Broadstairs 2 Ramsgate 2
| 1. | Paul Carfrae (131) | 1-0 | Steve Guy (138) |
| 2. | John Couzens (118) | 0-1 | Malcolm Snashall (122) |
| 3. | Andy Flood (111) | 1-0 | Brian Williamson (96) |
| 4. | Michael Doyle (89) | 0-1 | Josh Vaughan (77) |
Andy Flood writes:
It was always going to be a tight match between the 2015 Hargreaves Shield champions, Ramsgate, and the runners-up, Broadstairs. First to finish was the captain and part-time reporter with a solid game. I was a knight up early on as a result of a simple queen take with Black unable to recapture owing to a discovered check. John on board 2 soon found himself in the bar for an early drink having gone a piece down early in the game. He battled through to an endgame against a typically solid Malcolm Snashall, who swapped off to convert an advancing pawn, forcing John to resign before the inevitable.
As the night was drawing to an end, Mike Doyle on board 4 was battling against our Josh who was struggling under time pressure. As the clock’s flag raised, we waited for it to fall. Somehow, Josh withstood the pressure to get what was an unpredicted but well-deserved point for Ramsgate with seconds to spare as he advanced a pawn to convert to a queen leading to Mike’s resignation.
So the result would be determined by the top board and what at one stage appeared to be an inevitable win for Paul as he went a queen up early in the game. Somehow, though, Steve got back into the game and captured a rook as Paul sought to mate, thus setting up the game for an exciting finale. It took some exceptional play from Paul to shrug off the lost piece as his queen battled against knight, rook and bishop to advance three queenside pawns to guarantee another queen and win on the top board.
A good night for chess and the white pieces with Broadstairs maintaining their unbeaten record with a 2 – 2 draw.