When entering a team in the Stevenson Kent league we always knew it would be a tall order. As even with our strongest available side we would be giving 10 grading points. So, when we were unable to field full strength teams it was no surprise we lost our first 2 games. However, they were narrow losses, which was encouraging. Since then we have been fortunate to gain Greg Edwards to strengthen the team on board 1, in addition to everybody being available since then. A

As a result, we had a good win against Lewisham in our next game. Then faced Dartford at home. This was a very tight affair in which after 5 draws, this left Tony Packham with the fate of the team in his hands. Fortunately, Tony managed to find a way to win and provide our second victory. Finally, last Wednesday we hosted Gravesend. After an early draw on board 1 for Greg, we went 1 down after David Helps lost on board 6. This was followed by another loss when Rob Pezet lost on board 4 in a very sharp French defence game, which had everyone guessing who was winning for long periods. This left us 2 down with 3 still playing. However, this was soon put to rights when Gary Sharp won an endgame which looked tricky to win, and Ian McAllan converted a winning position with time tight for both players. So once again we were all level and Tony Packham was left contesting the final game. As usual he didn’t disappoint winning an end game in which material was even, but his active pieces eventually managed to dominate after he showed just the right level of patient play.

This has given us 3 wins in a row and a current standing of Won 3 lost 2. Next game is Gravesend away.

Lee Brockwell Match Captain