Did you find the winning move?

Black played the remarkable

1….   Ng4 and if White captures his Queen with 2. BxQ NxB+ wins back the Queen with interest and if

1….. Ng4  2. Rd3 d4  3. RxQ Nxh2++ is mate

MICK CROFT CUP Tuesday 5^th October 2021 match report by Andrew Flood

At last! After an almost 20 months gap, Broadstairs chess club was able to field a team and play an over the board match against the newly formed Sandwich Chess Club (formerly Woodnesborough).

Out- rated (new terminology) on the majority of the 5 boards it was always going to be a difficult task to progress to the next round. Fredy, playing black was the first to finish finding it difficult against a very strong opponent on board 4. The match on board 2 saw the closely matched Blundell brothers battling it out against each other, with Dominic dictating the play, unfortunately a rook sacrifice, whilst forcing the play, proved inaccurate and resulted in victory for Kit and saw Sandwich taking a 2-0 lead. Broadstairs fought back on board 1 with Chris Stampe playing very solidly to beat and overcome a difficult and solid opponent.

With an outside chance of an overall win, Paul Verrall, making his debut on board 5, went right the way through to the end game with a slight disadvantage of being a pawn down, alas (a word we hope not to use much this year) some solid end game play from his Sandwich opponent meant that the game and tie was lost.

The middle board saw a solid match which was halved. It was the last game to finish and featured the most amazing move of the night when at the height of concentration, the Sandwich player with his A pawn not only took his opponent’s B pawn but followed through by then taking his own pawn!!

Great to be playing again, a loss but a most enjoyable evening and a chance to now concentrate on the league. Full results were.

This position comes from a game played in the recent World Cup, see if you can find the only way Black can get the advantage, even though he has his Queen and Knight under attack

Black to Play

In this recent game Black could have lashed out with

1….. Qxd1  2. Rxd1  Rxd1+  3. Kh2 Ng4+  4. Kh3  Rh1+ and Black is winning

Black is a pawn down and has some concerns regarding King safety.

However his pieces are better developed, can you find the best move?

Black to Play