Sidcup’s first team went to Gravesend on Monday, for their first fixture in the Met section of the En Passant League. After a tough contest we managed our first win, with a score of Sidcup 4 – Gravesend 2. Bob Mitchell got us off to a great start with a solid win on board 5. Draws then followed in quick succession, for Lee Brockwell on board 6, and for Gary Sharp on board 2. David Gilbert looked to have a won end game at first glance, but as it played out “the opposition” and who had to move first became key. Eventually despite being a pawn up in a king pawn end game, David recognised the game was actually lost. However his opponent failed to realise the full significance, and offered a draw, which David accepted. Ian McAllan on board 1 reached a draw by repetition, in a very sharp game, with little time left on his clock. Which meant we couldn’t lose with one game remaining. This left David Helps who played out a very exciting win to the remaining crowd, and securing the match win.

I attach David’s game below as it was an interesting finish.

Interactive Chess Board - Refresh page if not shown

PGN Notation:

[pgn height=400 layout=horizontal autoplayMode=none] 
[Event "Gravesend vs Sidcup"] 
[Site "?"] 
[Date "2014.12.15"] 
[Round "1"] [White "DH"] 
[WhiteElo "1733"] [Black "M Harrison"] 
[BlackElo "1733"] 
[Result "1-0"] 
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 exd5 6.exd5 Nbd7 7.Bd3 Ne5 8.Nf3 Nxd3+ 
9.Qxd3 Be7 10.O-O O-O 11.b3 g6 12.Bg5 Nh5 13.Bxe7 Qxe7 14.Rae1 Qd8 15.Qd2 Bg4 
16.Ng5 h6 17.Nge4 Kh7 18.h3 Bf5 19.f3 Bxe4 20.Nxe4 Nf6 21.Qf4 Nxe4 22.fxe4 f6 
23.g4 Kg7 24.Rf2 Qe7 25.h4 Qe5 26.Qe3 Rae8 27.Rf4 Rf7 28.h5 Qg5 29.hxg6 Kxg6 
30.Qg3 Qe5 31.Re3 Qd4 32.Kg2 Re5 33.Qf3 Rg5 34.e5 dxe5 35.Rxd4 cxd4 36.Rd3 f5 
37.d6 Rxg4+ 38.Kh3 e4 39.Qd1 exd3 40.Qxd3 h5 41.c5 h4 42.Qc4 Kf6 43.c6 Rg3+ 
44.Kh2 Rfg7 45.Qxd4+ Kf7 46.Qd5+ Kf8 47.c7 Rc3 48.Qxf5+ 1-0 
[/pgn]

Comments 18. Nb5 is tempting and maybe better 36. Re4 is better but not an easy win. The rook sacrifice gave the queen more room with the runaway pawns compensating.

Lee Brockwell