We have now played our final match of the regular season in the En Passant Cup against Dartford. If we won it, we would be through to the semi-final.

Two hours before the start of the match one of the team withdrew ill requiring Lee Brockwell, the team captain, to drop out himself so that two players who fitted the rating limits could play.

The match started with Dave Helps having the better of a draw. On board one one of the replacements, who didn’t seem to be in a chess-playing mood, lost after never really being in the game. On board six our other replacement, who was heavily outrated, also lost. So we had to win the remaining three games. Greg Edwards played his best game of the season for a fine win and Ian McAllan won a less distinguished game against a Hippopotamus Defence leaving the match level with one game to finish. In the last game to finish Dartford had had pressure, but after more than twenty moves our player equalised. In trying to win things went awry and when a simple endgame transpired Dartford duly won the match 3.5 - 2.5.

Ian McAllan