Wimborne A V Poole A

Press / Admin Comment

Full report later.

David M Fuller

Match Report

The Poole A Team has been seriously enhanced with Nick Lee joining us recently, after a few years away from OTB chess. He is very amiable, likes a drink after the match, and he is not bad at pushing wood either! A perfect fit. And so to Wimborne in a traditionally tough match, a bit City vs United (we are City, of course). Nick, Mike, John, myself - a strong team, and me as well. B1. Nick (w) vs Ian. Nick does seem to like a bit of, lets say, volatility on the board and Ian's Benko came under pressure early doors. It was not clear whether the line of play was completely sound, but from a practical point of view, it did create some problems for Ian to solve. B2. Mike vs Mark. Mike also likes to mix it early while Mark seems to like to set his stall out and then move forward from a position of stabillity. This game saw Mike get more space and a potential minority attack and seemed better in the early middle game. B3. John vs Bill. Bill and I always like a chat and a laugh, but we had games to play. A Caro from Bill, NxNf6 gxf6, resulting in doubled black f pawns. A subsequent trade of queens on f3 left John with isolated doubled f pawns but with the two bishops. Despite the pawn weaknesses John had the better of the queenless late middle game. B4. David vs Steve. A Classical Dutch on the board but Steve played well and secured a plus which endured for most of the game. I hung on for some counterplay and when time got low managed to bail out into a rook ending a pawn down. The denouement... All four games were still going with all participants down to near increment. Nick closed out his game with Ian with a pretty mate with two raking bishops and a rook in an open position. Mike advised that he did achieve the minority attack to take the point, but the details are sketchy. I had no time left either! Bill laughed afterwards that he took four moves to move his bishop to a square that was one move away, an echo to a game we Bill and I once played. The lost tempi may not have caused the loss, but it certainly made John's life easier in bringing his queenside pawns to queening. Steve and I were last to finish, having played from move 30 to 70 with less than two minutes each. It was a tricky Rook ending (all Rook endings are drawn?), R+4p vs R+3p (me), and so activity was key. Just at the point where observers (ie Ian) were suggesting that the position should be drawn Steve's clock ran down. Bad luck Steve, a draw would have been more than I deserved. So I would say a derserved win for Poole, but 4-0 definately flattered. As usual at the start of a season, it was great to meet up with old friends. Looking forward to the return match. DF

David M Fuller

Poole were much the better

Poole were much the better team

Ian Clark