And so, the 2022/23 chess season in the Thanet Chess league is nearing its end. The penultimate Steele Cup match for Broadstairs Chess Club players saw them making the short trip to Sandwich for their final away game knowing that a win would strengthen chances of winning the competition. On the other hand, a loss would mean that Sandwich would go above them in the league.
Things got off to a poor start with an early loss for Paul Verrall on the bottom board, however Dominic on Board 2 playing black against his sibling rival Kit managed to even the score. By all accounts Dominic managed to save up and play one of his best chess games in the battle of the Blundells.
Paul Carfrae then achieved an excellent turnaround result on the top board by beating Harry Sharples from the position of being a piece down.
The needed win was to be dependent on the result on Board 3 where Broadstairs’ Andrew Flood with the white pieces was playing Jon Hunt. The early positional advantage and piece development was with white, but black managed to turn this around a gain a slight positional advantage, before blundering and losing his knight. This did not deter the Black attack with his advancing black pawns on the G & H ranks supported by 2 rooks. With White’s King trapped in the corner of the board it required a series of accurate moves to prevent the Queening of a pawn. Counter play in centre of the board, following a series of piece exchanges and careful play on the flank of the board saw Broadstairs triumph with Black choosing to resign from a lost position.
An excellent 3 – 1 win sees Broadstairs one point clear at the top of the league, knowing that a win next month in their final home game against local rivals Margate will see them secure the Steele Cup and the top spot in the competition.
Result
| Sandwich | Score | Broadstairs | |
| 1 | Harry Sharples (1804) | 0 – 1 | Paul Carfrae (1668) |
| 2 | Kit Blundell (1664) | 0 – 1 | Dominic Blundell (1659) |
| 3 | Jon Hunt (1597) | 0 – 1 | Andrew Flood (1594) |
| 4 | George Allen (1300) | 1 – 0 | Paul Verrall (1435) |
| TOTAL | 1 – 3 | ||