Poole A v Southbourne B

In an tense match that I was privileged to watch Poole A came out by virtue of a classic end game victory by David Fuller against John Catchpole. All other games were drawn and the draw between the two Martin's developed into an explosive position for both and a draw was agreed. Thanks to the Southbourne players for coming along and playing in a friendly and competitive spirit.
David Fuller to provide a detailed report.

Well played Poole A, deserved winners as throughout the evening Poole A were better / winning on 3 boards, Southbourne B were better / winning on 1 board.

With Wimborne A apparently rampaging away to the league title, it is possibly true to say that the rest of us are languishing in 'mid table obscurity'. Nevertheless, many of us have not forgotten of the travesty of the Dorset League 1 last year (Wimborne pinching it from us, blah blah) and so hope springs eternal. Therefore, both teams were keen to start a much needed series of wins.

In the spirit of full disclosure, the Office of Fair Trading have been advise of the grossly misleading Southbourne team labelling and a ruling is anticipated in due course. Who do they think they are kidding?

On paper, Southbourne were giving away more than 50 grading points, but in practice it looked closer than that.

B3: Russell v John - looked a pretty relaxed affair and soon enough, with most major pieces exchanged and equal pawns on each side a draw looked the only reasonable conclusion.

B4: David v Jon - a Scandinavian 2...Nf6 then 4...Bg4 (new to me) also started quietly, so quietly than Jon offered a draw on moves 7 and 11 (in fairness, my friend Fritz said 'around 0.00' after both moves... when I say friend, I am getting a bit fed up with his constant criticism: you should have done this... that was wrong...), but I had sacced a pawn for some development and so felt it would not be right to stop so quickly. After some adventures (as they say in good chess magazines) a slightly better B+6p vs N+6p ending was reached. The other odd thing about this game was that after 25 moves Jon had 55 minutes left and I had 3 minutes. Fortunately for me the White side was now easier to play and the increment (great idea I say) proved enough time to take the full point. James pointed out a possible drawing idea in discussions afterwards and I have to say that he was right. Bad luck Jon, a draw would not have been an unfair result.

B1: Martin v Martin - rapidly turned extremely sharp; opposite side castling; open files in front of both kings. The post mortem was very interesting and a number of complex sacrificial lines were explored. It looked as though MS had a chance, but in the complexity and with 2/3 minutes each left suddenly MM looked good and offered a draw with the match circumstance in mind. A very interesting game.

B2: Mike v James - James rolled out a Caro Kann, which seems like an excellent opening choice for his style of play. But, I will have to take the opportunity to repeat the old joke: James, if you play the Caro Kann now, what will you play when you are older! I know, I saw it somewhere, blame them. But Mike knows his way around this stuff and set up a bind and it wasn't clear how either side could improve. Fortunately, the match situation just clarified with the Martins draw and so Mike and James shook hands to conclude the match. James commented that he perhaps should have continued but he had little time and no counterplay options and so accepting the draw offer was entirely appropriate I felt.

And so a match that could have gone either way. As it stands Poole A just creep into second place with Wimborne off in the distance.

Always a pleasure welcoming Southbourne X to the club.

DF