Horsham Chess Club

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.

Hastings 2 brought a very strong team to Horsham last Tuesday, as the winners of this match would more than likely win the Division 2 championship.
Gradings were very similar from Board 2 to Board 5 but on Board 1 Anthony was heavily out-graded playing a 210, so he did exceptionally well to secure a draw with the black pieces. In fact at adjudication Anthony was pawn up but the position was such that this was insufficient to get a win.

Horsham 4 pulled off a comprehensive victory last night beating Eastbourne 3 4.5-0.5. Some fine chess all round confirms their position as third in the fourth division.

Meanwhile in the committee room Horsham 2 were having a tougher evening playing Hastings 2. Paul Taylor managed a draw but Peter Harbott lost and Anthony Higgs drew an adjourned game against a 210 player. Unfortunately both Phil Stimpson and Dix Roberts both lost despite Dix having a threatening outside passed pawn.

Here are the final set of gradings. The main winner here is Ben Crosby who has shot up 12 points to 98 ... a name to watch I think!

I have compiled a list of the new Horsham grades. Our list of players is too large to fit in one screen grab so here are the top players. Matt Forster has seen his grading increase an impressive 12 points to 197 and Lucy Bennet-Stevens has increased by 7 points to 164.