Horsham 2

Having recently suffered a loss against Horsham 1 as reported by Mark (below), Worthing secured an element of revenge in beating Horsham 2 by 3-1.

First to finish was Peter on board 2. I confess I did not see much of his game, partly because it was all over before the evening had properly begun! His d4 and c3 was mirrored by his opponent and hostilities were abandoned at an early stage with neither side having made any real progress.

After two losses and a drawn match Horsham finally had a win to celebrate but not without some moments of tension along the way.

The match evening started with a bit of a surprise with Lewes fielding Peter Farr as their top board. Well known and a long standing anchor for the Args (who aren't currently running a team in the new look league), Lewes evidently did some good transfer work in the close season!

Last Thursday, Horsham 2 headed down to Brighton to play Brighton 1. After a journey down to the coast - I need to get back in the swing of travelling to other clubs! – Horsham 2 were ready and raring to go. Unfortunately, Brighton’s board 2 was missing. After 45 minutes, they put a substitute in, who Peter then comfortably outplayed by simplifying into a king endgame where his king was master of the board whilst his opponent was left on the edge. This led to his opponent's king being knocked sideways and gave us a 1-0 lead.

The league season started with a narrow victory for Horsham 1 over Horsham 2 last Tuesday...

As referenced in my most recent posting, the final week of 4NCL season 3 saw Horsham 2 facing their closest rivals for the remaining promotion slot from their section of division 6. The opponents in this final round had substantially outperformed their ratings to get so close but the grading differences made for a largely comfortable evening for Horsham, running out winners by 3.5-0.5 and thereby securing promotion to division 5.

There were mixed fortunes for the 3 Horsham teams in the latest round of the 4NCL season.

Horsham 1 tied 2-2 although until very late on it could have gone either way. Mark’s Reti on board 1 always seemed under pressure but he found the correct defence and a truce was called with opposite-coloured bishops. In glancing at Dix’s Sicilian from time to time my superficial assessment was pessimistic but subsequent analysis suggested there was never much in it until he smoothly converted his advanced queenside pawns.

On Tuesday 23rd February Horsham 1,2 and 3 played in 4NCL.

Round Two of Horsham s 4NCL online season continued on the 9th february.

Last Tuesday saw the start of season 3 of the 4NCL online league (time control 45 minutes plus 15 seconds increments) with all three Horsham teams involved.

Horsham 3 (division 7) were heavily out graded by Dundee C (c270 points per board) and duly lost 3.5-0.5 but not before a well fought draw by Alex Thorndyke on board 1. Harry and Simon each lost out to opening preparations and Andrew missed a tactic when reasonably placed.