Ringwood A V Poole A

Press / Admin Comment

A very exciting match all told. The first to finish was the game between Kenny and his opponent Martin. Kenny seemed to have a slight edge throughout, both in the game and (to a much much larger extent) on the clock. With 90 seconds left for Martin, a draw was agreed, with Kenny telling me that his opponent had defended very stoutly meaning the draw had been a fair result. At this point, the other games were getting interesting. Peter on board 1 had a real advantage, such that Richard was forced to give up a piece for a promotion bound pawn. This left a 2v4 pawn structure with 2 bishops v a knight. Richard was able to exchange Peter's pawns off, and a fascinating 2 bishops v knight ending ensued. I'm told it's technically a win but alas, Peter was not able to demonstrate this in practice. A hard fought draw after well over 100 moves. By now the other two games had been decided in Ringwood's favour. Graham and John fought an interesting battle, with very few pieces exchanged and not a single pawn taken with over two hours of play elapsed. In the ensuing scramble, John missed a knight pin that enable Graham to manoeuvre into a winning endgame. Graham finished off the game with great technique At the same time, Martin and Richard's game had become somewhat double edged. Richard's back rank was weak but he found a way to defend it with a queen retreat. Martin then found a great resource in sacrificing a rook to gain an advanced passed pawn and with it the game. As he said later on - "in a Sicilian, the pawns are superfluous." He was right - his pieces had found a way through. All in all a very tense match, but a great result for Ringwood after the 4-0 hammering away to Highcliffe last time out.

Niall Woodger

I cannot add too much to Neil

I cannot add too much to Neil's report other than to agree to the tension even watching the final game when the result was already with Ringwood. The 2 Bishops vs the knight battle was so fascinating and only superb and accurate resolve prevented another win for Ringwood, Al least pride won over in this game. We were obviously dissapointed with the result but we'll done Ringwood and always enjoyable visiting the White Hart.

eric sachs