Win for Wimborne in the Final match of the season

So the scene was all set with our visitors Wimborne who had been chasing us all season  to play the Final match of the season which would decide who would become Dorset County Champions and Runners -up.

It was tense, very tense as the teams sat down especially when on the adjoining boards there was a Division 3 decider between Poole C and Dorchester D.

8 serious games going on, very serious games and one or two friendlies in the background. Tick tock, tick tock, great chess pressure as you could have heard a pin drop. A few spectactors wandering around.

All 4 boards seemed even quite early on and into the middle games but on Bd 4 Chip had a strong attack with Stephen Appleby defending like a trojan. Meanwhile on Bd 3 Peter Wilcock had a strong pawn through the middle and I think David Fuller missed a trick on D5 to allow this thorn in his side eating into the Black position.

On Bd 1 Mike Duggan was holding Ian Clark but the white knights were dancing around in unison like two sole mates holding hands waiting to go the ball!

Um, um, it was looking nervy from the home point of view especially when John Weatherlake on Bd 2 advanced his pawn but missed a sequence of checks that would be his undoing and a few moves later the reality came true when John had to resign so 0-1 Wimborne.

Not looking good for the home team especially only Chip had any sort of advantage. Tick tock, tick tock as Mike’s time was slipping away in an open and mixed board that was very complicated. He decided to take a pawn with undertones of danger to gain an advantage but there were question marks and Ian did not take too long to find an advantage and win a piece. Oh dear, it was looking grim and sure enough despite giving all in a lost endgame Mike conceded 0-2 Wimborne.

The writing was on the wall when David succumbed to this horrible, inevitable pawn with Peter’s pieces dancing around the thorn in his opponent’s losing position. Too bad 0-3 and the Fat Lady was singing for Wimborne.

Chip was still battling away on Bd 4 and even more determined to find a breakthrough regardless of the results on the other boards. It looked a nailed on draw but somehow, he managed to find a pawn sacrifice which opened up the attack and broke through to finish off his opponent to at least restore a score and some pride for the home team. Never underestimate our Captain Chip especially when the !!!! are down.

Final match score 1-3 Wimborne and now Champions with Poole Runners up.

Congratulations to Wimborne but I am so proud of our team’s efforts and performance over our 1st season in Division 1, we will be back!

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May 11, 2018