Horsham 2 defeat Uckfield 1

The 2nd team travelled down to Uckfield last Wednesday and secured a good victory 4½-½.
On top board Anthony faced Chaski Patrick (graded 206) and played 1. Nc3 - an opening referred to as either the Dunst, the Van Geet or Der Linksspringer (“The Knight on the Left”). Chaski played a very solid Caro-Kann set up in reply and Anthony held a space advantage for much of the game. In an exciting climax Anthony held his nerve as both players queened pawns in a King and Pawn ending before agreeing a draw.
Morgan won a pawn in the opening and built a very strong centre with the black pieces. He then won a knight before mating his opponent. Dix played a Maróczy Bind pawn formation and built up a lot of pressure on his opponent’s position with knights on b5 & d5 before making a decisive breakthrough.
Phil exchanged queens quite early on and had to play very precisely to reach an advantageous rook and minor piece endgame. Both players were under some time pressure and Phil’s opponent did not press his clock when making his 42nd move and lost on time.
On board 5 Paul was the first to finish - his opponent’s queen became rather isolated and exposed on the king’s side of the board. Paul was able to mount an attack against the queen and then open up the king’s defences at which point his opponent resigned.
C Patrick ½-½ A Higgs
M Attree 0-1 M Blake
S McDonald 0-1 D Roberts
B Stockham 0- 1 P Stimpson
A Mieczkowski 0-1 P Taylor