Walker Shield v Woodnesborough (a)

Broadstairs  2         Woodnesborough   2 

1 Reg Pidduck (107) 0-1     David Erwee  (108)
2 Bob Cronin (103) 0-1     Mark Towlson  (101)
3 Michael Doyle (90) 1-0     Roy Dawson (71)
4 Michael Jenkinson 1-0     Ethan Latymer (e50 )

Reg Pidduck writes:

BOARD 4. Our Michael J took less than an hour to put us 1-0 up

BOARD 3. Michael D. took a bit longer. After a queen swap off he completed a clever mate with two bishops, a knight and a rook. Wow 2-0 up and looking good (so we thought)

BOARD 2 With the position of the match where it stood Mark Towlson was having none of the draw offers our Bob was making and slowly turned the game his way with a one pawn advantage.       2-1 to us.

BOARD 1 David Erwee picked off a knight early on in our game after I stupidly left a pawn pinned and unable to retake. I then tried to make a comeback from his then all out attack on my kingside but he was too good for me and finished me off by 10.20.

Result: 2-2 draw.   2016 played 1 drawn 1 – we are still unbeaten JUST!

Hargreaves Shield v Margate (h)

Broadstairs  2½         Margate   1½ 

1 John Couzens (125) 0-1     Clive Le Baigue  (105)
2 Andy Flood (117) 1-0     Leon Garfield  (102)
3 Reg Pidduck (107) ½-½     John Clarke (94)
4 Bob Cronin (103) 1-0     James Maskell (77)

Andy Flood writes:

A tough, close match took place at Broadstairs on Monday as the defending Hargreaves Shield champions kicked off the 2016/17 season with a home match against neighbours Margate. The team saw the introduction of Reg ‘the President’ Pidduck replacing Paul (Houdini) Carfrae who had gone missing on a year’s sabbatical. With the Gullbuster playing on board 1 and Broadstairs Bob on board 4, the match was incredibly close. The late night commenced with an early win for Broadstairs Bob, who always seemed in control and on target to deliver what was a valuable point. The Gullbuster on the top board went about his busting business, dominating the early stages and going an exchange up before suffering a shock defeat at the hands of Clive. With the match all square 1–1, the remaining matches lasted until almost 11.00. Broadstairs finally secured a point on board 2 after going an early pawn up and finally converting the advantage against a resolute Leon Garfield, who eventually succumbed to a checkmate under time pressure. With only minutes to spare, the President agreed a draw with Margate’s John Clarke in a pawn ending in which Reg had the edge but was keen to leave nothing to chance, thus securing a drawn game but a won match for Broadstairs.

Millar Cup v Bridge B (a)

 

Broadstairs  1½         Bridge B   5½ 

1 David Faldon (179) 0-1         Vishnu Singh  (192)
2 Nick McBride (e160) 0-1     Michael Green  (170)
3 Bob Page (141) ½-½         David Shire (158)
4 Andy Flood (117) 0-1         Robert Collopy (156)
5 Reg Pidduck (107) 0-1         Patrick Burns (146)
6 Bob Cronin (103) 0-1         Emily Green (146)
7 Michael Doyle (90) 1-0         Tim Spencer (130)

David Faldon writes:

The highlight of the match, and possibly of the whole season, was Mike Doyle’s splendid win on board 7. Stop reading this and go to Game of the Week to play it through! Not bad, eh? Anyway, Mike’s win put us 1-0 up and then Bob P accepted a draw to make it 1½-½. At this point it looked as though we might even get a result as Nick on board 2 had enough advantage to turn down a repetition and we weren’t doing badly on boards 1 and 5 either. Unfortunately looks proved deceptive and all of the remaining five games ended up as wins for Bridge. Still, all of the Broadstairs players put up a good fight against higher-graded opponents and nobody has any reason to be disheartened. Congratulations to Bridge on their well-deserved win and thanks, too, to all the Broadstairs players for playing and especially to the two Bobs for driving.