We must be among the first, if not the first team in the Suffolk League to take advantage of the revised Covid Related rules. Up until this week, if any member of a team insisted on a face covering then all members of all teams present would have to cover up. Chris Whitty would no doubt approve but the SCCA felt that that was a little too draconian and so revised the rule such that a player can only insist that their opponent wear a face covering. To allow for cases where a default may occur, the change also allowed teams to change their board order to accommodate willing/unwilling opponents, even if that meant breaking the 80 rating point rule - hence the reason Jim and Phil swapped positions. Mind you, had Bury reversed their bottom two boards instead, the 80 rating point rule would have remained intact.
  Unfortunately, none of this contributed to the result we were looking for. This defeat levels our aggregate score at 50% and leaves us at the foot of the table. We do have games in hand however, so we do not expect to be there for long.

Our last match before the Christmas break and it was a fully masked affair. It was unfortunate that Ipswich were a player short, especially as it was one of the few occasions when Rowland would have been able to play for us this season. This result takes us off the foot of the table, and with the games in hand, this puts us in good stead for climbing further up, although we´re going to have to go some to catch Bury A.
  The games were about as varied as you could get - from Rowland´s zilch to Andy´s fireworks. Panagiotis was somewhere in between. A steady build up of pressure that threatened to win the exchange, led to a series of exchanges that won a piece instead. Thus by about nine o´clock we were 2-0 up.
  John´s opponent is known for his sharp lines in the Italian Game, but tonight chose the Quiet variation. And that´s exactly how the game went, about as quiet as you could get.
  The same could certainly not be said for Andy´s game. That became about as noisy as you could get. With a significant time advantage Andy appeared to be getting the advantage, especially after his opponent had to give up the exchange. However Andy was a little too ambitious and underestimated his opponent´s counter, which, after the dust had settled, had restored the material imbalance. Well it would have done had they actually played the moves out. With little time to fully access the position Andy offered a draw, which his opponent readily accepted.
  On the surface, a good result, but one can´t help feeling that Manningtree are struggling a bit to find their true form.

A very valuable three and a half points for the team that gives them a fighting chance of catching league leaders Bury A, who initially appeared to be running away with the title. And just in case you had forgotten, Bury are the current Division One Champions, having won the trophy back in 2018-19 (although on that occasion it was their B-Team).
 The games were quite varied, and while we never looked in any real danger in any of them, it wasn´t at all clear if we had enough to win many of them either. Except that is for board two, where, after winning a piece, Panagiotis had set up, what looked very much like a mate in two composition. After satisfying himself that whatever option at his disposal was taken, a mate in two was the outcome, his opponent laid down his king.
  It was a while before Bob and Phil put us further in front. Bob´s Modern, which included an early b4, developed into a struggle for control of the queen´s side. Little by little Bob´s advantage grew, and accurate play saw him convert that into a win. Phil, meanwhile had the advantage of a passed protected d-pawn, although it was a long hard slog to make that pay. Andy was last to finish, in another long and difficult game. In the minor piece ending, Andy was a pawn up and had the two bishops facing a bishop and knight. However, winning a second pawn by exchanging the knight for the wrong coloured bishop meant the game was drawn several moves before it was actually agreed.
 If we can repeat this performance against Ipswich A in two weeks, Bury had better watch out.

It was a tough struggle for the whole team this evening, with Felixstowe putting up stiff resistance on all boards. And was it just a coincidence, or where there signs of some advanced preparations in the enemy camp? Boards one and three both started as regular Italian games, but both launched immediate pawn advances on the king´s side, and both castled long - although the games themselves then trod quite different paths.
  In Phil´s Italian the advancing king´s side pawns where heading for their own lock down, and we reached an unusual position where all four bishops (and only those bishops) had departed the board. Both sides had to be very careful that the four knights didn´t cause an upset, especially with a full complement of pawns each. And when those knights were finally removed, Phil was offered a draw, and while he was reluctant to accept it, the semi-locked pawns, behind which the major pieces seemed somewhat lacking, he felt he had no choice.
  Meanwhile Andy´s Italian took a very different path. His opponent´s king´s side advance was met with a counter on the queen´s side, leading to a very open and unbalanced game. Andy had given up two pieces for a rook and a couple of pawns, although one of the pieces was always going to come back, leading to an endgame the exchange and two pawns up. It was not, however as one sided as that might suggest, for the queen´s side threats could not be ignored, and Andy was reduced to less than two minutes. It ended with a bit of a king chase, which resulted in his opponent having to surrender his queen for a rook, so he resigned instead. And after three draws, that gave Andy his first win for the club this season.
  At almost exactly the same time, Bob´s game ended. Bob opened with his usual Modern, and once again with an early b4. It proved to be a long struggle and as the ending approached it appeared Bob was sitting on a clear advantage - a better pawn structure and a good bishop versus a less good knight. On several occasions it looked as though Bob had it in the bag, but it was surprising how often his opponent managed to slip through his fingers. And as the pawns disappeared it became ever clearer how the game would end.
  Panagiotis now had the pleasure of finishing his game with at least half a dozen pair of eyes watching his every move. Panagiotis opened with the English, while his opponent chose the Caro-Kann. It produced an extremely lively and entertaining game, although it was hard to see who was getting the better of it. At one point it looked as though Panagiotis was going to lose the exchange, but he ended up with two pieces for his rook, plus a one pawn deficit. When the queens came off, us mere mortals expected a draw to be agreed - a bishop, knight and two pawns facing a rook and three pawns, how was either side going to win that? Panagiotis´s disadvantage was as much the clock as the position - at one point he made his move with only a solitary second to spare. The game covered two score sheets and about a hundred moves, but the rook and king eventually penetrated Panagiotis´s heroic defences, which ended his run of four successive wins, giving Panagiotis his first defeat for the club this season.
  This gives us a much harder task in catching Bury A, who we will be facing in two weeks time - but only marginally harder than the task than our B-Team face. There is a striking similarity between our two teams this year. Both are in second place. Both have three matches left to play. Both have a game in hand. And both are four points adrift (rounded up that is). Bodes well for an exciting finish to the season.

This result probably scuppers our chances of taking the title this season - we would need to win big in our remaining two matches, while Bury A would need to lose big in their last one. It´s possible of course, but the smart money has got to be on Bury A.
  There was quite a variety in the games tonight. Panagiotis was quite lost in the opening, but managed to equalise by the middle game and then went on to win the ending. A very valuable win, which keeps our slim hopes alight.
  Phil faced a quiet London, and managed to avoid damaging mistakes, something his opponent was probably banking on. Without speculative attacks from either player, the draw was eventually agreed.
  Graeme was offered the opportunity to attack Alekhine´s Defence, and he took up the challenge. It produced the usual complications and lively play, but as the ending approached the complications reduced and the draw agreed.
  John faced the Flohr-Mikenas Attack, although he didn´t know it at the time, he thought it was going to be a standard English. He followed the book for the first eight moves (again without knowing it) but captured a pawn out of book order which led to the loss of a piece, and that was that.

Just when we were thinking that our chances of lifting the Division One trophy were vanishingly slim, this happens, and we are back in the mix with every chance of success. Who would have thought that both Manningtree A and Manningtree B would thump their Felixstowe equivalents 4-0 in consecutive weeks, giving both teams a big boost for divisional honours.
  The race for Division One will therefore go down to the final match, and both Manningtree A and Bury St Edmunds A face the same team in their final matches - Ipswich A. Bury still have the advantage however, for all they need do is match our final score, while we need to exceed theirs by at least half a point. Bury take on Ipswich next week, over a month before we do, so we´ll know the size of the task ahead of us long before it arrives. We ought not forget of course, that if Ipswich A thump both us and Bury in those final matches 4-0, it will be them who take home the trophy.

It wasn´t so long ago that we considered our chances of taking the Division One Trophy to be "vanishingly slim", and that our 2-2 draw against Felixstowe back in March had "probably scuppered" our chances. But tonight the team defied the odds and pulled off their second successive big result to top the table buy just half a point. And while it is true that we out-rated them on every board, this was still a tremendous result, returning the trophy to Manningtree for the fourth time in less than ten years.

We began our final league match of the season with a one point advantage at the top of the table, but knowing that we would need 3½ points from tonight´s match to guarantee the top spot. In the event we got 2½ points and would have to wait another day to find out if we had done enough.
  Saxmundham were not giving anything away, and they put up stiff resistance on all boards. At the halfway point it was difficult to see where any wins were coming from, and three draws (four at most) looked a distinct possibility. And then we got our first breakthrough.
  John had faced a Queen´s pawn opening in which his opponent played safe and steady moves as he whittled away at the pieces. The rook, knight and bishop ending looked destined to draw until John´s opponent unwisely left his king exposed to a discoveredcheck just a move too many and was about to lose a piece. Placing his bishop on an undefended square meant that he lost two pieces instead, and promptly resigned.
  By this time things had taken a turn for the better in Simon´s game, and having won a pawn he was now entering a knight v bishop ending with a clear advantage. Simon had to exercise great care however as his opponent had an isolated, but unopposed pawn on the a-file, quite some distance from Simon´s king. Simon´s knight however was remarkably well placed and snuffed out any king´s side counter play while his king made it´s way up and across the board to snuff out that pawn.
  We were now feeling a little more comfortable, our lead at the top was now extended to three points, and while Graeme´s position was coming under heavy fire, we were looking good for at least another half point from Bob. Pawn thrusts from both players gave this board a somewhat unusual look, and made it difficult to assess. Both players had to tread very carefully and eventually reached a queen and bishop ending with neither side possessing any significant weaknesses to exploit. With the clocks running low the draw was agreed.
  On Graeme´s board the clocks were also running low, although at this point that was the least of his problems. A somewhat under-developed queen´s side, and a rather over-exposed king´s side left Graeme´s king looking very uncomfortable. The fact that he had to give up the exchange didn´t help matters, so we ended the match hoping our 3½ point lead would be sufficient.
  P.S. It proved to be more than sufficient, particularly as Ipswich C travelled to Bury with only three players, which means even had they won all three boards, we would still have finished top!

Last week we probably should have clocked up a 3½-½ victory. This week we made sure of it. Felixstowe B were fresh from their match against Saxmundham B on the previous evening - two away matches on consecutive evenings - that´s dedication for you, and nearly 100 miles of travelling - it´s a good job the PBPP is over.
  First to finish was Jim, who finished his game before any of the other boards were much into the opening. His opponent played the Sicilian and simply left his king in the centre for longer than was wise to, especially as this gave Jim the opportunity to brew up one of his specials.He first set up various pins to win a piece, and by the time black had castled he had added a rook to his tally. Shortly after, with his king surrounded and more material threatened, his opponent resigned.
  Graeme was next to win a point, entering a sharp middle game characteristic of the Latvian. He had already won his opponent´s f2 pawn with a temporary piece sacrifice (which had the added benefit of preventing his opponent castling) when he followed this up with a nice rook fork on his opponent´s king and queen, his opponent being more focussed on trapping Graeme´s bishop. After that, black never had a look in.
  Simon´s game was a hillbilly attack by his opponent, although he immediately retreated his light squared bishop blocking his d pawn. Simon then had a space advantage throughout, and created an isolated passed e-pawn on the sixth rank that created too much pressure and eventually pinned rook and king to win the exchange, which would have been enough for the endgame so his opponent resigned.
  Adrian drew a complex position resulting from his English, which was offered by his opponent the moment Simon´s game was decided. Clearly Felixstowe did not want to go home completely empty handed, and besides, with the session only 90 minutes old, why drag it out for another 90 minutes? Despite all pieces except one knight and one pawn each still on the board, none of us could really see a decisive plan for either side afterwards, so this seemed a fair assessment of the position.

Manningtree B introduced two of the Club´s new members to the world of competitive, over the board, league chess for this encounter with Bury´s 4th team (it may be Bury C, but it´s still Bury IV in terms of their team´s playing strength). While not the sort of result we would like to see, valuable experience was gained, and the games were nowhere near as one-sided as the score might suggest. Both Nick and Bradley had their chances, but as a famous Grandmaster once said, the winner is the one who makes the second to last mistake. Everyone finished with lots of time to spare, which no doubt contributed to the end result, so a word of advice from Bobby Fischer might be in order, ´sit on your hands´. And that certainly served him well.

A pleasing win that puts Manningtree B mid-table at the exact mid-point of the season. Adrian and Simon had daunting match-ups against 13 year olds on their first proper outing who could have been junior Carlsens for all they knew. Simon got an early fright, expecting an onslaught when his opponent castled long, but the young lad then bailed out of the attack, allowing Simon to get there first.
  Both Adrian and Bob had solid draws (that´s five out of five for Adrian) while Graeme´s game was heading for time trouble. With only two minutes on the clock (five minutes for his opponent) Graeme turned down a draw offer with equal material and made the pressure count in a pawn endgame by creating a much better king´s position and forcing black´s king out of the game. All in all, a pretty good day´s work for Manningtree B.

Congratulations to Manningtree B for this impressive win against fellow contenders for this division. And while Ipswich C would appear to be running away with it (with six wins out of six) they are only two game points clear, indicating the narrow margin of most of their wins.
  Making his third appearance for the club, Nick got us off to an early lead with a quick win with the black pieces, pinning and winning his opponent´s queen very early in the game after white´s ill advised kingside pawn advances. This time Nick didn´t let his advantage slip through his fingers, and chalked up his first win for the team.
  Simon´s game was a straight forward queen´s gambit declined in which his opponent never got going and was positionally worse the whole game. With a backward c-pawn and a cramped position, that pawn was always likely to fall, and it wasn´t long before we were two up.
  While Jim and Graeme both drew, their games were very different. Jim was a piece for two pawns up in a Trumpowsky as black, but the position was incredibly unbalanced and with five minutes each on the clock, both players felt that repeating moves was the better option.
  Graeme had the better position and a stronger attack in his game, but though his opponent´s position was passive, all his pieces seemed to just about hold each other together, and with no clear way through a draw was agreed.
  Due to the postponement of our January 26 fixture, our next match is, oddly enough, the home fixture against Saxmundham B on February 2nd. A chance to put a clear space between us for at present we are only above them in the table because of this result. And take no notice of the ratings column. The empty fields are presumably the result of the ECF´s monthly ratings calculator and the New Year celebrations and will no doubt be sorted soon.

A good result tonight, ending Ipswich C´s unbeaten record. We´ll need to score some big wins in our remaining three matches if we are to catch them at the top though.
  Adrian and Nick on boards three and four both had English openings to deal with, both ending in draws, although Nick´s was rather quicker after all the pieces (barring a pair of rooks) were exchanged early on, leading to a very equal position and a very early draw. Adrian´s English was a bit more complex, but after the pawns locked on both sides of the board, despite having a much better knight than his opponent, there was no way to break through.
  Simon was a bit surprised to face the Nimzowitsch-Larsen attack, but after the early moves his opponent played very cautiously, playing e3 and then e4, losing time. Simon won the exchange with a threatened royal fork and after that his opponent fell apart.
  Jim had a closed Sicilian with most pieces remaining on the board well into the game. There was little penetration by either side though, and with the match in the bag should he draw, Jim took it to seal the win.

We were well aware of the fact that a 4-0 win would take us top of the table (albeit temporarily), and that on paper we should be able to do it, but we were also aware that while Felixstowe B were the lowest rated team in the league, they had also managed to take 1½ points from over half of their matches, and had not yet been beaten 4-0. We did not therefore want to jinx proceedings by contemplating who they might take their 1½ points from tonight.
  John M finished first. He faced a quiet response to his Nimzo-Larsen leading to a balanced middle game until his opponent lost a pawn. Slow and steady pressure followed, but it was a one move blunder (a queen and rook skewer) that caused his opponent´s resignation. And as is so often the case, he only saw the blunder the instant after he made it.
  Adrian then continued his unbeaten run for the team by chalking up his first actual win. A solid English gave him a strong positional advantage, but when his opponent was starting to shed the odd pawn or two, it was another one move blunder that decided things - this time a knight fork of rook and queen. In both of these games, both players resigned immediately after the blunder, the same was not to be the case in the other two games.
  Simon wasn´t taking anything for granted and developed steadily, until his opponent also lost the exchange. With a couple of pawns as well, the two rooks v knight and rook were clearly heading for victory. At just the right moment Simon returned a rook for the knight and went for a rook ending with four pawns against two. His opponent fought to the very end, resigning only when he was about to face-off a rook and queen with just a pawn.
  With the score now 3-0 it was looking ever more likely that we were heading for a clean sweep. John P (with very little notice) polished off the rust and returned to the fray almost exactly two years to the day since his last game. He too had played a steady game, building his advantages slowly but surely. As the ending approached there still a lot on the board, which made things rather complicated, particularly for his opponent. After a little queen chase followed by a judicious exchange of rooks, John was threatening to win a piece. His opponent thought long and hard about his options. Knowing that he could not save the piece he decided to make his move and offer a draw. John turned it down took the piece, and a few moves later he was threatening mate in two. This could only be saved by giving up the queen for a bishop. His opponent decided to give up the queen for nothing and a move later resigned.
  We were pleased with the result, though not so much with Felixstowe´s new venue. The side room off the main bar/restaurant area wouldn´t be so bad if the room had a door. Noise from the clientele wouldn´t be quite so bad either, if many of them weren´t children, who generally make enough noise for two adults. I think ear plugs might be a good idea next time.

Like our A-Team, Manningtree B are poised to take Divisional honours, with one match remaining to decide things. And like our A-Team, our B-Team need to finish at least half a point clear of their nearest rival (Ipswich C) as they have the better match score. Unlike our A-Team however, we play our final match before rival, so they will know what they need to achieve going into their final match. Unfortunately we will have to wait a month and a half before this is settled.
  The games tonight all began fairly quietly and carefully, except perhaps on board one, where Jim´s irregular opening looked as though he might be brewing up one of his specials. However, barely out of the opening, and with nothing but a couple of pawns off the board, he was offered a ´grandmaster´ draw, which he accepted on the grounds that his isolated c-pawn meant that his position was already inferior.
  Simon kept things level after an interesting game in which his opponent resolutely refused to blunder no matter how many opportunities he was given to do so, which left Bob and Adrian to secure the match. Both had done well to prise a pawn from the respective opponents and embark on a rook and minor piece ending a pawn up.
  While Bob´s extra pawn was an isolated centre pawn, he had advanced it to the sixth rank, and it was giving his opponent a major headache. Bob then produced a very nice finish in which a defending rook had run out of safe squares, and after some thought his opponent resigned.
  Adrian´s game finished in a rook and knight ending, but after a lot of probing, and a lot of thought Adrian determined his opponent´s defences were adequate, and not wishing to mess things up, he offered a draw while that pawn advantage was still in his favour. And that maintained Adrian´s unbeaten B-Team record, and secured our fifth successive match win, and our place at the top of the table.

We began our final league match of the season with a one point advantage at the top of the table, but knowing that we would need 3½ points from tonight´s match to guarantee the top spot. In the event we got 2½ points and would have to wait another day to find out if we had done enough.
  Saxmundham were not giving anything away, and they put up stiff resistance on all boards. At the halfway point it was difficult to see where any wins were coming from, and three draws (four at most) looked a distinct possibility. And then we got our first breakthrough.
  John had faced a Queen´s pawn opening in which his opponent played safe and steady moves as he whittled away at the pieces. The rook, knight and bishop ending looked destined to draw until John´s opponent unwisely left his king exposed to a discoveredcheck just a move too many and was about to lose a piece. Placing his bishop on an undefended square meant that he lost two pieces instead, and promptly resigned.
  By this time things had taken a turn for the better in Simon´s game, and having won a pawn he was now entering a knight v bishop ending with a clear advantage. Simon had to exercise great care however as his opponent had an isolated, but un-opposed pawn on the a-file, quite some distance from Simon´s king. Simon´s knight however was remark- ably well placed and snuffed out any king´s side counter play while his king made it´s way up and across the board to snuff out that pawn.
  We were now feeling a little more comfortable, our lead at the top was now extended to three points, and while Graeme´s position was coming under heavy fire, we were looking good for at least another half point from Bob. Pawn thrusts from both players gave this board a somewhat unusual look, and made it difficult to assess. Both players had to tread very carefully and eventually reached a queen and bishop ending with neither side possessing any significant weaknesses to exploit. With the clocks running low the draw was agreed.
  On Graeme´s board the clocks were also running low, although at this point that was the least of his problems. A somewhat under-developed queen´s side, and a rather over-exposed king´s side left Graeme´s king looking very uncomfortable. The fact that he had to give up the exchange didn´t help matters, so we ended the match hoping our 3½ point lead would be sufficient.
  P.S. It proved to be more than sufficient, particularly as Ipswich C travelled to Bury with only three players, which means even had they won all three boards, we would still have finished top!

We will start with a big thanks to Nick for stepping in at the eleventh hour after Jim had to pull out. And once again, Nick should probably have come away with the full point tonight after going the exchange and a pawn up. But grabbing a second pawn proved unwise, allowing his opponent a decisive counter attack, demonstrating the need to check your defences before going on the offence.
  Bob was next to finish after his Modern turned into quite a tussle. Both sides contested control of the queen´s side, and after all the queen´s side pawns were gone (except for the queen´s pawn itself) the remaining pieces started to follow. There wasn´t much in it at the end, so Bob was happy to accept his opponent´s draw offer.
  John then levelled the score, although if truth be told his opponent did. Facing a Scotch Opening in which he never quite gained equality, the R&B ending was looking grim. With his c-pawn lost and his opponent´s rook on the seventh it was looking curtains for his a and b pawns as well. Completely against the run of play, his opponent then made a fatal blunder, losing his bishop, and with it the game. Although John´s attempt to use that very bishop to capture his opponent´s rook was a bit weird - a case of playing the second move in your analysis instead of the first.
  All eyes were now on Simon, who had quite an extraordinary game. His opponent seemed to be throwing caution to the wind in an all out assault on Simon´s king´s position. Having sacrificed a knight, then a bishop (not to mention a few pawns) it was clear the wheels were starting to come off. Simon had another advantage as well - he had eleven minutes to his opponent´s one. And it was the clock that eventually decided it, although at this point, and in spite of missing a two move mate, Simon was commanding the board now.
  So our first outing in the U1800, and it puts us in good stead for the future. And while we were very lucky on board 2, we were also unlucky on board four, but as long as the luck is equally shared, who can complain?

Bury St Edmunds arrived with the same team that we faced in our earlier encounter, although with a slightly different board order. Unfortunately for us the end result was also different.
  Bob started well enough, but his opponent´s king´s side pawn advance led to serious complications, and Bob slipped up and lost a piece. He struggled on for a while but had to bow to the inevitable as his opponent showed no sign of returning the favour.
  Adrian also slipped up, missing a knight fork in a far less complicated position. He too struggled on for quite some time before his opponent was able to claim the whole point.
  John pulled us one back, although he was tempted to accept a draw offer in a rook and pawn ending with material equality. His advantage however was the isolated state of one of his opponent´s pawns, and that proved sufficient.
  Simon brought up the rear after a very long and tough struggle. Both sides maintained a tight grip on the game, and it was hard to tell who stood better, if either did. After more than three hours of play a draw was finally agreed, making our aggregate score level at 4-4.

Probably best not to dwell too much on this match, sandwiched as it was between A and B team matches, during a week when several players were unavailable. We could have sought a postponement but with matches every week until the end of April we decided to see it through. And so John, Simon and Adrian, all playing for the second consecutive night, took on Woodbridge for this U1800 match.
  Adrian finished first, and after winning his first league game for the club yesterday, ended his unbeaten run and lost his first one tonight. He was doing fine until a serious blunder sealed his fate.
  John faced a Queen´s gambit and was also doing fine until an injudicious pawn advance was followed by an injudicious knight exchange, the latter costing a pawn. And while he had a passed a-pawn in the queen and minor piece ending, his position was in tatters, and didn´t hold out for very long.
  Simon played a queen´s gambit, and they were barely out of the opening when his opponent overlooked the loss of a pawn, which Simon gladly took, and nursed through to a pawn ending. It was about to end in a pawn race, but as Simon would queen with check, his opponent sensibly resigned.
  We face Woodbridge again in four weeks - hopefully with a full team and a better result.

We are not holding out much hope of any honours in this division, although in reality there isn´t much between the top and bottom here, so big wins in our last two matches will make for an interesting finish.
  As far as tonight´s match is concerned, our top and bottom boards finished relatively early, although neither could be described as grandmaster draws. Jim pressed hard against his opponent´s Sicilian, but his opponent is nothing if not resourceful. It was good to see John P making another appearance this season, and once again the two year gap didn´t affect his performance. John M faced a sort of delayed Nimzo-Larson and after a tough middle game he finally thought he was winning the ending. Shame he didn´t spot that two move mate threat until it became an inescapable one move mate. Adrian brought up the rear in a similar fashion to his previous game, except this time he continued to press his one pawn advantage to the very end. In the pawn ending his opponent missed the moves that would have saved him, and Adrian came away with his second win in a fortnight.

A satisfying result against a team that were, on paper, the stronger side. It means that we go second in the table (for a day), separated from the top spot by our match score against the leaders.
  Bob was first to finish after risking a pawn developing his attack, but ended a pawn down in a bishop of same colour ending. He was safe enough however, with the pawns on both wings locked and the extra isolated pawn in the centre block by his king, his bishop was able to soak up the moves.
  It was a while before Simon (our Simon) followed suit after a long and tense King´s Indian. The complications throughout made it difficult to tell who had the advantage. Simon had started with an early advance of his queen´s side pawns - all his c-e pawns were on the fourth rank within the first half dozen moves. His opponent responded with a similar advance on the king´s side, making his king appear a little naked. The game was reaching a critical stage where Simon had to repeat an attack on his opponent´s queen to keep things together, and his opponent, not able to find anything better to offer, followed the repetition.
  Our expectations from the bottom two boards led us to believe we were heading for another 2-2 draw - how wrong we were. Nick had played a steady and careful game that was pretty much level throughout. Until that is, we came to the R&N v R&B ending. Spotting the opportunity of surrendering a pawn or two for his opponent´s bishop, Nick ended up with more than he was expecting, having hovered up his opponent´s remaining pawns in the process. He now found himself with R,N&P v R, with every expectation of the full point. His opponent was nothing if not tenacious and Nick slipped up, losing the knight. The game was now theoretically drawn, but Nisk´s misplaced king meant that his opponent had no need to employ Philidor´s method to achieve it.
  It was now down to John, who had slipped up in the opening, allowing a bishop to get caught in a ´Noah´s Ark´ manoeuvre. John got two pawns for his bishop and set about putting them to good use. It was quite something to see, both sides had castled long and John was advancing a phalanx of three unopposed pawns down the King´s side. Great care was still needed however to prevent them collapsing like a deck of cards, but slowly and surely the phalanx advanced ever closer to their goal. While contemplating a decisive advance of his h-pawn to the seventh, John nearly gave us a heart attack as the clock ticked down to the last few seconds before he finally made the advance. After that it was plain sailing, in spite of an effort by his opponent to advance his king´s side pawn majority by way of a counter. When John queened his second pawn his opponent resigned. As a footnote, this must be a rare occasion when black´s king´s knight, developed on it´s natural f3 square, found itself occupying a critical square in such an ending.
  From being joint top for a day, we are now level on points with Woodbridge at the bottom, but a big score against them next week gives us every chance of an unexpected trophy. 4-0 should do it.

Well, we said 4-0 should do it, and this was as close to 4-0 as you can get, and was so very very close to becoming just that. But when we said 4-0, we naturally meant it to be in our favour - Caïssa was clearly having a larf this evening.
  Things started to unravel when Nick overlooked an early mate - not so much early in his game, but early in the match, and the least said about that the better. The better for Nick at any rate. So we knew quite early that our chances of the trophy went from very slim to being ridiculously slim. Although looking at the remaining games, ´ridiculously slim´ was putting it ridiculously optimistic.
  John P at least looked good for a point. His queen´s gambit, rather than giving him a pawn deficit (albeit temporary) gave him a pawn surplus, and he was carefully nursing that surplus to a winning endgame. But then he blundered and thus suffered his first defeat for the team this season. And that was that as far as the trophy was concerned.
  Our remaining two boards were looking decidedly dodgy. Bob´s Reti didn´t go quite according to plan, and as the game emerged from the opening, his inferior pawn structure meant that he spent the second half of the game on the back foot. He put up stubborn resistance, but in the end the weak holes proved too many for his defending forces to plug, and his opponent eventually broke through.
  John M came out of a queen´s gambit slightly the worse for wear, and was very lucky to reach an endgame with a knight and bishop facing two bishops. He was just as lucky to survive that endgame, but after a pawn race in which his opponent had to exchange the knight in order to queen his pawn, material was level. And after a dozen or so checks the draw was agreed.
  So while we are tied for last place at the moment, there can be no doubt that Bury will break that tie and we will own that honour outright. One is tempted to say that there can also be no doubt that Woodbridge will be this years U1800 Champions, but if Bury were to win big in the last match they will take the prize - 3½ points will do it. Now that has probably put the jinx on Bury´s very slim chances, unless of course, Caïssa wants to have another larf.