6 Sept: Martin Simons reports on the match Thurs 5 Sept at RBL Poole:

A great turnout of 58 players. The result was completely level with 2 matches to go but good wins for Susan Kageler and Peter Anderson secured the win for Bournemouth by 2 points, the final match score being 15.5 – 13.5.

Looking down the scoresheet, Bournemouth capitalised on its slight grading advantage on the top 10 boards by scoring 8 points, honours were just about even on the middle 10 boards, and Poole did not quite recover the deficit on the bottom 9 boards where it had its grading advantage. The biggest grading upset was on board 24 where Terry Walsh secured a win despite being 14 points lower.

But as we know, the winner of the evening was chess and that so many players could get together, mingle with their chess friends, to get the season off to a great start!

Many thanks to Ciprian for his excellent organisation and for being such a good host.

Martin

(pictured Susan Kageler playing for Bournemouth against Chris Ambrose. Susan has the distinction of being 5 times Zimbabwe Champion and is playing for Highcliffe this next season. Also, Rachel Richardson is Susan’s sister)