Knoll Knights knacker Horsham 1

Horsham 1's title hopes took a knock (ok, enough with the kn's now) last Tuesday when we were defeated 3.5-1.5 at home...

On board 3 I faced the Trompowsky for the first time in years and David Hall soon had an h-pawn hack going. I stopped this at the cost of a pawn but then missed a tactic to regain it with an equal position. I then went completely off the deep end with an unsound knight sacrifice and David consolidated to win. On board 5 James was also in trouble, Jim Munday pressurising James' d and e pawns with a central crossfire and forcing concessions. James tried to stir up trouble but it wasn't enough.

On board 1 Gavin faced Donald Macfarlane's French Tarrasch and responded with a kingside advance. Donald left himself in critical time trouble (1 minute for 20 moves!) and eventually lost on time in a position where Gavin's attack was crashing through anyway. Gavin is having an excellent season on board 1 and continues to be a great player for Horsham. On board 4 Dix looked comfortable against Ian Kelly, picking up an extra pawn although Black had plenty of activity. Things suddenly went wrong when Dix fell victim to some tactics and was suddenly a pawn and then the exchange down, with resignation following. Finally on board 2 Mike's English was put to the test by Mike Nicholas, who pushed very hard in a game full of nuances but some tenacious defence secured the draw.

G.R. Lock 1-0 D. Macfarlane
M.C. Forster 1/2-1/2 M.D. Nicholas
A.R.J. Higgs 0-1 D.S. Hall
D.N. Roberts 0-1 I.G. Kelly
J.C. Mansson 0-1 J. Munday