Players who took part in the Thanet Congress were invited to send in games they thought were worthy of a wider audience and I am grateful to Stephen Appleby of Wimborne for doing just that.  Stephen is a Thanet regular who finished joint second in last year’s Challengers tournament. He has submitted a game he played along with an apology to his opponent, Peter McGill, who has already featured in the earlier Challengers game that he lost to Edward Gray. However, it should be remembered that Peter won the Major section last year when he kindly sent in one of his best games. Peter, if you read this, I should be happy to publish your win from this year’s tournament.

White:   Peter McGill (149)  (155)    Black:  Stephen Appleby (161)

    1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3 Nf6 5.e5 Nd5 6.cxd4 d6 7.Bc4 Nb6 8.Bxf7+ Kxf7 9.Ng5+ Kg8 10.Qf3 Qe8 11.e6 Nd8 12.d5 h6 13.Nh3 Nxd5 14.Qxd5 Bxe6 15.Qd3 Qc6 16.0-0 Bc4 17.Qd1 Bxf1 18.Qxf1 e5 19.Nc3 Ne6 20.Qd3 Be7 21.Nd5 Qd7 22.f4 Rd8 23.Be3 Bf6 24.Rf1 Nc7 25.Nxc7 Qxc7 26.Rc1 Qa5 27.a3 Kf8 28.b4 Qa6 29.b5 Qa5 30.Nf2 exf4 31.Bxf4 Qb6 32.Be3 Qa5 33.Ne4 Be5 34.Rf1+ Ke7 35.Nxd6 Rxd6 36.Bc5 Qb6 37.Rf7+ Kxf7 38.Qf5+ Bf6 39.Bxb6 axb6 40.Qf3 Rhd8 41.h4 Kg8 42.Qxb7 Bxh4 43.Qe4 Bg3 44.Qc4+ Kh8 45.Kf1 Rd2 46.Qb4 Rf2       

The Challengers was a very competitive section with 19 strong players including some very promising juniors. One of these, Edward Gray (Sussex Juniors), shared first place with Anthony Lee (Oxford City) with 4/5. Edward has played a great deal of chess during the summer and was selected to play for the ECF England Junior Chess Squad at the European Schools Chess Championships in Krakow in July. Last year he came third in the Thanet Major behind Peter McGill.  This year it was Edward who finished higher and Peter was one of his victims on his path to glory.

White:  Edward Gray  (155)    Black:  Peter McGill (149)

    1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nxd5 4.Nc3 e6 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.0-0 Be7 7.d4 o-o 8.Re1 a6 9.Ne4 Nf6 10.Nxf6 Bxf6 11.c3 b5 12.Bd3 Bb7 13.Qc2 g6 14.Bh6 Bg7 15.Bxg7 Kxg7 16.Be4 Na5 17.Bxb7 Nxb7 18.Qe4 Nd6 19.Qe5 Qf6 20.Qxf6 Kxf6 21.Ne5 Kg7 22.Rad1 Rfe8 23.h3 a5 24.Nd7 Rad8 25.Nc5 Nc4 26.b3 Nb6 27.Nb7 Ra8 28.Re5 Reb8 29.Nc5 Rd8 30.Rde1 a4 31.g3 axb3 32.axb3 c6 33.Kg2 Ra2 34.Rxe6 Rc8 35.Re8 Rxe8 36.Rxe8 Rd2 37.Rb8 Nd5 38.Ne4 Rd3 39.c4 bxc4 40.bxc4 Nc3 41.Rb3 Rxd4 42.Nxc3 Rxc4 43.Nd1 Rc1 44.Ne3 c5 45.Rb2     

   John congratulating David Pinch

The Major tournament was the smallest section within the Thanet Congress and, not surprisingly, the closest where everyone seemed capable of beating everyone else (unless you have a weekend like your correspondent and fail to win a game).  Consequently, there was a four-way tie for first place and only 1½ points separating top from bottom. Rob Woolacott was one of the winners and as a member of Swale Chess Club, he wins the title of Kent Major Champion. As a former member of Folkestone Chess Club, Rob’s victory should count as yet another triumph for the Thanet and East Kent Chess League. The other winners were Ian Cross (St Albans), Phil Foley (Upminster) and David Pinch (Steynton) who drove all the way from Wales to play at the congress.

“I play for my club in the Dyfed League (West Wales).  Steynton is a village outside Milford Haven.  We play against teams as far afield as Aberystwyth, Cardigan and Carmarthen.  Our club has no good players, all mediocre at my level, so I play board 1 or 2.  Cardigan board 1 is Howard Williams, 18 times Welsh Champion, board 2 is Iolo Jones, one-time Welsh Champion and currently a Wales over-65 International, Carmarthen board 1 is Gerry Heap, current Welsh Champion.  I have to play all of these and others similar.  I really enjoyed the tournament, there was a nice friendly atmosphere.  At the moment I am intending to come next year.”
    

White:  David Smith  (119)    Black:  David Pinch (146)

          1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Nf3 d6 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Bd3 Be7 6.O-O Bd7 7.b3 Nc6 8.Nxc6 Bxc6   9.Nd2 Qd7 10.a4 Ng4 11.Nf3 Bf6 12.Rb1 Ne5 13.Nxe5 Bxe5 14.Bb2 Qe7 15.f4 Bxb2   16.Rxb2 O-O-O 17.a5 Rde8 18.e5 dxe5 19.Qg4+ Kb8 20.Qxg7 Reg8 21.Qxg8+ Rxg8   22.c4 exf4 23.Re2 Qxe2 24.Bxe2 Rxg2+ 25.Kh1 Rxe2+ 26.Kg1 Rg2+ 27.Kh1 Rg6+   28.Rf3 Bxf3     

It’s always a pleasure to see local players winning at the Thanet Congress and once again Broadstairs’ own Reg Pidduck collected the Oyster Shield for the highest score (3½ points in the Minor) by a Thanet League player aged over 60 in either the Minor or Intermediate sections. This is the fourth consecutive year that Reg has won the award and the sixth time in all. Well done, Reg! Here he is (left) being given the shield and congratulated by the Gullbuster, John Couzens. Charlotte, the photographer reminded John that he would qualify for this award soon but that he would have to win some games first.

There was a three-way tie for first place in the Minor tournament between Broadstairs’ Joshua Vaughan, David Archer (Godalming) and 10 year old Emily Maton (St Albans Early Knights) The key game here came in the final round between David and Emily with both on 3½ points. However, their draw gave Josh the chance to win outright as he was also on 3½ at the start of the round. Hats off to David for his coolness in heading off home, not knowing if he would finish first or second. In fact, the end was very tense as Josh looked to be winning but could not convert his rook v two pawn advantage and had to settle for a draw.

     Josh receives his trophy

As a local player, however, he qualified as the Kent Minor Champion and was presented with his trophy from John (see photo). David was unable, therefore to collect his prize but he has submitted one of his games that he thinks is worth a wider audience. In his own words, “I liked this game because it was well fought, very close and an unusual finish. My opponent has not been playing very long and clearly shows great potential.”

      1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.g3 c6 4.Bg2 d5 5.d3 d4 6.Ne4 Nbd7 7.Nf3 Nxe4 8.dxe4 e5  9.O-O Be7 10.e3 c5 11.Qd3 b6 12.Rd1 a5 13.a4 Qc7 14.b3 Bb7 15.Bb2 Nf6 16.Nd2  Rd8 17.exd4 cxd4 18.f3 O-O 19.Bh3 Bb4 20.Ba3 Bxa3 21.Rxa3 Qe7 22.Ra2 Ba6 23.Bf5  Nd7 24.Rf1 Nc5 25.Qb1 g6 26.Bh3 Bc8 27.Bg2 f5 28.b4 Nb7 29.b5 Nc5 30.Bh3 Be6  31.Rf2 fxe4 32.Bxe6+ Qxe6 33.Nxe4 Qxc4 34.Nxc5 Qxc5 35.Rac2 Qd5 36.Rc6 d3  37.Rd2 Qxf3 38.Qe1 Qd5 39.Qd1 e4 40.Rc3 Qd4+         

As the 2017/18 season draws to a close, it seems appropriate to applaud the winners of the three main competitions in the Thanet and East Kent Chess League.  The Blue Riband event is the Millar Cup which as can be seen in the table below was won not for the first time by Bridge. The first three places are generally taken by the same teams so the real fun in this competition is to see who comes fourth after the Big Three. With no bias whatsoever, hats off to Broadstairs for edging ahead of their local rivals.

Millar Cup 2017/18 

The other two main competitions are generally more interesting because no-one can be sure at the start of the season who is going to win. The Hargreaves Shield is for those players with a maximum grade of 140 and this is where Broadstairs has an advantage with some strong players just squeezing into this bracket.  This year was a triumph for the team with some key performances from certain players, Broadstairs winning the competition for the second time in three years.

Hargreaves Shield 2017/18

The third competition is the Walker Shield for those graded 115 and under. In the mid-term report it was pointed out how close it was and that it might come down to ‘goal difference’ and that is exactly what happened. A glance at the table below shows that it could not have been closer. However, let’s not dwell on the one that got away but highlight the excellent performances that got the club within a gnat’s whisker of winning the competition, especially the magnificent victory over Ramsgate where Broadstairs had to win 4-0 and did so. Read the report here.

Walker Shield 2017/18

Of course, the Thanet Shield is the local trophy that gives bragging rights to its winner over the other Thanet clubs. A glance at the above tables shows that Broadstairs was once again the pre-eminent Thanet team so we won the trophy for the third successive year.

The league season may be over but the main event is fast aproaching which is the 49th Thanet Chess Congress, this year being held at St George’s School, Broadstairs, for the first time since the school was re-opened in 2010. There is still time to enter and we hope for a sizeable local presence to support Andy in all the hard work he has done to organise the event.  The congress takes place this weekend (Aug 17-19) and full details and online entry can be found here.