Southbourne Seagulls V Poole Bishops

Press / Admin Comment

Returning to Southbourne after such a long break, fortunately I did not need a Sat Nav. In the initial Bacchus league game it was really good to see 3 juniors representing Poole and 2 for Southbourne, the future certainly holds much promise . On Board 1, Zander played a very good Florence Spurling and played an excellent game just to have enough in a 70+ move marathon game to win an end game. Well deserved Zander. On Board 4 Harry playing Alan Duffall missed a exchange calculation and lost a piece, consequently shook hands after 41 moves. Great effort Harry in keeping concentration for so long and well done Alan in finishing accurately. Meanwhile on Board 3 the experienced Ken Dixon and Steve Bailey had a high quality game which Ken just had enough to Q a pawn and win with less than a 1 minute left on the clock. Good game gentlemen. On Board 3 Leo (Poole) our junior from Brazil playing Finn had a very even position and well fought out game, but got ahead on the K side, exchanged pieces and had a 2 pawn advantage in a winning game, he felt a generoisty and offered Finn a draw! Smiles only, only one side of the board. So well played Southbourne and a nice touch of hospitality in offering orange juice and chocolate bikkies for the kids, I will all have to wear shorts next time.

eric sachs

Southbourne Seagulls vs Poole Bishops,

As reported by Eric, it was fantastic to watch the junior players who are very much the future of chess. For the juniors this was probably their first competitive league chess match; their competitive but fair and friendly approach was laudable. Also well done to the more mature players with good wins by Ken Dixon and Alan Dufall. All games were well played and competitive; it was very pleasing to see the high standard of chess and, in particular, the length of the games played, especially for those who have spent much of the last 18 months playing blitz. Well done on playing for well over an hour. A very tight and mammoth game on board one, which Zander had the better of in the end but Florence is definitely a great prospect for the future.

Nikki Forster