Two Towns Match – Monday 11th September 2023
Congratulations to the club for winning the Two Towns Match - an annual event played against Poole Chess Club.
"Bournemouth won a close contest by 15-10, dominating on the bottom half of the boards whilst the Poole team more than held its own on the top boards, all pretty much in accordance with ratings." Dorset Chess
We look forward now to starting the new season in October.
Congratulations to the new teams for the Bournemouth Chess Club who will be competing in the Bournemouth and Dorset Chess League.
Team A
Dennis Stokes-Carter (Captain)
Paolo Mostardi
Steve Bolton
Femi Abiola
Team B
Daniel Miles (Captain)
Thorsten Meyer
James Schumacher
Rob Willington
Team C
Paul Jackson
Paul Errington (Captain)
Andrew Alderton
Adem Avci
Team D
Kieron Roberts
Stefan Matthews
Brian Hilton
Tony Ackerman (Captain)
Team E
Paul (Arthur) Bland
Alex Darke
Chris Spence
Azhar Ghose
Peter Erhardt
Reserves: Greta Lindsay, James Everett and Jean-Louis Marchand.
Last week we had two matches between the Bulldogs vs Buccaneers and Bandits vs Bishops.
Buccaneers vs Bulldogs
5th October
If you look at boards 3 and 4 you can see this match unfortunately was a bit of an anti-climax. Brian Hilton's wife had covid, so that meant last minute he pulled out giving Alex the automatic win - he went on to play Paul Errington in a friendly and managed a draw which was a good result. Paul was very complementary of your endgame technique and how you survived his press so well done Alex! James E sat for 30 minutes but unfortunately Kieron was a no show which was a shame, but James took his automatic win with good grace. Sometimes all it takes to win is to show up! This left two boards though this swiftly became one. Paul Jackson blundered his queen early in the opening and he resigned. They played on a couple of times for fun with similar results. James is now 5/5 for the tournament playing on board 2 which is an incredible performance! Your reward: a match versus Dennis next week. This left board 1. Steve surprised me with his opening, though I surprised him back on move 3 which made us square. Black was quite passive so broke out with a pawn break that was dubious and then blundered a tactic. I had lost a bishop and you would think the game, however I had the asset of a passed pawn on c4, that quickly became c3. Still it was hopelessly lost and looking at the computer has not improved that assessment (+7 at one point). Steve played passively and ended up slowly dwindling his advantage over time and finally blundered his bishop leving a bishop versus rook endgame where a draw was agreed. Last week I got away with murder, this week I was Houdini! (not the chess engine, the escape artist, please don’t frisk me! – actually no need just look at the scorecard and you will agree that Steve and I were definitely not using engines!) Buccaneers win 3.5-0.5 and the tournament.
Bishops vs Bulldogs
5th October
Rob Willington tested positive for covid last minute so could not attend the night giving Paul the automatic win. As mentioned before, Paul played Alex in a friendly and got a draw. Paolo played very well and blasted Femi off the board very quickly. Peter then managed to get an excellent win against Tony. Hard luck Tony, you are just getting the losses out of your system ready for the season! This left one final game. Stefan has been 4/4 on board 3 having an incredible tournament. It was time to give him a tougher opponent, so Dennis stepped up. Dennis played the opening poorly though wasn't punished. Stefan however had still been principled in the opening giving him an active position. What followed was a game of Dennis setting trap after trap and Stefan refusing to fall into them, though his time started to dwindle. This eventually became an endgame of knight and 5 pawns versus knight and 5 pawns though there were times when both sides were potentially winning. Now it was a game of could Dennis pressure Stefan into making a mistake. Dennis had 40 minutes on the clock and Stefan was running out of time. Unfortunately for Dennis he could never find a timely sacrifice to blow it open and Stefan played very accurately meaning it eventually simplified down to a dead draw which was agreed. A fantastic result for Stefan, completely blowing my expectations out of the water and showing a remarkable increase of strength since the start of the summer. Good job, though unfortunately in a defeat for the Bandits. Bishops get their first win of the tournament 2.5-1.5.
Last week we had two great matches between the Bandits vs Buccaneers and Bulldogs vs Bishops.
Bandits vs Buccaneers
28th September
The First game to finish was board 4 with Chris completing a confident win through winning a piece early and then converting. That makes 3 in a row for Chris, well done! The punishment for your success is that I have put you on board 3 this week, cruel I know! The next to finish was board 2. It looked like James won a piece for two pawns , however when I looked back he had done the same back so material was then equal. Both Kings were very exposed so this may have been a practical decision. James' king was stuck in the centre whilst Adem's was exposed on the kingside. James then didn't rush and slowly improved his attack on Adem's king until he could not escape without losing material and then was ultimately trapped in a mating net. That makes 4 from 4 for James who is having an excellent tournament. You may get rewarded with a game against Dennis on the final week if I can convince him. The final two games went down to the wire on the clocks. Board 1 was between myself and Thorsten, I blundered a pawn early (it was technically a poisoned pawn with +5 - though the trap was missed so ultimately it was a blunder). I was worse for most of the game and was trying to lay traps for Thorsten to fall into to no avail. Fortunately my efforts finally paid off. Have a go at finding this one, White to play and save the game:
Nxd6! This is a fork of the rook on c4 and threatening a deadly check with the queen on f7. It turns out black taking the pawn on b2 was poisoned! Thorsten blocked the check threat with Rf8 and I took the exchange on c4. Thorsten had to take back the knight as it threatens the queen. It was still messy after this but eventually the board was left with a rook+queen+3 pawns, completely symmetrical and a draw was agreed. How to get away with murder! The final game was board 3. Stefan quickly went up two pawns and an exchange. What do you do when you are up material? Complicated the position of course! (wait a second that isn't right) - Despite this Stefan survived his folly and managed to convert the game after it lasted much longer than it should have. Stefan now has 4 for 4 and is having an excellent tournament too, however it was not enough as Buccaneers won 2.5-1.5.
Bulldogs vs Bishops
28th September
Result: 2.5 : 0.5
Paul Errington finally had the white pieces however Paul Jackson complicated the position and Paul E’s position was in tatters. The game was over very quickly. On board 1 Steve decided to blunder a pawn early on (bit of a theme for board 1 this week). However he fought back and in the end in low time potentially even had a winning position. In the end he offered a draw against Paolo, happy to take the draw with low time on the clock - Paolo snatched his offer without a second thought! He told Steve after the game he would have played on, Steve won’t ease up on him in the future I don’t think! Finally Tony was due to play Brian and Kieron to play Azhar, however when both their opponents were unable to play they played each other. Tony played the same opening as Stefan - Kieron's opponent from the week before so this meant he had done some preparation after his loss, unlucky for Tony. There were no big blunders, however Kieron was able to get the advantage and then convert this into a win. Bulldogs win 2.5-0.5.
The Buccaneers are starting to storm away with the tournament with a win on Wednesday guaranteeing the tournament win. Personally I think this is a bit of an upset, well done to everyone on my team so far you are boosting my ego tremendously. Can the Bandits or the Bulldogs find a way to come back? Bishops will have to play spoiler. We shall have to see.
Last week we had two great matches between the Bishops vs Buccaneers and Bandits vs Bulldogs
Buccaneers vs Bishops
21st September
Another excellent set of decisive games. The first game to finish was Alex vs Azhar. Alex won a piece and then rapidly liquidated the board to comfortably win. Another game that seemed to liquidate was the game between James and Paul, Paul offered the draw, but James fought on and turned a drawn looking end game into a winning pawn endgame with the 'chicken coop' technique. Chris and Tony's game was the next to finish after a very long game with each players blundering pieces to one another in what was a see-saw game. Chris was worse for a while with him simply holding on and delay tactics until a blunder from Tony swung the game his way. That makes two wins in a row for Chris so that should be a confidence boost for him. The final game between Paolo and myself lasted 70 moves and 3 hours. It was a very very sharp position with both kings exposed on the kingside and me going from +12 on the computer to 0 in one move. Tony has asked for more positions to be shown so here you go: black to play and win. Don’t scroll down as I will spoil it there.
I spent too long on this move and got lost in the calculation. Bh3 is the winning idea with the idea of checking the king on g2 – I saw this and then played another move as I didn’t realise the full strength of the move. To make this work if someone blocks this idea with Rf2 for example is using both bishops with dark square bishop coming to h4 and the queen following up by following the bishop and coming to g5. This was apparently an unstoppable attack. Paolo punished the missed win with a slow methodical conversion of a winning endgame despite frantic defence. Paolo got the win but ultimately in vain as Buccaneers win 3-1.
Bandits vs Bulldogs
21 September
An excellent tight match between the bandits and the bulldogs. Steve used his initiative well with the white pieces against Thorsten and was completely winning, however he thought (wrongly) that he was about to run into a mating net and so missed his chance to win the game. In the end it fizzled to an agreed draw. On board 2 there was a very crowded closed game between Adem and Paul. Adem fought very well and got an excellent result drawing against Paul Jackson. On the bottom two boards we had two decisive results. The match between Kieron and Stefan quickly dissolve to a pawn only endgame with 6 or 7 pawns still on the table, I have no idea how that happens! Stefan showed good technique to turn this into a win against a very strong opponent. Stefan is having an excellent tournament. Finally Brian managed to bounce back from last week getting the win against Peter. The final result of the match was 2-2, well done to both teams.
We had two great matches between the Bulldogs vs Buccaneers and Bandits vs Bishops
Bulldogs vs Buccaneers
14th September
The first game to finish was board 4. Chris Spence got an excellent win against Brian Hilton so that should do him some confidence a world of good. The next game to finish was between Paul Jackson and James Schumacher. It was a tight game with James showing excellent knowledge of an obscure opening. Paul slowly started to shake his head more and more as the game went on and finally he resigned. Paul was singing James’ praises to anyone who could listen to him. It was an excellent win for James as Paul is a tricky opponent. The third game to finish was on board 1 between Steve and myself. The game quickly liquidated into an endgame with two rooks. The white passed pawn ended up being the deciding factor, though the computer was not happy with either of our endgame techniques! Finally Kieron versus Alex was the last game. Kieron turned up 20 minutes late, so his clock was already quite behind but he managed to show his strength and got the win after a tight game up until the endgame, however it was only a consolation point as Buccaneers beat the Bulldogs 3-1.
Bandits vs Bishops
14th September
Unfortunately Andrew has been very unwell the last couple of weeks and had to pull out of the game last minute. This meant Adem Avci got the automatic win. Fortunately we had a new strong guest player (sam) come visit so he got a good game against him, but it was a shame this game could not go ahead. On the other boards Dennis managed to get the win against Femi, though I didn’t get a chance to see it. Rob managed to get a win against Paul, he told me afterwards that the game was 'mad'. Finally on board 4 we had Stefan against Tony. Apparently Stefan prepared a lot of lines versus Tony only for Tony to forget the lines himself from move 2. What followed was a pawn trade and a queen trade with black losing castling rights. They both had fun playing 'out of prep' with Stefan eventually taking the win. Final result Bandits 3 - Bishops 1.
Monday 12th September 2022 at 7.15pm
Between Bournemouth and Poole (note players from Bournemouth Chess Club are playing for Poole Town)
Poole Centenary Club (Poole’s new home venue)
Bournemouth will comprise of players from Highcliffe, New Milton, Ringwood and Southbourne clubs and will captained by Richard Ursell.
Poole will comprise of players from Poole, Purbeck, Bournemouth and Wimborne clubs and will be captained by Eric Sachs.
The annual invitation match against Poole Chess took place on Wednesday evening at Bournemouth Chess Club. The Handicap was surprisingly close, we needed to score 4 half points too win. All the games were hard fought, with Poole Club triumphing this year holding trophy for this new season, well deserved. Their junior on board 4 with a great win against Paul Jackson. We in turn saw Daniel Miles beat David Fuller on board 3, which is probably his best won in his career. Great evening of chess as I said too Daniel who did splendid job of organising the even. It bodes well for our future matches in the leagues in 2022/ 2023 season.
We thank all Poole players for making this evening so successful and we will be back in 2023 to reclaim invitation trophy.
Paul Errington Chairman
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| Match Results |
Bishops vs Bulldogs
Wed 31 August 2023
Result: 1.5 : 1.5
Unfortunately for the first round we were not able to man all the boards, though with more availability in September this should be resolved moving forward. Additionally Tony was down to play Azhar, but since Azhar didn't turn up, this was an automatic win for Tony - he was slightly disappointed, but I believe he went home to watch the champions league, so it could have been worse! Please make sure if you are down to play to please show up, it saved me a headache, though I know mistakes happen. Back to the chess.
Paul Jackson seemed to quickly dispatch Paul Errington, so I think there must have been a quick blunder. It was a tough matchup for Paul, so hopefully he can bounce back next round against a lower rated player.
The final game was to decide the match outcome. Andrew was up a pawn in the opening but Kieron fought back well and once the game liquidated down both sides had only a pawn a rook and a king each. Kieron offered the draw and it was accepted. Good result for Kieron as Andrew is a very tricky opponent.
This meant the match was a tie. Well played everyone in round 1!
The Club has started an internal tournament, with the Buccaneers, Bandits, Bishops and Bulldogs competing and honing their chess skills.
You will find all results posted on LMS as the matches are played under BCCTT.
Buccaneers vs Bandits
Wed 31st August 2022
Result 2:2
Great match between the Buccaneers and Bandits! On board 1 Femi slightly overextended in the opening and had to rescue his knight for the cost of a pawn and pieces exchanged off the board. He advanced his king forward aggressively in the endgame but unfortunately walked into a mating net. James was up a pawn from the opening from what I saw and then later I looked and he was up a bishop in the endgame and converted for the win. Stefan won the exchange and a couple of pawns early on in the middle game and then made sure not to blunder a back rank mate, good job. This became up a full piece and he converted confidently. Finally Peter won a piece and then converted this into a victory. Well done to everyone who played. 4 wins and yet the match was a draw 2-2.
Please note that the Bournemouth Chess Club Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday 20 July commencing at 7.30pm for all current members.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Poole D vs Bournemouth C
Wednesday 11th May 2022
Division 4 Result: 2:2
The team successfully secured a draw in this match against Poole, despite the scare with Femi on board one. With Division 4 so closely contested the draw against Poole meant we were able to secure our place as winners of Division 4, where we won on games. Congratulation to all players who contributed to winning Division 4.
Chairman Paul Errington
Poole C vs Bournemouth B
Wednesday 11th May 2022
Division 3 Result: 1:3
A great win for Daniel Miles team in Division 3 beating Poole. The improvement in this young team is remarkable. Our next season they will be even higher in the league 2022/2023.
Chairman, Paul Errington
Bacchus League
Wednesday 11th May
Result: 0-4
Although our Bournemouth Pretenders lost their match 0-4 the improvement in these player who ALL of them never played overboard chess before has been excellent. They all deserve to try their luck on Division 4 league proper next season. Well done to all players who played in a true Baccus team.
Chairman Paul Errington
Bournemouth C vs Southbourne D
3rd May 2022
Division 4 Result: 2:2
We hoped for a win, but finished match with a draw. All games were competitive. Mine was particularly difficult, as I was not at my best after playing in a Tournament over the weekend and made several blunders, which allowed Ken to finish with a pawn ending.
Board 4 where Brian stepped in to replace Arthur, he fought hard but just failed to gain an advantage against talented junior Florence who prevailed in a good win.
We have one match remaining against Poole and thanks to Andrew and Femis wins, the league is still winnable in last match.
Paul Errington Team Captain
Bournemouth vs Highcliffe Castles
Tuesday 12 April 2022
Result: 4.5:1.5
Excellent win by Bournemouth in Knockout handicap.
Highcliffe are current holders of this competition. The whole team contributed to one of the best results in Bournemouth league this year. Paulo should be given special mention as Highcliffe's board 1 was their ace card and when we won this game it put the result of this match firmly in our favour. We can now look forward to next round with renewed confidence.
Captain Paul Errington
29th March 2022
Division 3 Result: 2:2
Match two with New Milton B we had the same players on each board as previous week. Steve managed to win an exchange but was down a pawn in the endgame and in the end they agreed to a draw since both players were running low on time. Daniel on board 2 had a closed game and then opened it up when he really shouldn’t have! He was losing quite badly but thankfully wriggled long enough that his opponent began to fall very low on time so agreed a draw. Rob on board 3 an interesting tactical looking game that was very unclear for large parts of it, though he ended up losing in the end. Finally Femi on board 4 had a low rated opponent which he swiftly blasted off the board with dynamic play. So two matches, two draws but a solid result that shows we are hard to beat!
Daniel Miles, Captain
23rd March 2022
Division 3 Result: 2:2
First of our New Milton B matches which we played at home. We had Steve Bolton on board 1 who managed a long but comfortable draw. Board 2 was Daniel Miles and after a very postional game it liquidated to an endgame with an even pawn structure and opposite coloured bishops. Draw. Rob Willington was on board 3 and was hard pressed for a time but managed to equalise the position and they agreed to a draw. Board 4 was Femi Oloyede who had a very complicated game and Femi offered a draw since it was a scary position though perhaps prematurely since they played on after agreeing to a draw and he would have won! Never mind a draw was still a good result overall.
Daniel Miles, Captain