Horsham 1

Horsham 1's hopes of winning the league ended with a defeat against a very strong Hastings 1 team.

Horsham unfortunately had two of their first choice team (Gavin Lock and Matt Forster) unavailable, while Hastings 1, in addition to their club regulars, wheeled out GM Bogdan Lalic on board one.

James Mansson unsurprisingly lost with the Black pieces against Bogdan Lalic on top board.

Matters were then not helped by Phil Stimpson losing to Howard Tebbs, which left Horsham with a 2-0 deficit to overcome.

At the start of April, Horsham 1 scored a comfortable win away against Lewes 1.

Anthony Higgs and Matt Forster overwhelmed their opponents on the bottom two boards to give Horsham a 2-0 lead.

Mike Forster played out a solid draw to take the score to 2.5-0.5.

Although Gavin had a very good position, he judiciously accepted the draw when offered it, in order to secure the match victory.

Back in March, Horsham 1 scored another big win, this time against Haywards Heath 1.

Horsham were helped by Jeff Boardman's failure to turn up, which meant that Haywards Heath defaulted on board two.

Anthony Higgs scored a win over Martin Faulkner, as the latter's position rapidly went downhill after a mistake in a complicated position.

In mid-February, Horsham 1 played away against Hastings 2 in the Mid-Sussex League. Horsham 1 were not able to field quite their strongest team, while Hastings 2 were able to put out a strong line up, so a tough match was in prospect.

Early on, Dix got into trouble against Bernard Cafferty and ended up in what seemed like a lost endgame, but somehow managed to hold it.

Phil obtained a typically complex position against Tobias Stock, but the game fizzled out into a draw.

Back in February, Horsham 1 were up against Worthing 2 at home. The match ended in a one-sided 4.5-0.5 victory for Horsham 1.

Only Chris Jones managed a draw for Worthing 2, against Gavin Lock in a complicated game. James Mansson had a big slice of luck, where a mistake he made in a strong position went unnoticed by his demoralised opponent, who promptly resigned on the following move. Otherwise, the games went very much in Hosham's favour, as reflected by the final score.

Horsham 1 scored a big win away against Eastbourne 1 on Friday evening.

Anthony Higgs against Mike Reddie seemed to be moving along quietly, before Mike made a miscalculation and his position rapidly collapsed.

Both Gavin Lock and Mike Forster made use of the White pieces to score good wins against their opponents.

Matt Forster won what looked like a tough game against Paul Carpenter.

Yesterday, Horsham 1 scored a big win against Brighton 2.

Gavin Lock, James Mansson and Phil Stimpson all scored decisive victories over their opponents.

Anthony Higgs had a tough struggle against Robin Jones, who eventually slipped up, allowing Anthony an immediate win.

The last game to finish was Dix Roberts against Michael Hamilton. Dix appeared to have gained a decisive advantage in the endgame, but his opponent defended doggedly, and he was unable to find a way through; he therefore agreed to a draw.

This gave Horsham 1 a 4.5-0.5 win.

Horsham 1 scored a good win away at Worthing 1 last Monday.

Horsham was able to field its strongest team, which was important against a typically tough Worthing side.

Matthew Forster was first to finish, with a good win as Black against Mike Nicholas.

Seeing this, Anthony Higgs decided to offer a draw to Cassie Graham in a balanced position, which was accepted.

Mike Forster had a complicated struggle against Dominic Miller, which ended as a draw, as such things often do.

This left the two games on boards one and two.

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.

MSL have let us know that the first match of the season will be Horsham 1 v Horsham 2 on 16 October - let the opening preparation begin!