The traditional friendly annual Bournemouth v Poole Two Towns chess match was held at the Poole Centenary Club last Monday, 16th September 2024 and, as expected it attracted nearly 50 players.

Bournemouth had 8 more players so 4 were transferred across to the Poole team to even up the teams.

The match was played in a friendly spirit and each individual game was played over 2 games with each player having 25 minutes plus 5 second increments. If a player won 2 – 0 or 1½ – ½ this counted as 1 – 0 and a 1 – 1 draw counted as ½ – ½. 

It was an exciting contest which went down to the final board. When all the results were in it was a 11½ – 11½ draw. There was then some debate if the friendly 24th board should count which Poole had won. As there was a high rating differential on this board due to a late registration, it was agreed, after some negotiation, that this result would not count.

Individual Results

With lots of thanks to both captains, Richard Ursell (Bournemouth) and David Fuller (Poole) for organising such a successful event.