Ringwood V Highcliffe A

Press / Admin Comment

There was naturally a lot of interest in the top board clash between Declan and Kenny. It was unsurprisingly given the speed at which both play that it was the first to finish! Clock times at the end was in Kenny's favour - he had gained 6 minutes to Declan's 4 minutes over the hour they started with! In a complicated Benoni, Kenny, as black, sacrificed a pawn to leave Declan with doubled isolated b pawns. However, in the play that followed Declan's pieces found active squares on both sides of the board, and forced capitulation. One up to Highcliffe. The next to finish was Martin and Bruce. I didn't see a lot of this game and it ended in a draw. At that time Graham was looking good for Ringwood on board 4 - a piece up and an attack to boot. However, Richard proved resourceful to get to a Rook and pawn for Queen ending. Graham's technique held steady to get the win in time pressure. The board 3 encounter between Peter and Christian was always going to be a high class encounter. In a complicated middle game, Christian seemed to have a slight initiative, but playing on little more than the increment they ended up in a Queen and pawns ending and the position was repeated to force the draw. Honours even on a good night of chess and a pleasure to host the Highcliffe team.

Martin Joseph Clancy