Highcliffe A – Poole B 1.5-2.5

P Kemp – C Stanciu 0.5-0.5

C Westrap – M Malamatenakis 1-0

K Smith – T Miller 0-1

R Halse – D Popovic 0-1

In a game of all or nothing, playing our last chance to stay in the top division, Dragi kindly came to replace Sergio, who couldn’t play this one.

Lots of calculations in my head told me that a loss against Highcliffe would have represented our relegation, especially after Southbourne A taking a point against our friends from Poole A.

The evening started as badly as you can imagine with Mike being outplayed by his opponent. C Westrap is having a great season; he is undefeated. LMS say that his rating for the season is 202. So we were 1-0 down after less than 1 hour from the beginning of the games.

I looked over my shoulder to see that Toby was doing well, and Dragi started an attack on the King side. My position was equal.

I don’t know what happened in the next 10 minutes, but looking again at Toby’s game, his Queen was still on the board and his opponent’s was off the board! Not long after, his opponent resigned. The score was now level at 1-1.

My position started to look more promising; I initiated an attack on the King-side. Suddenly I heard Dragi refusing a draw that his opponent had suggested. He made it very clear, in true Dragi style, that the game would continue! That turned out to be a good decision as soon after his opponent moved a Knight in the wrong square, which allowed Dragi to finish his attack and win. The score was now 2-1.

In my end-game, I was a pawn up and in a very comfortable position. As soon as Dragi won, I offered a draw and the final score was 2.5 – 1.5. This victory has kept our hopes alive – the bottom four teams are only separated by one point now.

Thank you to everyone for playing and to Highcliffe for hosting.

Ciprian Stanciu
March 12, 2019