Southbourne A v Ringwood A

An even contest where. early on, Ringwood appeared to obtain better positions on the top 2 boards, whilst Southbourne looked good on the bottom 2 boards.

About half way through the evening, following a very interesting and tactical game, Len turned down a draw offer on bottom board in a Queen and minor piece ending when perhaps he was no better. As often happens, players can try too hard to win and Martin played very well to captalise to win.

The board 2 match, despite the sharp tactics early on, good defending by James and perhaps a missed opportunity by Peter, the game swapped down to a level opposite coloured bishop ending when a draw was agreed.

Board 3 was a Blackmar Diemer Gambit but Graham never quite had sufficient compensation despite all his efforts. Gradually Steve took advantage of the extra pawn with his central pawns moving up the board and he won with careful play.

On board 1, Kevin spiced things up by sacrificing 2 bishops for a rook and pawn to obtain a dangerous passed c-pawn but this was soon blocked and gradually the 2 bishops looked stronger. However, it was not clear how Martin could progress and with both players having less than 10 minutes on the clock, a draw was agreed to ensure the overall match was drawn too. Post match analysis amongst players on both teams could not decide either.

A good sporting close contest and overall, a fair result. Well played both teams. We wish Ringwood good luck for the rest of the season.