Broadstairs  2         Margate   2 

1	Reg Pidduck (107)	1-0	Colin Gregory  (106)
2	Bob Cronin (103)	1-0	Clive Le Baigue  (105)
3	Michael Doyle (90)	0-1	Leon Garfield (102
4	Michael Jenkinson  (83)	0-1	John Clarke (94 )

Reg Pidduck writes:

BOARD 4:  JOHN HOLDS ON  John Clarke gets to a solid position in the early stages then has to fend off Michael’s strong comeback. Michael offers a draw which gets turned down and John holds on.   1-0 down

BOARD 1: LOPEZ – MY FAVOURITE  The Ruy Lopez is one of my best openings, and I quickly got in charge against Colin. He lost a lot of time in finding the correct moves to thwart my advances and when I was running out of ideas Colin was running out of time and his flag fell.  1-1

BOARD 3: LEON TOO STRONG  Our Michael lost a bishop early and was always struggling to find a way back in but Leon held on. 2-1 down

BOARD 2: COMEBACK BOB. After losing an exchange early on, Bob looked in trouble and every time I took a glance at his game I feared the worst but slowly he got back to an even keel and while we all watched on at the final minutes he gained the upper hand and Clive lost on time.

Result: a 2-2 draw  We now have played 4  won 0 drawn 3 lost 1  in the Walker Shield. Well done team and well done Margate.

 

 

Broadstairs  2         Herne Bay   2 

1	Reg Pidduck (107)	0-1	Paul Johnson  (113)
2	Bob Cronin (103)	1-0	Ronnie Melhuish  (96)
3	Michael Doyle (90)	0-1	Eddie Ridley (64)
4	Michael Jenkinson  (83)	1-0	John Heath (48 )

Reg Pidduck writes:

BOARD 4 – A NEW SUPERSUB.  Last minute sub Michael J. got us off to a flying start with a win against John Heath inside an hour and a half.

1-0 to us

BOARD 3 – CUT AND THRUST. Every time I glanced at Michael’s game,  first one then the other looked in control. Then Michael went an exchange up. I looked again and then Eddie was looking the more dangerous. In the end Eddie wore our Michael down.

1-1

BOARD 2 – A GREAT WIN.  I have always thought Ronnie a very difficult opponent and he always plays better than his 96 grade suggests so our Bob needed to play a solid game against him and Bob came up trumps gaining control with a pawn advantage that Ronnie could not stop.

2-1 to us

BOARD 1 – A CAPTAIN’S INNINGS? SADLY NOT. Early exchanges were even until Paul gained a centre pawn. I then had to withstand a constant attack to try and maintain a position but to no avail as Paul captured my king.

2-2 draw    Played 3  Won 0  Drawn 2  Lost 1

Broadstairs   2              Woodnesborough    3

1	Nick McBride (e160)	½-½	Harry Sharples (150)
2	Bob Page (141)	½-½	Emily Green (146)
3	John Couzens (125)	0-1	John Thorley (142)
4	Reg Pidduck (107)	1-0	Mark Towlson (101)
5	Michael Doyle (90)	0-1	Dennis Stokes-Carter (85)

Bob Page writes:

For the second successive year we were dispatched from the Mick Croft Cup by Woodnesborough and while any defeat is disappointing, I don’t think we can have any complaints. We had a strong team under the rules of the competition (max 625 for all players) but Woody’s aggregate was 624 so it was always going to be tough. However, we won only one game and that was an outrageous swindle that Mark Towlson, Reg’s opponent, will not want to see again – but you can as it features in our Swindle of the Week above this report.

The evening began with a winning toss giving us white on three of the five boards and within an hour we were 1-0 up thanks to Reg’s extraordinary win. Thereafter, things did not go quite so well. Michael had an even game but once his opponent created a passed pawn on his a-file, he was always under pressure and his resignation evened the scores. I should have won my game but Emily kept finding the only move to avoid mate, eventually creating a mating threat of her own which I managed to prevent with a curious perpetual check: I had to keep checking to avoid being mated while she had to repeat to avoid me winning a piece and the game.

At 1½-1½ we were still confident. One point from the last two games would give us victory as with the scores level the bottom board is eliminated. However, despite battling gamely against a stronger opponent, John was always struggling to maintain parity and eventually had to resign at about 11.00, and Nick’s promising position earlier in the game disappeared with a misjudgement that lost him a bishop for a pawn and a draw was the best he could achieve. Never mind – we all agreed that just like the old football cliché when a team is eliminated from a cup competition,  we would now concentrate on the league so we shall have to settle for the Millar Cup this year.  Well done, Woodnesborough, and good luck in the final.

Broadstairs  2½         Bridge A   4½ 

1	David Faldon (179)	1-0	Michael Green  (170)
2	Nick McBride (e160)	1-0	Shany Rezvany  (170)
3	Bob Page (141)	0-1	David Shire (158)
4	John Couzens (125)	0-1	Robert Collopy (156)
5	Andy Flood (117)	0-1	Emily Green (146)
6	Reg Pidduck (107)	½-½	Chris Stampe (127)
7	Bob Cronin (103)	0-1	Bill Tracey (e110)

David Faldon writes:

Bridge brought a team designed to steamroller us on the lower five boards, and the plan worked, just. Our boards 3, 4 and 5 were all under heavy pressure early on and unfortunately none of them survived much past 9.30. We still had chances to get something from the match at this point, but then something went wrong for us on board 7 and Bob C lost from what had looked to be a good position. That was no disgrace, though, as Bridge’s new player, Bill Tracey, seems quite strong – he beat Reg in a Walker Cup match between the same teams last week. Reg did much better this week, drawing in solid style against an experienced and tricky opponent. The top two board games were both very complicated. My win on board 1 was decided by one bad move from my opponent as his time ran down. You can play through Nick’s splendid win on board 2 as it’s our game of the week. As you do, try to guess how Nick is going to get his a1 rook into the action.

Broadstairs  1         Bridge   3 

1	Reg Pidduck (107)	0-1	Bill Tracey  (e110)
2	Bob Cronin (103)	0-1	Graeme Boxall  (83)
3	Michael Doyle (90)	1-0	Ray Rennells (81)
4	Jordan Leach (46)	0-1	Ian Redmond (70 )

Reg Pidduck writes:

BOARD 4:   JORDAN DEBUT.  Ian Redmond’s experience told as he got the better over our Jordan playing his first game in a Thanet League competition. 1-0 down

BOARD 3:  IN-FORM MICHAEL. The turning point came when Michael’s discovered check won a rook and cleared the the danger of Ray’s advanced pawn. 1-1

BOARD 1: LETHAL KNIGHT. Bill Tracey looks quite a find for Bridge at this level as I had trouble containing his knight which caused havoc deep inside my defence. I finally had to sac my own knight to avoid a mate but to no avail and had to resign. 2-1 down

BOARD 2: STEADY GRAEME. Bob could do nothing about Graeme always finding the right moves once he got the positional advantage. With a final swap off of rooks and queens, Graeme was left with a passed pawn out off Bob’s reach. 3-1 down

With only half a point now from two away matches, our home games will be vital to get back parity. Thanks to Bob for driving duty.