Poole D V Southbourne D

Match report

Poole welcomed Southbourne for a highly competitive evening of chess. On board 2, Tony played a tricky game of chess against young Finn. Tony assured me that Finn played an excellent game of chess. However, a clever tactic by Tony saw Finn losing his queen, and with that, Tony was able to convert the extra material into a nice Queen and Bishop checkmate. Well played both. 1-0 to Poole. David played his first match of the season against Ken on board 4. Two very solid positions from both eventually saw some pawn breaks open up the position. Unfortunately, for David at least, he left his queen under attack from a previously pinned Knight, and Ken gladly won the Queen. With that, a resignation from David saw the match at 1-1. Well done Ken. Board 3 had Mike vs Mark where Mark saw himself go a piece up in the middlegame. Mike managed to find some counterplay, and according to Mark, Mike was in a position to force a draw with 3 move repition. Mark decided he wanted to play for the win and pushed a pawn on the B file to create a passed pawn at the expense of giving back a knight. Opposite coloured bishops, a passed pawn each, and a rook a piece guarding respective passed pawns eventually saw neither player able to make any progress. An inevitable draw was agreed by both. A fair result. Well played. 1.5-1.5. Board 1 saw Krzysztof playing the evenings longest game against Frank. Black won a pawn early in the opening, and this extra pawn proved to be decisive. A Knight vs Knight endgame saw white unable to stop Krzysztof's D pawn promoting and, after a long fought game, white resigned giving Poole D their opening win of the season. 2.5 - 1.5. Thank you and well done to all players involved this evening.

Joe Wood