31/1/2023 – We are now roughly half-way through the season, so it seems an appropriate time to take stock of how things are going.
The first thing to say is that we have gained several new enthusiastic members and it is delight to see them participating in both casual games and the serious stuff. Welcome to all!
In terms of the leagues, January was busy, with all 5 teams in action and 7 matches played.
The biggest challenge for us this year is keeping our A Team in Division 1 of the Bournemouth and District Chess League (B&DCL). Many of the clubs have gained highly rated new players and the division is the strongest it has been for many years, perhaps ever. Poole A is leading the pack and we knew we would have a tough challenge when we played them this month. We put in a creditable performance but narrowly lost. We are not bottom of the table but we are far from safe yet, and we will need a couple of decent results in the remaining 5 matches.
On the other hand, our B team is top of Division 3 of the B&DCL. They notched up another victory this month against Poole C and stand an excellent chance of the winning the division.
Moving onto Division 2 of the Dorset League, we scored our first win of the season this month, beating Purbeck. The teams are well matched in this Division, so anything could happen as the season unfolds!
In Bacchus League, we played a six board match against Southbourne. The Bacchus league is working really well this year, giving players new to competitive chess valuable match experience in a friendly environment – in our case Tich, Ben, Alex, Liam and Matthew (Mike has had a bit of practice over the years)! We came away handsome victors in this encounter, 4.5-1.5.
Finally, in the Southampton League, we had two matches against Salisbury, one in Division 1 and one in the Robinson Cup which is a knock-out competition. We lost the league match but exacted revenge with a win in the cup.
So overall, 4 match wins and 3 losses for the month and plenty to play for in the rest of the season.