‘We win when we want….’

Well, most of time. Poole E played away to Southbourne D. Out-graded on every board by between 13-25 points. On paper this looked like it was going to be a tough night for us. Its a testament to the attitude and style of players at Poole Chess Club that we just got on with it and played the opponent not the grade.

Tim Mc C – first outing as Captain played a strong opening with the white pieces, achieved a slight edge but there was no hammer blow to finish his opponent off. A glance at Tony’s board beside Tim, helped decide the game draw offered and agreed.

Tony Pritchard – first outing for the club, with the black pieces, played the very solid Rubinstein variation of the French Defence. He skilfully outplayed his opponent in the endgame, undoubling his pawns and then pushed home for a very well deserved win.

Ciaran Southey (13 years old) – on board 1 played a very solid game against the cunning John Harris. Ciaran had a slightly inferior position from the opening but fought back with some good tactics to make this game very tough for both players. John tried all tricks but young Ciaran showed calm, and good lines of play to give his opponent no chance of a breakthrough. Both players shook hands and were both happy with the draw.

Christine Roberts – with one board still in play the tension heightened. Chris just needed to secure a draw to win the match. ‘Bermuda Dave’ under pressure from Chris touched a pawn which then had to move and was cleared off the board by Chris who was playing extremely well under the pressure. She had a clear advantage but let her foot off the peddle long enough for Dave to ram his queen into the heart of Chris’s pieces. Suddenly out of the nowhere he had mate in one. Poor Chris threw all her pieces at Dave but nothing could stop the mate.

Final result of the match 2 – 2. A great result against a strong team and a fantastic start to the season.

Yours truly watched all the games from the terraces and what a pleasure it was seeing our Poole team doing so well against a strong and experienced team, well done all and especially to Captain Tim for bringing all together as captain for the first time.

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October 2, 2017