Horsham Chess Club

Not a very impressive headline but we were up against a very strong Worthing first team.

Roger Waddingham reports on the Horsham 5 vs Uckfield 2 match from last Tuesday:

It's in the balance. A stirling win by our 'secret weapon', Matthew, who showed good endgame skill in a balanced encounter. Two other losses and a draw from Mark Baldock that was oh so close to being a win. Finally, board 1 has been adjourned, with some hope of claiminmg a win according to Richard Barrowclough. This would gain us a hard won, and much needed, half point.

UPDATE: A draw was agreed on board one, leaving the result 3-2 in Uckfield 2's favour.

This Tuesday is scheduled for another Knockout round and I have copied the outstanding games for your convenience. Please remember that Horsham 2 and Horsham 5 have home matches so it is worth checking that your opponent is free.

Horsham Junior Chess Club will restart next Tuesday 8th January at the usual time of 6:25-7:25pm. A note to parents...

We wish you all a very merry xmas and hope all your sacrifices will be sound next year!

We thought this lovely picture of Alexandria Kosteniuk, the 12th Woman's World Champion, would be appropriately festive!

Mick Harris reports:

Horsham had an excellent win over St Francis & Haywards Heath in the semi final of the Paul Watson Cup.
Despite some manoeuvring with grades by the opponents we went through with good wins from Richard Moorhouse, Nick Warren and Mick Harris.
We will play either Lewes or Hastings in the final.

The results of the individual games are given in the table below:

A great evening of chess last Tuesday with 3 semifinalists safely in place and lots of mince pies consumed.

That is our final club meeting of the year and we will all meet again on Tuesday 8 January 2013 when Horsham 2 will be playing Worthing 1 and Horsham 5 take on Uckfield 2. I am only aware of Chris Heath playing at Hastings but I am sure there must be more! Keep an eye on the website for any updates over the xmas break.

I hope you all have a great Christmas and offer you some seasonal good will:

I was looking to watch the live games from the Mind Games competition and came across this great site. It seems to show live games from around the world.

http://www.nowinchess.com/

The knockout team needed only a draw against Woodpushers to win as we were outgraded on all but the top board. However wins for Ian Comley, Nick Warren, Ron Fletcher and Julie Denning secured a 4-1 victory. Things were not as straight forward as they sound as Ian's opponent blundered in the fast time limit and the only loss by Mick Harris was despite him unleashing a lovely tactic to win the exchange!

Anthony Higgs scored a good win against Brighton's board one, Luke Rutherford, in the recent Horsham 2 match against Brighton 1. The game is given below, with some notes by Anthony.