Poole B V Poole A

Match Report

So to the return Poole 'City vs United' match of the BDCL Division One season. Of course, we in the A-Team like to think of ourselves as more City than United, but that is quite another discussion area requiring a beer or two to conclude. The first match had been hard fought, as earlier reported by Eric, and last season's results continued to provide a source of quiet optimism on the part of the B-Team and some squeaky-bum-ness (to extend the United analogy) on the part of the A-Team. A full strength A-Team turned up (Martin/MikeD/John/David); The B-Team drafted in Richie on Board4 alongside Chip/MikeM/Toby. B2: MikeM (W) v MikeD. This game kicked-off quickly and a rapid assault on the White kingside lead to an early point for PooleA. Duggs can be a nasty piece of work (over the board of course) sometimes. B3: John (W) v Toby. An extremely cautious affair with John adopting what seemed to me to be an ultra-hedgehog type set-up and I was sure that Toby would have preferred a more open game which suits his style. From my board it did seem that White could come under a small amount of pressure but the pawn breaks were not there and a draw was always on the cards. B4: Richie (W) v Myself. We bashed off 15 moves of so of Sicilian Sveshnikov theory all surrounding the battle for the d5 square and a equal position was reached. Some manoeuvring then occurred changing little except to drain my time to a few minutes to Richie's twenty as I was on the defensive. Going for the win, Richie started some complications but I was lucky to have a tactical resource which doused the flames and gained the exchange and I was able to convert the resulting ending with the increments. Bad luck Richie, you deserved at least half of the point. B1: Martin (W) v Chip. I didn't see much of the game from the other end of the room, but early on White seemed to have some queenside space but nothing more. Next time I looked Chip had at least 10 pawns more than Martin - there were black pawns everywhere and only two white ones! But with 3mins each left plus increments, Martin's Queen and Knight were creating perpetual and/or mating threats against Chip's King (Queen and Bishop). Chip felt sure there was a win somewhere, but with less than a minute and pieces buzzing around your king its not easy at all. In fact a very interesting tactic right at the end was pointed out after the game which looked to win for White! So in the end, with less than a minute for both players a draw was agreed. These derby matches are strange affairs, as I am sure other clubs feel as well. I don't need to say that this match was played in a great spirit, but I will. In the end 3-1 probably slightly flattered Poole A and we discussed this in detail in the bar immediately. DF

David M Fuller