Broadstairs 1 Folkestone 3
| 1 | Ian Hames (148) | 0-1 | Jim Bayford (180) |
| 2 | Paul Johnson (138) | 0-1 | Andrew Haycock (106) |
| 3 | Andy Flood (115) | 1-0 | David Erwee (95) |
| 4 | Reg Pidduck (99) | 0-1 | Benjamin Kiss (93) |
Paul Carfrae writes:
This was the first ever outing for Broadstairs in the Steele Cup, a league competition for teams of four with a combined grading total not exceeding 500. Folkestone were our opponents on a rainy, miserable night. The match got off to a good start with Andy on Board 3 smelling blood from the off, attacking his opponent with all manner of devious pins and threats. Before not too long White resigned with no answer to an impending mate threat: 1-0 Broadstairs. Reg on Board 4 was next to finish, his opponent trying to swap pieces off to get to pawn and king endgame. Unfortunately for Reg, a backward king move was his downfall and could not get across to stop a black pawn queening so Reg duly resigned: 1-1. It was left to our top two boards to see us through so no pressure! Paul J on Board 2, playing Andy Haycock whose grade at 106 does him an injustice, was quietly going about his game until a calculation error in his opponent’s favour lost a pawn. Andy apitalised from this moment on and had Paul on the back foot, eventually mating him on the back rank: 1-2 Folkestone. This left our Board 1 Ian to get a win to draw the match – no mean feat when your opponent is Jim Bayford who is 32 points higher than you. Ian managed to tie up the position and looked to get a draw from the game at least. Unfortunately, Jim had other ideas and managed to find a way through Ian’s defence and claim the win: 1-3 Folkestone. Well played, Folkestone. We look forward to the rematch.