Poole C v Highcliffe B

With the Poole club spending the week traveling far and wide, we had the honour of being the sole home game.I walked in and Richard U of Highcliffe was already waiting for me, prepared with all his homework done, stats and research to hand. What he wasn't prepared for however was Tim on his 3rd match of the week! With a loss on Tuesday, and a draw on Wednesday, it seemed like he was destined to have a win on Thursday. That was the first to finish and a solid point to start the evening well.Simon F was on only his first game of the week and seems to be following Tim's example of starting with a loss and then building up. He lost a pawn fairly early in the game with his bishops being pushed back to 1st rank. Lets hope he's got games scheduled for the next two days to get a win in!1-1 so far, everything in the balance. Mike was a pawn down in a fairly level position with pawns locked in the centre of the board and not too much going on so a draw was agreed, presumably to heap pressure onto Andy, who has recently been moved up a board - can he take the pressure?There was never any doubt. Andy has had a flawless record in the C team and kept that up tonight sealing the win for the team. His second game of the week - clearly we need to be playing more chess to get the wins. Thanks to the other teams for providing the players with warm up games.Well done to the team, and a big thank you to Richard bringing his team down and giving us some good games.At the halfway point of the season it puts us two points clear, but that could easily be reverted on the away leg when Highcliffe have home advantage, or any slip ups in a competitive league.

It was an entertaining evening as always with Poole. I just wanted to recognise the sportsmanship shown by Poole, Neil was lost and 15 minutes late but Andy waited for him before starting his clock. Tarim points are all spot on and we will have to raise our game if we are to win this division.Best to all RU