Six highly entertaining games with plenty of attack and defence ended with two wins, two draws and two losses apiece (and a 4-2 win for the White pieces). There was much in common between boards 1 and 3: on both, we were attacking out of the opening but our resilient opponents were firmly entrenched behind solid walls. Mike was first to finish - once his attack was spent, Richard's Q emerged triumphant from behind the barricades and wreaked havoc behind Mike's lines.

Next up was Steve - our other White. His attack flowed with style. Once Ray yielded a N for two pawns, Steve was always in control A pretty finish to an attractive game perhaps makes this one an early contender for a spot on the club website. What do you think, Steve?

Then my game came to an unexpected early end. Having met every direct threat I could muster, John seemed nonplussed when I played a repositioning move that threatened nothing immediate. He shoved his Q to the heart of my position, perhaps hoping that would worry me, but his simultaneous draw offer removed any concerns I may have had. I attacked the Q, she retreated, we swapped bishops and I grabbed a pawn with check. Not wanting to play the Q ending a pawn down, John found and chased down a victim on a2, but his Q was hopelessly offside there and, despite the reduced material, I suddenly found myself with a mating attack.

This gave me time for a better look at the other positions. White (Andrew) had been doing well on 6 and still had a lot of pressure. Kier was defending magnificently, I thought. But at the end of every defence there's a moment when the attack is passing when it's all too easy for the defender to relax and blunder. This seemed to be what happened to Kier - one careless move undoing all the previous hard work.

Phil's game on 2 was hard to call. Phil had opted for dynamic counterattack as the best form of defence, and the position had become quite broken up. As it reached the ending, it was looking as if Dave would manage to pick off a pawn or two and cash in, but Phil's counterattack continued and, with a highly active N, he regained the material and the game was drawn.

This left Martin's game. Earlier, when I had looked, I had thought we were in for a treat - Martin's position looked idyllic. Pete though managed to make waves and, by this late stage of the evening, any realistic winning chances had disappeared. Martin was by this time on his third Q - quite amazing! - but all to no avail. The handshake followed and peace was declared.

Dominic Tunks

Well played everyone. I really enjoyed that match as a player, captain and spectator.

Phil showed that the Scotch is anything but tame in the explosion that was board 2 - not many have notched up the double against Humphrey.

Joe is one of my bogey players - I must have played him at least 50 times and very rarely beat him convincingly (if at all). So I've made a note of Mike's controlled crush on bd3 - this was the perfect way to play against Joe.

Steve's win was also excellent. In those positions the initiative is everything - possibly the fact that Steve's Ne4 hit the WQ on c3 while his own Q on b6 was not vulnerable to Dave's Ne5 was enough to ensure that the initiative went Steve's way.

Kier had BvN and a bit more space, but it was always going to be settled on the clock or by a handshake... and the handshake gave us the match.

Paul and I are yet to finish. We're both a pawn down, but (possibly) both slightly better: Paul's getting the pawn back surely, leaving him with the better K in the ending; I'm relying on better pieces and an outside passed pawn as compensation.

Overall a great result against a good team. This was a top-of-the-table clash, following Fareham's defeat of Cosham in the previous round.

Dominic

Match report, Emsworth B vs Cosham B - I think we played well against Cosham. Only took quick looks at the positions.

Steve Mulvey vs Andrew Smith 1- 0
This was a French with a knight exchange on c3 for black bishop and doubled white c pawns, but in return white gained the bishop pair pointing towards black's castled king. Steve gradually built up an impressive queen and rook battery against the black king - and Andrew fell into a bad trap blundering his queen.

Steve LeFevre vs Kier Eyles ? [draw MK]
I'm playing on my game with Steve LeFevre. The game was a solid Queens Gambit/Slav set up - white's bad move e4, which opened up his centre with weak black squares. I soon won 2 pawns, but returned the mistake with the exchange. The position is interesting with lots of play, but black has good hopes with his pawn majority and very active pieces hovering round whites king.

Paul Johnson vs Peter Dallas ? [1-0 MK]
It's always interesting to watch Peter playing the most active and dubious lines, but somehow pulls out a win or draw. It pays sometimes to find a fighting and active defence against such attacks, but than again maybe not - what do I know about chess!? Anyway I'm not sure about Paul's position he says he is in good shape - during the game it looked a little unorthodox and wild - so I didn't stay around long. Play on here.

Julian Mach vs Vince Agius - draw
Position looked very solid. Queens soon coming off and pawn deadlock with pieces moving about. I think?

Derek Shotton vs R Hartley 1-0
Derek won. He's on good form - white was well developed and had no real problems for what I saw. Later that evening with yours truly still playing Derek said he won. Result!

M Bowater vs David Jerome 1-0
This was Ruy Lopez and I think at one stage David advanced his f pawn - looked really weak, however he had each piece defending each piece with a king in the middle, but soon pieces became exchanged and white's queen crept through the king side - from what I saw.

Good play everyone up 2.5 to 1.5 - we should win this match.

Kier Eyles

Cole Cup

The A team took advantage of a slightly weakened Fareham A in the Cole Cup on 16 Nov. Paul's game against Dave Deacon was over so fast that, the first time I turned round to look at their board, Paul was playing skittles with someone else!

Next to finish was my game against Matt Chapman. This was the first time I have played Matt and I suspect I am already beyond my last chance to beat the rising star: I was lucky that Matt missed a winning opportunity in the middlegame.

Steve's game against Dave Elliott was my favourite of the night, not least, because it guaranteed us the match. Games involving Dave are seldom dull affairs and this one did not disappoint: the first time I looked at this one, Steve had sacked a piece against Dave's King's Gambit. I shook hands with Matt just in time to be able to see Steve win with an unacceptable rook sacrifice.

The last two boards to finish were top and bottom and these kept the rest of us entertained for the rest of the evening. The ending was of particular interest in Kier's 2 bishops versus Joe's 2 knights. Most of us would prefer the bishops to the knights but with Joe's 4 pawns versus Kier's 3, it was Joe who appeared to have the upper hand. But every pawn Joe captured gave Kier's bishops more scope and in the ensuing time scramble, when we had all been waiting for a knight fork, it was a bishop skewer that tipped the balance the other way.

[IMHO] Justice was done and all 4 remaining players left with a share of the points. Final match score Fareham A 1½-3½ Emsworth A.

Mike Krawczuk

Thanks to everyone for playing last night. My first sortie down to Emsworth as non playing captain - I was "resting myself" - turned out to be anything but restful.

An evening of alternating highs and lows started with a high as Dominic pinned John Wheeler's queen to his king with a bishop. Losing top board makes it seriously difficult to win the match - Cosham essentially had to win 3 out of the 4 remaining points.

Perhaps wary of the fast rate of play, Paul had already rattled off the quickest of draws with Richard Puchades meaning Cosham needed 2.5 from 3.

The first low was Steve losing the exchange to Pete Dallas but I was consoled by the fact that Phil had an attack against Dave Cordner's Caro and Kier was a pawn up with the better bishop versus Andy Smith. This turned to elation as Pete forgot that he had Steve's knight tied down to defending his kingside and could manufacture 2 connected passed pawns on the queenside - f5 to kick the defending knight on g4 opened up all of the white squares and allowed Steve to scramble out with a perpetual or mate. Pete opted for the perpetual.

Cosham now needed 2 from 2 (2.5-2.5 would be a win for Emsworth) - a point I smugly made to Dave Cordner when he asked. Well, you can guess what happened next.

Congratulations to Cosham for progressing to the final.

Mike Krawczuk, 11th March