Opponents of adjournments often point out how unsatisfying and unexciting it is to have a match unfinished on the night. The Horfield-Bath semi-final could have been a good example, Horfield being 3½-½ up on the night, needing just one point from the four continuations to go through to the final against Keynsham. Surely a foregone conclusion? Instead, it turned into a thrilling drama played out over several days.
First up was Gordon Breeze (Horfield) against Andrew Gregory. A game thought to be drawn ended up won for Bath when Gordon went wrong. "I went down a path that became a forced loss. Neither I nor my opponent realised it until it was too late for me", he said later. Horfield 3½ - Bath 1½
The next continuation was on Tuesday 17 March. Horfield had high hopes of winning on board 6, where Keith Walsh had rook and two pawns to Roy Gregory's bishop and three. Keith burnt lots of time at the board but had to concede the draw in the end. Gregory said "It was a draw in every line we looked at." Horfield 4 - Bath 2
Peter Cusick (Bath) played his continuation against John Richards the following night. Bath had the material advantage this time - rook for knight and pawn - but there was lots of other material as well. Peter managed to open some lines for his rooks and, after a session of 2½ hours, brought home the bacon. Horfield 4 - Bath 3
So, it all came down to the adjourned top board game between Alex Easton and Paul Helbig to be played the next day. Bath's Paul Helbig had the advantage of rook and five pawns against rook and four, and was convinced he should win. Alex Easton was equally convinced he should lose. But, finally, the gods were on Horfield's side. Alex managed to create an ending where he gave up his rook to queen a pawn. Paul had to agree the draw and Horfield were in the final!
In the other semi-final, Grendel's strange cup run came to an unexpected end when they forfeited their match against Keynsham. Subsequently, the League Management Committee requested an explanation and Grendel has replied that it was unable to raise sufficient players.
Grendel reached the KO semi-finals when Harambee failed to produce a
team. This was Grendel's second walkover in succession, meaning they reached
the last four without playing any games.