13 April 2016
It was always going to be an uphill fight. We were playing Moortown B. They are top of the table, promotion already secured, a full 8 points clear of their nearest rivals. They have won every one of their matches this season. Their team grades for the match ran from 141 down to 136, outgrading us board-for-board by an average of 46 points.
Our lads did their best and put in some strong performances with prospects of pulling off a surprise result or two. The final score was unsurprisingly a win for Moortown but the final tally of 4½ to ½ perhaps flatters Moortown just a little bit.
Our solitary score was from Paul. In a oddball finish, at the end of a long game, both players blundered: Paul, with an advantage in material but under time pressure, left his king vulnerable to instant mate. His opponent failed to notice and offered a draw! Strange things happen in chess.