Mid Sussex League

Articles relating to the Mid Sussex League.

Victory for Horsham 3

Horsham 3 started the season with a 2.5 - 1.5 win against East Grinstead 2. The teams were very evenly matched, with an average grading of 1728 for Horsham and 1724 for our opponents.

Jordy Savill was the first to score with a quick win in the Barry attack, after Ian Dennis (1698) allowed a mate in 3. The next to arrive at a conclusion was Robert McDonald, who equalized with the Slav against Asanka Amarasinghe (1828). Although the game would continue for a while, Black had an easily drawn endgame with dark-colored bishops.

Disappointing loss for Horsham 2

Having not unexpectedly lost heavily against Hastings 1 last week, Horsham 2 was looking for an element of revenge in last night's match against Hastings 2 but alas it was not to be. As a result of a 1.5-2.5 defeat we will definitely finish in the bottom 2 (and hence presumably relegated) though in practice this had already been decided by other results - not only would we have had to win this match but also our last fixture of the season against a very strong Worthing 1.

An Honourable Defeat For Horsham 3 ...

... if you will forgive such an oxymoron.

Approaching our fixture against Haywards Heath 1, (an unexpected relegation from Division 1 last season?), the omens didn't look great, not helped by needing to play a reserve (me) after a stronger choice had to pull out due to work commitments. Seeing Feliks Kwiatkowski and Jeff Boardman on boards 1 and 2 did nothing to allay my concerns.

Exploring the wilds of East Sussex

Horsham 2 made the long trek to play Hastings 1 only to find that the A27 was closed for the return journey which led to exploration of parts of the globe I had never visited before!

Anyway, as regards the chess we were not unexpectedly heavily beaten (an average grading deficit of 270) but did get on the scoreboard with one draw and indeed might well have added to that.

First to finish was Peter on board 1 as white who employed a sort of reverse Slav (or Saragosa?) but the game never really took off and peace was declared after just 20 moves.

MSL Knock-Out Competition

The KO competition doesn't manage to attract a large entry, although Horsham have consistently taken part for many years. This season there were 6 entrants, including 2 teams from Crowborough. Our first match was due to be against Crowborough 2, but their club was laid low by covid and they conceded the the match. We then faced a semi-final match against Sussex University. Knowing they had a potentially strong line up of players this season, we confronted them with a strong team, including Mark Broom and James Mansson.

Horsham 3 Update

I've been remiss in not posting match reports for the 3rd team as the season progressed, so I'll now do a bulk update!

Horsham 2 well beaten by strong Brighton team

For a fleeting moment midway through the evening there seemed a possibility that Horsham 2 would repeat their heroics of last year when they were the only team to take a point off Brighton...but in the event the end result (0.5-3.5) reflected the disparity in gradings between the two, being an average of 260.

Horsham 1 lose narrowly away against Brighton 1

Horsham 1 suffered a narrow 1.5-2.5 defeat away to Brighton 1 on the Monday of last week. Travelling to Brighton's new (temporary) venue, Horsham 1 looked well placed as they secured two draws on the top two boards, as Gavin Lock drew with Luke Rutherford and Mark Broom drew with Calum Salmons. However, disaster struck, when James Mansson's strong position against Geoff James fell apart in time trouble, and he ended up losing on time in what seemed in any case to have been a lost position.

Why do we play chess?

Not helped by the captain snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, Horsham 2 went down to a disappointing 3-1 defeat against Crowborough 1 earlier this week.

First to finish was Ian whose English opening led to a slightly unusual response from black, with white appearing to be in good shape. A tactical sequence by Ian, however, which initially looked highly promising unfortunately proved the opposite at its conclusion and he had to hoist the white flag (no pun intended).

Horsham 2 on the scoreboard

At the fourth time of asking Horsham 2 got on the scoreboard with a vital 3-1 against Bexhill 1.

For a change, the team was not out graded. Indeed, on top board, Anthony had an identical rating to his opponent based on the latest monthly listing and so it proved in practice. Facing the English, he managed to get in a d5 break with everything then getting swapped off. Despite mutual attempts to muddy the waters in the endgame, traps were avoided on both sides with a drawn game being the deserved result.

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Mid Sussex League