Broadstairs  1½         Bridge B   5½ 

David Faldon writes:

You had to be there at the end. If you weren’t … it was great! Yes, we were already 0-4 down after being steamrollered on the bottom four boards, but the last hour or so was brilliant. John on board three survived a somewhat dodgy position (2 pawns down for not much?) by counterattacking in his usual hyper-aggressive style. He got a pawn to the seventh rank, then his highly-rated opponent began a desperate pawn rush of his own. Would John work out how to defuse the rush? Of course he could, and we had a point on the board. Paul’s game on board two was almost as spectacular, in a completely different way. His almost-200-rated opponent put the pressure on early and got a passed pawn on the sixth rank, supported by bishop, rook and queen. Paul had to go into total defence mode, but it worked. His opponent could find no way through and as time ran down, a draw was agreed. The board one game was an anti-climax after John and Paul’s games, but it was fun while it lasted. I sacrificed for a huge attack, but my opponent held on for a hard-fought win. A 1½-5½ loss might sound bad, but just look at the grades of our opponents compared with ours. Many thanks to everyone that played, and especially to our two heroes, Paul and John, who drove the team to the match.

                        Broadstairs  3½         Woodnesborough  ½ 

Reg Pidduck writes:

BOARD 4. Captain Michael put his opponent’s king under threat from the start, even stopping him from castling. Finally young George resigned after a fierce attack from Michael’s knight and queen. 1-0 up.

BOARD 2. Our Bob also had a young opponent (they certainly bring them on well at the Woody club). Always in control, Bob duly won. 2-0 up.

BOARD 1. Steve Garrett’s estimated grade of 82 looked about correct after 15 moves as I was well in control. But then he played like a 110 and parried and found all the right moves to stop me breaking through and by move 37 I offered a draw which was agreed. Lovely game, Steve. Hope we play again soon. 2.5-0.5 up

BOARD 3. Daniel Allen also played well above his grade as he kept his game with Josh tight till quite late in the evening. Finally, Josh found a knight fork and Daniel’s position crumbled.

Result: a 3½-½ victory for Broadstairs. Now we have played 2 won 2.

                              Broadstairs  4½         Margate   2½ 

David Faldon writes:

This was a most unexpected win that gets our Millar Cup season off to the best of all possible starts! Our prospects looked bleak at 7.30pm when Margate turned up with a very strong team boosted by two promising young off-season signings from Woodnesborough: Dennis Stokes-Carter and David Rogers. Our prospects looked even bleaker by 8.30pm. Reg (board 5) had already resigned and Bob P (board 2) was a piece down. Around 9pm things took a turn for the worse. I lost a pawn for less than nothing (on board 1) and Paul (board 3) was under serious pressure. Our other three boards were doing OK but, given that their opponents were much higher graded, a 0-7 loss was a clear possibility. The next hour or so passed in a bit of a blur for me as I struggled hard not to lose without putting up a fight, but then Bob C (board 7) had won with black and there were signs of hope. Bob P (board 2) resigned a few minutes later to leave us 1-2 down, but then came a huge switch of fortune. My young opponent on board 1 suddenly spoilt what would have been a well-played victory for him with one awful move and the match was level. 2-2 then became 3-2 for us when Paul (board 3) turned the tables on his opponent too and then 3-2 became 4-2 when Andy (board 6) finished off with a clever attack in a tricky ending. We had won. As it no longer mattered to the result of the match, John’s game on board 4 was then agreed drawn, but, rather than being an anti-climax, this could well have been the best game of the match. John kept the pressure on his strong opponent all the way through and certainly deserved his draw. Hopefully we can all check out John’s game (as well as Paul’s and Andy’s and Bob C’s) on an upcoming “game of the week”. Such a spectacular match victory certainly deserves more than one game of the week.