Sidcup’s first team hosted Beckenham for their 3rd En Passant league match of the season on Wednesday. Having so far won 1 and lost 1. So this was a must win if we were to have any chance of qualifying for the knock out stages.

David Gilbert was the first to finish, agreeing a draw on board 3.

Rob Pezet then managed a fine win on board 2 against an opponent graded 13 points above him at 155.

Bob Mitchell followed this with an agreed draw in a queen and rook end game which was going around in circles on board 5. I then managed to win a game in which positional advantage seemed to ebb and flow considerably. At one point I though the position lost, yet was surprised to find after that Fritz maintained I was never behind. This left us 3 – 1 up with 2 games still active.

Ian on board 1 and David on board 5. David Helps clinched the win with a fine display, which ended with a combination trapping his opponent’s queen.

Ian eventually lost an end game in which he was well behind on material. So a great result for the club – Sidcup 4 Beckenham 2.

The below is an interesting position I found myself in towards the end of my game. With little time left and possibly quite a lot of play, I was looking for a quick mate or way to win quickly. Fortunately my opponent blundered and saved the possibility of me losing on time. However I never found the mate. When I went over the game later I found there was a mate in 3 for white which I missed. See if you can find it.

Position

Lee Brockwell