The last person to beat me was Duncan Grossett in April last year, so if I were to lose my unbeaten run it seemed appropriate that Duncan should be my nemesis. It should have happened, as I gave away a couple of pawns, but somehow I managed to get to a drawn R+P v R ending. Otherwise, the Clifton machine was brutally efficient and showed why they are worthy champions (JR).

John would have extended his unbeaten run if the Downend player had dared to turn up. Igor got his revenge against Ponter, who seemed overawed by his opponent. Thomas played an excellent game to beat Taylor and Phil won a piece in the middlegame. Martin played the same variation of the Caro as he played against Spiller earlier, and again got a very strong position early on to win in 40 moves. Steve got very short of time and was down the exchange as well (MD).

First, a big thank you to Colin for agreeing to play at short notice, and a huge apology for having to ask him not to play - at even shorter notice - when Bath revealed they would be one player short.

Now, moving on to my favourite subject, me - because it is all about me, you know. I needed to avoid defeat in this match to have gone a whole year undefeated. I'm delighted to say I managed it. So since my last defeat on 17 April 2007, I have played 18, won 13, drawn 5.

And finally, the match. Chris acquired a bad bishop, but it was one more bishop than his opponent had so, bad or not, it sufficed. Martin accepted an early draw offer, and my win secured the two points. Phil looked like drawing until his opponent blundered in the ending. Igor couldn't make progress afer David Buckley found an accurate defence.

This win guarantees a third place finish (JR).

Phil had a last minute car incident which needed his attention, so we started off one down. Alex levelled the scores very quickly, and I soon followed to put us in the lead. Chris's game petered out to a draw, so we needed one point from the last two. Martin's position imploded, and he defended for a while with queen against two rooks and a bishop but the inevitable happened. Steve had the edge and a clock lead, but it was never quite enough. (JR)

Bit of a disaster, really. Steve was unavailable, but we had a new player, Igor Nor, to step in. Igor had one of those nightmare games on his debut. Alex was two pieces up, and then it all went horribly wrong. Mine was a nice win, and Martin did well. Mike scrapped his way to a half (JR)

Pity ... they played well, though, and deserved to win. Phil should have drawn but I was a bit lucky to beat Brigden, who was a pawn up but fell for a nasty trick. (MD)

This match was switched to Horfield after the University could not get a room. I was extremely happy when they showed up two short, as I had a bad cold and my head felt like it was full of cotton wool.

The win puts us level on points with Downend A, with one match in hand, and two points behind Clifton A. (JR)

We went 3-0 up on the bottom three boards, then had to wait to get the decisive half point. Steve only needed an extra move to deliver mate, but was under attack himself - could he survive long enough? No, he couldn't. Alex scored a good half to secure the match, and Chris ground out an ending (JR).

We avoided the embarrassment of the first half match against Keynsham (when we drew 3-3), but we're still struggling against their top three boards. Over the two matches, we lost 4½-1½ on boards 1 to 3, and won 5½-½ on the bottom three!

Time to consider prospects for the rest of the season, now we're just past the halfway stage. We're lying joint second at the moment, level with Downend A on match points, actually third as we're behind them on game points. Clifton A is 2 points ahead of us, having dropped just two drawn matches. Clifton is going to be difficult to catch; it has been averaging 4.75 game points per match (we're on 3.35) and so are huge favourites. But, as always, we'll give it a go. We play Clifton in the last match in April; there's an awfully long way to go, but I'd really like to see that be a title decider! (JR)

... The classic 5 draws and a win! (MD)

A very nice two points against one of the league leaders.

Still struggling with scoring the wins and that cost us a point against one of the 'easier' sides. Full credit to Clevedon, they played extremely well and should have won this. Steve was struggling for a while, and I got offered a draw a pawn down as my opponent got worried about the clock (JR).

Quite tight. Phil stood worse in my view, though he thought not, but got the draw anyway. It came down to the wire with board three the last to finish. Chris was the exchange up but Bennett had an attack and I was quite worried, but Jonesy was very cool and defended excellently. Eventually Bennett lost on time in a hopeless position. (MD)

Martin and I won by 9pm, and when we both left at 9:45 it should have been plain sailing. Alex's game looked dicey, but we would get the necessary 1.5 points from the rest - wouldn't we? Oops! A 40 points average grade difference left us with egg on our faces. (JR).