Horsham Chess Club

There was a very exciting and eventful game between Alex Taylor and John Marshall to decide the Knockout Plate winner.

Alex had considerable pressure on the kingside and an open c file but John's pieces were very active and balancing the position. Alex continued to press when John found a typical Marshall tactic and eventually won the better endgame.

Just a quick reminder to all parents that there is no junior chess next Tuesday (5th June). We return as normal the week after.

Twenty players "enjoyed" an evening of 10 second chess with blunders all around! It was great fun and there was some smart chess...and a few substandard moves :)

The two group winners were Dix Roberts and Brian Donnelly. The final was best of two but honours were even after two games so it went to sudden death...with Brian winning in the end.

It was great fun all round and perhaps we should consider some other event evenings along these lines.

Some very impressive results from the Juniors participating in the Rapidplay...time for the adults to study harder before they arrive in the adult club!!!

Congratulations to Nick Warren who is this year's winner of the Knight trophy against some very impressive opposition. (Please remember that to qualify for the Knight Trophy you must have played at least four games).

Horsham 1 drew with Brighton 1 in the final match of the season.

James Mansson won the exchange for a pawn after outplaying his opponent in the middlegame, but failed to find the best way to exploit his advantage and had to concede a draw.

The Forsters both drew as well. Mike Forster played a typically sharp game as Black where both sides seem to have their chances.

Congratulations to Horsham 4 for their promotion from Division 4!

Horsham 3 were at home for their last match of the season needing a draw to guarantee second place in the division and it was bound to be a tough match with Lewes 2 needing a win to avoid probable relegation.

In order to finish the Quickplay Knockout , Anthony Higgs and Brian Donnelly had arranged to play their Semi-Final, then for James Mansson to play the winner all on the same club evening. Anthony overcame Brian 2.5-1.5 in a tightly-contested match, before taking James on in the final.

Horsham 2 finished their season with a disappointing loss 2-3 away against Lewes 2. As a result we will finish 3rd or 4th in Division 2 depending on the result of Woodpusher’s final game against Uckfield.
Lewes fielded one of their strongest teams of the season and all of the games were well contested. Phil was first to finish, agreeing a draw. I blundered badly on move 30 and resigned shortly afterwards as I was completely lost – this subsequently proved to be the critical game that cost us the match.