DCL Div 3 – Poole B v Wimborne D – Wed 2nd October

Match report kindly written by John Weatherlake:-

Poole B’s DCL division 3 campaigns got underway on Wednesday night with a trip to Merley matching up against Wimborne D. The team grade average looked tight, slightly favouring Poole with a team total of 494 against Wimborne’s 489.

Captain Graham’s plan seemed to work like a dream as he adopted a tactic of loading the grading points on the top two boards with yours truly on 1 alongside Dragi on 2. He placed our trump card Jamie on 3 and brought up the rear himself.

‘Face Off’ was the usual 19:30 and I was somewhat surprised to find myself a piece up against Michael Jackson before 19:35. I then spent the next hour and a half trying to not get mated and once this was achieved my opponent Mike conceded defeat gracefully. Quite a strange game winning in 13 moves of which 4 or 5 were King moves. This put me in the curious position of being the first to finish, which I think is a first. It gave me the opportunity to relax and enjoy the other matches, which looked promising.

With the black pieces on 2 vs Colin Wilson – Dragi’s game was progressing nicely. He had managed to move just about all pieces up one rank in unison before steadily progressing up another rank. I could not help but think that the game somewhat resembled a game of Tetris with Dragi steadily demanding more and more of the board. It looked a matter of time before this space advantage would be irreversible.

With the white pieces on 3 vs John Bowley – Young Jamie had played energetically and both were rattling through the moves. Against a much higher graded opponent, Jamie always held an initiative and I witnessed some nice tactical play leading to an advantage in the ending. With a win just on the horizon, Jamie’s more experienced opponent played the ending very precisely ensuring he could save the draw. Very well played though Jamie, this proved to be the crucial half point that we required as Dragi’s Tetris board was now complete with a very pretty mate on h1.

The points were in the bag and then all eyes were on Graham with the black pieces on 4 vs Phil Holden. Unfortunately, his opponent never seemed to put a foot out of place and kept up a consistent barrage of pressure restraining Graham from getting any counter play despite best efforts. Graham had however already done his bit as his team and board order selection paid off and we all went home happy bunnies.

Well done all and thanks as always to Wimborne for their warm hospitality!

John W

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October 4, 2019