Poole B – Wimborne A 1-3

C Stanciu (168) – I Clark (191) 0.5-0.5

T Miller (151) – A Pleasants (190) 0-1

R Smith (137) – M Littleton (181) 0-1

T Reghif (132) – G Willetts (165) 0.5-0.5

It was 19:20 on Thursday when I looked at the score card just before the games started. Seeing Mark Littleton playing on board 3 told me of the strength of our opposition. A match with no history, we played against a team much stronger then ours, as you can see from the individual gradings.

First to finish was Tarik, who came as a very late replacement for Sergio. He managed to get a draw against a very experienced player, a very good result for himself and for the team. A bit of hope that maybe we can get something out of the match.

I drew against Mr Clark; I’m happy with the way I played with the black pieces. My position looked good but I just couldn’t find a way of breaking my opponent’s defence. After two games, the score was 1-1.

Richie had a tough night as he was under pressure right from the beginning. Mark L is such a strong player with the white pieces. Richie put on a good fight, but the experience and the over 180 rating proved to be too much. 2-1 Wimborne.

Toby played the Welsh champion, Alan Pleasants, a very strong player, who just came back from the Chess Olympics in Georgia. It looked even for a very long time, until Alan showed why he is one of the strongest players in Dorset.

We lost 3-1, and now we have two wins and two losses. I’m not taking pictures of the table anymore!

A big thank you to the team, especially to Tarik, who arrived 30 min after he was asked to play.

The next game …………….against Poole A. Finally an easier fixture !

Ciprian Stanciu
November 10, 2018