In the slightly delayed 2023 Bournemouth & District Chess League (B&DCL) and Dorset Chess secondary school inter-schools’ chess final, Bournemouth School (BS) met Poole Grammar School (PGS) on Tuesday 16th January at PGS for a very closely contested chess match. The match was played across 8 boards with each board playing two matches.

Bournemouth School came out on top as the overall 6 – 2 winners but the matches were far more closely contested than the scoreline suggests.

Bournemouth School’s team certainly had depth with its top 4 boards all playing for chess teams in the local B&DCL, but the Poole Team had the reigning Dorset Junior Chess Champion, Jamie Doyle, on board one and a B&DCL player on board 3.

Despite the time control being 30 minutes per player, such was the concentration and competitiveness that at least 4 matches were won or lost on time, notably games on boards 2 and 3.

Congratulations to Bournemouth School as winners and well done to Poole Grammar School for an excellent battle and hospitality.