Southbourne A v Ringwood A

Hi,

By move 8 I was simply hoping to hang on till the tea break. Russell punished my mixing of systems and ignoring basic opening principles harshly and well. However, in trying for more he choose a continuation that mis-fired horribly and some how I had got to the tea break and soon after gained the point.

Board two had seemed quite tame but the Bxh7 sac was always in the air and after Niall brought a knight to e7 to bolster his defences, Martin played the sacrifice. Niall avoided being mated but had to give back too much material and the game was decided.

The match was now even at 1-1. It remained so when Kevin and James agreed a draw. I saw very little of this game. But good to have Kevin back

That left Finn and another Ringwood returnee Richard contesting an Rook and knight ending with Finn a pawn up. This converted to a Rook ending with equal pawns but Finn had pressure by way of a a passed pawn and Richard King being cut off. Finally, Richard was able to swop the Rooks leaving them in a pawn ending where peace was declared.

A good night of chess and good to get some team mates back. I felt we were a bit lucky to come away with a point.