News & Match Reports
North Bristol B 4-2 Yate & Sodbury B
27/10/26, Division 4
They say when you fall off the horse, get straight back on again, and that saying applies equally to chess. Will, Alex and Patrick were fired up for this one after the loss to Clifton D the night before, and Jeremy, Peter and Ben had the misfortune to catch them in a fighting mood. Fate and the fixture list can be very unkind sometimes.
Jason and James M were unable to get anything out of Chris and Robert, each rated a couple of hundred points above our brave challengers. Our near-neighbours weren't going down without a fight.
Mike played what I thought was the game of the night against Lester. An insanely sharp position where everything looked like it was hanging all at the same time every time I looked at it. A super-fun game to watch although it probably didn't do much for the players' cortisol levels! A fine win for the team, who continue to do well on their step up into the upper section. Come On North Bristol!
Bristol & Clifton D 4½-1½ North Bristol A
26/10/26, Division 3
All good things have to come to an end, including our A-Team's magnificent run of 9 straight victories since our last defeat on 22nd January 2026, again away at Clifton, albeit it was their J2 team who overcame us that time. We turned up to face Clifton D in good spirits, but weren't able to produce our best chess on the night against strong opponents who were on top of their game and ran out deserved winners. Alex worked a promising position against Naveen but an unfortunate slip led to a catastrophic loss of material and inevitable checkmate. Prakul was having an excellent game against Noah, who defended resiliently and managed to grab a perpetual. James made Zack uncomfortable out of the opening, but Zack handled the middlegame more accurately, applying more and more pressure until James' position collapsed. Will fought valiantly against Rayyan, who played a fine game that turned on a well-executed knight sac. Gareth and Patrick added some respectability to the scoreline by securing draws against Adam and Oli, with Patrick rescuing what looked like a hopelessly lost position to my eyes. The maestro of tactical chaos returns! We'll learn from this defeat and come back stronger.
North Bristol C 3-1 Bristol Grendel C
20/10/26, Division 6
Our C-Team welcomed Grendel C to Little Stoke and could have been forgiven if they were overawed by the strength of our opponents on paper. James M led the team and chalked up a fine win over Edward, surviving some opening aggression and compromised pawn structure to win an exchange with a sneaky bishop skewer before good use of rooks to converting the win. Tony was delighted to get his first win of the season against Aimee, and Harry got back to winning ways against Olivia. Dylan made his debut for the club after some fine performances in our internal championships. He was up against an experienced opponent in John, who had too much for him on the night but it was fantastic to see another of our juniors step up to league play. Well done Dylan, keep going and the wins will come. And well done C-Team on a great performance and a fantastic win against opponents of this calibre. Come On North Bristol!
The A369 Club 4-2 North Bristol B
14/10/26, Division 4
Well, we've never played a chess club named after an A-road before but there's a first time for everything (it's obviously an important road, it's even got it's own Wikipedia page - read all about it here, transport network afficionados!). We turned up full of confidence with a strong team, but came up against a set of opponents in equally excellent form who were too much for us on the night, though we gave our best and made sure every game was competitive. Will, Jason and Dave B were beaten by Baptiste, Fisker and David P respectively. Gareth and Patrick scored creditable draws against Ibrahim and Matt. Alex continued his superb start to life at North Bristol, recording a victory over Frank. Very well done Alex. We headed back up the A369 to Bristol to lick our wounds and fight again another day. We'll be back.
UWE B 2-2 North Bristol C
07/10/26, Division 6
Things didn't go well for us last time we visited UWE B, so our C-Team was delighted to pick up a point there this time round. Lia and Theo were too strong for Dave and Tony, but there's a steel about our C-Team these days and we weren't going down without a fight. Harry got back to winning ways against Dominic and James M continued his fine form, winning in style against Parthib to make it three rated victories in a row. James slowly but surely wrested the advantage back from his opponent during a closely contested middlegame. Things simplified down to a bishop vs knight endgame where each side still had a pair of rooks. James' queenside pressure told and he was able to convert a fine win. Our three teams' unbeaten start to the season continues. Come On North Bristol!
North Bristol A 3½-2½ Thornbury A
06/10/26, Division 3
Near neighbours Thornbury were the visitors for a tight, competitive derby match at Little Stoke.
James B's game against Andrew ended early in a bloodless draw, with Prakul's game against Lynda reaching the same result soon-afterwards. Chris then put the visitors on the front foot, forcing home a devastating attack on Nathaniel's centre. Mike pulled the scores back level though, with a fine win against Justin: 2-2 with the result still impossible to call. Will was a pawn up against Ian, but it wasn't a straightforward conversion and peace was eventually declared after a long game. James C and Joaquin played the game of the night, both players hurling their armies against the opposing kings in a desperate race. James C's army came out on top, with his queen wreaking havoc after a lovely rook-for-knight exchange sac to blast a path to white's king - an absolutely brilliant chess game. Come On North Bristol!
North Bristol B 4½-1½ Bath D
29/09/26, Division 4
Our B-Team hosted Bath D for the first league match of the season at Little Stoke. It was great to see league chess being played again at our clubnights, although a few playing socially struggled with the noise restrictions tournament chess necessitates. Hopefully the match players didn't mind too much. Sorry if it put anyone off. The juniors will try to be quieter in future.
Illness had swept through our camp meaning that Alex and Chinmay were drafted in at the last minute, but they stepped right up to the plate, Alex scoring a very creditable draw against Bath club stalwart Bob, and Chinmay posting his first win for the club over Jason - very well done Chinmay! Bath had availability struggles of their own, meaning that Dave B faced an empty board. Things were looking good for us but we didn't have it all our own way. It's with deep sadness, I have to report that Increment Man's superpowers failed him, losing on time to Calon. All good things come to an end. Increment Man will hopefully return once he's had a top-up of venom from the radioactive chess clock that bit him last season. It isn't all doom and gloom though - some of his powers transferred to Nathaniel who won a super game against Lydia. Patrick put the gloss on the scoreline with an exciting win, his queen running riot against Krishiv in an open game where most of both players' pawns were hellbent on storming forwards to attacking glory. Well done to all the players involved from both clubs. Our B-Team's 100% start to the season continues. Come On North Bristol!
Bristol Grendel B 1-5 North Bristol A
22/09/26, Division 3
Déjà vu struck as the A-Team landed another of the 5-1 victories that we kept notching up last season. We will get a 6-0 one day! Almost everything went right for us as the battle-hardened group from last season rode again, this time making a frontal assault on Grendel's lair. Dave S was so inspired by the whole thing he even wrote us an epic poem about it! The bard of North Bristol...
Prakul made his first foray onto Board 1 for the A-Team but wasn't phased in the slightest and put us 1-0 up (how many times have I written that before!) with an assured victory over Wyn. James C carried on where he left off last week, playing another pet line that got Cash into tactical difficulties. James has been a revelation since joining the club. Gareth also got into a favourite type of line against Aimee and put in a commanding performance with the white pieces, calmly ratcheting up the pressure until black's stout defences finally crumbled. Nathaniel had a good game against Xanthe, but made some slips in time trouble and she had too much for him. James B had his second ridiculous game in a fortnight, where all looked lost until he got a bit of luck and the centre exploded in his favour. Luckily for James he remembered how to do the two bishops checkmate or his efforts would have been in vain. Will 'Increment Man' Mullaney saved the best until last, scoring a great endgame win against Chris with literally seconds left on the clocks. We really do need to get that superhero outfit made for him. Come On North Bristol!
Horfield & Redland E 2-2 North Bristol C
22/09/26, Division 6
The C-Team kicked off the season with a trip to Horfield & Redland to face their E-Team in what was an exciting encounter. Dave and Tony got good draws against the almost equally-rated Graham and Kristian. Harry played a great game, fighting his way back from the brink of being checkmated by Siobhan, but sadly it wasn't his night and he lost a rook in time trouble. Never mind Harry, it's happened to all of us. Keep going, you're a credit to the club. James M was the star of the show tonight, winning a positional struggle that evolved into a rook and pawn endgame that could have gone either way. You wait a whole season for a win and then two come along at once! Very well done.
Bristol & Clifton E 2½-3½ North Bristol B
15/09/26, Division 4
The long-awaited start of the 2026-27 season saw our B-Team make the trip to Hotwells to face Bristol & Clifton E. The night started badly when James C & James B startled the bridge players by ringing the loudest doorbell in the world to get into the building. There were two buttons, and we pressed the wrong one. Oops. Sorry bridge players!
In a very even match. Rafal put the pressure on Jason early and was able to edge him out in a long game. Alex and James C put in excellent performances and things were going our way. James' middlegame attack was a thing of beauty. We didn't have it all our own way though, with Patrick only able to draw what looked like a promising position and Chinmay coming off worse in a sharp tactical struggle. James B sealed the points after a long struggle with Adam that started quietly but exploded into life with tactics and sacrifices galore. Most of them sound, some of them not so much. Neither player deserved to lose what was an epic clash.
A great result for the B-Team on their long-awaited return to the league's upper section. Congratulations to Alex and Chinmay for making their league debuts for us and to Alex for picking up his first win. Come On North Bristol!
Prizes Won at Stroud Blitz Autumn 2026
Congratulations to Chinmay Raghavendra Rao who won the Junior Prize and James Cruikshank who jointly won the prize for those rated in the 1568-1619 band. Chinmay had a great tournament, finishing in 11th overall with the club's highest score of 8½/15, with James C in hot pursuit on 8. Four other clubmates - James Bingham, Gareth Hughes, Patrick Bourne and Mike Stephens - also entered the tournament and did well. 'The North Bristol Six' had a great day out in the early autumn sunshine and we'd like to thank our hosts at Stroud Chess Club for putting on a lovely event. FM Indy Southcott-Moyers and CM Zack Norris came joint top overall, in a strong field including five titled players. Full results here.
The North Bristol Six reflecting on a good tournament.
We'll be forming our own boy band if we ever get bored of chess