Crushing victory for Horsham 2

Horsham 2 recorded their first win of the season with a thumping 4.5-0-5 result over Brighton 2 last night.

On board 1 Mike got us off to a flying start with victory over Jason Kirk within the first hour. In a Sicilian, Mike netted the exchange with a series of tactics and after winning a further pawn Black resigned. Ian's faith in the French then put us 2-0 up as Dona Strauss blundered into a mate, although Ian was still winning the exchange even with the best reply.

Peter played his best Horsham 2 game of the season when Martin Roe unwisely opened the centre with his king still there. Peter won a slew of material thanks to some deadly rook pins down the central files and finished off comfortably. On board 5 Chris gained space and pushed Duncan Badham back into a passive position and the lack of counterplay eventually told.

I had a crazy game with both players thinking they stood better after knights captured rooks in opposite corners of the board and both were trapped. I managed to enter the endgame knight for pawn up but a poor decision to simplify allowed Mustapha Othman to escape and reach a drawn king and pawn ending.

Although we couldn't quite complete the whitewash this was an excellent result and just reward for the team who have had some near misses in some earlier matches, well done all!

M.C. Forster 1-0 J. Kirk
A.R.J. Higgs 1/2-1/2 M. Othman
P. Harbott 1-0 M. Roe
I.S. Comley 1-0 D. Strauss
C.W. Heath 1-0 D.Badham

4.5-0.5 to Horsham overall.