As one can never predict the traffic flow through Bristol (and on the M5), most of us decided to leave early for the trip to Clevedon. As is typical when you do this, the traffic runs smoothly. By 7.10pm, Indy, Reinhold, Oli, and Dominique had arrived. The stars were shining brightly, but no light from the clubhouse. A couple of minutes later, the first Clevedon player arrived; not surprisingly it was Paul. He let us in, and all the chess sets were soon set up.

By 7.30pm everyone had arrived apart from Clevedon's board one. Paul and I swapped board orders and the match began. Max must have been doing a bit of late prep, as when he arrived he looked bemused to see Indy on board one. He told me later that he keeps on preparing for players, but never ends up playing them. They'd better watch out when he finally gets it right. Oli also looked a bit non-plussed when D.P.K started with Nf3. Oli had prepared for the right opponent, but not for this move.

The first to game to show some signs of wear was Ben v Dominique:

Dominique had infiltrated with his Queen and Knight, and as well as looking very dangerous, his Queen looked maybe a bit vulnerable. Ben created some enterprising counter threats of his own and it was all beginning to get very tactical. However, when Ben allowed the c4 push, Dominique was in the driving seat, and the tactics came together nicely. 0-1 to Downend.

Next to finish was Mark: He hadn't expected a French, so more prep out of the window on move 1. Fortunately for Mark, Matthew stumbled on move 8 leaving his King exposed and pieces poorly coordinated. Although no decisive attack was forthcoming, it was possible to facilitate some exchanages, for a comfortable Rook ending two pawns ahead. For the second match in a row Downend go 2 up.

On board one Indy went a pawn up, and things were looking very good. However, when the Queens came off, Indy's advantage was gone. Doubling up his Rooks, and actually sacrificing one of them to split up the pawns defending the king would have been the way to go. As it was, Max was now trying to create some sharp tactics of his own; on this occasion he was rewarded and Indy suddenly lost a piece. 1-2 to Downend.

Next to finish was Oli: DPK had been using a fair bit of time in the opening. Eventually, Queens were exchanged and Oli went a pawn up. David soon got it back, but when both Rooks came off, a six pawns plus same coloured bishop ending was left

Oli had two advantages: a more active King and a good Bishop v bad Bishop. 1-3 Downend

Graham was seemingly having a comfortable game, and several of David's pieces seemed to get tangled up. With several pieces lined up to attack black's Queen down the a-file, Graham position was beginning to look better and better. I was waiting to see if there was a winning sacrifice to break through - a Queen sacrifice, maybe? Coming back to the game a couple of minutes later, things must have slipped for Graham. David was now looking much more perky. They played on for a while but In the end a draw was agreed. Clevedon 1.5 - 3.5 Downend; the match win was now secured.

This was a bit of a relief, as Reinhold's position, which for a long time had been looking very comfortable became rather tense. Both he and Paul were going low on time and they then treated us to a blitz finish. Paul was trying to attack, but when Reinhold managed to get his King to safety on b7, and with both clocks down to literally a few seconds, the game quickly came to an end: Paul grabbed a pawn, Reinhold's expression showed that he had overlooked this. But hang on a couple of secs (literally), Reinhold finds the Queen check, and with the help of the supporting Rook; game over. The time scramble made it impossible for either player to be accurate and on this occasion Reinhold came out on top.

So, a 1.5 - 4.5 win for Downend B, but as always Clevedon fought hard, and as always, right to the end. Their ratings are lower than ours, but these statistics are not really accurate.

As is often said, "things could have turned out quite differently". In this case, this was 100% accurate.