Author Archives: David Faldon

Broadstairs     4                Margate   3

David Faldon writes:

This was a close win in a tough match where four of the seven games went right to the wire. The three early finishers were the bottom three boards. On Board 5 John crashed through with a discovered attack that won a queen for not very much, while on Board 6 Bob C just crashed: 1-1. The Board 7 game then put us back in the lead as Andy took a passed pawn in for a touchdown: 2-1. At this point (around 10pm) we looked comfortably placed. I had a couple of passed pawns myself on Board 1 while Paul seemed well placed to win a blocked-up position on Board 4. Yes, Bob P was in some trouble on Board 3 after getting a bit carried away sacrificing all of his king’s side pawns for a sniff of an attack but David H on Board 2 had two bishops against two knights and good chances. Maybe we’d win 4½-2½ or even 5-2? Then Paul miscalculated and turned a great position into a lost one. Suddenly we needed two wins on the top two boards. Fortunately for the team, David H found a neat mating attack and I forced one of my pawns home and we’d won 4-3. Many thanks to Margate for putting up such a good fight and for all the free tea and biscuits!

Broadstairs     4½                Ramsgate   2½

David Faldon writes:

The match got off to a promising start with us 2-0 up after 32 minutes. Bob P’s opponent failed to show within the 30 minute default time and Mike’s opponent, Josh, mislaid his queen and resigned only a couple of minutes later. Most of the other games were very hard fought, with only one other decided (Bob C’s well-played draw on board 5) before everybody started to run out of time. As time ran down my attention was naturally fixed on my own game on board 1 as I was in danger of being mated but then I managed to swap queens to relieve the pressure. At this point my opponent, Brian, offered me a draw, so I went to assess the other games to see how the team stood. I mentally chalked Paul and Andy up as possible losses but John was clearly winning, so I went back and accepted Brian’s draw offer as I’d calculated that this should give us a 4-3 win. Mere seconds later the other three results came in, and I’d got two of them wrong. So much for my “board 1” calculation skills! To be fair, though, John really was winning at the end but he allowed his opponent a draw once Andy had pulled off his miracle turn-around, converting a tough rooks plus pawns endgame into a winning rook versus pawn one. Congratulations to us on a narrow but pleasing victory. Never give up, never surrender!

Broadstairs     0                Folkestone    7

David Faldon writes:

Five players travelled to Folkestone on a freezing Friday in February in search of a miracle … and it didn’t happen. Still, we tried. With better clock handling and/or a bit of luck we could have made three draws but the overall result was never in doubt once one of the five (no names!) lost two pieces for two pawns inside the first ten moves. On the positive side our hosts provided free tea and coffee. Congratulations to Folkestone on a well-deserved victory.

Broadstairs     3                Herne Bay   4

David Faldon writes:

Truly a match of two halves. Our bottom three boards all played splendidly and scored three wins in very different styles. Mike D was impressively quick and ruthless, crashing through with a vicious king-side attack. Mike J took a bit longer, outlasting his opponent and winning a neat pawn and knight ending. Reg’s game was the most double-edged, as he lost a rook for a knight early on, but his opponent played a few waiting moves too many and Reg pounced with his ‘bad’ Dutch bishop (the one on the same coloured squares as all his pawns) playing the star role. Our top boards didn’t fare so well. Bob, Paul and John all defended difficult positions hard against higher-rated opponents but without success. Strong players sometimes play well. These results left the match tied at 3-3 and for a change the top board game decided the match. Despite playing black, I had an advantage early on but a slip allowed Bernie the chance to sacrifice a knight. Taking the knight would lead to a draw but I refused it and tried for the win (mainly because I’ve never yet beaten Bernie in a dozen or so attempts). Unfortunately my ‘winning plan’ had a big hole in it which Bernie spotted: 3-4. Congratulations to Herne Bay on yet another hard-fought victory.

Broadstairs     2½                Bridge A   4½ 

David Faldon writes:

This was a very close-fought match despite the fact that we were outgraded all the way down, and heavily so on boards 2 to 6. After an hour and a half it would have been hard for an outsider to guess the higher-graded team, which is a big compliment to all of our guys on the middle boards. Eventually, though, things began to turn against us as the pieces got swapped off and the clocks ran down. The first game to finish was on board 5, where James got his king in amongst Bob C’s pawns and there was no defence. Reg on board 7 was close to equalizing the match but Shahid managed to find a neat perpetual check to force a draw. The next to finish was board 4. John pressed long and hard with the white pieces but a huge tactical scrummage swapped down to an ending with just kings and pawns. Unfortunately David S emerged from the scrum with one extra pawn which got home for a touchdown. This left the score Broadstairs ½ Bridge 2½ but all was not lost. Two wins and two draws would have levelled the match. For a time this looked quite possible but it wasn’t to be, despite Bob P crashing through for a great win on board 2 against a tremendously strong opponent. In the end Paul on board 3 and then Andy on board 6 both had to concede defeat after more than three hours of heroic defence and the match was lost. The final win for us on board 1 was a case of too little, too late, but it was great fun to play as both players sacrificed and counter-sacrificed while their clocks ran down to zero.