The gathering storm

 This week I recorded a new achievement - two people simultaneously and independently telling me to get a move on. In that context, a week for a 20-move draw is unimpressive, but then 6500 words of dissertation is rather better. Almost there! Meanwhile this publication now edges into March.

 As I've said before, this match, against South Bristol, marked a firm dividing line in our 2015 fixtures: the ones before this were entirely winnable, but hereafter things were going to get a lot harder - and we still needed points if we were to survive. Our opponents have had some badly under-strength teams this season, but they had brought a full-strength to Downend the previous week and so I was expecting the worst - apparently they hadn't quite given up on their dwindling title hopes. They were strong again, whilst we had a lot of absentees which meant we were clearly going to struggle: 212f-187, 164-194, 128f-184, 125-172, 129-176, 127-167.

 I was playing Stephen Meek (194) with white on board 2. I think it's fair to say that we are both regarded as quite studious players, so it was an unusual sight for us both to be groping in the dark in the opening, having neatly taken each other out of our preparation almost immediately. My chosen line is objectively worthless, but very tricky for all that and I won the opening battle. But pessimism allowed him to escape without much trouble:

 A 2-4 loss (WDLDLL) was not the best start to our run-in, although quite respectable given the gulf in strength. We missed a win in the opening on one of our lost boards, and if I had played on and found the right moves we might have pulled something out of the bag. As it is, it joins our long list of missed opportunities this season.

 Of my game, I think it's reasonable that after the disaster against Wandowicz I wasn't in an adventurous mood this time. Even so, I don't view holding a 194 with white as a particularly impressive result, which is progress of sorts. In any case, I don't get much satisfaction when my advantage comes from playing a line I know to be second-rate, and being lucky that my opponent was unaware of its intricacies. In future I shall prefer 7. Bxc4, or maybe even bite the bullet and go into the 6. Nf3 endgame. If anything is of interest (besides my usual inability to accept that I was better when offered a favourable draw) it's the strange mutual blindness from moves 11-13: neither of us took ...Bf5 seriously, although there is nothing wrong with it. My suspicion is that it's because the move depends on retreating with ...Bd7 shortly afterwards - if you even see this possibility, you might well underestimate it.

 Still, normality was restored with another draw. Next up for us was Clifton A. Their aura of invincibility is gone, but they are still a very tough task for a team staring into the abyss. However we had a strong team for a change and we were certainly going to give it a shot...