There were really mixed results in this round with both teams under some pressure and some tough games.

Dorset Juniors 1: Won 5.5 – 2.5

The result makes it seem easier than it was, so well done to the team. On every board there were hard and challenging matches this round. Zander and Jack had long matches, but came out 2-0 winners, although Zander remarked afterwards that it had been tough. Michal won one match and drew the other through repetition. Hugo, despite playing equally long matches, came away empty handed and disappointed. But it will have been a good learning experience and we know that Hugo will bounce back.

The win against the second place team keeps us at the top of the table in Group A of Division 2, with 3 more rounds to come.

Dorset Juniors 2: Lost 2:5

It wasn’t really this team’s day. Our opponents Barnet Knights C were higher rated than our Dorset Juniors 2 team and this was evident in the difficult matches. To compound this, Harry lost his queen as a result of a mouse slip in his first match and Will was feeling under the weather.  Eli won both of his matches through the double defaults by his opponent; as he said afterwards,  ‘unbeaten in zero games’.

Never mind, learn from it and come back fighting next time.

This result moves Dorset Juniors 2 down a place into 7th place in their Division 3 group and now in the relegation zone. But there are still three rounds to go, so plenty of opportunities to fight back.