Broadstairs 5 Bridge 2
| 1 | David Faldon (178) | ½-½ | Patrick Burns (161) |
| 2 | Arnaud Wisman (168) | ½-½ | James Essinger (e160) |
| 3 | Trefor Owens (164) | ½-½ | Peter Blundell (115) |
| 4 | Richard Clement (145) | 1-0 | Gary Hilleard (107) |
| 5 | Chris Stampe (141) | 1-0 | Tim Spencer (98) |
| 6 | Paul Johnson (138) | 1-0 | James Smith (93) |
| 7 | Bob Page (133) | ½-½ | Graeme Boxall (86) |
David Faldon writes:
Our first Millar Cup match of the season, and our first victory. We took a strong team to Bridge, missing only Shany Rezvany who is currently in a London hospital. We wish him well. On the other hand, Bridge were short of several of their regulars so we had every reason to hope for an easy match. It was anything but! The top three boards all drew fairly quickly, leaving the match result in the hands of the lower boards. All four of the remaining games were hard-fought and could have gone either way. Paul on board six was the first to finish. Both sides were attacking at the same time and something had to go missing – luckily for us it was one of the white rooks and Paul had won. Advantage Broadstairs, but we were an exchange down (bishop or knight for a rook) on boards five and seven, and we were under pressure on board four. Could we survive? Bob on board seven provided the first answer when his well-timed draw offer was accepted. Bob had tactical chances but he was still an exchange down. All in all a good result for us, as it left us 3-2 up. Chris on board five then scored a win to secure the match. This was a tremendous game, with the attacks going back and forth like a tennis match until the Bridge player dropped a rook for not a lot and Chris made no mistake in pressing home his advantage. That took the pressure off the board four game, but by then Richard had the upper hand anyway, and he finished the game with a neat mating attack. This was the game of the match from what I could see and it provides us with this season’s first Game of the Week. Many thanks to all the Broadstairs players, and especially to Bob for giving me and Trefor a lift. And many thanks to Bridge. As usual, they made us feel very welcome and even provided tea, coffee and biscuits.
Editor’s note: It was good to see Gary again, even if he was playing for the opposition but then we had two in our team who used to play for Bridge. This game features notes by Richard together with contributions from David.
White: Gary Hilleard (107) Black: Richard Clement (145)
Millar Cup v Bridge (a)
0-1