Broadstairs   3      Ramsgate    1                       

1 Andy Flood (115) 1-0 Bob Wallace (100)
2 John Couzens (108) ½-½ Malcolm Snashall (98)
3 Reg Pidduck (99) ½-½ Don Richards (92)
4 Bob Cronin (90) 1-0 Kenneth Keeler (91)

Reg Pidduck writes:

As usual Ramsgate made us very welcome at their cosy new venue.

BOARD 2. John and Malcolm were first to finish. Just when John was on top with his passed pawns, he blundered and ever steady Malcolm was able to salvage a draw.    ½-½ – a good start for both teams.

BOARD 4. Bob got us in the lead with a fine game, his two passed pawns pressing for home. Did not see the finish only Ken resigning. 1½-½ to Broadstairs.

BOARD 1. Andy’s game against Bob Wallace looked tight for a while but Andy found a way through for a checkmate. 2½-½ to us.

BOARD 3.  I could now breath a sigh of relief as I had been under pressure for the last hour from my formidable opponent, Don Richards. He had seen off all of my schemes and tricks and we were now left with a knight each with Don’s five pawns to my three. After reducing  his pawns to two, I sacrificed my knight for one of them then got my king in the corner to force a draw. Phew! Unlucky Don not to get the win and I look forward to playing you again.  Final score: 3-1 to Broadstairs.

 

                                             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.

 

                                     Broadstairs  5½        Margate   1½

1 David Faldon (178) ½-½  Mick Micklethwaite (145)
2 Arnaud Wisman (168) 1-0  Peter McGill (145)
3 Trefor Owens (164) 1-0  Colin Gregory (127)
4 Richard Clement (145) 0-1  Keith Findley (e125)
5 Chris Stampe (141) 1-0  Clive Le Baigue (121)
6 Manoj Natarajan (e140) 1-0  Leon Garfield (104)
7 Paul Johnson (138) 1-0  John Clarke (92)

Robert Page writes:

Broadstairs continued their excellent start to the Millar Cup campaign with this seemingly comfortable but hard-fought win against Margate. Outgrading their opponents by over 30 points, Broadstairs fielded one of their strongest-ever teams, including both the Kent Individual Challengers and Intermediate Champions (but not the Major Champion – Ed). However, anyone expecting a comfortable ride was in for a shock despite early wins for Paul Johnson and Chris Stampe which promised an extended celebration in the pub. Paul quickly gained a piece or two and overwhelmed John Clarke within an hour while Chris cleverly exchanged rooks to enable his queen to charge down the board, threatening mate and causing irreparable damage to Clive’s uncastled kingside.

At this point, things began to slow down.  David was unable to make much headway on Board 1 and agreed a draw with ex-Herne Bay stalwart and Thanet Congress original, Mick Micklethwaite, while Richard lost a tricky rook and pawn endgame with Keith Findley, formerly of the now defunct Birchington Chess Club, who resurfaced after a break of a few years to play at this year’s congress. Suddenly, 2½-1½ didn’t look quite so comfortable. Trefor and Manoj were in promising positions but Arnaud was involved in a tough battle with Peter McGill, both players behind on time. Having laid siege to Colin’s king for an age, Trefor eventually managed to break through and win his queen and victory soon followed: 3½-1½. The match was won when Manoj, on his Millar Cup debut, outmanoeuvred Leon in the neatest ending of the night: 4½-1½. Meanwhile, on Board 2, things were speeding up as the time control loomed and many moves still to play. With both players having pieces en prise, Arnaud cleverly outwitted Peter to win a piece and the game ended just as Peter’s flag was about to fall.

Congratulations to all the Broadstairs players on another fine win and many thanks to Margate for making it an excellent match. There were some impressive performances from the home players such as this one from Manoj against Leon on Board 6.

White:   Manoj  Natarajan (e140)    Black:  Leon Garfield (104)

Millar Cup v Margate (h)


1-0

                                               Broadstairs   1      Bridge  3                       

1 Andy Flood (115) 0-1 Peter Blundell (115)
2 Reg Pidduck (99) 0-1 Gary Hilleard (107)
3 Bob Cronin (90) 0-1 Graeme Boxall (86)
4 Michael Doyle (87) 1-0 Ray Rennells (80)

Capt Mike Doyle writes:

Broadstairs suffered their first defeat in this season’s Walker Shield against Bridge last night. On all the top three boards players resigned. It was a disaster! Our only consolation was a win by the captain on Board 4, my opponent having lost his queen en prise on the 19th move and resigning shortly after. The first to lose was Bob on Board 3. He was up against a much improved Graeme Boxall and he resigned after a long defence. Next to go was Reg up against Gary Hilleard, who last season was playing for Broadstairs. Down to the end game, Gary was two pawns up and Reg resigned. Players stood around Board 1 in the final game to watch Andy Flood battle it out against Peter Blundell. If Andy won the game the match would have been a draw, but he lost a bishop in the endgame. Well done, Bridge, on a rainy night. It was a downpour – just like Broadstairs!

                                          Broadstairs  5        Bridge   2

1 David Faldon (178) ½-½  Patrick Burns (161)
2 Arnaud Wisman (168) ½-½  James Essinger (e160)
3 Trefor Owens (164) ½-½  Peter Blundell (115)
4 Richard Clement (145) 1-0 Gary Hilleard (107)
5 Chris Stampe (141) 1-0  Tim Spencer (98)
6 Paul Johnson (138) 1-0  James Smith (93)
7 Bob Page (133) ½-½  Graeme Boxall (86)

David Faldon writes:

Our first Millar Cup match of the season, and our first victory. We took a strong team to Bridge, missing only Shany Rezvany who is currently in a London hospital. We wish him well. On the other hand, Bridge were short of several of their regulars so we had every reason to hope for an easy match. It was anything but! The top three boards all drew fairly quickly, leaving the match result in the hands of the lower boards. All four of the remaining games were hard-fought and could have gone either way. Paul on board six was the first to finish. Both sides were attacking at the same time and something had to go missing – luckily for us it was one of the white rooks and Paul had won. Advantage Broadstairs, but we were an exchange down (bishop or knight for a rook) on boards five and seven, and we were under pressure on board four. Could we survive? Bob on board seven provided the first answer when his well-timed draw offer was accepted. Bob had tactical chances but he was still an exchange down. All in all a good result for us, as it left us 3-2 up. Chris on board five then scored a win to secure the match. This was a tremendous game, with the attacks going back and forth like a tennis match until the Bridge player dropped a rook for not a lot and Chris made no mistake in pressing home his advantage. That took the pressure off the board four game, but by then Richard had the upper hand anyway, and he finished the game with a neat mating attack. This was the game of the match from what I could see and it provides us with this season’s first Game of the Week.  Many thanks to all the Broadstairs players, and especially to Bob for giving me and Trefor a lift. And many thanks to Bridge. As usual, they made us feel very welcome and even provided tea, coffee and biscuits.

Editor’s note: It was good to see Gary again, even if he was playing for the opposition but then we had two in our team who used to play for Bridge. This game features notes by Richard together with contributions from David.

White:   Gary Hilleard (107)    Black:  Richard Clement (145)

Millar Cup v Bridge (a)


0-1