It's always nice to start a competition with a win, and while we still remain bottom of the table, our games in hand put us in very good stead, especially as Bury and Ipswich drew both of their matches against each other.
  John finished first tonight, having rolled out his usual Nimzo-Larsen, but very nearly came unstuck when he didn't follow the line he was taking to its conclusion, and ended with a pawn hanging. And not just any pawn, a very dangerous, passed and connected d-pawn. He gave up two pieces for a rook to neutralise that pawn and after forcing off the queens he achieved relative equality with his rook keeping his opponent's knight and bishop playing a more defensive role.
  Rod kept things level after coming under considerable pressure on the king's side after castling queen's side. As the ending approached he dropped his h-pawn but managed to create enough problems to keep himself in the game with solid defence and active play. Without clear winning chances for either side a draw was eventually agreed.
  Jim then put us in front after a complicated game in which he always appeared in control. He had given up the exchange for a pair of powerful passed pawns and was preparing to advance them when his opponent made an illegal move, not realising that his king was in check. Unfortunately for him the only way he could get out of check was to interpose with the piece he had made the illegal move with, which happened to lose him the exchange back. After that his position was quite hopeless.
  Finally Graeme sealed the match after a most unusual variation of the Sicilian that is rarely seen, and no doubt rarely known - the anti-Sicilian wing gambit. It led to a very complicated position in which Graeme had to fathom his way through threats from several directions. But he kept his head and the gambitted pawn, and as the pieces came off he added another pawn to his collection. The knight and bishop ending was definitely in Graeme's favour, but he had to work hard to convert it, and there is perhaps some irony that it was Graeme's a-pawn that faced the one that was sacrificed that won him the game.
  Our next match in this competition is the return match against Bury, and if we can at least draw that one we would be in a good position to win this trophy for only the second time since it was first competed for back in back in 1998/99.