Poole B V Bournemouth A

Match Report

A busy night at Poole Chess Club with plenty of shhh-ing going on. Still, like Mikhail Botvinnik who famously had training games with people blowing smoke in his face, we focussed and the clocks were started. Richie was first to finish vs Dennis on Board 1, and what a tactical game that was. At first glance Richie looked very much under the cosh with pieces all around his long-castled king. But with half a dozen pieces en prise between the two players, it was Richie who was able to tip-toe through the complications to claim the point. A very exciting game. Well done both players. Dragi and Paul were playing a very even looking game on Board 3. An early draw offer by Paul was not accepted and Dragi pushed hard to a 2R+B+7p endgame but was not able to create that important second weakness. A shared point. On Board 2, John made me think with 3...Qe7 in a Philidor setup and I felt that I got a good position with opposite side castling. But my time management was poor, down to less than five minutes plus increments with a major piece endgame on the board. John made a timely draw offer and all in all a draw seemed reasonable, especially as it made the match score 'Dormie one' in the golfing vernacular (can't lose with one game to go). So to Board 4 where Simon and Paolo were completing a very interesting contest. I didn't see much of the start of the game but it developed into a set up where Paolo has a pawn centre but inactive pieces while Simon had good piece activity with pressure on the pawns. A bit hypermodern I suppose. The game was high quality, although after the game we did spot an opportunity for Simon which was not easy to find when down to increments. Paolo played accurately to avoid some cheapos to take the full point. Bad luck Simon. Honours even. Well played all. D

David M Fuller

Match Verification

I confirm that the match result was a 2-2 draw. It was indeed a busy Poole Club evening! In addition to our match Poole B - Bournemouth A, there was also a Bacchus match taking place, in the Playing Room, with about 4/5 spectators watching the games, some of whom couldn't help talking on occasion, not really surprising there was some shhh-ing going on! The match had a wonderfully complicated sacrificial game on Board 1, where it was extremely difficult for Ritchie and Dennis to calculate all the lines within in the tight time control. Both players had "wins" at various stages of their journey through the complications, congratulations to Richie! Boards 2 and 3 were hard fought draws, and with only the Board 4 game remaining, Paolo "saved our evening out" with some deft positional play, clinching a win in the closing stages of his game with Simon. A worthy drawn match, and a good night's chess for all concerned! JT

John Torrance