2-2 Draw in the Dorset League 1st Division between Poole A and Weymouth A

Report by John Weatherlake

Hope this match report meets the high standards of our captain who unfortunately was ‘missing in action’ for this fixture. Something about a works Christmas party in London. No doubt it has something to do with a certain party we keep hearing about in the news.

Martin ‘O’ was also unfortunately unavailable and was no doubt having less fun after only recently vacating the dentist’s chair. Hope the jaw’s a bit better now!!

Martin ‘M’ also couldn’t make it, but we showed our strength in depth in depth by fielding the following:

(B) John W Allan Pleasants
(W) Mike D Kevin Goater
(B) Chip S Frank Pittman
(W) Richi S Steve Blake

As expected, the match turned out to be a very tight affair and I don’t recall seeing a game with all four boards still playing so late into the evening! I’m afraid I was a bit too engrossed in my own game to offer many insights into exactly how the other matches finished. However, I did notice that they all finished late, simultaneously and just at the point that I realised I was probably doomed. I also found it funny that the other three results perfectly matched my predictions less than an hour into the match.

Chip was playing the black side of a ‘London System’ and whilst his position was very satisfactory, it always looked hard to see how he could generate enough play to bag a point. (Without taking too many risks). I’m not sure if Chip had had his Weetabix as not for the first time this season, we saw him launch ‘Gary’ and ‘Harry’! Alas, it was to no avail and a draw was agreed.

Mike reeled out some last-minute opening prep and had a very promising looking position. To which Kevin responded with an interesting K-side assault of his own, leading to a very double-edged position. I think both parties felt they had put too much work into the game to have it spoiled in a time scramble. So, a draw was agreed but it was anything but a dull one.

Richi was on the white side of a very interesting Scandinavian Gambit. He demonstrated strong positional awareness, realising that the tempting exf7+ would have been one pawn too many. By consolidating at one pawn up, he was able to co-ordinate his development into a strong position. Which he duly converted, demonstrating how our strength in depth came to our rescue. (As by this stage I was toast).

I had taken the black pieces against an inform Allan Pleasants and soon felt I had an edge out of the opening. However, a slight inaccuracy soon made my play more difficult than it needed to be and I found myself struggling for a middlegame plan. Allan demonstrated a much better understanding of the position and I crumbled as we got short of time as play was starting to get tricky. I certainly had some chances but ultimately will have to learn from this one the hard way.

So, I felt 2-2 was probably a fair result but on another day who knows…

John

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December 12, 2021