Horsham Chess Club

A couple of weeks ago, Horsham 1 were up against a strong Worthing 1 team at home. Worthing 1 had their strongest side out, while Horsham 1 were a couple of players short.

Worthing managed to win on the top two boards, so a win and draw on the lower boards were not enough for Horsham.

Gavin Lock seemed to be doing well against Russell Granat with Black, but his position then went downhill and he lost.

Mark Broom was struggling from early on against David Graham, losing a pawn and seeing his structure compromised. He fought on manfully but was unable to avoid defeat.

Following their shock draw against Horsham 2, Horsham 1 got back on track last Tuesday with a comfortable win against Crowborough.

The first game to finish was James Mansson against Gary McCulloch on board four. To quote from James's chess blog:

The Sussex League kicked off last night with the traditional Horsham 2 vs Horsham 1 (Horsham 2 again the home team this year, the only practical difference being who buys the biscuits!). It was a busy night at the club with Horsham 5 vs Horsham 4 in their Division 3 match and some internal fixtures as well.

Division 1 is a tough place for any second team. Almost always outgraded (by 150 points per board in this match) but also starting the season against last year's champions.

Horsham's Julie Denning is currently in Budapest where she is playing in the Guernsey Womens Olympiad team...

Thanks to all who attended our AGM last week, the minutes will be available on the website (for members only) shortly. The photo shows our trophy winners this year, congratulations all!

The juniors will return next Tuesday 10th September for the new season, usual times 6:25pm-7:25pm at the church lounge. Can parents please remember to pay your annual subs either by cash or bank transfer in the first few weeks of the season, costs are £20 per child or £10 for a second sibling. Many thanks.

Last Tuesday (16th July) the club held a double round robin exchange tournament. Exchange chess is played in pairs and when your partner takes a piece you can put it on as a move. Needless to say matches get quite wild with many tactical thunderbolts and tense teamwork.
Team No, James McGrath and Nick Warren, stormed to victory with 11/12. Neither had played the variant before and lost the first game as they got used to it. After that there was no looking back with 11 games in a row to take the tournament with ease.

This Tuesday we had a 10 game Blitz tournament at the club.
There were 5 double rounds across the night with a guillotine time of 5 minutes and no increment with plenty of moments of chaos along the way.
After being held to 1/2 in the first round Anthony Higgs went on to claim the tournament with a brilliant 8.5/10 overall.
In joint second place James Ratcliffe was the only player to win a game against Anthony and scored an impressive 7/10.

Horsham Chess Club is staying open until the 23rd July and we are going to be running more summer competitions this year. If you wish to take part in one of these competitions you just need to turn up on the night. Please arrive at 7:30pm for registration and the competitions will start at 7:45pm. There will also be space for those finishing Knock-Out matches or wanting to play casual chess instead. These events are:

Alex, Julie and Anthony represented Horsham at the Sussex League AGM last night and received the Mowatt Cup for league Division 1 winners Horsham 1. Team captain James is pictured with the cup after it was delivered to him in the pub the same evening!