On Thursday 18th February the Harvey Cup team went to Dartford to play the league leaders, who had won all their matches. The result was a 4.5 - 1.5 victory, which never looked in doubt. Sarah Walker-Buckton won quickly after her opponent blundered. Don Chapman won a piece for two pawns and his opponent then lost further material. Gary Sharp managed to recover from a horrible opening to draw. Ken Smith was unfortunate enough to come up against a player just returned to competitive chess after a long gap with an estimated grade much lower than his grade in the past and lost fairly quickly. Rob Pezet’s opponent was a substitute who started the game late and lost a pawn, which proved decisive. Ian McAllan always had the initiative and won after his opponent preferred the loss of a piece to the loss of a pawn. So a good result.

Ian McAllan