Poole A v Southbourne A

A great game between old rivals which ended in a draw.

On paper, Poole A were the pre-match favourites as it outrated Southbourne A by almost 150 points per board but it was soon clear this was going to be a close match and indeed the overall result could not separate them.

On board 4, there was an interesting encounter between Martin O'Neill and Jamie Doyle. Despite the 300 point rating disadvantage, Jamie held his own, even managed to pinch a pawn and had two outside connected passed pawns but Martin's d-pawn had reached the 7th rank and was looking very dangerous. It looked like this might win him the game but Jamie found the most accurate defence and the game petered out to a Q + 3P v Q + 3P endgame when a draw was agreed. Great game!

The top board clash between Russ Pegg and Mike Duggan was very interesting yet looked level and a draw was agreed to the satisfaction of both players before the equality assessment changed. The score was now 1 - 1.

Len Laker played an exceptionally attacking game of chess on board 2. He gradually built up an advantage, won a piece for 2 pawns, and just when it looked he had allowed Ciprian back in the game, he found a mating net with both players having less than 5 minutes left on the clock.

Poole A eventually levelled the match score in the last few minutes when its board 3 player, Martin Machacek, playing patiently, won a very close battle, seizing an opportunity to trap Jon's bishop.

So a fair result. Well played all players for contributing towards an exciting evening of chess.