Broadstairs     2½                Bridge B     4½ 

David Faldon writes:

A match full of opening experiments from the Broadstairs players, some good, some bad and some just pug ugly. For example, one of our guys played 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Bd6 and then lost his bishop for nothing on move six. Don’t do it again! Some of the other experiments weren’t much prettier but John’s unusual idea was interesting. I won’t provide details here because I might try it myself. Our Bd6-artist didn’t last long (0-1 to Bridge) and John soon joined him on the sidelines after a flurry of tactics. First John won a pawn with a nice trick, then another, then he turned down a draw offer … what could possibly go wrong? A neat counter-trick was the answer, resulting in a perpetual attack draw. Still, this was a very good result for John against a strong opponent. A few minutes later Andy levelled the match with a clever finish (1½-1½) and we were in with a chance. Not much of a chance, given that three of us were hanging on for a draw at best, but at least Bob P’s game on board 2 looked promising of more. Sadly for us, Bob wasn’t able to repel a determined counterattack and one of our draw hopes disappeared too, leaving us 2½-4½ down with none to play. A shame, but at least we put up a good fight against a team that outgraded us heavily all the way down. Something to build on. After this match the updated Millar Cup standings are: Bridge A 5/5, Bridge B 4/5, Herne Bay 1½/4, Broadstairs 1/5, Folkestone 1/3, Margate 1/2 and Ramsgate ½/4.

Broadstairs  2½       Bridge  1½

Reg Pidduck writes:

The fog had lifted and so were our spirits on the way home.

BOARD 3: KING SIDE ONSLAUGHT. Ray came out all guns blazing battering my king side preventing me from castling but in doing so lost a rook for nothing. It took me a further nine moves finally to castle safely queenside and begin to make my advantage tell and bit by bit wear him down.  1-0 to us

BOARD 2:  STEADY ANDY. When I finished my game I was just in time to see Andy take a knight which Stuart could not take back without being mated. With this advantage Andy played solid and swapped off queens and Stuart resigned. 2-0 to us

BOARD 1: GAME OF THE NIGHT. After two and a half hours eight major pieces were off the board but unusually no pawns. So the positions were locked and a draw agreed. This was a fine result for us as Shahid is a really top opponent at this level and Bob’s draw sealed the match for us. 2.5-1.5 to us

BOARD 4: NOT QUITE OUT OF TIME. As 11 o’ clock approached it was nip and tuck in Michael’s game. With Ian’s clock showing only four minutes to go, super sub Michael lost a piece for nothing and resigned.

A 2.5-1.5 win for Broadstairs.  We have now played two and won two in our defence of the Walker Shield. Well done team !

Broadstairs     1½                Herne Bay     5½ 

David Faldon writes:

Our main success was that John on board 4 played a great game to defeat a strong opponent, one he’d always had a lot of grief from in the past. It was a smooth, positional win and John had the black pieces, too. Our only other positive result came from our hero with the black pieces: David H on board 2 produced a stern defensive performance to beat off a long, slow attack. All of the other games resulted in losses but in contrasting styles. David F on board 1 and Paul on board 3 both threw everything at their opponents but in both cases their opponents somehow managed to survive and then mop up once the attacks had petered out. The games on boards 5 to 7 were much calmer but with Bob, Andy and Reg on the defensive for long periods. Unfortunately, there were no survivors. Congratulations to Herne Bay on another hard-fought victory. This leaves us with one win from four Millar Cup matches with Bridge at home next on November 9th. What could possibly go wrong?