Broadstairs  2½      Margate  1½

Reg Pidduck writes:

Margate needed to beat us to remain in contention for the Walker Shield so it was a hard fought match in this local derby.

BOARD 4. A NASTY FORK. Although Ashley is only graded 41 he is quite a banana skin. Michael set out with a good attacking game and got to a strong position when he fell into a nasty fork from Ashley and resigned. 0-1 down.

BOARD 3. TACTICAL DRAW. Bob faced the decision of gaining a piece for three dangerous pawns. After looking at the positions on boards 1 and 2 He took a tactical draw. Well done Bob: a team-wise decision.  0.5 – 1.5 down.

BOARD 2. THE TRAP. With John choosing a French Defence against my e4, I was happy to set up an early trap which won me a knight for a pawn. With his usual back to the wall defending John lasted well but I finally wore him down. 1.5- 1.5

BOARD 1. TO THE WIRE. After  getting the better of a rook and knight exchange early on, Andy was always looking good. Leon had other ideas and fought back to equalise but in doing so lost valuable time on his clock. Andy kept the pressure on and finally Leon ran out of time. 2.5  –  1.5

This victory means that with five wins out of five with one more match to play in the Walker we cannot be caught.

WELL DONE, TEAM!

Broadstairs 5    Ramsgate 2

David Faldon writes:

This was our third win of the season, reversing a 5-2 loss in the home fixture. Yes, we started the match as big favourites (Ramsgate were without their two highest rated players) but it’s still very satisfying to actually win a match.

Paul got us off to a great start with a quick win on board 4. A furious exchange of pieces left him well ahead on material and he’d sealed our first win within an hour of the start. Board 1 provided our second win. David F sacrificed a couple of pawns before either side had castled, setting up a whole range of nasty threats. Steve missed one of them.

David W’s game on board 7 was the third to finish, a hard-fought draw after an interesting opening. This left us two up with four to finish after two hours. Half an hour later we were three up with two to finish. Andy cashed in a queen-side pawn storm on board 6 to win a rook and the game. Bob then took a draw on board 3 to seal the overall result. A good team decision – Bob had a slight advantage in position but he was well behind on time.

The last two games went the full distance. John’s game on board 5 was exciting all the way (as usual) with both kings in danger, right up to the point when John lost a rook for nothing to a knight fork. David H on board 2 then finished off a well-played game in a tricky bishop versus knight ending to put the icing on the cake of a 5-2 win. Nice.

Many thanks to Ramsgate for their excellent hospitality. A 7-7 tie after our two Millar Cup matches this season leaves both sides with everything to play for next year.

Broadstairs  2½      Woodnesborough  1½

Reg Pidduck writes:

With high hopes of winning four out of four in our quest for the Walker Shield, Woodnesborough gave us a fright.

Board 1 EBB AND FLOW.  At first Andy looked all over Brian with  an attack on the castled king side and looking likely to win by 8.30. But Brian kept finding the correct moves to thwart Andy’s mating intentions. After looking at the progress of the other games, Andy took the draw in the blocked position. ½-½

Board 2. NEW MAN. Robin is a new player for the Woody team and has only mainly been playing online but he is a worthy opponent and a great find. After getting the better of me in a French Defence opening, he started a pawn storm on my castled king. I countered with an attack of my own in a very complex position and got caught with a knight fork. After the skirmish had ended, I was a knight down which was enough to finish me in a pawn ending.  ½-1½ down

Board 4. SUPER SUB.  Michael Doyle set out straight away to attack down the A file and was never in any trouble. Rens defended stoutly  but Michael eventually found the right combination to finish him off. A great win for our substitute.  1½-1½

Board 3. NO PRESSURE. Bob C. looked at me as if to say ‘no pressure then’ when I told him the score so far but he came up trumps after an exchange which left him a whole rook up and he then finished off Roy fairly easily.  So a win 2½-1½.  Two more games to go in the Walker Shield.

Broadstairs  2        Bridge 2

Andy Flood writes:

This was a Bridge too far, a game of two halves or, more accurately, a game of four halves.

First to draw was Paul on Board 1, which was looking good for Broadstairs, given that we were at this point clearly winning on the remaining three boards with all Bridge opponents out-graded. Tom was well up on Board 3 and had advanced his pawn to the seventh rank but somehow after a flurry of activity found himself all square and, following a number  of missed opportunities, he agreed a draw.

At this point John on Board 2 was in a good/won position and a couple of pawns up although he almost lost seeking to secure his won position through passive play, resulting in his opponent perpetually checking him and almost mating.  From Broadstairs dominating and controlling the match, on Board 4 overstretching resulted in the loss of a passed pawn and an agreed draw from a clearly drawn position with opposite coloured bishops on the board protecting the pawns.

So was the cup half empty or half full? Whilst on the journey back there were no losers in the car, we generally considered that this was a case of a lost opportunity and a match that should have been won.