Author Archives: David Faldon

                            Broadstairs  2½         Bridge A   4½ 

David Faldon writes:

The match got off to a bad start for us when our boards 1 and 3 both lost quickly in different ways, neither good. But Nick on board 2 soon had us back in the match with a quick mating attack after a wild passage of play. The surviving players calmly ignored all the bloodshed on boards 1 to 3 and set themselves up for a long hard slog of proper chess. Due to my accident on board one I had more time than usual to watch the bottom four boards and great fun it was. All four games were hard fought with lots of cheeky tactical ideas. In the end only Andy and Reg had any success. Reg carefully withstood a bit of pressure and came out with a level position. Andy won a tricky rook and pawn ending the hard way, swapping off into a pawn ending where both sides were going to queen a pawn each, the crucial difference being that Andy’s pawn would queen with check. Brilliant! Anyway, congratulations to Bridge on their victory and many thanks to all of our players for putting up stiff resistance (except me).

                               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  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.