a knight sacrifice on f7. It might well have worked if, before the sac, he had defended, rather than exchanged his other knight. The game barely lasted more than a dozen moves when it became clear that things had backfired.
  On the other hand John´s game went to twice as many moves, but lasted the same amount of time due largely to the fact that his opponent spent no more than half a minute on any one of his moves. John had opened with the Nimzo-Larsen, while his opponent responded with a Caro-Kann. It wasn´t long before this unusual hybrid netted John a couple of pawns, and it was when a third was about to fall that his opponent tilted his king.
  With the score level things were not so clear on the remaining boards. Adrian´s position looked in danger of becoming blocked, while Bob´s position just looked in danger. A 2½-1½ defeat was looking ominously possible. Adrian was however gradually exerting pressure down the queen´s side, and had a wonderfully placed passed and defended d-pawn in his back pocket. His opponent´s attempts at a king-side counter were hampered by the fact that nearly all of his pieces were on the other wing with little chance of providing any support. Eventually the cracks started to widen, and Adrian picked up the c-pawn. In desperation his opponent gave up a piece, which turned into two pieces, and although he had now got some pieces on the king´s side to support a counter, it was too late, he had fatally weakened his queen´s side, lost a rook, which led to the exchange of the other rook, snuffing out any king´s side counter, and resignation immediately followed.
  During all this, Bob´s position continued at critical status, he was now two pawns down, and danger was everywhere. Bob was then offered a draw, but he had a sense that in spite of appearances, he stood better. Besides, he had half an hour, to his opponent´s two minutes. Bob got one of his pawns back, and it wasn´t long after that that the time factor played its part and his opponent left a piece en-prise. After the queens were exchanged Bob was now firmly in the driving seat, and in desperation his opponent gave up the exchange, meaning Bob was now a whole rook up. Needless to say, it didn´t take much longer to complete the game, and with it the match. And that gives us top spot in the table with a game in hand.