The Jamboree is a traditional end of season competition in which all the Thanet League clubs – or as many as can raise a team – compete against each other. Teams consist of six players and what makes it slightly different is that while you know you will be playing someone on a similar board to you – possibly one above or below – you do not know which club your opponent will be representing. We thought we had a pretty good team this year but unfortunately things did not go our way….
| 1 | David Faldon (170) | 0-1 | Richard Eales (Bridge 201) |
| 2 | David Horton (164) | ½-½ | Harry Sharples (W’borough 151) |
| 3 | Alan Gosman (149) | 1-0 | Leon Garfield (Margate 101) |
| 4 | Paul Carfrae (132) | 0-1 | Mick Micklethwaite (Herne Bay 139) |
| 5 | Reg Pidduck (104) | 0-1 | David Erwee (Folkestone 115) |
| 6 | Michael Doyle (80) | 0-1 | Chris Siebert (Folkestone 102) |
| Total | 1½/6 |
(for full results – for which thanks to Graeme Boxall – click here)
David Faldon writes:
“The 2014/15 Jamboree, staged in Margate, attracted six teams: a good turnout. Bridge fielded a formidable top five from Richard Eales (201) to James Essinger (155) and finished as clear winners, scoring 5/6 ahead of Herne Bay (4/6) and Folkestone (3½/6). Broadstairs came joint fifth on 1½/6. Despite this disappointing result, all of the Broadstairs players had interesting, hard-fought and enjoyable games, two of them going well past 11 pm. Reg (board 5) was the first to finish. Having neatly won two pawns right in the opening, he then unfortunately missed a surprising rook sacrifice from his opponent which proved instantly fatal. Oops! Mike (board 6) was the next to go, but not before chasing his much-higher-rated opponent’s king around for an hour or so. Our third loss was David on board 1, out-calculated in a messy scrap. Alan (board 3) finally broke our duck, winning a complicated game where both sides sacrificed knights like they were going out of fashion. The last two matches to finish in the whole event featured Broadstairs players. Paul (board 4) fought hard and must have had his chances somewhere but in the end his game came down to a rook for Paul to a rook plus bishop for his opponent (with no pawns for each side). Even here Paul had good chances to draw but in the end one tired move sealed his fate with his opponent down to his final few seconds. David Horton’s game on board 2 wasn’t quite as spectacular as Paul’s but even so both sides could probably have won before a perpetual check in a queen and pawn endgame saw the point halved. All in all, things could have gone better but we had a lot of fun. Roll on next year.”