Summer League Final Match vs Southbourne 25/7

Better late than never, but still remembering an extremely enjoyable and rewarding evening when we overcame a strong Southbourne team 7-5  and to win by the Summer league.

I was told Southbourne had a 2/8/2 formation in terms of strength, my view was we had 12 players that were happy to come along, do their best and see what happens!

The evening started off win a nice 11 move win by Mike Duggan against James Forster (2043) when unfortunately James took risks with his Q and paid the price which was quickly followed by a comfortable win by Simon Fox and in no team at all we were 3-0.  Several of the other games were very tight and Southbourne fought very hard to recover with our middle order players matching most moves. From memory the score went 3-1, 4-1, 4-2 and so but we maintained our 2 point advantage all from start to finish.

Good wins for Tony Sanderson and Zander, and tough well earned draws for Mike Rutter/Leo (just 10 years old) Mike Minvalla and one of our newcomers Dragos.

Steve fought back from a piece down to gain an exchange advantage, fought off a strong pawn drive and obtained the draw in good style.

John W was in a typical John W game which for a limited yours truly looked Ok but could not get compensation for saccd pawns and eventually lost to an ever improving Jamie Doyle.

The evening highlight and showstopper as the light was fading was Finn’s game with Joe which was an excellent rook and pawn ending with Finn’s pawn on the 7th rank and about to Q and Joe forcing a mating position at the same time. The clock was down to 2 and 5 respectively however pieces were eventually exchanged with Joe ending up with a pawn and rook vs a rook. The way forward was extremely difficult and maybe improbable however as the match result was already decided and with a glowing gallery a draw was agreed.

24 players playing in a comfortable garden and our teams have gained in numbers from 7 at Ringwood, 9 vs Highcliffe and 12 on this night – great stuff.

Great to see 4 of the best juniors in Dorset playing and getting good result, great to see chess stalwarts from both teams competing and an overall success on the night.

Many thanks to Martin and the Southbourne team and all played in the right spirit.

Eric Sachs

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July 29, 2022