Sidcup hosted Lewisham on 22/03/2017 in the Stevenson, and after getting a draw against leaders Sevenoaks the week before needed to win to qualify for the knockout stages.

Rob Pezet started poorly and found himself in a lot of trouble very early on, however as is often the case with Rob he found another Houdini type escape and went on to register our first win.

Tony Packham then converted a tricky rook and pawn end game in which he was a pawn up.

David Gilbert and Ian McAllan then registered hard fought draws taking the score to 3 -1. This left 2 games remaining, and leaving Sidcup needing one draw to win.

Gary Sharp always had a tough ask, being out-graded by 20 points, and although he fought hard he eventually lost.

This left David Helps being materially level, but with a slightly inferior position, to get the draw. Which to everybody’s relief he did when his opponent accepted a draw was the best he could achieve, and agreed the draw.

As a result, Sidcup now look forward to the semi-finals and discovering who our opponents will be. Congratulations to the team on achieving this.

Lee Brockwell