Report by Geoff Naldrett:

United Banks only had the top three boards graded over 150, so we fancied our chances of winning the match.

The match started with United Banks boards 2 and 6 not present.  Neither of these two players had arrived after half an hour (or indeed later), so we had wins by default for Roger de Coverly and Ian Hunnable respectively.  This was particularly unfortunate for Roger de Coverly, as he was making a rare appearance for us, his Club night not being a Tuesday.  It was a pity that he had travelled from Marlow and didn't get a game.

Martin Page was the first to win over the board, after an hour.  Stephen Humphrey then drew, followed some time later by David Malcolm, after what had looked to be a dour struggle.  Ian Calvert then converted an extra pawn into a won king and pawns endgame, and Michael Wiltshire found a mate with knight and bishop.  William Diffey, James Aldred and Ray Hamilton then won in quick succession, giving us the match, and Julian Farrand drew, but John Philpott lost. 

David Sedwick then managed to draw a game he had looked for a long time to be in danger of losing, Tony Paish drew after a time-scramble (a good result for David Tidmarsh), Paul Barclay won (Mike Jones putting a piece en prise in a drawn position), but Cyril Dennis lost.

So a comfortable win for ICC by 11½-4½.

Report from Geoff Naldrett:

We did not start until 6.40, so default time was 7.10.  Michael Wiltshire arrived a good five minutes before the default time, and David Sedgwick a little later, but Ian Calvert only had about a minute to spare.  David Malcolm's opponent arrived just after 7.10 but, as Ian Calvert had only made it by the skin of his teeth, I thought it would be a bit churlish to claim a win by default.  David clearly wanted to play anyway.

I did not realise for some time that Tony Paish's opponent had not turned up and that we had won his board by default.  Before then Ian Calvert, being our last player to start, was also the first to finish, with a steady draw after 50 minutes' play. 

All the other games lasted at least two hours, except for draws by Stephen Humphrey and Ray Hamilton, which lasted a bit less than two hours.  Then James Aldred lost, but Gary Callan won, to restore our one point lead.  William Diffey then drew.  Then David Malcolm and Colin Bartlett won, Ian Reynolds lost on top board, Michael Wiltshire won, but Martin Page lost.  Brian Atkinson and David Shipp then drew, to give us an 8-6 lead.

I was playing David Auger, their captain, who was surprised to learn that he now had a grading - 159.  He played quickly, and I was in time trouble for most of the game.  I had R, N and P v R, B and 2 Ps in the quickplay finish, with less than five minutes against over half an hour, but sac'd the rook temporarily for a K-R fork, and eventually managed to draw the ending a pawn down.  This gave us the match!

In the final game to finish David Sedgwick had K v K & R, but his opponent's flag had fallen, so the game was a draw, and we won the match 9-7.  A bit too close for comfort!

I got a stronger side out than I did against the Legal League, but still struggled in the end to get 16 players, again with no reserves.  Messrs Berry, Farrand, Hunnable, Philpott and Barclay were available for this match, but Messrs Rich, de Coverly, Aldred, Wiltshire, Harris, Barrett, Kent, Humphrey, Callan and Bartlett weren't, as well as some lower-rated players.  Fortunately Brian Atkinson hadn't had the operation in hospital he had been due to have, so was free to play.  William Diffey cried off on the day, as he was at home on holiday, but Jim Roberts happened to be in London that day, and put off his game with Eric Lovegrove to play for me instead.  Kevin Parrott was happy to be a "floating" reserve, but had to be pressed into action!  

Insurance had a slight grading edge on the higher boards, but Commercial had more strength in depth, so a very close match (we needed to win) was in prospect. Commercial won the toss and chose white on odds.

Ray Hamilton failed to appear, due to a misunderstanding, which put us 0-1 down after half an hour.

Brian Atkinson then drew, and Ian Reynolds had a quick win on board 3 against a 189 to level the match scores.  Jim Roberts then lost, having conceded 26 grading points on board 14.  Tony Paish then won, Ian Calvert drew (after very nearly two hours' play!), and David Sedgwick won to put us into the lead for the first time.  Julian Farrand, Martin Page and Stephen Berry then all won, and John Philpott drew, to give us 7½ points, with just one more point needed from five boards for us to retain the Bronowski Trophy.  We almost had the trophy within our grasp, when I heard that Paul Barclay and David Malcolm had lost.  My game was clearly lost in the latter stages, and Ian Hunnable's position had looked hopeless for some time, so I told Kevin Parrott that he needed to win.  He looked to be winning, though he was conceding 9 grading points, but the position was complicated.  Kevin took my advice and then did indeed win, to secure the Bronowski Trophy for us for the fourth consecutive year!  The hero of the hour!  Well done, Kevin!

Ian Hunnable then announced that he had drawn, to give us 9 points.  I thought he was joking, but he wasn't!  He had played on a minor piece down for some considerable time, as his opponent was short of time, and somehow managed to save the game.

With the pressure off I could then lose on time, in a clearly lost position, to their captain Mike Wickham, knowing the match was already won.  I seem to be making a habit of playing in the last game to finish!  Mike had sacrificed a bishop for two pawns in front of my king, and it looked good for me until I did an incorrect king move, allowing him to win material.

A very good team performance, particularly from our top five boards, who garnered four points for us!