Poole Bishops V Southbourne Seagulls

A good end to an excellent Bacchus season

With 5 juniors competing amongst the new and upcoming players, the match highlighted what the Bacchus League this season has been about: giving new and young chess talent the opportunity to play in competitive matches without pressure. Even though this was the last match of the 2022/2023 season, we still had a new player in Michal Orszulak. Welcome, Michal. There were early wins for Poole on Boards 4 and 5. Michel, unfortunately came up against Harry Mercer in fine form. Never mind Michal, better luck next time. Board 5 played longer and looked close initially but Harshal kept the pressure on. Board one was an interesting contest with Jason, top scorer in the Bacchus League this season, gaining the upper hand. Jason is a great example, as are many from last year, of junior players who will move on and up to the main B&DCL next season. A big thank you to Ben Sillence for agreeing to play against Steve Bailey who was still learning with his braille board. This board illustrated the inclusionary nature of the Bacchus League. In the end, a draw seemed a fair result. Many thanks to Poole chess club, and particularly Tarik, for their hospitality and for understanding, along with Mike Jay from Ringwood, of the important role of this Bacchus League. Bring on next season!

Nikki Forster

Monday saw the last game of

Monday saw the last game of the Bacchus League for the season. An interesting 2.5 – 2.5 match with early wins from Harry and Harshal, a draw by Dragos, Jonathan battled well on top board but couldn’t get the win and Stephen was playing one of his first competitive games with his braille board so learnt a lot and found it significantly harder to play. The final league position is joint top, behind on board difference. But, league position is probably the least important stat. Over the course of the season the division has allowed new, returning and junior players to jump into competitive games with little pressure and a friendly, nurturing environment. The following players have all featured in the league this season, with many of them going on to play in other teams: Charlie Back Daniel Liubchenko Harry Mercer Angus Norman Harshal Kulkarni Dragos Miles Jonathan Nunn Sev Lansley Stephen Bailey It has been a great success in getting people playing competitively, I look forward to next year and all the people I haven’t yet met who I hope will end up joining the club, competing in the Bacchus League before moving on to other teams. Huge thanks to Mike Jay and Nikki Forster for being great captains for the other teams who have a clear goal of nurturing new players which made successful games much easier to organise. Until next season.

Tarik Reghif