Poole A V Highcliffe A

Press / Admin Comment

Report to follow

Richard Ursell

Match Report

Last match I reported that it is tight at the top of Div 1 leading into the last couple of matches, but it is also tight at the bottom, with our friends at Highcliffe needing a good result to keep in with a chance of avoiding relegation. Chez Poole was busy tonight with three home fixtures and, most importantly for us, PooleB playing WimborneA, the result of which could settle the league tonight. I am sure that Chip will wax lyrical in the appropriate place on their result, so I won't mention it here. There were some late-comers: Christian took a hit on the clock of fifteen minutes, but I was lucky to find the daft owner of a Nissan Duke who had double-parked in front of me at the club just in time. It was all very friendly and clocks were started after a short delay. B2: John (w) vs Madison was a relatively short affair as Madison was unlucky enough to run into some preparation from John. This work had been done following a previous game vs Ian Clarke which went along the same lines. Soon the black position was untenable and black had to concede. Bad luck Madison. B3: MikeD (b) vs Richard did not last much longer. Mike had equalised after some exchanges in the centre and, casting a glance at my winning position on B4, offered a draw to Richard, who seemed eager to get to the bar or something, only pausing to shake Mike's hand on the way. B4: David (w) vs Ken was interesting. An Alekhine's Defence from Ken drew 3.Qf3 from myself in an effort to avoid normal stuff. A slight innaccuracy by black allowed a much better Advanced French setup with a Knight on c6 before c5 had been played. With a significant initiative, Ken made a practical decision to make a knight sac for two centre pawns. Soon though simplifications were forced and in a completely lost position, Ken was kind enough to allow a lovely double-check-mate to concede the game (echoing my efforts in a previous game). As I said above, all very friendly. So the match had been decided with only Nick and Christian still playing. B1: Nick (b) vs Christian was impacted by Christian having lost almost fifteen minutes through his late arrival. With Nick's position also being easier to play, it soon meant that Christian was almost on increment going into a RN+6p endgame. Nick always had the upper hand on the board with a mobile central pawn majority and was able to slowly increase the pressure advancing the d/e/f pawns. In a nice touch, Christian allowed a pretty mate (Kd1 vs Kd3/pd2/pe2) after queening his h-pawn. I always think that is classy. Bad luck Christian. Result: PooleA 3.5 - 0.5 HighcliffeA. With the PooleB result going the way of.... ah, I shouldn't steal Chip's thunder... you will have to read the other report! Suffice to say that Div 1 is now PooleA's to lose. D

David M Fuller