Poole D V Bournemouth C

Bournemouth are champions.

Poole D welcomed Bournemouth C team for our final match of the Division 4 season. This was a big game as a win or a draw for Bournemouth would clinch the top spot and promotion to division 3. Poole D were up against a strong Bournemouth team. I don’t normally mention player ratings, but I feel the disparity between the two teams was significant. Poole Were up against it. On Board 4, Steve lost to James which was the perfect start for Bournemouth. Steve mentioned to me that despite losing, he enjoyed the game against a friendly and graceful winner in James. Thank you to both. Boards 2 and 3 played out as a draw a piece, which confirmed Bournemouth a division 4 winners with the overall match result at least a draw. Bournemouth, Wimborne, and Highcliffe all finished on 10 points each, but Bournemouth’s better ‘goal’ difference was enough to secure the title. A big congratulations to Bournemouth C. On Board 1, I was playing Femi. I felt Femi had the better of the opening in which the queens were exchanged on move 6 after a four knight’s scotch. Femi ended up taking my knight on f6 with his bishop to double my c pawns. I did not mind this so much, as my pawns were restricting Femi’s knights, and I took control of the semi open b File. Without boring you with details, I managed to win the A pawn and create a lot of pressure with the bishop pair and a rook pointing at Femi’s queenside castled king. I was happy to exchange both rooks off of the board and go into the endgame with the bishop pair vs a bishop and knight. My light squared bishop proved the difference which I ended up sacking to give myself 4 passed pawns (h+g and d+e) vs a knight and bishop. My king supported the advancing pawns down the board and Femi resigned unable to stop my pawn promoting on d1. The match ended 2-2 which I think is a fantastic result for Poole considering the ratings, but I am sure the newly promoted Bournemouth were equally happy with the result. Thank you to Bournemouth, Highcliffe, Southbourne and Wimborne for a great season of chess. Thank you to all the Poole D team players. You have been great and you made my first season as captain go without a hitch. I hope you all enjoy your summer and see you next season.

Joe Wood