FINAL - HERE WE COME!

SHAME ON ME! Just as quickly as I won last week, I lost this week. No excuses. I played badly and lost a pawn in move 21 as a consequence of my 12th move, a stupid move which was completely unnecessary. You can imagine how I felt. The psychological effect on the team, losing a game so early, worried me and I seeked refuge in the bar (coffee, of course! Well, with just a drop of brandy, of course!).

When I got back to the playing hall we were down 2-3 with three games to go. I thought we might just draw the match. We lost one game and the other two looked like draws. So, 3-3 and everyone tense; both our team and their team. A draw would have been good for us, but incredibly, we won both games. So, 5-3 and we're through to the final. Who would have believed it! At the start of the championship, our president told us our aim was just to maintain our category. We've actually gone up to the next one and we're now going to fight to be absolute Champions. ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. Wish us luck!