Highcliffe A v Ringwood A

Congratulations to Ringwood on winning a hard fought match. The first result was Bruce's win on B1 and then Martin and Mads agreed a draw on B3. We could see trouble brewing in the two remaining games; Graham and Richard both fought long and hard for well-deserved victories. Well played all.
Ken

A night where the black pieces did well.

Bruce resisted my middlegame and early endgame pressure to reach a B vs N endgame that I thought would be slightly better for me but was in fact better for Bruce. It really shouldn't have been hard to hold but Bruce played it nicely and I contrived to lose it. Well played Bruce.

Martin sacced for a fearsome attack against Madison's pirc and played good chess to reach a winning position but at the last missed the winning tactic and allowed a repetition.

Christian also had a strong 150 type attack against Graham's pirc. It was hard to tell who was better but these positions always look scary as Black. However, Graham created counterplay in the centre and then found a little tactic to win material and transitioned to a won endgame.

Last to finish was Adam vs Richard. Adam at one point seemed to be a fairly clean pawn up but Richard managed to complicated matters and the position became quite ragged, to the extent that the spectators found it hard to evaluate. Richard found his way nicely through the complications in a queen and minor piece endgame where Adam's king was exposed, eventually finishing the game with a mating attack.

All in all, some very entertaining chess. Thanks as ever to Highcliffe for the warm welcome.