Broadstairs 2½        Woodnesborough 1½

1.	Paul Carfrae (132)	½-½	Mark Towlson (101)
2.	John Couzens (131)	1-0	Richard Hogben (91)
3.	Andy Flood (e114)	0-1	Kit Blundell (e90)
4.	David Wheatley (106)	1-0	Rens Bossers (e60)

 

Bob Page writes:

A glance at the grades of the two teams suggests that this should not have been a close contest.  How wrong could we be….Woodnesborough played out of their skins and the result was in doubt right up until the end.

John was the first to finish and always seemed to be on top but his opponent defended stubbornly and threatened a nasty queen and rook mating combination if John went wrong. Heavy pressure from John’s queen, rook and bishop eventually proved decisive but only after about two and a half hours. On Board 3 Andy had been a pawn down for a long time. That single pawn advantage sufficed as his opponent gradually tightened his grip on Andy’s position, eventually forcing an error that lost a second pawn and the game.

Even at 1-1 there appeared no great danger.  David (shyly avoiding the camera in the picture above) always appeared in control and after swapping off the major pieces to be four pawns ahead, seemed to have a straightforward win.  Once again, Woodnesborough fought to the last and home supporters held their breath as David appeared to contemplate a move that would have resulted in stalemate. We should have known better as David finally wrapped up his win and Broadstairs were 2-1 up with one to play.

The most interesting match was on Board 1 where Paul was apparently cruising to a crucial win.  However, despite being a rook down, Mark refused to give up and his two bishops had threats of their own that gradually ate away at Paul’s time. Eventually, Paul managed to swap the pieces off to leave two rooks against rook and pawn. Still Mark held on and then…disaster…a sudden loss of concentration and one of Paul’s rooks disappeared for nothing – with only seven minutes left on his clock! Any chance of a win for Paul vanished and it was now a question of whether he could rescue the half a point that would would give us victory. His only consolation – and his saving grace as sanity returned – was that Mark’s pawn was on the h-file and by skilfully guiding the opposing king into the corner, the draw was forced with less than three minutes left. Phew!

Margate    1½         Broadstairs   3½

1	Peter McGill     (152)	0-1	David Faldon (170)
2	Clive Le Baigue (118)	0-1	Paul Carfrae (132)
3	Colin Gregory (117)	0-1	John Couzens (131)
4	Leon Garfield (101)	½-½	Reg Pidduck (104)
5	John Clarke (86)	1-0	Michael Doyle (80)

Reg Pidduck writes:

Our first piece of luck in this semi-final was winning the toss for colours. We chose white on the odds.

RED HOT JOHN. First to finish was John Couzens who continued his run of fine form to dispose of Colin Gregory after an hour and a quarter. 1-0 to Broadstairs.

PAWN ADVANTAGE. Paul Carfrae went two pawns up early then slowly kept the advantage going to the endgame and duly wore down Clive Le Baigue. 2-0 to Broadstairs.

PILE UP ON C3. My game with Leon Garfield ended in a draw when I was attacking his knight with four pieces and he defended with four including his king which had to travel from g1 all the way over to d2 to prevent losing the knight. A draw was to our advantage so in this deadlock I offered the draw which he accepted. 2½-½ to Broadstairs

KITCHEN SINK.  Peter McGill, after being three pieces down, threw everything (including said kitchen sink) at David Faldon’s king and a wrong move by David could have spelt trouble but he parried all thrusts and Peter resigned. 3½-½ to Broadstairs.

UNLUCKY MICHAEL. Michael Doyle’s steady play was going so well until he fell into a trap set by John Clarke and lost his queen so Michael resigned. 3½-1½ to Broadstairs.

This win has set us up for the final against Bridge. (Watch this space).

Many thanks to John Couzens for the driving duty.