Bournemouth E V Poole D

Season finale

Thank you Bournemouth for a super contest to finish the season. We had a strong side out as the league title was on the line. Tim is in super form after a strong showing in the Major section at Bournemouth; he eventually wrestled control of c3 from Tony and closed out Board 2. Beatrice played very solidly and was level going into the middle game but I was able to build a decisive pawn attack. So 2-0 and the title was conquered but Jake and Robert were certainly not- Jake flawlessly capitalising on a single pawn advantage (unlucky Mike!) and Robert turning a dubious opening position into a brilliant win; when we went through it on Lichess later it seemed Robert had found the ‘Lichess’ move with incredible consistency from about move 10 onwards. Tarik has the consolation of knowing he’s done sterling work on Board 1 throughout our promotion push. So 2-2 despite the ratings, and I hope that sends Tony and team into the summer break feeling good; as for Poole, we were last out of the bar downstairs…

Damon Guirdham

The end of a long road

Firstly, hearty congratulations to the Poole team for being crowned division Champions, a sterling effort. So, 2-2 on the night; Jake was first to finish to put Bournemouth 1-0 up, Poole fought back with wins by Damon on board 4 ( Thank you to Beatrice for stepping in last moment) and Tim on board 2 who amassed 6 attackers on my C4 pawn when only had 5 defenders, and fully deserved his win. Rob looked in all sorts of trouble against Tarik on the top board; but, somehow managed to turn the game around and secure the draw on the night. A final word on my team: Rob Willington with 5 points from 6 games was outstanding. Thank you to all my players who played this season, though outgunned ,never gave up and performed with much credit imo. Hopefully this learning curve will stand us in good stead for next season in Division 5

Tony Ackerman