In the last game of the season Dartford came to play our Harvey Cup team.

Sidcup won by the strange score for a six board match of 3 - 2. Some of Dartford’s usual players were unavailable and this resulted in our opponents conceding a penalty point for fielding an overgraded team.

In the match Ian McAllan won easily when his opponent blundered a piece early on and Sarah Walker-Buckton had a solid draw with an opponent graded 30 points above her.

When David Gilbert after an up-and-down game found a way to reach a winning pawn ending it looked all over.

However, the team’s season of close results looked to be continuing when Lee Brockwell eventually had to resign after losing a piece for two pawns early on and Don Chapman lost on time in a complicated position where he was material down.

In the last game to finish Gary Sharp was defending an inferior position and when his opponent found no way through the draw was agreed, which won the match. This means our Harvey Cup team came third, a full point ahead of fourth, but a full point behind second place in the league.

Ian McAllan