Highcliffe C v Ringwood B

A pleasant evening in Highcliffe where Ringwood very much got the rub of the green in the result - the games were much tighter than the score line suggests.

My game was first to finish. In a Petroff I always seemed to have an edge and managed a nice finish despite Andrew's efforts to lead me astray :-), Next to finish was board 2, where Richard recovered from a dodgy opening to win nicely. When I'd looked after an hour we looked to be struggling on board 3 and optimistically equal on board 4. At the finish, we had managed to win a couple of pieces on board 3 and the team victory was assured. On board 4 Ron was attempting to win a Rook against knight ending where his pawns also were better! Having diligently avoided the one hope Alan had to save the game, Ron finally succumbed to temptation in putting his Rook out of play trying to win he allowed Alan to "sacrifice" his knight to threaten to promote a pawn. Ron declined the sacrifice correctly, and Alan quickly offered a draw that was accepted.

All the matches were closely fought, but Ringwood played more accurately and won the top 3 boards.
Ron saved the whitewash with a Valliant battle with Alan that he nearly won, but for a small blunder at the end.
Ringwood were worthy winners in a very enjoyable evening of Chess.