Poole A v Southbourne A

Match Report

It's tight at the top of Div 1 with any one of four teams able to win the league with a couple of good results. In fact, a win tonight would elevate Poole A from fourth to first; a win for Southbourne would do similar.

Because it is getting to the business end of the season, it doesn't feel right to be making fun of opponents, so I won't, much.

Southbourne were short of a couple of players, but still looked strong. Poole were able to field their top team, ie. the one that I can't get into. But as an observer, I was able to watch all four games develop into interesting, complex games.

B4: John (w) vs Jon saw an Alekine's Defence. I missed the exact move order but John was able to push a quick e6, forcing fxe6, lumbering Jon with that enduring bunged-up kingside position. With the black knights on the queenside and black having to fianchetto on b7, the move h4 was marked and there was nothing that could stop the attack. A set of exchanges down the g and h files followed by a Qh5+ hitting a undefended Bh8 ended the game. Bad luck Jon. That e6 move can be very difficult to degend against.

B2: Nick (w) vs Steven saw a King's Gambit (Hooray!!), which was declined with 2...d6 (Boo!!). Now I don't much about this stuff, although I believe that declining gives White nice easy development and a good game, which certainly seemed to be the case here. Nick was simply able to keep improving: fxe5/dxe5, dropping a bishop on h6, taking over the centre with c3/d4 and expanding on the queenside. Soon a white pawn appeared on e6 and a piece was won on the queenside. The post mortem showed that other lines allowed mating attacks on the kingside. All in all and very nicely controlled game with Nick back at his best. Bad luck Steven.

B3: MikeD (b) vs Russell saw 1.c4 and a closed strategic battle, at least for the first dozen and a half moves. The game always looked pretty even although Mike did grab hold of an extra pawn in the middlegame, albeit with a slightly disfunctional position. Russell did have good compensation with open files and two bishops and a tense struggle looked on the cards. I was just starting to feel a bit nervious when Mike, realising the current 2-0 score, offered a draw and had his arm ripped off. Both parties seemed happy.

So with the team win secure...

B1: MikeW (b) vs Martin saw Martin (and I sort of quote) 'play a crap opening'. MikeW looked in good shape and Martin was down to less than five minutes with not many more than a dozen moves played. I didn't see the details, but in a complex position, a single substandard move allowed White some counterplay. At this point, with Martin pretty much playing on increment, the game became very similar to B3 with Martin an isolated e-pawn down, but with excellent compensation. I have to say that Martin's play was excellent with so little time. Queens came off, then a pair of Rooks, then material was equal and Martin was pressing. But just when the hard work had been done and some winning lines were starting to appear, Martin got engrossed in the position only noticing his clock with 1 second left but with no time to bash out a move, losing on time. Very unlucky. Great game by both players.

Result: Poole A 3.5 - 0.5 Southbourne A

I think that a Poole win would have been a fair result, but 3.5 flattered somewhat. Bad luck Southbourne.

And so Poole go top with a vital 'goal difference' of +2 over Wimborne. We just need our excellent colleagues, Poole B, to duff up Wimborne next good and proper to help us out.

D