On Monday 3rd March our Harvey Cup team played Gravesend and emphatically lost its 100% record by losing by 4 - 2. The match started well with Chris Cheeseman winning a piece and converting. Dave Gilbert had some advantage, but in the end could do no better than a drawn opposite bishops ending. It became grim when Ken Smith blundered a piece in a level position after recovering from a bad opening and Lee Brockwell also blundered a piece when he appeared likely to win. Dave Helps was ground down in a game where he was always slightly worse and then Gary Sharp’s advantage fizzled out into a draw after he misassessed a winning move. If we win or draw the last match of the season we should come second, although if other results go our way a win could be enough to win the league, while a loss would leave us third.

Ian McAllan