This was the team’s first Millar League match since the momentous evening in March 2020 when we won the competition, just days before the original ‘Lockdown.’

Everyone was pleased to be back playing chess but we knew that we had a very difficult task ahead of us; playing a very strong team from Bridge. We were all outrated, on every board!

The first game to finish was Reg on board 7. Reg had bravely stepped up to take part only a couple of hours before kick off, after a club colleague had been admitted to hospital. Despite playing very well Reg had to concede defeat on this occasion

Things looked up as we skilfully secured victories on boards 5 and 6. Superb performances from Dominic Blundell and Andy Flood respectively had, against all odds, given Broadstairs a 2 – 1 lead. Sadly this was to be the highlight of the evening, and, although the remaining four games were hard fought and could have produced different results, Bridge made a clean sweep of boards 1-4

This Bridge won the match with a scoreline of 2 – 5 The result was very fair but the scoreline was harsh on the quality of the Broadstairs’ performance.

Because our team had a seven board match only two fixtures were played in the club championship this week

David Clifford 0 – 1 Michael Jenkinson

Fredy Reber  0 – 1   Paul Verrall

match report by Andrew Flood

It was a real pleasure to be playing Herne Bay following their absence from league competitions for a few years now. Their chess playing numbers had now increased reflecting the national trend of acquiring new members attracted to chess by “Beth Harmon”, the star and chess prodigy in the successful “Queens Gambit” series.

The newly refurbished Herne Bay Angling Association venue proved a happy hunting ground with Broadstairs “catching” the most points to register a win.

All games were evenly matched until late into the evening. It wasn’t until around 10.00pm and 2.5 hours of hard fought chess play, before the pattern of the evening and the result began to emerge.

First to finish was my game on Board 3 where I out – rated my opponent. My opponent, a recent Beth Harmon convert to chess, played a good solid game, and managed to gain a real advantage on the Queens side where I had castled. He accelerated his “A pawn” to the 6^th rank, and was lining up his queen and rook to force a mate. Fortunately, I was able to mount a Kingside attach and trap his Knight, open up his Kingside and with forcing play register Broadstairs first point 1 – 0.

Dominic was next to finish around 15 minutes later, in what was a complex game, with play and counterplay and multiple pieces covering multiple squares and each other. Paul Arnold made a slip resulting in a lost bishop, a crumbling defence and a resignation, so Broadstairs were 2 – 0 up.

On Board 1, Paul Carfrae was out-rated and playing against Bob Pooley, a draw would have been a good result, but Paul with white was playing some excellent chess and got an exchange up (a Rook for a Knight) before forcing the exchange of pieces and a pawn race to queen. Converting his Pawn into a Queen in the coolest of endings Paul allowed his opponent to get their black Pawn to the 7^th rank, which Paul then utilized in the mating of his opponent.

Fredy was the last to finish, playing some solid chess, he managed to get into the end game a pawn up, unfortunately his opponent had better utilised his double rooks and soon Fredy was a pawn down. By now it was getting late, and a draw was agreed.

The rarity of car going back to Broadstairs with no losers this time. In truth though all were winners, particularly Herne Bay who from the brink of folding were able to field a very competitive chess team with a home venue in the Thanet and East Kent Chess League which is probably the best venue in the league.

The Broadstairs’ Club competition has started, here are the first results

David Clifford 0-1  Chris Stampe

Andy Flood  1-0  Paul Verrall

Michael Jenkinson 0.5-0.5 Fredy Reber

Dominic Blundell 1-0 Paul Carfrae

Our first home chess match ever at the Bradstow Mill was fittingly against local rivals Margate and it proved to be an exciting one. Our communication network was tested early on as Chris (Board 1) phoned Reg’s home number (Margaret answered and then phoned Reg), Reg told me and I informed Chris’s opponent that Chris would be late.

On paper both teams were strong and evenly matched with the same overall rating of 6,394.

Chris Stampe on Board 1 arrived a little late and in a bit of a hurry to make up the lost time, with the black pieces he was playing the right moves to a familiar opening but unfortunately not in the right order, and his strong opponent was able to turn the play to Margate’s favour to take an early lead.

Paul Carfrae on Board 2 was able to square up the match to 1 – 1 playing his normal solid play and taking full advantage of playing with the white pieces. Meanwhile on Board 4, Michael Doyle in the unfamiliar colours of Margate, but with his familiar attacking style, overcame Paul Verrall who was making his home debut for Broadstairs.

Things were beginning to look desperate for Broadstairs with Margate leading 2 – 1 and having a slight advantage on Board 3 in a very tactical game with most pieces remaining on the board.

The Broadstairs team captain barely made the first time control limit of 36 moves and only had 1 second to spare. As the final game was played out between the two captains, Clive and Margate was ahead by 2 pawns. All was not lost though, as both players had 2 rooks and 2 bishops and as the space opened up, black managed to capture the initiative, capture back 1 pawn and then managed a forked check resulting in the loss of a series of pieces, quickly followed by a Margate resignation.

In the end an honourable, but most unlikely draw, which featured, the fat lady singing, the sick parrot and a brief appearance from Houdini, who must have slipped out from his bar opposite, before disappearing into the night.

match report by Andrew Flood