Wimborne A v Highcliffe A

Our first match of new season and thanks to Grzegorz for stepping in at lost moment for Mark who was not well.
A much closer match than score suggests. First to finish was board 4 where Eddie seemed to have a strong attack but could not break through so draw agreed.
I was down to increments for a long time so did not see much towards end of matches but Allan seemed to be under a lot of pressure but managed to hold on to a draw.
Grzegorz had an excellent win against Christian.
I had a good position and decided to go for end game. I was struggling to find a way through but eventually came up with a plan which gave me the win against Ken.
Thanks to Highcliffe as always for a friendly atmosphere.

We didn't get the results we wanted on the first match of the season but it was an enjoyable evening with some good chess played as well. Bruce appeared to be doing well against Alan on board 1 but Alan always had some counter-play and a draw seemed like a fair result in the end. Grzegorz and myself played an interesting battle on board 2 where I had to nullify some pressure before exchanging into a roughly equal rook ending. I misjudged the pawn ending rather badly though as I thought it was winning - it was winning, just not for me! Oh dear, but we both played well and I enjoyed the game. On 3 Ian managed to get the 2 bishops from the opening against Ken and kept the pressure upon all the way through to a winning ending. I didn't see much of Richard's battle with Eddie on 4 as it finished first but it seemed about equal all the way. Overall a good nights chess and well done to Wimborne for getting a good result to kick-start their season!