Ringwood B 2.5 – 1.5 Poole C

More excitement for the C team last night against Ringwood B. With us top of the league before the match, all to play for. Another match that went all the way to the last few minutes…

Ellis swapped his strategy from last week (when he sacked a piece for 2 pawns) and this time went a piece up for 2 pawns. However it then became 3 pawns, then 4, all of which were in front of him king, so game over.

Zander got into a complex position with castling on opposite sides. His opponent seemed to have a winning attack but Zander defended well and kept it complex. Maybe a draw was a fair result but when I looked over Zander had got exchange of queens followed by a pawn fork of king and rook … so a win for Poole.

I selfishly grabbed a pawn early on and was punished by two bishops trapping my rook so went an exchange down. However much later my opponent returned the favour and my two bishops got the exchange back. Got into a king and 4 pawns endgame and we both promoted to queens and a draw. Apparently my opponent missed a tempo win in the endgame but with 3 minutes on his clock not so easy to see. So 1.5 each.

As usual, Tim’s game was the last to finish. I saw he was a pawn up going into a rook and piece endgame so was looking promising. But just as my game finished, somehow Tim’s opponent found a win.

So 2.5 to Ringwood and our first loss of the season. This leaves us just below them in the league so all still to play for.

Tarik
January 24, 2023