Southbourne C v Wimborne E

First to finish was Finn. After a tussle, there was a big swap off of rooks and miner pieces in the centre which ended up with Finn a bishop to the good. Soon after that, it was all over with a win for Finn. Thanks to Finn for stepping in at the last minute.

Second to finish was Peter. His king side was under a lot of pressure which ended up with Tony Buckfield managing to queen a pawn and the game was all over for Peter. Tony was called in at the last minute to play and has stated that this was his last league game as he was retiring from competitive chess.

Third to finish was me. The board looked fairly symmetrical for a long time and I thought that the game would be a draw for a long while. Eventually I managed to get into a position where if my Rook was taken by Georges rook I would be left with a protected past pawn. George said afterwards that he felt that despite this, he had to take the rook. Eventually I managed to get a second passed pawn and George could only stop one or the other, so he resigned.

Last to finish was Paul. At one stage he says he was in a better position than Mike's, but was gradually ground down by Mike. It looked as if Mike would win, but he missed the best moves and Paul managed to get a draw giving Southbourne the match.

As non-playing captain on the night, I was fortunate to be able to watch most of the games as they were played, and can give my comments as follows:

Sam vs Finn was fairly even into the beginning of the end game and it looked as if it would end in a draw as I walked away to look at another game. When I came back, however, Sam had lost a piece, and with it, the game. Sam explained he had lost the piece through a miscalculated tactic; unfortunately for him, Finn doesn't take any prisoners!

The next to finish was Tony vs Peter. Tony was always in complete control from the beginning of the game until the end despite some excellent defending by Peter, and was an outstanding example of Tony's mastery of the only opening he plays as white, the Reversed Stonewall.

George vs John was next, and I must admit I did not really pay a lot of attention to it, as the position for a long time looked quite boring. I did note, as the game progressed, that George got into his usual time trouble, and I believe, just before the end of the game, John still had around 40 minutes on his clock, and George only around 10min. This was obviously a big advantage for John in what had come down to a prolonged manoeuvring game for him to find the win.

Finally, the last to finish, Mike vs Paul. For some reason, Mike's games always seem to turn out to be epics, and this was no exception. In fairness. Mike did try to end it a lot sooner by offering a draw, but Paul refused. So, eventually, this game too came down to prolonged manoeuvring between 3 pawns each, one passed for both sides but temporarily blocked, and a bishop each. In the final minutes of the game, Mike checked Paul's King which he blocked with his bishop. Here Mike could have secured the win by exchanging bishops and when Paul's King recaptured, walked his now unblocked passed pawn to queen - one move before Paul's freed passed pawn could. That would have drawn the match. Still, it seems it's always much easier to see these things as a spectator than a player.

Congratulations to Southbourne C on the top spot this season.