Sidcup were finally knocked out of the Tom Fuller at the semi-final stage against a strong Snodland side. For a while, despite Snodland loading top boards with stronger grades, we looked like we might get a result. However David Gilbert on board 1 conceded after blundering a rook whilst in a good position and with his opponent very short of time. The temptation to play quickly when an opponent is in time trouble has been the undoing of many of us.

Following this, Chris Cheesman managed to win on board 4 and maintain his 100% record in the competition.

Sadly Peter Houching finally lost a tight game on board 3 which meant even if the other game was won we would lose on board count.

Lee Brockwell (on board 2) was eventually forced to accept a draw despite being a bishop and pawn up, in an end game in which his opponent only had a king left. The game is useful for anyone like me, who assumed that you must be able to queen the pawn and win in that situation. However I now know that’s not the case, and the key determining factors are which file the pawn is on and which colour square the bishop is on. All the more frustrating as I could have taken numerous other routes to winning the game. See the game below to understand the issue and maybe avoid this happening to you!

Thanks to all those who have played for this team during the year and supported me as captain. Much appreciated.

PGN Notation

[pgn height=400 layout=horizontal autoplayMode=none] 
[Event "Sidcup V Snodland"] 
[Site "?"] 
[Date "2013.04.21"] 
[Round "?"] 
[White "Thompson, Rob"] 
[Black "Brockwell, Lee"] 
[Result "1/2-1/2"] 
[ECO "B25"] 
[Annotator "Brockwell,Lee"] 
[PlyCount "121"] 
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 d6 5. d3 Nf6 6. Nf3 Nc6 
7. O-O O-O 8. Re1 Bg4 9. h3 Bxf3 10. Bxf3 Nd7 11. Bg2 Nd4 
12. Ne2 Qb6 13. c3 Nc6 14. Rb1 Qa6 15. a3 Rac8 
16. Be3 Nde5 17. d4 cxd4 18. Nxd4 Qd3 19. Nxc6 bxc6 
20. Qa4 Qc4 21. Qxa7 Bf6 22. Bh6 Rfd8 23. Qe3 Rb8 
24. Red1 Qa2 25. Qc1 Nc4 26. Ra1 Qxb2 27. Bd2 Nxd2 
28. Rxd2 Qxc3 29. Rc2 {Q*a1 here wins - but I missed it trying to make time control and look for easy moves} Qa5 
30. Rb1 c5 31. Bf1 Rxb1 32. Qxb1 Qxa3 33. Ra2 Qb4 
34. Qd3 Bd4 35. Kg2 Rb8 36. Qc2 Qb3 37. Qe2 Qc3 
38. Rc2 Qb4 39. h4 Qb1 40. Qd2 Rb2 41. Rxb2 Qxb2 42. Qxb2 Bxb2 
43. Kf3 e6 44. Bc4 Bd4 45. Ke2 Kf8 46. g4 Ke7 47. f4 f5 
48. Kf3 fxe4+ 49. Kxe4 d5+ 50. Bxd5 exd5+ 51. Kxd5 Kf6 
52. Ke4 Bf2 53. h5 gxh5 54. gxh5 Be1 55. Kd5 {From here it looks a simple won game. I assumed the simplest way to finish off the game from here (given I only had 7 minutes left) was for Black to give up the passed pawn with Kf5 and pick up the 2 remaining white pawns with the king and then Queen my rooks pawn. However I was very mistaken and whilst I understood that if Black only had the rooks pawn its a draw because its not possible to queen. I now know that even with a bishop as well, you can still fail to queen the pawn and its a draw. If the bishop doesn't match the queening square it's a draw, if it does Black wins. So I played...} Kf5 56. Kxc5 Kxf4 
57. Kd4 Kg5 58. Ke3 Kxh5 59. Kf3 Kh4 60. Kg2 Bg3 
61. Kh1 {Let me know if you find a way to win, I wont hold my breath} 1/2-1/2 
[/pgn]

Lee Brockwell