Purbeck A v Dorchester C

Who put the lights out?

All the games were very evenly matched. The first to finish was board 2 where Andrew was a pawn up but John had a rook on the 7th rank and an active knight so when he offered a draw, Andrew accepted. Board 4 was also fairly even until near the end I noticed that Derek was the exchange up and, shortly after, an oversight by Jadan allowed Derek to checkmate him. On board 1, David and I were playing a very even French Defence until David unleashed a tactical melee where, unfortunately for me, he had seen one move further and I ended up with N + P v R. Fortunately for me, David only had 4 minutes left on his clock against over 15 minutes for me so he offered a draw which I accepted. Then.... the lights went out! All we had was one rather dim emergency light, I suggested that the remaining game could be moved under it but, with Nick having a clear advantage, Mark sportingly agreed to a draw which gave Purbeck the match 2.5 - 1.5.

To answer the question at the start of the report - on leaving the hall I saw workmen digging up the road a few yards from the hall so I rather think they were the culprits.

Always a good welcome at Purbeck and an incident packed match! Congratulations to them on a deserved victory. A special mention for Jadan who gave his experienced opponent on Board 4 a good game in his first formal over the board game.