Southbourne A – Poole B 2.5-1.5

G Sawicki – O Garcia 0-1

B Jenks – C Stanciu 1-0

B Curran – D Popovic 1-0

L Laker – T Miller 0.5-0.5

Last game of the season for Poole B, who “travelled” to Southbourne in a strong formation. Our friend Oscar made his debut for our team. During the game, we were morally supported by Mike (right from the beginning) and John, David and Eric a bit later.

Right from the beginning, we made a good impression; Mike had a big bottle of beer in his hand, and Dragi managed to change the smell in the room by having a big bag of chips next to his board!

To remain in the top division another season (at least), Poole B had to prevent losing 4-0.

So far so good in the first hour. Dragi was a pawn up, Toby looked solid, and Oscar was as cool as ice. My position wasn’t great, but I had some ideas, so all together we were fine.

Half an hour later, things started to be worrying. My move, where I sacrificed a bishop for two pawns, wasn’t taking me anywhere, and Dragi was loosing. Suddenly, I see Toby standing up and showing me that he drew. I felt like giving him a hug. What a relief! That half a point represented our safety in the top division.

Back to reality and my game! My position deteriorated fast so it was just a matter of time before there was no way to win. I shook Bruce’s hand just before a very red-faced Dragi resigned as well. He was a bit frustrated because he said that he should have won his game.

Oscar show us why we miss him so much as he won a very interesting game against a strong opponent.

Final score was 2.5-1.5 to Southbourne. Well done to them and well done to us for finishing the season just above the line. Considering the problems regarding our players’ availability, I’m very happy with our performance.

We went in a pub to celebrate staying up and for seeing Oscar again – a very enjoyable evening with a group of very interesting characters!

Thank you very much to all the players that supported Poole B during the season.

Ciprian Stanciu
May 6, 2019