Division 3 – 26/2/18 – Poole E win away 4-0 at Highcliffe

On a bitter cold night the chess at Highcliffe warmed all with the Poole connection and indeed your reporter from the terraces.  Yes, indeed a convincing win and despite the overall grading differential of just 31 over the 4 boards the win was justified.

Taking the mantle on Bd 1 our cool and impassive Ciaran Southey (under 15) had a solid opening with the white pieces against the effervescent Ron Salinger (the presiding Commanding General of Highcliffe) and took control of the long white diagonal squares. Black (Ron) did not offer the  bishop exchange  which was very possible and force the piece away so allowed white a tactic of attacking  a piece on the Q side, offered an exchange on the D5 square and thus pinned the rook against the queen. Lovely, if you are of a Poole persuasion. The grip was consolidated by the Q and black’s piece was swallowed up like a vulture in waiting. The game continued with Ciaran playing with the assurance of an experienced player and easily went on to win.

1-0

So onto Bd 2 where Adam had control of the centre albeit with double pawns which completely restricted development of the q side Kn. White (R.Howell)  tried to counter on the K side with a Q and pawn attack on H4/H5 but solid and comfortable defence by black assured continued control especially on the opening F file. After a very neat tactic of taking the P on F 7 offering up at least a piece but then forked with a triple Kn move which looked a lesson in a Junior chess instruction manual! Of course there was no option , all the pieces  were removed from the playing area to finish with a R and excessive pawns vs a knight and no defence. Mr Howell must have a message from above as he played on in an entirely hopeless position for at least a dozen moves to finally relieve all including himself of further punishment.

2-0

Meanwhile on Bd 4 an interesting game was developing between Tony Pritchard and Rachel Richardson with pieces flying around in an open position. Tony (Poole) had opened up the K side and took a chance by taking the H2 pawn defended by the queen and followed up with a tactic of moving the Q into a further attack on the rook at the same time. However Rachel found a good defence and attacked the vunerable bishop with the same rook. Somehow not known to yours truly black escaped to a much superior position. Rachel really had no answer to this and despite making a desperate couple of moves had to succumb and it was a win for Tony.

So 3-0 with the match  won, Tim  on Bd 3 was playing John Jenkins who uses his braille board to feel and see the pieces over 64 squares. What an amazing achievement this is,  of course he has no knowledge of the time control unless its called out at intervals. It is incredible that he plays at league standard with this disability and he is still a  hard nut to beat. The opening was shared with white (Tim) throwing pawns forward on the Q side only to be broken up and both players sat with one or two pieces blocked or out of play. Tim had the initiative and could have attacked with more force and direction on the K side but seemed to be content to parry any attacks. So tick tock, tick tock, and just 6 minutes left for Tim & 4 minutes for John both with just 28 moves made, John finally made a mistake giving up his Q, shame, game over. Well done Tim, first win of the season and sure there will be many more to come.

Well played to all our Poole players and it is always a pleasure to come and see our friends at Highcliffe. I am sure they will back for revenge next time.

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February 27, 2018