Broadstairs 3 Herne Bay 4
| 1 | David Faldon (175) | 0-1 | Bernie Kooiman (185) |
| 2 | Bob Page (145) | 0-1 | Gordon Botley (182) |
| 3 | Paul Carfrae (131) | 0-1 | Bob Pooley (155) |
| 4 | John Couzens (118) | 0-1 | Mick Micklethwaite (131) |
| 5 | Reg Pidduck (106) | 1-0 | Paul Arnold (116) |
| 6 | Michael Doyle (89) | 1-0 | Ronnie Melhuish (103) |
| 7 | Michael Jenkinson (86) | 1-0 | Jamie Dawson (73) |
David Faldon writes:
Truly a match of two halves. Our bottom three boards all played splendidly and scored three wins in very different styles. Mike D was impressively quick and ruthless, crashing through with a vicious king-side attack. Mike J took a bit longer, outlasting his opponent and winning a neat pawn and knight ending. Reg’s game was the most double-edged, as he lost a rook for a knight early on, but his opponent played a few waiting moves too many and Reg pounced with his ‘bad’ Dutch bishop (the one on the same coloured squares as all his pawns) playing the star role. Our top boards didn’t fare so well. Bob, Paul and John all defended difficult positions hard against higher-rated opponents but without success. Strong players sometimes play well. These results left the match tied at 3-3 and for a change the top board game decided the match. Despite playing black, I had an advantage early on but a slip allowed Bernie the chance to sacrifice a knight. Taking the knight would lead to a draw but I refused it and tried for the win (mainly because I’ve never yet beaten Bernie in a dozen or so attempts). Unfortunately my ‘winning plan’ had a big hole in it which Bernie spotted: 3-4. Congratulations to Herne Bay on yet another hard-fought victory.