The December clinic was unfortunately delayed, largely due to complications caused by the new UK lockdown. Things will get back on track from here and, with the vaccine rollout steaming ahead, some of us are optimistic about a return to normality.

Most of the games this time featured wins for Black in the French Defence, which remains my top recommendation for Black. One of them featured a nice finish with Black to play in the following position (see diagram):

Black played 28...Nxf2! 29.Kxf2 f4 which wins a pawn. White tried to block the a7-g1 diagonal with 30.Nd4 and should have met 30...fxe3+ with 31.Kf3. Instead there followed 31.Kxe3 e5 when White resigned because of the lost piece (0-1).

Nigel Davies