Horsham take revenge against Brighton in McArthur Cup

The McArthur Cup is on paper the strongest team competition in Sussex. After some reverses at Brighton's hands in the league this season, Horsham won the semi-final cleanly over five boards even without the default on board 6.

On board 2 Mike and Geoff James fought each other to a standstill in a minor piece endgame. On board 4 Dix and John Henshaw's game was also drawn (I think this one was another Hedgehog by Dix). Next up Gavin won against IM Julien Carron on top board, this time converting another strong position from the Trompowsky which he had failed to do in the corresponding league fixture - an excellent result for him. Seeing this Paul Batchelor accepted my draw offer on board 5, knowing that even two wins would not overturn the board count tiebreak. Finally James and Callum Brewer drew an interesting struggle on board 3 - Callum was two pawns up but White had loads of play and a very strong passed pawn in compensation.

G.R. Lock 1-0 J. Carron
M.C. Forster 1/2-1/2 G.H. James
J.C. Mansson 1/2-1/2 C.D. Brewer
D.N. Roberts 1/2-1/2 J. Henshaw
A.R.J. Higgs 1/2-1/2 P.A. Batchelor
A. Freeland 1-0 default

4-2 to Horsham.