Congratulation’s go to Sidcup 2 who had a great win against Medway 3 in their Semi-final match to reach the Final of the Fuller Competition which will be held on the Sunday 13th May at The Mick Jagger Centre Dartford.

They were well out-graded by their opponents who’s total grade rating was 433 against Sidcup’s 392 - a total of 41 grading points higher.

The evening started off very well with Ken Grist (Grade 89) earning a very good win over his opponent Isaac Oluwale (Grade 92) and at one stage each board had winning chances. It looked as if the team would have a 4.0 win then Keith Thompson (Grade 121) lost to Paul Foster (Grade 140) who, after being in a winning position, blundered missing a skewer move on his 2 rooks on move 34. He disheartenedly resigned immediately, being a bishop down and in a losing position. With the score at 1 point each it meant that Ian Reeve and Leon Hopkins had to come up with at least 1.5 points between them as a 2 all draw was no good to Sidcup since they would lose on board count. Leon (Grade 97 and who has not lost for the Fuller Team this year) managed to keep the team on track with a draw against Doug Smith (Grade 113), retaining his unbeaten run for the team and gaining the half a point. Then Ian Reeve (Grade 85) playing Barry Hampton (Grade 88), came up with the full point that was needed to ensure the 2.5 to 1.5 win which meant that Sidcup 2 went through to the final against either Beckenham 5 or a strong looking Snodland 2 side from the Mid Kent division.

The match between Snodland 2 and Beckenham 5 will be played on the 24th April at Snodland to see which of these team Sidcup 2 will be meeting in the Final.

Our best wishes go to our 1st team when they meet Snodland 1 in their Semi final on the 4th May.

Results

PGN

[pgn height=400 layout=horizontal autoplayMode=none][Event "Fuller"][Black "Reeve, Ian"][White "Hampton, Barry"][Result "0-1"][WhiteElo "88"][BlackElo "85"][PlyCount "82"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. d3 Bc5 5. d4 Bb6 6. Nbd2 Nc6 7. c3 O-O 8. O-O Re8 9. Re1 e5 10. dxe5 Nxe5 11. Nxe5 Rxe5 12. Nf3 Rh5 13. h4 Bg4 14. e3 Qd7 15.Qc2 Re8 16. Nd4 c5 17. Ne2 d4 18. cxd4 cxd4 19. Nf4 Rhe5 20. e4 Rc8 21. Qd3 Qc6 22. f3 Be6 23. b3 Ba5 24. Bd2 Bb6 25. Rac1 Rc5 26. e5 Nd7 27. Nxe6 Qxe6 28. f4 Rxc1 29. Bxc1 Nc5 30. Qf1 Rc7 31. f5 Qd7 32. f6 g6 33. Qf4 Ne6 34. Bh3 d3+ 35.Be3 d2 36. Kf1 d1=Q 37. Bxe6 Q7d3+ 38. Kg2 Qxe1 39. Qh6 Qde2+ 40. Bf2 Q1xf2+ 41. Kh3 Qff1#  * [/pgn]

PGN

[pgn height=400 layout=horizontal autoplayMode=none][Event "Fuller"][White "Thompson, Keith"][Black "Foster, Paul"][Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "121"] [BlackElo "140"][PlyCount "68"] 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qd6 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. Nf3 c6 6. d3 Bg4 7. h3 Bh5 8. g4 Bg6 9. Be3 e5 10. Qd2 Nbd7 11. O-O-O h6 12. Nh4 Bh7 13. f4 e4 14. Rhe1 Be7 15.Nf5 Bxf5 16. gxf5 b5 17. Bb3 a5 18. a3 b4 19. Nxe4 Nxe4 20. dxe4 Qxd2+ 21. Rxd2 bxa3 22. Red1 axb2+ 23. Kxb2 Nf6 24. e5 Nd5 25. Bxd5 cxd5 26. Rxd5 O-O 27. Rg1 Rfb8+ 28. Ka2 Kf8 29. Bd4 Rc8 30. c3 Rc4 31. f6 gxf6 32. exf6 Bd8 33. Bc5+ Rxc5 34. Rxc5 Bb6 * [/pgn]