Horsham beat Brighton in the McArthur Cup

On Tuesday January 27th Horsham hosted Brighton in the McArthur Cup, a historic Sussex tournament dating back to 1889, played over six boards. The teams were evenly matched, but after a tough struggle we emerged as the winners.

On Board 1, Gavin played a modern line of the Tarrasch with doubled pawns on the kingside in exchange for an advanced pawn formation on the queenside. With accurate play he managed to combine play on both sides of the board in a complex rook endgame to force a zugzwang like position. His opponent resigned in the face of large material loss, or a losing king and pawn endgame. On Board 2, Mark established a slight advantage, but missed a tactic from his opponent and had to sacrifice a piece. He got three pawns for it and managed to outplay his opponent so that the pawns became increasingly powerful, leading to a forced queening. On Board 3, James Mansson's position rapidly went downhill out of the opening. He defended well, but his opponent maintained a big advantage in a queen and pawn endgame. However, both players ran down to their last minute and his opponent, a strong player who had recently come back to the league, misunderstood the time control and lost on time. On Board 4, Anthony lost a tempo in the opening after which his opponent was slightly better, maintaining a small advantage into the middlegame. He offered a draw whilst still better which Anthony happily accepted. On Board 5, Phil's game was evenly poised, though his opponent gradually built up pressure. After good defence Phil chose a dubious strategy, but thankfully his opponent did not take his chances and Phil managed to swap to a dead drawn position. On Board 6 James McGrath reached a wild position with chances for both sides, but unfortunately blundered a piece in time trouble.

Horsham 4 Brighton 2
1. Gavin Lock (B) 1-0 Luke Rutherford
2. Mark Broom 1-0 Mikolaj Rogacewicz
3. James Mansson 1-0 Brian Denman
4. Anthony Higgs 1/2-1/2 Simon Wrigley
5. Phil Stimpson 1/2-1/2 Paul Batchelor
6. James McGrath 0-1 Chris Lake