Southbourne A V Ringwood A

Ringwood A fielded a stronger

Ringwood A fielded a stronger team than expected and it was a very welcome return for Stephen Deall on board 1. The match was very competitive. Not entirely sure what was happening on the top board but did hear Stephen remark that it was a very interesting / exciting game at one point. Declan, in his normal style, didn't worry about his core base time of one hour, relying solely on his 30 second increments. He managed to find a very good tactic early on and then seemed to be in cruise control. Stephen fought very bravely but by move 29 when he was material down in a difficult position, he lost on time. On board 4, there was an interesting battle, again not sure who was better, but a draw seemd a fair result. My game on board 2 was very slow, so slow that both of us were short of time by move 18. I had managed to snatch Peter's offered pawn sacrifice. It was not totally clear if he had enough compensation but rather than debate the issue, we agreed a draw. On board 3, Russ was playing exceptionally well although Martin found some interesting sacrifices. Russ managed to navigate his way carefully through these to win. So well played Ringwood for battling well, it was a good exciting match.

Martin J Simons