Poole Knights 4.5 – 1.5 Poole Bishops: The kids hog the limelight

7:15 and the scene is set at Poole. 4 Bournemouth B players, and 6 Poole Knights players. They looked at each other menacingly gearing up for a great fight. Then Poole D arrived to play Bournemouth B and Poole Bishops arrived to play Poole Knights. I’m sure you’ve all read the report of the 4 draws of Poole D (a good result I grant you), but it with the other side of the aisle that had the exciting games.

Leading the way and showing how it should be done was Graham and Steve, the only adults playing, started at each others throats before petering out to a draw. Okay, so to the juniors to show how it SHOULD be done. 0.5 – 0.5

Harry was playing Teo on 2nd board and soon got an advantage, with the pressure Teo played well to try to hold off but it seemed too much and Harry got the first win for the Knights. 1.5 – 0.5

Meanwhile Ben, playing Josh, managed to get himself into a tangle, forgot his Knight was pinned and lost his Queen to the Bishop’s Bishop. More on that later, but a Queen for a Knight and Bishop doesn’t seem too good to me.

Zack was playing Felix and was the first to finish with a mate on f7, an open game which ended all too quickly. Well done Zack, you are allowed to use more than 20 moves. 2.5 – 0.5

Samuel played against Jamie and fell to the Fried Liver, and in an attempt to get out of it only got into more trouble loosing both Rooks. However, with sheer grit Samuel managed to get an excellent attack going, leaving a free Knight in a bid to get the King. It was a beautiful attack with the Bishops slicing the King side apart with a Queen threatening all sorts of things while the defending pieces were all on the other side of the board. Unfortunately the mating combinations could only be found in hindsight and with good defending Jamie managed to calm the position and swap off a few pieces to nullify any potential threat and claim the win for Poole Bishops. 2.5 – 1.5

Matthew was playing the most junior junior being Jake, drafted in at the last minute and a lot younger than the rest of the team. He played very well and had Matthew thinking. It got down to a Rook and Pawn end game before Matthew managed to win the Rook and force through a Pawn to Queen. An excellent game which could have gone either way, well done Jake on the first game, and excellent showing. 3.5 – 1.5

It could easily have been level by this point as we go back to Ben, a Queen down. He somehow managed to get his Bishop in a good position blocking the King from getting through the escape created in the Pawns, and with doubled Rooks managed to force a back rank mate, Queen standing powerlessly by. An elegant end to a game I’m not sure he had any right winning! Well played Josh, you really had some excellent pressure to win the Queen, and if you didn’t win the Queen you would have come out with a major positional advantage, it was good play that got you there but unfortunate how it ended.

It was a great match with some impressive chess on display from a selection of young players which bodes very well for the future of the game. The result could so easily have gone the other was in a couple of decisive games. I’m sure both sides will be up for the return leg and out to settle scores….except Steve and Graham who may be out for another draw 😉

(yes, anyone who gets a draw in one of my teams is open to attack, unless it’s an elegantly forced stalemate)

Tarik
January 17, 2019