Broadstairs 3 Margate 1
| 1 | Paul Carfrae (132) | 1-0 | Colin Gregory (117) |
| 2 | John Couzens (131) | 1-0 | John Clarke (86) |
| 3 | Tom Lovegrove (117) | 0-1 | James Maskell (80) |
| 4 | Andy Flood (e114) | 1-0 | Justin Baker (55) |
Bob Page writes:
Broadstairs began their defence of the Hargreaves Shield with a hard-fought but ultimately comfortable win over Margate. After a cautious start on all four boards, the match came to life when Tom managed to lose a queen and piece in quick succession. Resign? Not a bit of it. Rather like the knight in the Monty Python film that insisted on continuing to fight with no arms and legs, Tom conspired to give away all his pieces until, one move from mate, he finally accepted the inevitable. 0-1
Gradually the other three games appeared to heading Broadstairs’ way. On Board 1 Colin was falling behind on time and, having picked up a pawn early on, Paul skilfully manoeuvred his rooks and knight to gain a clear advantage. In time pressure Colin blundered a second pawn and resigned. 1-1
On Board 4 Andy was in the rare position of being ahead on time for much of his game. Needlessly giving away a pawn, his opponent came under pressure from a combination of Andy’s advancing pawns and supporting pieces. With his time fast running out, Justin made several mistakes, lost pieces and resigned. 2-1
For a long time it seemed that John would be the second to finish after Tom. He won two pawns early in his game and appeared not only to have a superior position but also to be well ahead on time. However, he could not find the killer move and desperate defence from John Clarke took the game beyond 10.00. Time pressure eventually decided the outcome and, in John’s words, a ‘boring’ game gave Broadstairs victory. 3-1