Foiled again by Brighton

Horsham 1 were held to a draw by Brighton's second team last week...

We started well on board 4 where Dix was able to play a thematic c5 advance in the English against Mikolaj Rogacewicz. Tactics then enabled him to remove Black's light squared bishop after which White's pressure down the long diagonal led to concessions and eventually mate on the other wing. On board 2 Mike unleashed his inner Simon Williams with an early h4 advance and exchange sacrifice, but Robin Jones' defences held firm and Mike's activity was only good enough for a draw.

On board 5 Dona Strauss played very solidly against me, and despite having the worst of the endgame due to a bad bishop she was able to construct a fortress that I was unable to breach - another draw. On board 1 Gavin's French never seemed to be in trouble, but Simon Wilks also played well and the final position was another blocked one and another draw.

However on board 3 disaster struck - James had been defending against Paul Selby's Morra Gambit and had managed to pick up Paul's queen after a blunder by White in a strong position. Paul still had two rooks for it and offered James a draw which would have won the match for us, unfortunately James didn't realise and played on, eventually reaching the time control with one second left, but allowing White a mate which left the match tied!

S. Wilks 1/2-1/2 G.R. Lock
R.A. Jones 1/2-1/2 M.C. Forster
P.R. Selby 1-0 J.C. Mansson
M. Rogacewicz 0-1 D.N. Roberts
D. Strauss 1/2-1/2 A.R.J. Higgs