Poole A go down 1-3 at Ringwood in a very tight match

You have probably seen the report from the Poole B match at Highcliffe and I am sorry to report we could not equalise on the night at Ringwood.

The initial issue of the evening was logistical in getting our players up to Ringwood from various parts of town, I think  our players have taken the initiative  of becoming driver-less and your reporter thought this only applied to vehicles! A quick mention of thanks to Graham for helping with these arrangements.

All good then,  at the Famous White Hart Inn, Ringwood with our players raring to go, we  knew Ringwood would have a strong team and sure enough they were more than a match on the night.  Yours truly departed to the relax area with a pint in hand.

Maybe an hour or so had gone by and a smiling Martin appeared with the news he had agreed a draw against Kenny Harman who had soundly beaten him last week in a County match. We felt given the circumstances this was a good start for the evening and gave us a chance.

Upon review the three remaining matches were water tight through the middle of the evening and any result was possible. Richard making his 2nd appearance for the A team was playing Peter Anderson on Bd 1 and holding on comfortably with several pieces removed from the board and the game drifted into a classic end game, all to play for.

In the meantime both John playing on Bd 3 against Graham Willetts was doing alright in typical John style moving the pieces tactically and not always in a way the writer can understand ( what does a mere mortal know) but the position looked 50/50.

Over on Bd 4 our Richie standing in again for Mike, so well done Richie, playing 1st division chess in such a relatively short time, more than holding his own against Martin Clancy.

Tick tock, tick tock, the tension was mounting as other games were finishing at the club, more players were clearly getting absorbed in these ongoing and tight matches.

Back to Bd 1 and Peter had 2 Bishops vs Richard’s pawn and knight so he had an advantage but would have to remove the knight and pawn to force the King into the corner for a classic mate. The pawn went after some tactics – around move 60, but Richard was looking resolute and it became a matter of  will, not to have my knight other than an exchange .  Moves 70 – onwards, attack/defence and so on Move 80 and still ongoing…….

I looked over and all of a sudden both John and Richie had lost so the Bd 1 game became academic. John missed a tactic when Graham moved his Knight to E5 and this allowed a strong tempo and under severe time pressure the position opened up and hands were shaken.

In Richie’s game, a very strong bishop and rook into the heart of Richie’s defence became key. However, Richie tried a Pawn shove on the Q side but it was not strong enough and his position became desperate and again hands were shaken.

So 2.5/.5 at the moment but Richard was determined to get the draw, so the game continued attack – defence and so on. Moves 90 came and went and when moves 100 were notated Peter looked up and offered the draw, thank goodness!

Final match score Ringwood 3 Poole A 1 . Well done Ringwood especially after their 0-4 drubbing at Highcliffe in the 1st match.

I was very proud of our  players on the night, who were extremely disappointed to lose after giving all for the match and no doubt a recovery will be soon forthcoming.

I think we would take 50% from 2 very tough away matches at the start of the season especially with Mike Duggan on the bench.

The carriages waited long into the night and last were seen hurling down the A 338 in a southerly direction.

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October 1, 2019