Submitted by James Mansson on 20 October, 2018 - 11:46
When a club has more than one team in a division in the Mid-Sussex League, it is normal for all the club's team to play each other, before playing the other teams. With Horsham 1 and 2 both in Division One, this meant that Horsham 1 vs Horsham 2 was the first match of the season.
Because of three first team players being unavailable, boards 3 to 5 of Horsham 1 were occupied by players one might normally expect to play for Horsham 2; admittedly two of them had played many games for the first team in previous seasons.
Horsham 1 drew with Brighton 1 in the final match of the season.
James Mansson won the exchange for a pawn after outplaying his opponent in the middlegame, but failed to find the best way to exploit his advantage and had to concede a draw.
The Forsters both drew as well. Mike Forster played a typically sharp game as Black where both sides seem to have their chances.
Submitted by James Mansson on 21 March, 2018 - 11:40
Horsham 1 scored a narrow 3-2 victory away against a strong Worthing 2 team.
Looking at the Worthing 2 line up, a number of the players could (and have) played for the first team, so it was clearly not going to be an easy night.
Matt Forster sensibly bailed out with a draw against Chris Jones when the latter offered it. His position looked rather shaky at the time as subsequent analysis seemed to demonstrate.
Paul Taylor won material against Peter Larwood on bottom board and consolidated to secure Horsham's first win.
Submitted by James Mansson on 2 February, 2018 - 12:17
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.
Submitted by James Mansson on 17 January, 2018 - 17:22
Horsham 1 scored a narrow win against Lewes 1 in the Mid-Sussex League last Tuesday.
Mike Forster was first to finish, with a draw against Martin Costley, who managed to equalise with solid play against Mike's English/Catalan hybrid.
James Mansson emerged clearly worse from a rather unorthodox opening, but was fortunate that his opponent eventually miscalculated, allowing him to win substantial amounts of material; his opponent very soon resigned.
Mark Broom and Gavin Lock ended up drawing after Mark was unable to make anything of his slight edge.
Submitted by James Mansson on 23 November, 2017 - 13:42
Horsham 1 secured a narrow home win over Eastbourne 1 last Tuesday after some nervous moments.
For the first time this season (and the last, as Morgan Blake will be heading off), Horsham were able to field their strongest side, but several players misfired, leading to a tight contest.
Mike Forster ran into early trouble, giving up material but not gaining sufficient attacking chances. His opponent was able to consolidate and win.
It was not all bad news for the Forsters, however, as Matt secured a comprehensive win with a typically energetic performance.
Submitted by Ian Comley on 19 November, 2017 - 12:03
This Tuesday we welcome two teams in the Mid Sussex League.
Horsham 1 are facing Eastbourne 1 in an important division 1 battle . Meanwhile in division 2 Horsham 3 will be facing Hastings 3 having lost 4-1 at HAstings to Hastings 2!
Submitted by James Mansson on 10 November, 2017 - 10:09
Horsham 1 bounced back from their disappointing loss to Hastings 1 to beat a weakened Haywards Heath 1 by a big margin. On the morning of the match, I was rung by the Haywards Heath captain to inform me that Feliks Kwiatkowski was not going to be playing. This meant that their line up was noticably weakened, although we would have been favourites to win in any case.
