First team marches on...

With a few regulars missing, Horsham 1 still ran out comfortable winners down at Eastbourne 1...

Gavin and Mike couldn't make this one, so we all shuffled up a couple of boards and got underway. First to finish on board 4 was Peter, who was very comfortable out of the opening against Paul Carpenter and put White's queenside in a difficult bind. In trying to escape this Paul blundered into a skewer and lost a piece, one up to Horsham. On board 5 Phil had a comfortable space advantage against Laurie Butt who defended tenaciously but couldn't find enough counterplay to stop Phil breaking through with his major pieces, 2-0 to us. On board 1 James got the better of the opening against Rasa Norinkeviciute when she chose a strange decentralisation in the Bogo-Indian. However an unwise pawn sacrifice followed and despite James mixing it up well, Rasa held on to her extra material and came through her traditional time trouble to win.

Two games went the distance. On board 3 I had judged that voluntarily making my bishop 'bad' was justified by my space advantage and lack of counterplay for Adrian Pickersgill, and steadily pushed Black backwards until a decisive kingside breakthrough came just before the time control. The adjourned position was hopeless for Adrian who resigned. Dix on board 2 had the better of a rook endgame against Oli Froom but despite lots of analysis and the feeling that it would be difficult to defend over the board, the computer failed to find a win and the draw was agreed.

3.5-1.5 to Horsham.

R. Norinceviciute 1-0 J.C. Mansson
O. Froom 1/2-1/2 D.N. Roberts
A.O. Pickersgill 0-1 A.R.J. Higgs
P.J. Carpenter 0-1 P. Harbott
L.A. Butt 0-1 P. Stimpson