Horsham Chess Club

Very sad news concerning the passing of Oliver Andrew who founded Woodpushers and was well known in MSCL chess. I copy below the eulogy to him from the MSCL website

Here is the list of the top performing individuals who have played four or more games to qualify for the match knight trophy.

While Horsham 1 and Horsham 3 were doing battle last Tuesday the final of the Knockout Quickplay Plate was taking place.

Richard Barrowclough faced Nick Warren in a dynamic final with periodic exclamations of anguish from both players ! Nick Warren came out the victor and congratulations to him for being the first to claim silverware this season.

Horsham 1 were defeated at home by Worthing 1 last Tuesday.

Horsham 1 fell behind with James Mansson losing quickly after a couple of mistakes as White in a sharp Sicilian Dragon.

Matt Forster also lost as he fell into a bad position as Black against his opponent's Grand Prix Attack and was unable to recover.

Anthony Higgs pulled one back, as he unearthed a brilliant continuation to turn around a bad position.

The top and bottom board games were unfinished on the night, but subsequent analysis showed them both to be drawn.

This gave Worthing a 3-2 win.

Woodpushers 1 were only able to field four players against Horsham 2 last night but they somehow managed to conjure wins on the top three boards to take the match 3-2.
Lucy, playing her first match for the 2nd team, produced a top class win. From a Maroczy Bind position against the Sicilian she had full control of the whole board and black’s position fell apart after Lucy sacrificed a piece in an attack against her opponent’s King and followed this up with clinical accuracy.

Horsham 4 saw a pretty comprehensive victory tonight against East Grinstead with good wins for Zevon, Richard and John with Julie and Nick drawing. In contrast Horsham 2 started the evening with a default on bottom board and Lucy played an excellent game on board 4. But Phil lost to an impressive Ian Kelly and Dix's strong attack didnt quite pay off and finally Anthony missed a tactic in a strong position. So Woodpushers won despite their default.

In the Rook James beat Paul Taylor to return to winning form.

Horsham 3 were away to Eastbourne 2 on Friday night and managed to get a 4-1 win.

Horsham 1's hopes were hit by a disappointing draw away against Brighton 2.

Horsham 1 were a little under strength as both Forsters were unavailable, but still fielded a decent side that could have been the regular first team in past seasons. Brighton 2 had a good side out too, so the match was never going to be easy.

The rapidplay team was captained by guest captain Tim Pavlovic - 4 young players fought out a tight game which we eventually lost by 3-1

My own game on board 5 finished fairly quickly with an agreed draw, both our kings had little cover and unwilling to push too hard. Peters game on Board 1 looked equal for a long time with pieces slowly coming off but he managed to gain an advantage with aggressive knight manoeuvres to have a slightly stronger king/pawn end game which he expertly played out until the 42nd move where it was clear he’d queen and win. Soon after Alex had won his after facing a king side pawn storm his opponent ran out of support, pushed too hard and Alex calmly kept control.