The juniors of Sandwich and Folkestone renewed their acquaintance over the board in a ‘B’ team match on Saturday 9th March, a warmer and sunnier day than our previous chilly December meeting. Both sides retained two players from the earlier fixture, with Sandwich this time fielding two girls in our team. Once again the time control was 10|5 and the contest a six-round all-play-all in which each player took on all six members of the opposing team.

Sandwich once again took an early lead, and by the end of Round 4 we had built it up to ten points, leading 17–7. However, faced with an uphill challenge to keep in the running until the final round, Folkestone seized their chance with the white pieces in Round 5, winning it by a comprehensive scoreline of 5½–½. Needing another 5½ points to tie the match, and all 6 to win, Folkestone pressed hard with the black pieces in the final round but ultimately came up short, with the final scoreline 21½–14½ to Sandwich.

The players before the start of the match

The two top performances of the day came from Sandwich players, with Laurence top scorer overall on 4½ points, and the Sandwich captain Conor second on 4 out of 6. Newcomer Alfie scored an impressive 3½ points, showing perseverance and no little talent in the endgame, and tying with our highest-rated player Aayush. May and Aine both scored a very creditable 3 out of 6, with Aine surviving the most incredible time pressure in Round 2 to play out a winning ending on top board.

For Folkestone, Henry emphatically hit his stride in the last two rounds, while brothers Marcus and Tristan proved consistent scorers for their team; all three finished on 3 points. Siah impressed again, defending valiantly against Aine in that Round 2 game, to finish on 2½ points. Newcomer Aarav’s aggressive approach with the white pieces netted him a couple of remarkably quick mates, some red faces in the Sandwich team, and 2 points. And finally Alex was unlucky not to score more with his thoughtful play, succumbing a couple of times to checkmates he just didn’t see coming.

We’re already looking forward to next season, with a larger-scale match in the planning stages (maybe 12 boards, maybe more!) and hopefully fixtures against some other club or school sides. Click here to view the full match results on the ECF League Management System.