Broadstairs  3         Margate   4 

Defeat in this match was not so much a car crash but a car crash may well have contributed to our defeat.  An accident on the Sandwich by-pass delayed Harry Sharples and Richard Clement and both wisely turned round once it was clear they would not make the 30-minute cut-off point. So the match stood at 1-1 almost before it had started. Bob C was the first to finish, having carved up John Clarke with impressive ease to give Broadstairs a 2-1 lead.  Things were closer elsewhere. Reg lost a piece early on then won it back but was eventually outplayed for the second time this season by the impressive David Rogers (2-2).  Paul looked to have had a level game with John Thorley but he was eventually ground down and we were now 3-2 behind. David can always be relied upon to steady the ship and he beat another of Margate’s promising young players, Dennis Stokes-Carter, to level the match at 3-3. The result now rested on Andy whose game with Colin was always tight. Afterwards Andy thought he should have drawn but Colin played well so we lost the match 4-3. It was disappointing but whereas Margate were missing one player, we were without Nick, John and Richard so perhaps defeat was not such a surprise.  Well played, Margate.

                                             Broadstairs  2         Folkestone   2 

Bob Page writes:

This was meant the day that Broadstairs celebrated winning the Hargreaves Shield, returning home like Caesar from the wars. Alas, it was something of a horror show that could have been a lot worse but for Richard’s late victory that enabled us to scrape a draw. We arrived with a strong side and had every reason to be confident: we were unbeaten, Folkestone were bottom of the league with four defeats in five. What could possibly go wrong? It all began promisingly: on Board 1 Black lost a pawn then the exchange and soon after the game. 1-0 up at 9.00. However, all was not well elsewhere. Paul was a piece down on Board 2, Richard’s game on Board 3 looked tight and on Board 4 Andy was undeveloped and under pressure. When Paul won his piece back with a typically cunning tactic, things were looking up but soon after he miscalculated in a level position, lost a rook and resigned. By now Richard was a pawn ahead but in a tricky double rook and pawns ending and was falling behind on the clock. Victory in the match now seemed unlikely but defeat was unthinkable so for the next hour Andy was forced to die the death of a thousand cuts until eventually, facing mate, he was forced to resign. We then all gathered nervously around Richard’s game as his clock reached the last fifteen minutes. Fortunately, his opponent (with more time) panicked, swapped off one set of rooks and Richard finished off neatly to seal an inauspicious draw for Broadstairs. As the table below shows, we are still in a strong position and a point against Bridge in our final match will be enough but after this result we are taking nothing for granted.

                                                 Broadstairs  3         Margate   1 

Andy Flood writes:

As a consequence of the worst flu epidemic in seven years, a slightly weakened unbeaten Broadstairs team visited second place Margate with Mike Doyle standing in at very short notice to play on board 4 . In fact he was the first to finish his game. Playing black against the higher graded John Clarke, he managed to drive his opponent’s king into the centre of the board before achieving a checkmate. Broadstairs were soon to go 2–0 up with Bob Page maintaining his 100% Hargreaves win record, going a piece up and generally outplaying Colin Gregory, his opponent on the top board. A tight game was being played out on board 3 between Andrew Flood and Paul Ruffle, a former Broadstairs player of 10 years ago who had recently returned to playing chess. With white having an advanced pawn to the 6^th rank and with perhaps a miniscule advantage, a draw was agreed which secured the Broadstairs win. The team left Paul Carfrae to play on against Margate’s Clive Le Baigue, the Broadstairs Christmas quiz champion. With Clive already a pawn up through some very clever earlier play, he subsequently went a further two pawns up. However Paul’s solid end game play was proving an obstacle and with the time control looming and just over a minute left on his clock, Clive offered a draw which was accepted.