Horsham 2 lose battle with Hastings 2

Last Thursday Horsham 2 made the long journey to Hastings, despite missing 3 of our best players, Ian and Bob stepped into the breach, and unfortunately we lost a close match having been noticeably outgraded.

Ian's game was the first to finish with an equal middlegame transtitioning to an endgame where Ian's opponent had unpleasant pressure down the a-file. Ian fought hard but his opponent found the right moves to bring home the game for Hastings.

Peter's game was the next to finish. Initially his opponent had some pressure but Peter had turned it around to enter a double-edged middlegame. Heading towards an endgame with two minors and a rook each, Peter seemed to have an edge, but his opponent found a perputual check to force a draw.

Phil's game had a very busy board with nearly all the material staying on the board throughout. Phil had generated some pressure but there was no way through and so a draw was agreed.

Bob's game involved a kingside assault by Bob who looked to have the iniative. His opponent wisely decided against castling into the storm and just about clung on to enter into a slightly worse endgame. Bob appeared to have an edge with a passed pawn but with far less time a draw was agreed.

This left it down to me to try to create a win to get the team a draw. After an opening line in the Sicilian which I clearly need to read up on, I managed to create complications to enter a middlegame with good pieces but where my opponent had strong central pawns. These pawns were enough to create a dangerous position and I looked to be heading for a loss. In mutual time trouble first my opponent slipped allowing me a chance of winning then I missed an underpromotion tactic to swing the game back and I lost quickly thereafter.

Final Score: Hastings 2 3.5 - 1.5 Horsham 2