BDCL Div 1: PooleA vs RingwoodA
So our first home match at the new Chez Poole (ie The Centenary Club) following the rather abrupt suspension of services at the North Road Club.
Our new hosts have been very helpful to allow us to complete this season with Thursday club nights, although a couple of evenings would involve sharing the bar area with ‘existing punters’. This evening was one of those, although a quiet night was expected. Unfortunately someone had forgotten about two Europa Cup matches. So there was significant background noise.
Anyway, on to the action that mattered…
Leicester did very well coming back from 1-0 down againat PSV to score two in the last 15 minutes to reach their first semi-finals in their history. West Ham did even better cruising past Lyon 3-0 sparking home crowd unrest and setting up a mouthwatering Frankfurt semi final.
Oh. Sorry. Was it the chess you are interested in?
OK… The games kicked off about 10 minutes late, which was acceptable bearing in mind the tricky new parking situation (see Appendix A).
Unfortunately the background noise did make concentration awkward. Goater-Duggan and Weatherlake-Anderson draws were offered and agreed 7 or 8 moves in. At the Fuller-Clancy board, a shrug of the Clancy shoulders and the offer to buy me a pint halted proceedings. Woodger-O’Neill carried on playing for a full 3 minutes before closing the match, before West Ham’s first goal.
Result: 2-2.
Although not particularly satisfactory, everyone seemed happy to have a drink and discuss the mutual mid-table obscurity situation. The offer of a decider on the Pool Table, for bragging rights, was declined.
No-one can touch Highcliffe this season it seems. Congratulations to them. Well done.
Note that only one further match has this issue and it being moved to another date. A standard Monday club night will be in place very soon in the very nice surroundings of the back bar/room area. You will all love it, and will be able to concentrate!
D
Appendix A – Centenary Club Parking
Note that Graham has put parking details up on the Poole Chess Club Website.
I thought a note for practical purposes would be helpful following this match. Just park in the PHP car park as Graham suggests. It really is no problem.
LMS Results Link: https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/78911
David Fuller
April 15, 2022