On paper we have the highest average rating in the league (by a fraction). However, without Andy we drop well below new boys Ipswich Sports Club, and on a par with Bury. If Ipswich SC can field their nominated squad on a regular basis they must be considered favourites for the title this season, and that's why tonight's result was so good for us.
 First to finish was also the last to start this evening after Rowland's opponent was caught up in the congestion caused by the partial closure of the Orwell Bridge. Rowland sportingly gave him twenty minutes before starting his clock and his opponent arrived within minutes of doing that. It was a sharp and tactical game and it looked as though his opponent was about to open up Rowland's king's position, giving up two minor pieces for a rook and pawn. However it was worse than that for instead of taking the rook a queen entered the fray and a mating net followed.
 Panagiotis finished next, levelling the match with an excellent performance in which he negotiated an unusual opening, contained the threats and patiently and accurately steered the game to a won rook and minor piece ending.
 On board two it was good to see an old Ipswich veteran returning to over the board chess having been absent since the first Coved lockdown. Phil tried his luck with a Centre Counter which produced a rather passive response from the ex-Ipswich captain. It was a steady game until Phil overlooked the loss of a pawn, which led to a worsening position as another pawn dropped. Phil found some very good resources to keep his hopes alive, and his opponent used up huge amounts of time dealing with them, and played the last dozen or so moves with a minute or less time on his clock. Phil even managed to get one of his pawns back, but in the queen, rook and knight ending his opponent found a very clever way to win the knight and that was that.
 It was now down to Rod to see if the match could be levelled. His opponent was a pretty strong player back in the day but hadn't played a serious game of chess in over forty years. In spite of that absence from the board he put up a strong performance and Rod had to dig deep to gain any advantage from having the white pieces. He eventually managed to break through his opponent's Sicilian, and with a mate in two Rod thought his opponent had resigned. No, and he didn't resign when faced with mate in one either - he was just having a bit of fun and Rod didn't mind.
 All in all a very satisfying result, which will hopefully help stop Ipswich SC running away with the title.

Title holders Bury might not be as strong as they were last season, but then neither are we, so another drawn match was quite acceptable, especially considering we could so easily have come off a lot worse. It was a treacherous evening with rain lashing the A14 most of the way there, and we were not helped by the fact that we were running a little late due in part to the rain and also to the traffic outside Manningtree station. We arrived without a minute to spare and as two other matches had just got under way.
  John finished first, and after soaking up a certain amount of king's side pressure thought he saw the opportunity to sacrifice a knight for two pawns, and then pick up the piece with a final fork. He appeared to have forgotten that a rook can travel sideways as well as up and down the board and came away without that final piece and his opponent proficiently converted his material advantage.
  Rowland levelled the score after another highly tactical game. He had punched a hole in his opponent's king's side pawns, but it was not so easy to penetrate and he had to be very careful after castling long as his opponent was threatening all sorts of danger on that side of the board. Facing a mate in one himself, Rowland went on a king hunt, and while it didn't end in a mate, his opponent had to give up his queen for a rook to avoid it. His resistance didn't hold out much longer after that.
  Phil had been playing a solid game, maintaining the balance throughout, but a small inaccuracy towards the end swung the game squarely in his opponent's favour and Bury were ahead once again.
  Panagiotis had picked up a pawn quite early in his game and nursed it through to a double rook ending. However, he hadn't played with his customary accuracy, perhaps because he had one eye on the clock and half his mind on not missing the last train home, in any event his opponent should have drawn the ending. Panagiotis continued the advance of his extra pawn, and it was his opponent who lacked some accuracy, which Panagiotis exploited well and eventually levelled the match.
  The weather had improved slightly for the journey home and we were comfortably in time for those last trains.

Well we're nothing if not consistent this season - three matches and three 2-2 draws. Newly promoted Sudbury, who were last in Division One twelve seasons ago, made a good fist of it tonight in a match that could so easily have gone either way.
  Panagiotis had faced an English and fairly raced through the first twenty or so moves, picking up a pawn on the way. The ending was of the sort that you don't often see - four knights and a handful of pawns. Panagiotis maintained his pawn advantage and slowly but surely advanced them up the board. One couldn't help but wonder if his opponent had considered giving up his knights for the three pawns just to see if Panagiotis could remember how to deliver mate with just two knights. It's something you learn in your early chess career and then forget about because it never happens - and it didn't happen again tonight either. Of course his opponent would have to lose his own pawns as well for this to work, and Panagiotis would never have let that happen.
  It was a while after that before Simon put us two up. He had played the Queen's Gambit, which his opponent accepted, and the usual struggle for control of the centre followed. As the game wore on all enemy pawns were removed from the Queen's side leaving a clear path for Simon's two connected (and of course passed) pawns to create problems for his opponent (on the other wing the pawns were 4-3 in his opponent's favour). An oversight lost Simon the exchange, but the compensation proved well worth it. Both players had to be wary of back rank mating threats, but it was Simon's two pawns, now separated on the a and c files, that won the day when it was clear that both would reach the seventh.
  Two-nil up and things were not looking too good for us on board two, while board three had developed into the usual chaotic encounter that we have now come to expect from Rowland. His opponent's Reti, in which he castled on move four, sprung into life during the middle game, and it was difficult to see who stood better. It was interesting to see Rowland's three remaining pieces stationed right in the heart of his opponent's defences with only his queen guarding the rear. He then faced a king hunt, which drove his king up the board towards his pieces, and looked to us lesser mortals as though it would succeed. But Rowland had some really clever responses, that again to us lesser mortals, it looked as though that hunt had been turned on it's head. When the smoke cleared Rowland was the exchange down but had two advanced and connected passed pawns that looked good enough to win. Unfortunately at the critical moment Rowland advanced the wrong pawn and his opponent's king was able to get among them and that once again turned the game on its head.
  All this time Phil had been putting up stiff resistance in a very difficult game. He had faced a French Defence that eventually cleared all of Phil's central pawns (that's c-f inclusive). To make matters worse his opponent had both of his d and e pawns threatening to advance. However, to get to this point his opponent had given up two pieces for a rook and two pawns, which meant there was plenty of scope for an upset. Phil had managed to reduce the deficit by a pawn, but it didn't last long, and in the bishop and knight v rook ending the pawn deficit eventually told.

There must have been something in the air tonight. Something that eschewed equality and symmetry. Something that upset the balance on all four boards, especially the odd ones where queens were traded for a variety of pieces.
  There was little sign of what was to come as things got underway. Panagiotis got off to a fairly brisk start with a Sicilian that prompted an early f4, Phil faced a Centre Counter that started along traditional lines, Rowland's Pirc was handled with caution and Bob's Modern looked suspiciously like an English.
  Bob was the first to finish after a struggle for control of the centre resulted in a series of exchanges and an almost empty centre with a solitary enemy pawn occupying it. Unfortunately it also resulted in an oversight that cost Bob a piece, but he fought on with that pawn being a persistent thorn in his side. His opponent played with care and that material imbalance and that slowly advancing pawn proved decisive, and after two hours of play Bob eventually resigned. It is worth mentioning here that at the point where Bob resigned not a single piece had been exchanged of Rowland's board, everything was still there apart from a single pair of pawns; the balance there had not yet been upset.
  The same could not be said on board 1. Perhaps as a sign of things to come, Panagiotis had disdained the threat of doubled f-pawns and a half open g-file that made his king look a little vulnerable (especially as his opponent had castled long) and instead began a direct assault on the enemy. In order to keep it going Panagiotis surrendered his queen for a rook and bishop but his opponent always seemed to have enough to hold him off. It was a risky strategy and very soon after that Panagiotis gave up the exchange, but had picked up a few pawns along the way so now he had two bishops and three pawns for his queen. Unfortunately, apart from a rook, he didn't have much else and now his uncastled king was facing imminent danger as both rook and queen had penetrated behind his lines. Panagiotis had no choice but to take a draw by repetition.
  At this point we were still hopeful of drawing the match as Phil had survived a very complicated Centre Counter in which he was constantly in danger of losing a pawn, but instead came out of the complications a piece up (albeit for four pawns, that soon became three and then just two). At this point Phil had all five of his pieces bearing down on the enemy king and had built up a substantial time advantage, but that king somehow managed to slip through his fingers as he transferred himself from a very exposed queen's side to a much safer king's side. After the queens came off and we entered a minor piece ending it was the extra two pawns for Phil's bishop that were just enough the draw the game.
  Rowland's game had been a long tussle for some kind of strategic advantage in which most of his pieces seemed glued to the back rank. It was quite a contrast to see all but two of his pieces on the back rank while his opponent had all but two of his off the back rank. But that apparently, is not uncommon for the hypermoderns. With such a busy board (only one pair of pawns missing) it was very hard to say who stood better, but then, after a couple of dozen moves a second pair of pawns was exchanged. And half a dozen or so moves later saw the first pieces exchanged. Now things were looking interesting. Rowland's opponent had castled king's side but had concentrated all of his forces down the queen's side, and the time was ripe for a bishop sacrifice on h3. Not only was the king isolated from his pieces, those pieces seemed to be in each other's way to render the needed assistance, but somehow Rowland's opponent managed to survive the onslaught, even though he had to surrender his queen in the process. But that came at quite a cost to Rowland, and as the smoke cleared he found himself attacking the king with just his queen. A king that could call upon two rooks and a knight for defence. And while Rowland had a couple of passed pawns in his favour he didn't have time to advance them, and as both players had been playing on the increments for some time, they settled for a repetition, leaving us still without a match win.

Ipswich Sports Club is a brand new venue for us, so we left with plenty of time to find it, although it isn't that difficult when your Satnav happens to know where it's going. Although it doesn't always know how long it will take to get there as Bob and Phil found out, arriving with half an hour to spare, which is obviously better than the alternatives. Mind you, it didn't look as though the match itself would get started anywhere near on time as they were still moving tables and chairs with less than ten minutes to go before kick-off. Surprisingly the match did get underway on time and things settled down in their usual way.
  Both Panagiotis and Rowland opened with an English, Phil faced a Queen's gambit and Bob played his Modern. Phil was the first to finish in what had been a pretty level game until his opponent embarked on a complicated series of exchanges that could easily have gone wrong for either player if any of the exchanges were done in the wrong order. It was a series of exchanges however that allowed Phil to pick up a stray central pawn when it was all over, although the game was far from won as his opponent's bishop looked more dangerous than Phil's knight. His opponent clearly thought that his best chances lay in exchanging everything off the board and go into a rook and pawn ending a pawn down. Phil played with precision and it wasn't long before his 3v2 pawns became 3v1 and as these were gradually moved up the board, and all his opponent could really do was make things difficult and pray for a stalemate.
  Rowland put us further ahead in a very different type of game to Phil's. It was typically Rowland - complicated, aggressive, balanced on a knife-edge, sacrificial and generally difficult to work out whose threats were the most dangerous. And it didn't end until it ended when the tide had finally turned in Rowland's favour, and coupled with a significant time deficit. his opponent resigned.
  We were now looking good for our fist match win of the season, although there was still scope for things to go badly wrong. Panagiotis had pushed his English on all fronts, so by the time he was out of the opening only one of his pawns was on its home square, with four of the others on the fourth rank. It was interesting to see that while Phil was converting his rook and pawn ending, only a pawn and a knight each had come off of this board. Eventually Panagiotis appeared to be breaking through in the centre and his opponent had to give up the exchange to halt it. But that exchange had come at the cost of a pawn, and soon it was two pawns, and then three. After his opponent had forced the exchange of queens and was about to exchange a couple of the remaining pawns, he offered Panagiotis a draw, which was accepted on the grounds that it was the sensible thing to do when a game can no longer be won.
  With that decided there was barely another move played on board four and a draw was accepted there as well. This board had been materially level throughout, although at times it looked as though Bob was hemmed in and short of any active moves. It was surprising how his opponent's pair of knights seemed to dominate the position and for a long time Bob was on the defensive. But he maintained his cool and after the queens came off, along with one of the annoying knights, Bob was able to breathe more easily. In the final rook and pawn ending it was Bob who seemed to have an edge, but with time slipping away, and a 3-1 victory to be gained, Bob took the draw.
  Ipswich Sports Club is a very nice venue with a good bar, but there are slight reminiscences of Felixstowe's Dooley Inn insofar as noise from the bar had a habit of creeping into the playing room, which is separated from the bar by a concertina door that seemed impossible to fully close. This could become a serious problem, especially in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and especially if one of their customers (who could have been mistaken for the Joker from Batman) should be there. Saxmundham will be the team putting this to the test on December 16th.

After our somewhat tepid start to the season this chalks up our second consecutive win, and puts us right back in the mix, although it has to be said, Ipswich Sports Club must still be favourites. We faced the same line up that held us to a 2-2 draw back in October, and we had the same results except for Rowland who was able to reverse the slip up he made in the ending of his last game, and made sure he came away with the full point.

This is Manningtree A's second defeat of the season, and both of them have been against Ipswich A. And while this might seem to have put the lid on any hopes we had of taking the Division One trophy this year, there is still room for a glimmer of hope when you consider the remaining fixtures.
  Our main rivals must be Ipswich, Ipswich SC and Bury. Ipswich SC and Bury have both got to play each other twice, so if they share the points that stops either of them running away with it. Ipswich have got to play Sudbury twice, whereas we have got Saxmundham twice, so if we aggregate a point or two more than Ipswich do in those matches then our other remaining match against Bury could be the decider. Yes the chances are pretty slim, but as we play Bury in six weeks we'll know well before the end of the season just how slim they are.

We needed a 4-0 win tonight in order to keep our slim hopes of regaining the Division One Trophy alive, but we didn't expect to get it like this. And while we were expecting a weakened side, half strength wasn't what we had in mind. Saxmundham have had a nightmare of a season this year having to default one match (with another hanging by a thread), postpone several others and having to default several boards, although until tonight, none of those boards have been in A-Team matches.
  Saxmundham did not attempt a tactical placement of boards by playing the two white boards or by defaulting the top board (as Suffolk's unique rules allow) but sportingly placed their two players as logic would demand. Panagiotis launched his Sicilian with venom, and playing with his customary speed and accuracy he was comfortably on top more or less from the start. His opponent put up a valiant fight, but it was to no avail as his position steadily deteriorated.
  Phil's game was less clear as he navigated a Centre Counter, for while Phil appeared to have the edge for much of the time, it appeared finely balanced on a knife edge where one false move from either side could spell disaster. Phil kept his head and steered the game to a nicely executed conclusion, and leaves the table in a very interesting state with just two and a half points separating the top four teams.

Although we out-rated Bury on every board (just about) Bury put up a good fight and came away with a lot more than we would have liked. However, the two points we gained put us on top of the table for the first time this season and keeps us in with a realistic chance of lifting the Division One Trophy for the sixth time. Who would have thought we would have gone from this mid-season...

		P	W	D	L	Points
1	Sudbury A	6	3	2	1	15½
2	Ipswich Sports Club	6	3	1	2	15½
3	Ipswich A	6	4	0	2	13
4	Manningtree A	5	1	3	1	10½
5	Bury St Edmunds A	4	0	2	2	5½
6	Saxmundham A	5	1	0	4	4

...... to being more or less favourites at the top. We are far from there however, as any one of the four teams below us could so easily snatch the prize from our grasp and it's still theoretically possible for a very unlucky set of results to drop us back down to the bottom half.
  Taking the results in board order, Panagiotis' game transposed into a Philidor and he went for a rather dubious set-up. However, his opponent did not follow the strongest follow-up and gradually the position turned into Panagiotis' favour, with him eventually emerging a healthy pawn up. His opponent's tenaciousness and resourcefulness, together with his own poor clock handling, led to practical problems in converting the advantage and, later, to steering the game towards a lost endgame that his opponent had no trouble winning.
  Andy enjoyed a comfortable return to the Suffolk League. His opponent had no response to the Maroczy Bind: weakening the d6 square on move 8, sacrificing a pawn on move 12, a piece on move 13, and finally the queen on move 14.
  With his three opening moves of d4 ,e3,f4, Phil's opponent announced the venerable Stonewall opening, but no king side attack resulted. Instead there was cautious manoeuvring by both players and multiple exchanges. By move 28 an ending of queen, same colour bishops and pawns arrived, with Phil slightly worse. However, a simple pawn blunder ten moves later gave his opponent, who had played well throughout, a direct and rapid winning king and extra pawn ending after the forced exchange of the queens and bishops.
  Rowland kept the score line respectable with his fourth consecutive win for the team (fifth if you count the default). The game was evenly balanced with Rowland applying constant pressure on the enemy king's position. It took a long time to break thorough but he got there in the end.

Since losing their top board Felixstowe are struggling, but they should avoid further relegation if they can put out their nominated squad on a regular basis. Tonight they were one short, which gave us a huge advantage that turned a potential draw or even loss into a comfortable win.
  Simon had his work cut out on the top board, but did very well and was close to snatching a draw for his efforts. Bob and Rod had pretty straightforward wins while Jim was struggling to find a breakthrough on his board. On any other day he would no doubt have taken the full point, but 2½ points is a good win and should put us in good stead for the rest of the season.

An outstanding team performance against the second highest rated team in Division Two, and it puts us on top of the table, at least until the teams below us play their games in hand.
  Bob was the first to finish playing his usual modern defence structure. With most pieces remaining on the board well into the middle game, a complicated and congested position ended sooner than expected when his opponent blundered a minor piece.
  Simon finished next after having messed up the opening in a Queen's Gambit Accepted and ending up two queen's side pawns down. For that he had significant compensation in the form of a much better pawn structure and a more active rook and king in the endgame (although the computer was not impressed). Fortunately this activity told in the endgame as the pressure forced an error and Simon was able to queen a pawn with check, ending the game.
  Graeme, who had driven all the way from Hampshire, leaving at 3pm and taking over four four hours, played a very solid game, winning a pawn on move 6 and further damaging his young opponent's pawn structure. He traded down pieces and relentlessly converted these advantages all the way through to the endgame.
  Rod had a most complicated and sharp game on board 1, sacrificing (or losing) a pawn with compensation of rook activity and multiple threats. As time became shorter for both sides and both kings under attack, there was not enough time to calculate the lines and mistakes started to creep in. Rod held his nerve and started to open up black's king, forcing the telling mistake under time pressure that ended with a mate in one when a perpetual draw was on offer.

Here we have two fairly evenly balanced teams but from opposite ends of the table. And tonight's result keeps them there. Mind you it has to be said that the chances of Manningtree B staying on top for long are pretty slim, and when Stowmarket and Ipswich B play their games in hand we will almost certainly drop to third place. This is still extremely good when you consider that our squad has the second lowest rating in the division, and this says a lot for Simon's captaincy and the team's dedication in making themselves available for nearly every fixture.
  We had a full nominated line-up again for this match. The evening had barely got going when Graeme won the first point for Manningtree. Playing board 4, Graeme rolled out the Budapest Gambit to great effect. His opponent, seemingly unfamiliar with the opening, was incited to play d5 instead of accepting the gambit by taking on e5. After 3. Bc5, Bg5?, and then 4. Bxf2, Kxf2, 5. Ne4+ things quickly unravelled for white who resigned on move 10, leaving Graeme to make it home early.
  The rest of the matches all had play in them, but nothing so explosive, and ended in draws. Simon faced an English defence on board 3 with black relentlessly attacking his e4 pawn. Things remained equal throughout apart from one golden missed opportunity late in the game where Simon could have ignored a queenside attack and pressed on the kingside. Once this one move opportunity was gone, things traded down to an equal rook and pawn endgame that was clearly drawn and a draw was agreed.
  Bob turned down a middle game draw offer to create some tactical pressure in the centre of a complicated game involving his usual modern defence. Things simplified however down to bishop and knight and five pawns each, at which point a draw was agreed.
  Rod was last to finish on board 1, in a fairly sharp and imbalanced game against a resourceful opponent who seemed to have all the required answers to Rod's questions. Rod seemed always one tempo away from being able to sacrifice a knight on the kingside to open up black's king, but that tempo was denied and eventually a draw by repetition ended the game with only a minute on his opponents clock.
  We came away happy with another win, though perhaps we could have had more from this match, at least from Simon's game.

Time was when a club with the strength in depth possessed by Bury St Edmunds would have had a B team that would have made mincemeat of our B team. But that was before the pandemic when Bury's B team were division one contenders quite capable of taking on our A team and winning. How times have changed.
  Once again we were at full strength while our opposition were missing two of their nominees. And once again we came off victorious and must spend at least another two weeks sitting at the top of the table.

Even though we won tonight, we drop off the top spot due to Stowmarket's 3-1 win over Felixstowe two days earlier, which puts us behind Stowmarket due their match win over us. This win over Ipswich B is interesting in that while this is their first match defeat of the season, they are the only other team we are expecting to finish above us. They probably still will, but only if they can improve the appearances of their nominated squad. If they don't, and Simon is able to maintain the appearance of his five man squad, it could make the last match of the season for us quite a big one.

You would have thought that as Felixstowe were without their top two boards, were a player short, and sportingly played that default on the bottom board, that they would be in for a drubbing tonight. You would have thought wrong, and tonight's result demonstrates once again (as if that were really necessary) how a game can turn on a single move.
  It was clear as the games progressed through the opening phase that there were not going to be any fireworks on any board - careful positioning and manoeuvring were the order of the day. And it produced an unusual coincidence on boards two and three in that although they were quite different openings, they both entered the middle game with only one pair of knights exchanged and nothing else. And it was quite a while before the first pawn exchange took place on either of these boards. Another coincidence was that they both finished within minutes of each other and they both finished with the catastrophic loss of a piece.
  In Jim's case he had overlooked a bishop getting trapped near the edge of the board by some advancing pawns, which was a shame because he had picked up a pawn several moves earlier and looked on course to convert that into a comfortable win. In Graeme's case the situation was much worse as he had overlooked a discovered check that not only lost him a rook, but exposed him to a mating net in the process. His position had been difficult as his opponent had castled long and was advancing on a broad front across the rest of the board. Graeme responded by advancing on the queen's side, and while progress was slow, there was little to separate the two sides until the blunder.
  Rod's opponent had also castled long and sought to apply pressure on Rod's King's position. Rod defended well and applied equal pressure on the queen's side, which eventually netted him a rook for a piece and a pawn. As the game wore on his opponent was consuming more and more time trying to break down Rod's defences and in the end it was the clock that did it for him. Although it has to be said that by this time Rod was on a clear path to victory anyway.
  Not exactly the result we were expecting, but we are not too bothered (apart from Jim and Graeme that is) for it keeps us comfortably in second place with even less chance of catching Stowmarket in three weeks.

We went to Stowmarket hoping to cling on to the coat tails of the clear league leaders, and to perhaps put a dent in their 100% record - super-subs Jim and John filled in for the absent Rod and Bob and played a significant part in doing just that.
  The games finished in reverse board order with John putting the first point on the board. It was a Marshall Attack of the Ruy Lopez, but his opponent declined to take the bait resulting in a somewhat stodgy middle game and a rapid exchange of the major pieces. In what looked like an equal ending with same colour bishops and a knight, he cleverly traded off his bishop to leave him with a more powerful knight outmanoeuvring his opponent's weaker bishop. After that he began picking off pawns and converted seamlessly.
  Graeme, with the white pieces, created a typically sharp position from his 2.f4 answer to the Sicilian, winning the exchange at the cost of 2 pawns. He had excellent attacking chances and put his opponent under a lot of pressure, eventually finding what looked like the killer move that would win at least a piece. It was an illusion however and black found the perfect defence, which left Graeme with a choice of exchanging a bishop for an unfavourable position or lose a piece himself. Not seeing the trap Graeme chose the latter and his unfortunate run of poor form continued.
  Jim finished next. His opponent played the exchange variation of the French defence, which has a reputation of being very drawish. So determined was his opponent not to exchange queens that when Jim played an early Qe7+, instead of defending with his own queen he got himself tied in knots and Jim came out of the opening with a plus which he kept throughout a tactical middlegame. However, even though White was stuck with a King in the middle of the board Jim failed to open the position in time to take advantage, so with his opponent very short of time, Jim offered a draw before going into an even endgame, which was readily accepted.
  In spite of being hugely out-rated, Simon was the last to finish. In a fairly unorthodox Kings Indian defence position, black played a good opening, capturing Simon's bishop on e3, doubling pawns on the e file. Simon's knights were deployed to defend the e-file pawns while he tried to push in the centre, always seeming to be one tempo behind getting in his desired c5 pawn push. Eventually he managed this through a combination of tactics and threats, and the resulting exchanges simplified the position and eliminated black's bishop pair. With time low on both clocks, a draw was agreed in what did seem a very equal position, albeit with queens, a rook, a minor piece and four pawns all still on the board.
  Overall a great team result given we were significantly outrated, and this keeps us firmly in pole position in the race for second place. It will take heroic victories in our final four games to win the league this year, but anything is possible!

Woodbridge visited the fortress of Manningtree's Methodist Church Hall venue in the keenly contested battle for second place in division 2, bringing with them a full strength side and significantly outrating us in the process.
  First to finish was Simon on top board, facing an exchange variation Caro-Kann. He found some accurate moves to equalise in the middle game, and was fairly surprised to receive a draw offer with queen, rooks and a minor piece on the board. Still, the position was objectively equal, and he decided to bank a half point for the team. Fischer would not have approved, but the players can take solace in having played 22 moves each with 97% accuracy.
  Graeme finished next, and it didn't go unnoticed that a clear victory with white was secured despite not playing f4 early in the opening for once. He fianchettoed both bishops and then pushed in the centre. His opponent missed one opportunity to grab a pawn and initiative, and after that Graeme found a great tactic that sacrificed his knight temporarily for a much better position and eventual material gain. Black resigned shortly after.
  Bob's game departed theory early on, with a lost h pawn and doubled pawns on the f file, opening the f and g files in front of blacks' king that could have been the source of a strong attack. Bob, however, was uncastled, and couldn't create an attack on these files before facing mating threats of his own, with the pressure leading to a nasty royal fork and Bob had to resign.
  Jim meanwhile had played a very good opening and middle game to create a huge space advantage with the black pieces on board 3. He forced a bind on d4 and then lodged a formidable knight on it. The position was complicated though and material was equal. After white managed to exchange pieces on d4, Jim ended up with an advanced, passed pawn that no-one could decide if it was an asset or liability. With everyone else in the room watching on, a draw was agreed and a relatively early night beckoned.
  Another top team effort, with a shout out to Graeme for bringing home a full point and earning us the match draw.

Bury D arrived at Manningtree with three 'Harrisons' but a board down, defaulting on Board 1 due to illness. As the remaining boards got underway and out of the openings, it seemed unlikely that any of them would result in a draw, with each having several imbalances.
  On Board 2, Bob found himself facing an all out attack on his king, with his opponent unleashing a kingside pawn storm and then sacrificing piece after piece to open things up. The attack did not really look sound however, and Bob confidently found the right moves and avoided the traps. Had he captured black's hanging rook he would have suffered checkmate by both bishops. Eventually white ran out of pieces, however, and having also opened up his king, resigned.
  Board 3 had even more fireworks. Facing a Nimzo-Larsen opening, Rod also fiancettoed his dark square bishop (these bishops stared each other down the whole match) and opposite side castling followed. Rod was fastest to open up lines against white's queenside king, and kept the initiative throughout the middle game. In the end there were just too many threats, with both bishops looking dangerous and both rooks on open files. Rod finished in style, shocking his opponent with a queen sacrifice on the back rank to create a forced mate.
  At this point things were also looking good on Board 4, with Graeme keeping one step ahead and winning one pawn and then a second. For this he gave up his 'good' light squared bishop, leaving the other bishop very inactive, and with a weak pawn on f4. Black steadily activated his pieces, and the number of variations to consider ate into Graeme's time. With a few minutes left, black offered Graeme a draw, and though his pieces were still a bit uncoordinated, Graeme rejected the offer as he was still a passed pawn up. Shortly afterwards, with time very short, Graeme missed a back rank check that dropped a whole knight, and the game was gone.
  Overall another good result for the team that keeps us in pole position for a second place finish.

While these two teams are very close on paper, there is an appreciable difference in their results this season, although not on this occasion. It was a close match from the start, especially on the top three boards where material equality was maintained for most of the match. And it was Rod who finished first. His opponent had opened with his unusual Stonewall pawn formation (d4, e3, f4) that Rod handled with care and eventually boiled it down to a rook and knight v rook and bishop ending with equal pawns. Barring disasters, this had looked like a draw for some time before it was eventually agreed.
  Bob followed a little later, playing his Modern system with double fiancettoed bishops. As the game developed Bob seemed to have a slight edge with his 4v3 king's side pawn majority as his opponent's 3v2 queen's side majority looked stalled. There was pressure exerted on both sides as the pieces were gradually traded off, eventually resulting in a bishop v knight ending. His opponent defended well, and although Bob commanded a lot more space there wasn't enough in it to break through those defences.
  Graeme's was easily the most entertaining board as it followed a familiar Graeme pattern, i.e. highly tactical and highly complicated. It sprang from a Ruy Lopez in which his opponent had played Nge7 (instead of the more reliable Nf6) which has the disadvantage of blocking in Black's dark squared bishop. Graeme immediately pounced on this and initiated a withering attack in the centre, and that bishop, as well as the king's rook never moved from their home squares. Graeme had already busted up the queen's side pawns, but his opponent still castled that side to avoid the heat in the centre, but the threats were numerous. Graeme's only disadvantage was a large deficit on the clock, but the pressure was too much for his opponent, who eventually more or less walked into a mate.
  This meant we could keep our unbeaten match deficit to one and all eyes now turned to Simon, who was coincidentally playing the same opponent he had faced the previous week in the Norfolk and Suffolk Cup, but with the black pieces this time. Simon's Caro-Kann appeared to be going quite well, but as the pieces came off his queen's side came under a lot of pressure that eventually gave his opponent a passed and protected c-pawn. Although material was level his opponent pressed his advantage and mistakes followed. The two rook and pawn ending meant that Simon was still in with a chance, even after his opponent went two pawns up, but his opponent was nothing if not persistent and after over 2½ hours of play he eventually sealed Simon's fate, although not by queening one of his pawns, but with his clock running down Simon went the wrong way with his king after being checked and got mated.

This was our final match of the season, and it was a showdown between the two contenders for second place in the table. League leaders Stowmarket had suffered a surprise hammering by Felixstowe the day before, but the half point they got was just enough to secure their place at the top. And this result puts us in great stead, for while it doesn't guarantee our second place, it means that Ipswich B will need to give Stowmarket an even bigger hammering of 4-0 to go above us. Not very likely but we will have to wait until the end of the month to find out.

Manningtree C Team return started with their opening game away to Ipswich D Team.
  David, playing Black on board 2, was the first game to finish after a delayed start as David's original opponent failed to show and was substituted by Martyn Colebrook. David had to defend against a strong attack by Martyn and after holding the advance off was able to slowly push forward. Once he was able to play his rook to e3, threatening to win a pawn and pushing forward to obtain a Queen, his opponent defended with his knight missing that by doing so David was able to mate with his rook.
  Next to finish was Martin playing black on board 4. This game started off steady although Martin's opponent failed to capitalise on an early mistake by Martin, which would have resulted with Martin being a piece down. After developing the pieces and both side castling Martin put everything into an attack with as many elements as possible, this was beaten back and his opponent then mustered his own attack, which was successful ending in him winning with checkmate using a rook and queen.
  Jim's game finished next with Jim playing white on board one. This game was hard fought with both sides attacking but as the game went on Jim started to get on top and with a strong finish with his Queen and rooks won the game.
  All eyes were now on board three where Adrian was playing white against his opponent and at one point Adrian looked like he was going to mate but his opponent held him off and pressed on to win the game and a share of the points.

Manningtree C were on good form tonight against one of the newest teams in the Suffolk League, Sudbury C. Sudbury haven't had a second team in the League since 2011-12, although you would have to go back to 1990-91 to find another Sudbury C. The difference today however, is that there is no Sudbury B. Such are the peculiarities of Suffolk Chess.
  On paper Sudbury C are the weakest team in the league, but what they lack in rating points they make up for in enthusiasm. Martin's game got off to a flying start, and they were well into the middle game while the rest were still negotiating the opening. Unfortunately Martin starting to lose material, and his opponent concentrated on exchanging pieces so by the time the ending came Martin was a whole rook down. When the final pair of knights were exchanged Martin had nothing but pawns to fend of his opponent's rook and resigned.
  Adrian levelled the match in what was a very unusual game. His opponent opened with 1.h4 and started advancing pawns on both wings. Adrian kept his cool and played sensibly and carefully and managed to turn the game comfortably in his favour.
  John put us ahead with his customary Nimzo-Larsen, but was more or less out of the book by about move two. Changing tactics he swung to a more conventional queen's pawn opening and won a pawn in the middle game and had a strong grip on the centre. His opponent decided to give up the exchange to relieve the pressure, and after John forced the exchange of queens the rook pair proved decisive.
  Jim stretched that lead after a game that was difficult to classify. His opponent attacked with little regard to casualties and while Jim had to be very careful, he went from being the exchange up to being a whole rook up come the ending. It was a peculiar rook though, having not moved from h8, and blocked in by his king it didn't seem to be doing much, but it proved crucial in defending the king's position as Jim moved in for the final assault.
  A pleasing result for the team that puts us on top of the table, but only because half the teams below us are still to play their opening match.

No Sax Please, we're British - well not quite, but there was very little sight of Saxmundham this week as most of their players would appear to have disappeared for one reason or another. Yesterday on Tuesday 8th they could only muster one player for their home match against Ipswich Sports Club, giving the latter a significant advantage in their challenge for the top spot. Today it was again just one solitary player making up the team for their away fixture against our C-Team. It would appear that Saxmundham B had attempted to spread the word of their impending defaults within their own team, although it would have been nice if they had spread it to us, or at least to their solitary player who turned up completely unaware that he was the sole representative of his team tonight.
  Unfortunately the advantage this conferred on Manningtree C, keeping us on top of the table, was far from welcome; the last thing we want is to finish in the promotion position for Division Two. We gave our opposition 15 minutes before starting their clocks, thinking they had been held up in traffic - we all know the journey between Manningtree and Saxmundham can be troublesome at times. Unfortunately their solitary player could not start his game because he didn't know what board he was playing on, so after five more minutes we called their captain half expecting him to be driving, or stuck on the Orwell Bridge, but he was in fact stuck in hospital. Now that we were in the picture we considered Adrian to be the most appropriate player to be lined up against Hugo Brown and they finally got under way. Adrian handled himself well with the black pieces and in a pretty level game throughout it wasn't long before a draw was agreed.

Bury E may be the lowest rated team in the league, but not by much. However they are clearly using this team to break in their novices as they have only played one of their nominated squad so far in both of their two matches, and with the same result in each. It's a pity we didn't have David and Martin available for this match, it would have made it a little more even, but we are grateful for our newest member John H (and Graeme) for stepping up to avoid any defaults.
  John M finished first after his opponent threw caution to the wind as well as a couple of pieces in the sort of attack you don't often see these days, but which can still make you think just in case you've missing something. John H was next and was likewise faced with the sort of opening moves you don't often see, but he played sensibly and deserved the full point. Graeme made it 3-0, but was getting slightly concerned that it was taking him so long. He had won the exchange and was slowly but surely pressing home his advantage. After putting up a lot of resistance, once Graeme had taken control of the seventh his opponent's position collapsed very quickly. Adrian was facing the only one of their team who was from their nominated squad, and it was clear that he was a lot more experienced than his team mates (he was also the only one of their nominated squad to play in their previous match). He had handled Adrian's English pretty well which led to a finely balanced middle game, but then almost out of the blue, the advantage seemed to swing in his favour. Adrian was facing a dangerous incursion from a queen and knight, and suddenly found himself having to give up his queen for both enemy rooks. As it turned out this was quite a fortuitous exchange as it quite unexpectedly led to mating net.
  A common characteristic among beginners is to never give up regardless of the position, and Bury's beginners were no different - all four had to be mated to end their games. This result puts us two points clear at the top - now this was definitely not in the plan! But if it was you can be sure that we wouldn't be here. We can't go on winning like this, division two is no place for us. Come on Saxmundham B and Ipswich C, pull your fingers out.

We knew at the start of the season that with only one substitute for this team that we would run the risk of having to default the odd board or two, and tonight that happened. But all things considered we haven't done too badly as this will remain the only one in this half of the season.
  Jim and John both had fairly straightforward wins, but things did not go so smoothly on board three. Adrian thought he was going to win the exchange but instead came away a piece down and was then fighting an uphill battle to stay in the game. He tried to make things as difficult for his opponent as possible (who, give him his due) played his advantage very well and snuffed out any counter play while gradually increasing that advantage until it was overwhelming.
  This result still sees us top of the table, but with Ipswich C having two games in hand there's every chance they'll overtake us by Christmas.

It was cold and dark as we headed off to Sudbury, and it's a good job John had Jim in the car with him for when they encountered a road closure in Hadleigh he wouldn't have known which way to go other than turn back, and would no doubt have been very late. But after a detour around a single track road, which fortunately saw no oncoming traffic, they arrived at the Quay Theatre in good time.
 The risk we knew we would have to take on entering a C-Team this season struck again and unfortunately we had to default our board four, so we started the match a point down. But there is some compensation in that because we don't get to stretch our lead at the top - the last thing we need is promotion. John finished first and put the match level, but it was not plain sailing. His opponent's first four moves were, h4, g4, g5 and c3, which unsettled him a bit as he didn't quite know what to do for the best. As the game wore on John's main advantages were a passed, protected f-pawn and his opponent's underdevelopment, but everything else was level. Finally the opportunity presented itself to win his opponent's h or g pawn, but in protecting them with his, as yet undeveloped knight, his opponent forgot that that knight was protecting a rook, which was now en-prise and immediately taken. His opponent played on for a while, but after leaving another piece en-price he resigned soon after.
 It wasn't long after that that Jim finished his game and put us in front. He had faced a Caro-Kann and immediately took his opponent out of the book. This had the desired effect and won him an early pawn and an advantageous position. Jim kept up the pressure, but it wasn't until the ending that his opponent finally cracked and lost a rook, and unlike Sudbuty's board two, he resigned immediately.
 David was looking good for another full point, and like Jim he had won a pawn in the opening. His young opponent however was very tenacious and put up stubborn resistance, and David was using a lot of time trying to find a way through. While his extra pawn was not of itself very much (two of his pawns were isolated and doubled) his pieces were well placed and he had a good special advantage. With still much to play for, but with the tide swinging in his opponent's favour, it was the clock that defeated him in the end and levelled the match.
 We remain top of the table but Ipswich C's 4-0 thumping of Bury E puts them only two points behind us with two games in hand. Surely that's going to be enough for them to take the promotion spot away from us.

We managed our first four matches of the season with success, but unfortunately due to reasons beyond our control we have had to field our third default in a row. And with it our fourth draw, which means (on the brighter side) that we are still unbeaten in the league, although we have had to surrender the top spot to Sudbury, albeit temporarily.
  John M was the first to finish, and can consider himself very lucky to have come away with the full point. His opening was careless and he had to give up two knights for a rook. He then had his first lucky break when his opponent miscalculated a sacrificial attack, giving up a knight for two pawns. After the queens came off he had the exchange for two pawns, but his own three pawns were all isolated, and in keeping hold of them he was reduced to repeating moves. His opponent declined the third repetition only to blunder his bishop, and with two rooks v one, the end was no longer in doubt.
  John H, who followed next, is the newest member of our squad, playing in only his second match for the team. Unfortunately he wasn't able to maintain his 100% record, although he came out of the opening with a clearly winning position. Unfortunately he missing the winning continuation and got his queen trapped, forcing him to give up the exchange in order to save it. After that he was on the back foot and then worse was to come when he lost a piece and went into the endgame with just a king facing a king and rook as well as an ultimate mate.
  Jim pulled up the rear in a long and finely balanced Sicilian. As the game wore on Jim's position always looked the better, but there were no knockout blows in the offing. After the final pair of rooks were exchanged it was an ending with same colour bishops, a knight and five pawns each. It was still a tough nut to crack, but with some very accurate play on Jim's part, helped by a few inaccuracies from his opponent, Jim was able to establish a passed and protected c-pawn two rows from queening, which tied his opponent's king and gave Jim free range to pick off the enemy pawns on the other wing. Well it would have done had his opponent not resigned at the prospect.
  Our next match is a month away against bottom of the table Bury E, when we are likely to jump ahead of Sudbury in the table again, but by then, if Ipswich C do their job we should be able to cede the top spot to them for the rest of the season.

Manningtree C are one of only three teams in the league without a match defeat so far this season, and may that run continue. Bury C are not the weakest team in this division according to their nominations, but they have been using this team to initiate a lot of novices and two thirds of their boards have been filled with such players, which does make it the weakest side in practice, hence their position in the table. Even so, they put up a creditable fight that was more creditable than the score-line suggests.
  Starting at the top, Graeme's opponent played the English and kept the position very tight by always selecting defensive options at every opportunity. After a bit of manoeuvring Graeme got both of his knights very active, causing headaches for his opponent, who attempted to relieve the pressure by exchanging a rook for a pawn and one of the knights. However, Graeme managed to double his rooks on an open file and it was soon game over.
  Early in his game John M's opponent surrendered a knight for nothing rather than lose the exchange and a pawn. But with nothing else off the board except a pawn each, John found it very hard to find a plan, especially as his opponent seemed to find just the right moves to foil each attempt at simplification. It took another thirty moves (which included a narrow escape when it looked for a moment as if John would have to give the piece back to avoid a back rank mate) for his opponent slip up and allow John to force the exchange of the queens, which effectively ended the game.
  David found his opponent to be steady and careful and after an even opening David was offered an early draw, which he of course declined. He then pushed on, slowing exchanging pieces and making headway down the board until he had a clear advantage in a rook and pawn ending. He continued pushing and furthered that advantage until his opponent resigned on move 53.
  John H gained an early advantage by capturing his opponent's knight on h6 with a bishop and thus opening up the g file, exposing the enemy king. But two moves later he missed a discovered attack, losing a knight, which got worse when a passed d pawn was heading for promotion. Eventually he was able to bring his queen to bear on the exposed king clearing three pawns in the process, but in removing the threat posed by the d pawn he had to give up the exchange, and was now a rook for three pawns down. However, with just a queen left on the board John gratefully found a perpetual check and thus salvaged half a point.
  A nice win for the team, which keeps us comfortably in second place, which is exactly where we want to be.

We were pushing our luck in keeping our unbeaten run going tonight, at least on board two, but sometimes you need a bit of luck, and this welcome bit keeps us on track of emulating out B and C teams and finishing second in the table.
  John H's opponent responded to his king's pawn opening with a fianchettoed bishop on g7. The early play was then all pawns and knights leading to a very congested centre. By move 24 all four knights had gone and John was a pawn down, but with a better pawn structure. Unfortunately he then overlooked a pawn advance, hitting a bishop in the centre while exposing his rook on a1 to that fianchettoed bishop and he was then a bishop down. Worse followed when he lost the exchange to a fork from the other bishop and was now a rook down. After the queens were exchange John bowed to the inevitable and resigned at move 33. All in all, a decent start to a game that quickly unravelled through the complexities of a busy board.
  John M levelled the score, but for the second time in three games he gave away a piece in the opening, and for the second time in three games his opponent let him off the hook by failing to spot it. It was another Nimzo-Larsen that didn't go too well after his opponent played unfamiliar responses to the main line, and John was on the back foot for most of the middle game. Just when the tide was turning into a comfortable ending John thought he could win the exchange, but it was a trap and he lost the exchange instead. However, his rook and bishop were far better placed that his opponent's pair of rooks, and while it was looking good for a draw his opponent overlooked a double check that lost his one of his rooks and he promptly resigned.
  Jim then put us in front with a Sicilian that should have been a French, and was gifted a piece in the transition. But his opponent wasn't about to throw in the towel and Jim had to work hard for his win. It took a rather long time before he was eventually able to swap off the pieces and simplify the situation and convert that piece into a win.
  Last to finish was David who was playing black against Hugo Smith who played the Orangutan (b4, Bb2, e3) which is an opening David had not played against before. It was a well fought game and produced a lot of queen's side pressure, which eventually gave Hugo a passed (but isolated) a pawn. David slowly got on top of the game, attacking and advancing his pieces, but Hugo defended extremely well and he pushed that isolated a pawn, which resulted in David having to exchange pieces in order to neutralise it. After the dust settled David had a rook and three pawns to his opponent's knight and four pawn. However, his own pawns were in a mess and after a few moves of king and rook dodging the knight while holding on to those pawns a draw was agreed, and with it came our fifth match win.

There were ten boards being played tonight as our C-Team played alongside our Norfolk and Suffolk Cup team, and some of the games in both matches bore an unusual resemblance - quite a few of them went 12-15 moves before so much as a pawn was exchanged.
  David was the first to finish, putting us in front and on track to keep our unbeaten run of matches intact. It started lively enough, but when David won the exchange he was always on top and when his opponent lost his other rook for nothing he immediately resigned.
  John finished next and the score was levelled. John had played a cautious opening having fianchettoed his kings bishop and castled safely behind it. His opponent had responded with a king's pawn opening and pawns started clogging the centre with all pieces still on the board after 13 moves. John exchanged a bishop for a knight on f6, opening up the g-file, but his pieces were tied down on the other wing by some dangerously advancing black pawns, spearheaded by two that were protected and passed. John countered on the king's side but his opponent then sprang an elegant checkmate with his queen on f2 supported by a bishop to finish the game before other pent up threats had unwound.
  Jim kept the match score level after a tough positional game, which was one of those that progressed well into the middle game before anything came off the board. Eventually Jim was able to plant a knight in the heart of his opponent's position, and in removing it a series of exchanges followed that led to a rook and opposite coloured bishop ending. With equal pawns the prospects of this ending in anything other than a draw were slim indeed, so Jim, somewhat reluctantly took the half point.
  This just left Graeme, whose game started as a Ruy Lopez, but it didn't go very far down the well trodden paths before Graeme sacrificed a pawn to break up his opponent's queen's side pawns giving him a clear advantage. As the game progressed however, things got rather complicated, with both players threatening mates in one way or another. There appeared to be simultaneous king hunts going on and each player had to be careful with their own hunt lest they slip up behind. One thing was certain, this board wasn't going to end in a draw, so the match was in the balance for some time before Graeme's hunt finally captured its prey first and gave us our sixth match win of the season.

Both Ipswich C and Manningtree C were the only two teams left in all three divisions that hadn't lost a match so far this season, so the questions was, would it remain that way or would it end with just one team remaining undefeated? Unfortunately the odds were stacked against us as we were only able to raise three players tonight and had to concede a default for the fourth time this season. Mind you we had our chances and a 2-2 draw was a definite possibility after John H put us level.
  John had played a Sicilian, which followed the usual exchange of pawns on d4 and king's side castling. White had a tempo as John retired his knight to h7 anticipating an attack on the diagonal with bishop and queen. White then threatened a queen/rook canon up the d-file, in which John declined a queen exchange until White forced it a little later. Fortune smiled as his opponent miscalculated the consequential exchanges at either end of the d-file, and instead of just coming out of it a piece up, John came away with a whole rook. The rest of the material was level with five pawns and a knight apiece and John had a full twenty minute time advantage, therefore without much further play his opponent resigned.
  With the game now levelled things were looking reasonably good on the other two boards. John M had faced a Vienna, which he hadn't seen for about forty years, and soon developed a good looking queen's side attack after his opponent castled long. Unfortunately he underestimated his opponent's counter on the king's side until it was too late and he was on the back foot for the rest of the game. Also unfortunate was the fact that his opponent didn't put a foot wrong for the rest of the game after John chose the wrong defensive strategy.
  It was now down to Jim to keep our record intact and he looked to be doing just that. He had deployed a King's Indian to his opponent's Caro-Kann and developed a strong initiative, especially after his opponent has castled long. Huge pressure on the enemy king down the b and c files gave his opponent quite a headache, but he managed to keep things together, largely because Jim's light squared bishop was out of the game on g2. In the end Jim had to give up his queen for two pawns and two rooks in order to defend his back rank, and while he was no doubt still theoretically winning, he had very little time and one false move could spell disaster. Not wishing to risk that Jim offered a draw, which his opponent was happy to take, especially as it maintains Ipswich C's 100% match record. We face them again in our last match of the season, it will be interesting to see if we can't put a dent in that then.

Up until last week Manningtree C hadn't lost a single league match this season, tonight's result makes it two in a row. We weren't helped by the fact that we were a player short, but not because we didn't have a full team, we did but we had to transfer one of our number to the B-Team, one of whom had missed his train and couldn't make it. We still hold on to our second place in the table, behind the runaway leaders Ipswich C, but we need to return to winning ways if we are to finish there.
  David finished first tonight and was doing fine until he slipped up in the middle game and lost his queen for a knight. He battled on gamely but his opponent wasn't about to return the favour and simply piled on the pressure until all hope was gone.
  John M finished next having faced a King's Gambit, which was a strange coincidence as he'd faced his first King's Gambit in over a decade less than two weeks prior. He took his opponent out of the main book lines and the game was finely balanced but eventually petered out into a bishop v knight ending. In his haste to get his pawns off the light coloured square not covered by his bishop, his opponent missed a killer on the opposite wing that lost him all of his pawns and resigned as the last one was about to fall.
  With the match now one down it was down to John H to attempt a rescue. John's game was a regular king's pawn opening, which he followed up with pawn advances to dominate the centre. After move 17 all of his opponent's pieces, with the exception of two pawns, were stuck on the first two ranks. This resulted in something off a standoff as the enemy king was heavily defended and John was unable to penetrate so he offered a draw on move 26. His opponent declined and eventually the board eased up and options appeared after two simple exchanges. With time ticking away John made a catastrophic oversight allowing his queen to get pinned against the king by a rook, supported by a distant bishop. And that ended it, and the match.

Tonight's result has done us no favours in our hopes of emulating our other two teams and finishing second in the table. We're still in with a chance, but we have to face runaway leaders Ipswich C, while Ipswich D take on Sudbury C in our final matches so it will come as no surprise therefore if Ipswich D are able to overcome the one point lead we currently have on them.
  John H finished first tonight having played a Sicilian in which his very young opponent castled queenside. White's pieces were better developed while John started pushing pawns against the castled position. White moved his rooks to the other wing, under an obscured threat from John's diagonal bishop, resulting in a finely balanced game with good opportunities for both sides. At this point John made a suicidal error by moving his knight to attack a trapped rook before he'd moved his bishop both to snap up a free pawn and to support the knight. The knight was lost for nothing, but the game continued routinely for a while, despite the imbalance, with an exchange of queens. It was edging to a painful checkmate for John, with a rook and knight squeezing his king into the corner.
  The other boards were looking reasonably good, although Jim was engaged in a tough fight that resulted from his King's Indian response to his opponent's French. Jim had won a pawn as the game developed but he found it difficult to capitalise on it as it wasn't without significant compensation for his opponent who was able to exert considerable pressure. Without a clear path to victory for either side a draw was eventually agreed.
  John M found his opponent's English difficult to break down at first, but he eventually picked up a crucial pawn that led to an advantageous knight and pawn ending. His opponent then virtually handed the game to him on a plate by offering the exchange of knights with a check, which unfortunately hit a blind spot, so instead of exchanging the knights John moved out of check instead. This allowed his opponent, who could hardly believe his luck, to exchange the knights himself. This single blunder turned a pawn ending that could have won itself into one that was completely lost.
  With only half a point to our name we were now facing our third match defeat in a row, and it was up to David to make that defeat look a little bit more respectable. And he was doing very well, having had a bit of luck earlier in the game, he had won the exchange and was developing a strong attack on the enemy king. The pressure was mounting and his opponent cracked by placing his knight on a square that he thought was safe, but realised it wasn't when David took it. His opponent couldn't recapture the rook or he would have been mated on what would have become an open h file, so he attempted a perpetual against David's rather exposed king instead, but run out of checks very quickly. David could have got there quicker by lining his rooks up on the h file instead of the g file, but he got there in the end giving us a valuable point that returned us back to second in the table after spending a day in third place.

We didn't manage to put a dent in Ipswich C's record this season, who remain the only team in the league without a match defeat. Mind you our U1800 team were undefeated, which was more important as that competition is determined on match points rather than board points. The chances are the league itself will follow suit sooner or later.
  After three successive league defeats our C-Team's hold on the second position had shrunk from 4½ points with a game in hand to just a single point. And in the final matches we were facing the league leaders, while Ipswich D, our rival for second place, faced Sudbury who they had defeated 3-1 in their first encounter earlier in the season. The omens were not looking good.
  John M was immediately thrown out of his book when his opponent responded 1 … f5 to his 1.b3. An alternative strategy was therefore required, so while taking control of the centre and attacking down the queen's side, he found one. David didn't come out of the opening too well, and was facing pressure down the centre as well as a broken queen's side. He put up stubborn resistance but the damage was already done and his opponent took full advantage.
  John H faced a Sicilian that included an aggressive placement of the enemy queen on d3 before John had been able to castle. The exchange of queens soon followed which resulted in a series of exchanges on the d-file and the c1-h6 diagonal. His opponent had castled long and strong pressure netted him two queen's side pawns. He then initiated a series of exchanges in order to strip the board of all its pieces leaving an easily won king and pawn ending. And unlike their previous encounter, John's opponent didn't miscalculate the exchanges this time.
  Bob played his usual Modern opening, which developed into a very aggressive game. Bob had managed to take control of the seventh with both rooks and support from his queen, and was threatening a mate in one, but before countering it his opponent initiated a mating attack of his own with an exchange sacrifice. Things looked decidedly dodgy but Bob managed to find the correct defence at the cost of retreating his queen. It was now a finely balanced position that could have gone either way depending on who messed up first, and seeing no more than a repetition of moves a draw was agreed.
  This result put us 2½ points clear of Ipswich D, who would leapfrog us if they took 2½ or more from Sudbury in their match taking place at the same time in Ipswich. As it happened, Ipswich D only managed to take 2 points from Sudbury, leaving us feeling very satisfied to have achieved our goal, although it was a very close run thing. It might be a little churlish to pint out though, that had this league been based on match points, Ipswich D would have finished above us.

This was our first match defending the only trophy we currently hold, and it was comforting to know that we had our full squad out to do it. You may have noticed that tonight's fixture, along with May's final, are exact repeats of last year's, fixtures, not exactly desirable, but hardly surprising considering the size of the field. But with a weaker Ipswich this year we expected an easier ride to the final, and while the score-line is better than last year, it was by no means an easier ride.
  When Ipswich's board 1 arrived almost exactly at 7:30, just as the players were settling down at their respective boards, he immediately went to sit at board 3 because that's where he usually sits, and indeed where he did sit last year. He was a little taken aback when his captain corrected him and pointed him towards board 1, which he departed for with a wry smile.
  As the match started, Panagiotis and Rowland were both immediately off the blocks, with Andy and Phil taking it more cautiously, although there were early queen excursions on all four boards. Panagiotis was showing no mercy on board 1 and was soon in control. Andy's early queen excursion followed a pawn sacrifice from his opponent that allowed Andy to force the exchange of queens into a highly advantageous endgame, which Andy won comfortably with a minority attack against his opponent's King. Phil's opponent gave up his c-pawn in an English but it proved to be a very tricky game, while Rowland produced his usual array of complications that seemed to bamboozle his opponent. With the final result of the first round at 3-1 we thought we could relax, there was no way we wouldn't get the 1½ points we needed in the next round was there?
  Well, Panagiotis was again off at lightening speed and while the material remained level, he certainly looked to have the advantage, especially after the exchanges left his opponent with an isolated pawn that was a prime target. And at this stage (passed move 30) Panagiotis still had more time on his clock than he did when he started. However, when the final pair of minor pieces came off leaving a two rook and four pawn ending things started to slow down. Somehow his opponent had managed to get both of his rooks on the seventh and Panagiotis' rooks were reduced to defending mating threats from two directions. But Panagiotis declined a draw at this stage because the situation on the other boards was far from clear.
  It wasn't long after that, that Phil went down, which was somewhat against the run of play. He came out of the opening with a slight plus, and he looked good for at least a draw. Even after the pieces came off, his bishop against knight with equal pawns looked better, but with time running low he missed a number of knight manoeuvres that left him in dire straights facing a 4-2 pawn deficit, and with his opponent's king entering the fray there was nothing left but to throw in the towel.
  The outcome of the match was now definitely in doubt, we still needed one point from Andy and Rowland and that looked in jeopardy making the possibility of a blitz decider uncomfortably close.
  Andy's second game was decidedly less comfortable than his first. His opponent had again sacrificed an opening pawn, but it didn't seem to be the right opening in which to do so and Andy played on a pawn up with no compensation for his opponent. His opponent also helped by occasionally forgetting to press his clock, not the sort of thing you want to do in a rapid play game. Andy increased his advantage with a second pawn but as the ending approached he was running desperately low on time and a killer blow seemed illusive. The tension was not helped by the fact that Rowland's board was a chaotic mess that could go either way, so we were desperately hoping that Andy would not have to settle for a draw because he had run out of time. It was a long five minutes when, on move 43, Andy's opponent played a rook to the seventh, overlooking the fact that he had walked into a mating net, and finally the tension was gone and Panagiotis could go back to his board to accept a draw.
  Rowland was dicing with death in a game that at times looked as though the pieces had been assembled on the board at random. Rowland would not agree with that assessment, "I had it all under control" he said, although he very nearly won the game on time when his opponent was literally down to his last second when making a critical move. A point was reached where Rowland could repeat moves around his opponent's undefended king, or set up a mate in one and hope that his opponent would not find a mate at the other end of the board. He chose the latter and a king hunt followed, which Rowland had correctly calculated would not succeed and when his opponent ran out of checks and could not defend the mate in one, he resigned.
  The final score line was very much more than we had anticipated just ten minutes earlier, but as they say in football, it doesn't matter if it goes in off the knee, the shin or your backside, so long as it goes in that's all that matters.

We played Stowmarket in our first match of the season and they gave us a bit of a drubbing, which is the only league defeat we have so far suffered. Mind you, that is the only match this season that Stowmarket have been at full strength, which is probably why we are still above them in the table. Tonight we met them again, this time in the first round of the Divisional Rapid Play Cup, and they were almost at full strength again, missing only their board four. That probably goes a long way in explaining the improved score line, even though we still lost.
  And talking about lost, we were in danger of that being just that on our journey there. First, an accident on the A14 at the Needham Market junction, although only a minor detour was involved, but there was a long queue getting to it. And then there where major road works in Stowmarket itself, which had closed all of the approach roads leading to The Rookery, Stowmarket's venue. After several attempts at penetrating the barricades we ended up having to park in a nearby supermarket car park and get collected by Stowmatket's captain and guided on foot for the last few hundred yards. Our twenty minute buffer was less than five by the time we got there.
  The first round saw us beaten 3-1, but at times Bob and Graeme were so close in their games that we could so easily have had one, or even one and a half points from their boards. The second round was a much more respectable 2-2 in which the highlight was Simon's very impressive draw against his much higher rated opponent.
  This result sees us ejected from the competition, which is a great shame as we made it to the final last year, being narrowly beaten 4-4 by Woodbridge on board elimination.

The least said about tonight's performance the better, but at least we went out to the current holders of the competition. Thankfully Adrian saved us from a whitewash, and while both Martin and David put up a good fight and deserved to come away with at least something, John threw away 1½ points on a single move in each of his games. And as they say in the world of football, this gives us the chance to concentrate on the league, although that's not something we necessarily want to do.

Our history in the Norfolk and Suffolk Cup is a bit sketchy. We entered a team in the 1981-82 season and were knocked out in the first round by Felixstowe. After that we don't appear to have made an appearance until 2017-2018, and since then we have made only two more appearances and have been knocked out on each occasion by Bury St Edmunds. And the only team we have hitherto beaten in this competition is Saxmundham (apart from a 6-0 default win over Ipswich). Tonight we had just about the strongest team we could muster while Bury were without a couple of their stronger players who can't mange Wednesdays. Not a good omen for Bury as Ipswich, Woodbridge and Sudbury have all switched their match nights to Wednesdays.
  First to finish was Rowland, and by a long way. With less than an hour's play and with some boards still without so much as a pawn exchanged, Rowland offered a draw. It was a familiar position in a line that he knew well that always peters out to a draw, so Rowland decided it expedient to short circuit the process.
  It was a very long time before Panagiotis followed suit, although he could have taken the draw a quarter of an hour earlier. He was once again waiting to see how the other boards were developing before making the decision. It was a tricky game in which both sides took a long time castling and as the ending approached Panagiotis gave up both of his rooks for his opponent's queen. Panagiotis was confident however that he wouldn't lose, but also knew that squeezing a win out of it would be very difficult. Once he was satisfied that the team was looking comfortable enough on the remaining four boards he accepted the draw.
  It wasn't long after that that Bob followed suit having weathered a rather stormy attack in which his opponent sacrificed a bishop for three central pawns. Bob showed how well two knights can stop advancing pawns if you place them on the right squares, especially when you can cut off the enemy king with a rook on the seventh. The initiative still seemed to be with his opponent however, but he had the disadvantage of being way down on the clock, and agreed a draw as he couldn't see a way to advance his pawns any further.
  With the match still level, the points now started rolling in. On board two, Mark Le Vine adopted an unprepossessing Hippopotamus formation against Andy's English, not troubling to develop a piece beyond his third rank until move 19. And still at this point, after nearly two hours of play, not so much as a pawn had come off the board. Andy then seized the light squares and launched a king's side attack, sacrificing a piece for two pawns on move 26, and an exchange on move 31. Mark could do nothing except return material, but Andy's initiative continued unabated.
  Simon had faced a delayed Englund Gambit which led to a very tactical middlegame. It also led to a large time advantage for Simon and by the time they reached the ending his opponent was playing on the increments. With both side developing strong attacks on their opposite number's king, Simon was offered a rook (with check to boot) but should he take it? Those watching were doubtful, but take it he did, and facing a mate in one Simon pulled out the move he knew would save him, a queen check that would force the exchange of queen's and leave his opponent helpless.
  The match was now in the bag, we were two up with just Phil's game to finish. Phil's opponent had gone for a large queen's side expansion, which didn't bother Phil too much as he concentrated down the centre and was able to place a knight on a commanding square in the heart of his opponent's position. Phil eventually won the exchange and pressed his advantage which eventually led to the collapse of his opponent's position culminating in the loss of his queen.
  We knew we were in with a chance tonight, but we came away with a larger winning margin than we thought possible. If we defeat Ipswich in the final round it could be the first time a club other than Ipswich or Bury to have won the Suffolk section of this cup. We will need to do a little more digging in the records to know that for sure.

Back in the day every club in the league used to enter a team in the N&S Cup even though it was a forgone conclusion that Ipswich would always emerge as the winners. But like the FA Cup, the minnows still entered, and for much the same reason as they have always entered - to see how far they can get. Records of this competition are sparse, but we do have a record of an entry by Manningtree as one of the minnows back in 1981-1982 when we were knocked out in the first round by Felixstowe. Since then, the only time we have a record of entering a team again was nearly forty years later in 2017-2018 when there were just four entrants, although there were many occasions before that when there were only two entrants, Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds. We may have created history tonight as being the first club other than Ipswich or Bury to win this half of the competition. If we find out one way or the other you'll hear about it here.
  We had a good line up for tonight's match, but Ipswich have a lot of strength in depth, so even without Guillermo Beneyto (2073) this promised to be a very close match. We were expecting our points to come from the top, with the middle holding their own and the bottom holding anything they could lay their hands on. And as things got under way there were some somewhat unusual opening lines developing.
  The first to finish was Bob, a Modern opening with doubled fianchettoed bishops that developed into a remarkably symmetrical game with echoes of a Stonewall formation by both sides. Bypassing the centre, his opponent began a pawn advance on the king's side which didn't get far and as the pieces were traded in the centre each side converted that Stonewall formation into two chains of pawns running from the a2-d5 and a7-d4 diagonals, crossing at their peaks and giving each a passed protected d-pawn. Bob appeared to have a slight initiative, but in the final queen, rook and bishop ending there was never enough for either side to force anything decisive.
  It wasn't long before Andy followed suit. In an English Catalan, Andy saddled his opponent with doubled isolated c-pawns on move 8, and seemed on his way to a comfortable positional advantage. However, he was in too much of a hurry to exchange queens, and underestimated his opponent's piece activity. Andy lost a pawn, and stood slightly worse when a draw was agreed on move 23.
  Rowland then gave us what we needed, a whole point to put us in front. Rowland's answer to his opponent's Sicilian was the rarely seen (or even heard of) Freak Attack in the Najdorf Variation. That's Rg1 followed by g4 and after that all sorts of chaos. There were times when it looked as though his opponent had weathered the storm, but Rowland always seemed to find more ways to complicate things further and to give his opponent few options. In the end his opponent did manage to fend off the numerous mating threats, but at the cost of a rook, and shortly after that he resigned.
  Panagiotis finished next keeping us one point ahead. He had faced a very aggressive expansion of central pawns, which were soon joined by the g-pawn. He appeared to be quite unconcerned with this king's side aggression and played it cool while concentrating on the queen's side. An entertaining, if somewhat baffling game developed in which the move rate was about twice that of the other boards. His opponent managed to hold the queen's side together and as the pieces were exchanged, and with just a queen and two minor pieces each, Panagiotis sacrificed his bishop for two of the pawns in front of his opponent's king. It was a bold attempt, but as his own king looked sufficiently safe, especially as his opponent's pieces had to be deployed to defend their own king, and they managed to organise themselves very well in doing just that. After persistent attempts to break through were countered, and after carefully considering the state of the remaining two boards, Panagiotis accepted the draw.
  With just boards four and six remaining Ipswich would need to win both of them to overtake us, for 1½ points would not be enough for they would lose on board count. And that is no doubt the reason these two boards continued as long as they did as both were as good as decided half an hour or so before they actually finished.
  Graeme faced an English and unlike most of Graeme's games, this one developed into a very careful and positional game without any of the complicated fireworks we so often see. In fact, it was only after an hour and a half's play when they had just reached move thirteen that the first exchange took place. With the pawns more or less locked, a half open c-file on which Graeme's backward c-pawn stood became the target for his opponent's pieces. Graeme however have sufficient recourses to defend it and offered a draw. His opponent jumped up to check the state of the match and returned to play on. While keeping a close eye on that vulnerable pawn, Graeme pushed the only pawns unlocked on the other wing that resulted in his rook penetrating on h1. His opponent, while not actually in trouble, had to retreat his pieces to fend off the danger, allowing Graeme to simplify and put the draw beyond question as well as putting the match beyond Ipswich's reach.
  This just left the matter of Phil on board four. A Caro-Kann had developed into quite a complicated middlegame when Phil offered his h-pawn in front of his king. This looked a very dangerous offering, removing Phil's fianchettoed king's bishop and allowing a sacrificial attack on g6, and his opponent spent nearly fifteen minutes in deciding to take that h-pawn. Phil immediately got his pawn back and his opponent declined that sacrificial attack, but the series of exchanges that followed appeared to be about to leave Phil a piece up. The appearance was wrong; it left him two pieces up. His opponent's only compensation (if you can call it that) was isolated and passed a and h pawns, which he then set about advancing. Rather than push his own passed pawns, Phil decided to snuff out the advances of his opponent's pawns, but it wasn't until his opponent overlooked a discovered attack on his only remaining piece that he resigned.
  We came away therefore quite content with the fact that we hadn't lost a single board against a side that in the past dominated this competition. Now all we have to do is beat the Norfolk winners and take home this trophy for the first time.

We knew we would be up against it tonight, facing the Norfolk Champions who can boast six active players rated over 2000, and almost as many 1900 plus players to provide some considerable strength in depth. And we were without Phil, which didn't help either. Our best plan seemed to be, get wins on the top two boards and hope to squeeze at least one point from the other four. Not a very good plan as it puts extra pressure on the top two, as if they haven't got enough as it is. It would appear that Norfolk and Norwich were very well aware of all this, for while they failed to stop us getting that one point on the bottom four, they appeared to shut up shop (as they say in football parlance) on the top two boards and it's a great credit to both Andy and Panagiotis who persevered in what looked dead drawn positions to try and find a way in.
  Bob was the first to finish and got us half way to our initial target, having played a steady, fairly level game that whittled down to a queen, bishop and knight ending that offered little chance for either side to upset the balance.
  It was some time before Rowland followed this up, getting the other half of our initial target, although how he managed it is still a mystery. It started in typical Rowland fashion, tactical and sharp and it netted him a pawn in the complications. His opponent however found a neat trick to not only get his pawn back, but to put Rowland on the back foot, threatening to win at least a piece, and possibly more. Rowland did what he often does, and complicated the issue even more, but was still looking quite lost as he entered the ending a bishop and knight for a rook down. The clock became his ally as his opponent couldn't find the killer, and once the pawns were dismissed the draw was sealed.
  Graeme followed soon after and had come under sustained pressure in the opening from a queen and minor piece attack. Graeme had to tread very carefully, but he managed to soak up the pressure and once three of the minor pieces were sent off, a few judicious pawn moves and the remaining enemy pieces had to retreat. With a full compliment of pawns each the position was difficult for either side to make a breakthrough but Graeme attempted one, which achieved two things. It consumed considerably more of his time than his opponent's, and it cleared the central pawns, which exposed his king somewhat. Unfortunately he missed the move that would have seen him victorious and suffered a second wave of intense pressure that could not be fought off.
  It was now Jim's turn, playing in his third Norfolk and Suffolk Cup Final, having met Norfolk and Norwich twice before when playing for Ipswich in 1972 and again in 1978. A span of 53 years with a gap of 47 years has surely got to be a record. And as Ipswich won the trophy in 1978, Jim therefore knows what it's like to be on the winning side and take home the trophy. Alas, tonight he was not going to repeat that experience. After two hours of play his game was absolutely even. Jim had negotiated the opening and early middle game well, but unfortunately his third hour of play lacked the high level of accuracy required. As well as forgetting to press his clock, he opted for a line that swapped rooks in the hope of gaining control of the 7th rank. Instead his opponent played a simple rook move that Jim had overlooked and his opponent's weak and isolated pawn became a passed pawn and it was game over.
  The position of the match was now in the balance, we were two down and needed wins on both remaining boards to take the title on board count. The balance however was heavily leaning in Norfolk and Norwich's favour
  Andy obtained an early advantage out of an English, sacrificing a pawn for a bind on the dark-squares. His initiative persisted into a queen-less middle game, and his opponent's time ran short, less than five minutes by move 20 and playing on the increment as early as move 24. However, somehow the winning blow eluded Andy, and try as he may, the game ended in a draw after move 75.
  Panagiotis went for the Najdorf Sicilian, quickly mixed-up the move order and found himself in an unpleasant position as Black after the opening. White sacrificed the e pawn but did not follow up in the strongest way, allowing Panagiotis to counter-sacrifice his own e pawn to liquidate almost every piece and reach a rather balanced rook endgame. Although Panagiotis managed to create winning chances, eventually 'all rook endgames are drawn'.
  We could say better luck next year, but there would be a downside to winning a place in the final of this cup next year, we would have to travel to Norwich (or somewhere else in deep, dark Norfolk) which would mean getting home well after midnight.

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.

We were not unhappy with the overall result, although we came away thinking we could have done better. Graeme got us off to a good start in a complicated but level looking game that led to a rook and minor piece ending in which a phalanx of three pawns were camped on the fourth rank outside his opponent's king's position. His opponent then made a catastrophic pawn advance to disturb that phalanx that offered Graeme a mate in one from the rear, and he was more than happy to take it.
  Bob finished next in a game that looked pretty much even throughout, and with neither side able to gain significant advantage a draw was eventually agreed. A little later Rod eventually lost a very complicated game that on the surface looked quite good for him. While material was level, Rod's pawn structure was far the better, and we were hopeful of at least another half a point. But as we entered the ending Rod gave up a bishop for two pawns, which proved unsuccessful and the match was levelled.
  John brought up the rear having survived an unexpectedly tricky position from his Nimzo-Larsen but came out of the middlegame with a definite plus. However he failed to convert it in a rook and pawn ending, and while he declined a draw offer on move 41 he accepted it on move 42 after careful consideration brought home to him the fact that he had blown any chance of winning with what was left.
 This result takes Bury out of the running and there remains just the home and away matches between us and Ipswich to decide who finishes top. If we win just one of those matches the trophy is ours regardless of the result of the other one. If we draw them both we also take the trophy. What we can't afford is to lose one and draw the other (or worse, lose them both) so our eyes will be focused on April 16th and 23rd, and with a bit of luck we'll have it in the bag before the Easter break.

In the twenty five years that this competition has been running, we have only won it once before, back in 2016/17 when it was the U145. And that was the year that we won nearly everything. Since then our record has not been so great, finishing last more times than anywhere else. So it was great to reclaim this trophy, and doing so without even needing to complete our fixtures. It's just a pity the entrants were so sparse, but that doesn't detract for the achievement for the opposition was still very tough.

The only time we have won this trophy in the past was back in 2016/17, and we did so by the skin of our teeth when, in the final round, Bury's bottom board blundered to a much lower rated player, and our two bottom boards won completely drawn endings. Well tonight there no such issues, we won three of our matches and drew the fourth, giving us a clear lead at the top. Congratulations to the team who have given us our first trophy of the season.