Horsham players score congress wins

Several Horsham players have been in action in local (and not so local) congresses recently. Melusi, Paul, Dave and I have all tried our hand at some weekend chess...

e2e4 organise some of the country's best congesses in excellent venues with professional organisation to boot. Their recent Gatwick Congress was right on our doorstep and Melusi, Paul and Dave all entered the U1750 section, full results at: http://e2e4.org.uk/gatwick/apr2013/u1750.htm

To summarise, Melusi and Paul came joint 3rd with 3/5 and Dave was only half a point behind them, all of them registering at least 2 wins. Well done to all three!

I entered the Durham Open as part of a holiday up north. I finished with 2/5 with a win and two draws - one of my losses came in the first round against the eventual winner who finished ahead of IM Jonathan Hawkins (249 or FIDE 2503) including drawing with him in the last round, so clearly had the tournament of his life! Results here: http://www.dcca.org.uk/competitions/DCCA-Congress.htm

The diagram shows my sole win, A. Higgs-M. Seeber in round 3. In my opponent's time trouble I set a diabolical trap with 31.Qe3!? and Black fell for it with 31...h6? After 32.Bxd5 Nxd5 White would be losing a piece if not for 33.Qh3! and after 33...h5 34.Qxe6 Qxe6 35.Nxe6 Black resigned as he is losing material after 35...Ne3 36.Nxf8 Nxf1 37.Rxf1 and the knight cannot be trapped as 37...Re7 allows 38.Nxg6+ before Kg7 can be played.

If anyone else has played any recent congresses please let Ian know so we can include your performance in his end of year reports to Sussex Chess News and our own AGM.