There were two matches on Monday night – WN5 were at home to WN4, while WNA were away against Long Eaton A.

Dealing with the domestic affair first: WN4 posted a 5–0 win to strengthen their position at the top of Division 4. WN5 now need some good results to get out of the relegation zone, but that's perfectly possible.

WNA's match against Long Eaton A was important for the team's season. Having played only four matches in the first half of the season, scoring four points, it was important to get at least a draw to prove that we are a serious Division 1 team in the D&DL. Fortunately, we were at close to full strength, and we were relieved to see that Long Eaton were missing both Kishan Lakhani and Geoff Gibson.

Michael Keetley was first to finish, winning with a neat sacrificial attack after Anjali Lakhani had declined the opportunity to force a perpetual in favour of trying to win. I then received a draw offer after my attempt to carry a small advantage into the endgame resulted in a completely level position. After a quick look round I decided that Julien had good winning chances, so I took the draw.

David's game against Ray Evans looked like it was going to be a frantic time scramble, but David circumvented that possibility by blundering away material. So in the end, it all came down to Julien's game against Dave Brown. Dave had played the Exchange Variation against Julien's French Defence, so it all looked pretty dull for a while. However, the position finally came down to a good knight vs. bad bishop ending that Julien could hardly lose and would probably win. Eventually, this position was reached:

White to move

It appears that after 1. Kc2 Ke3 2. Bc3 Kf2 3. Kb3 Black must give up the a-pawn. Indeed, after 3... Nb6 4. Bxa5 Nd7 White can draw, but it's not easy. However, instead of 4... Nd7 Black plays 4... Nxa4! (Julien had seen this), when after 5. Kxa4 Kxg3 Black wins quite easily. The bishop cannot both stop the h-pawn and protect the f-pawn, and the king is too far away to help.

The game itself took a more straightforward path: 1. Kc2 Ke3 2. Kc3 Ke2 3. Kxc4 Kxe1 4. Kd5 (4. Kb5 also fails, as the Black h-pawn queens first and prevents the White a-pawn from queening) 4... Kf2 5. Ke5 Kxg3 6. Kxf5 h4 7. Kg5 h3 8. f5 h2 0–1

The 2½–1½ win pushes WNA up to a comfortable mid-table position, but the next match is away at Chesterfield, who beat us 4–0 in the opening match.