Conceding a point on the bottom board and out-graded on all but the top board it would need an exceptional performance from Broadstairs Chess Club to avoid a defeat. An exceptional performance was exactly what was provided by the Broadstairs team.

The match score was equalised to 1 – 1 when Mike Jenkinson was the first to finish on Board 6, racing to a win beating his opponent on time. Leon was unable to cope with Mike’s speed and precision.

Second to finish was Dominic who from the opening gained an advantage and then the point for win, so Broadstairs were leading the match 2 – 1. This game was quickly followed by a draw for Paul Carfrae, who with black fought back from an early lost pawn in the opening stages to agree a draw against veteran Michael Micklethwaite (remember MM  from the 1^st and 50^th Thanet Chess congresses in 1970 and 2019 respectively).

Yours truly, as the stand in captain and team organiser, on Board 4 found that his admin exceeded his chess playing skills on the night, having overlooked the loss of my Knight in the opening.  Margate’s Colin Gregory was always in control and made the score interesting with his win tying at 2.5 – 2.5. The chess continued to be played Boards 1 and 5 to a finish.

Arnaud on the top board had his opponents King in trouble threatening mate with his Rooks, Bishop and Queen all acting together in a concerted mate attack before his opponent lost on time.

All gathered around the final match on Board where Paul Verrall was playing his best chess game on finally beating Clive le Bague and forcing his opponent to resign with the pending threatened mate and / or loss of Queen.

An excellent, perhaps unexpected win 4.5 – 2.5 for Broadstairs who were without the services of two of their Individual Kent Chess Champions (Trefor and Manoj).

Last night we welcomed the friendly, and strong, Folkestone team. After a couple of withdrawals we had to shuffle the team, in fact the player on Board 7 was going to be the first ‘free’ club member to walk through the door. That honour went to Fredy, who was thrown in at the deep end

Fredy was the first to finish, after an interesting middlegame his opponent had just too much experience and scored a deserved point for the visitors. Next to finish was Trefor, playing a very strong opponent. Trefor managed to gain an initiative from the opening and won the exchange with a tricky combination.

So the score was once again level at 1-1

Making a cup of tea I walked past Reg’s board to witness a very brutal and correct attack from his opponent. Reg battled to defend but was overpowered with his King stuck in the centre. Soon after Manoj continued his excellent form with a very nicely played King’s Indian, stopping any action from his opponent before storming through on the queenside

2 -2

At this point Arnaud was offered a draw, but declined as a win would serve the team better

The other two games both looked interesting and close, on another day both could have been drawn but it is much more difficult defending a slightly worse position that being the aggressor. Paul fought really hard but never found the counter play so badly needed; in the end his opponent found a nice series of moves to, eventually, force resignation. This left Andy battling in a Rook and Pawn ending, Andy appeared to be holding firm until retreating with his King and falling into passive defence. Andy found a way to create his own counter play but his opponent’s central connected pawns won the day.

This takes us back to Arnaud, who had held a slight edge for most of the game against one of the strongest players in the league. The players agreed a draw once the match result had been determined, Arnaud can be very proud of his play, he led the team on top board superbly

We are living in very dangerous and troubled times.

Our thoughts during this unjust and barbaric war are with ALL of the innocent people who are being murdered and terrorised by an evil and dangerous regime

As promised here is the excellent game from our Millar Cup match v Bridge

Playing with the White pieces is Broadstairs star Manoj

Please enjoy the game

 White:  Natarajan, Manoj     Black:  Atkinson, Alan

Millar Cup

   1. Nf3 {A system move, which allows Manoj to avoid many openings. Naturally this has   plus a minus points regarding playing chess} d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 Bf5 4.   c4 e6 5. d4 c6 {I am not sure whether this is a Slav or a Reversed London} 6.   Nc3 Nbd7 7. Nh4 Bg4 {Possibly the first, minor, mistake, Black just encourages   White to expand on the kingside} 8. h3 Bh5 9. g4 Bg6 10. Bg5 {Interesting but   it isn't obvious why Black can't capture on c4} Be7 (10... dxc4 11. e4 Be7) 11.   Qb3 Qb6 {The position is pretty equal but it helps to be familiar with such   structures} 12. c5 Qxb3 13. axb3 e5 {Black is a little cramped so e5 has to be   played at some time} 14. Nxg6 hxg6 15. e3 exd4 {White has the 2 Bishops to I   think that Black should refrain from opening up the position} (15... Nh7 16.   Bxe7 Kxe7 {Black is fine}) 16. exd4 O-O 17. O-O Rfe8 18. Rfe1 Kf8 19. b4 {   Lovely play, grabbing space, the a1 Rook is nicely developed} Ng8 20. Bf4 {   Avoiding exchanges, the Black pieces are all on his first 2 ranks} f5 {not   such a good move because of Manoj's next} 21. g5 {Great play, the Black   Knights have no squares and the Bishop only has d8} Bd8 22. Rxe8+ {Bd6+ was   also interesting, Manoj plays the most forcing move, a check} Kxe8 23. Nxd5 {   Stunning, the King, even though he castled is stuck on his original square.   Capturing the Knight leaves a crushing attack} Nf8 (23... cxd5 24. Bxd5 Ne7 25.   Bxb7 Rc8 26. Rxa7) 24. Nb6 Bxb6 25. cxb6 Ne6 (25... a6 26. Bxc6+ bxc6 27. b7   Rd8) 26. Rxa7 {Manoj just keeps attacking} Rc8 27. Be5 {The Bishops are so   powerful} Ne7 28. Rxb7 {Manoj may have tripled pawns but his position is   fantastic} Nxg5 29. Rxe7+ {The most simple way to win, forcing exchanges.   Black resigned here, the b pawn queens} 1-0   

Apologies for the delayed match report. I have been very busy away from chess

Our team travelled to the very strong Bridge Club. (Bridge is a village just outside Canterbury, this was a chess match and not a card game!)

Unfortunately a hiccup meant that we had to default a board, however the troops played superbly well and ‘drew’ the other six boards 3-3 – meaning that Bridge turned out the victors on the night by 4 – 3

I hope that doesn’t sound too confusing!

Our opponents mentioned two games where our players were superb, on board 5 the in form Dominic Blundell played a terrific game to beat his higher rated opponent, the same thing happened on board 3 where Manoj Natarajan found a very entertaining attack. One of the games will feature as our next Game of the Week