An Honourable Defeat For Horsham 3 ...

... if you will forgive such an oxymoron.

Approaching our fixture against Haywards Heath 1, (an unexpected relegation from Division 1 last season?), the omens didn't look great, not helped by needing to play a reserve (me) after a stronger choice had to pull out due to work commitments. Seeing Feliks Kwiatkowski and Jeff Boardman on boards 1 and 2 did nothing to allay my concerns.

Bob was an early faller on board 2, but Tim countered with a good win on 3. On board 4 I managed to lose the exchange for a pawn, but my opponent subsequently allowed me to trap his queen for the cost of 2 minor pieces. This left me with queen, rook and an extra pawn against 2 rooks and a bishop in what looked like being a complex end game. My offer of a draw was accepted. So, with the match standing level, all eyes turned to John 's game against Feliks. After nearly 3 hours play with material level, John was facing an end game with 3 pawns apiece and bishop and knight against 2 bishops. Feliks managed to gain a passed pawn that would have cost a piece to stop and John conceded.

1. Feliks Kwiatkowski 1 - 0 John Marshall
2. Jeffery Boardman 1 - 0 Bob Lanzer
3. Vivian Cole 0 - 1 Tim Pavlovic
4. Julie Denning 0.5 - 0.5 Julian Clark

So in a match where we were conceding an average of over 300 rating points per board and a whitewash seemed a highly possible outcome, a defeat by the slimmest of margins was a result from which perhaps we could take as much satisfaction as the victors.

We currently lie in 7th place out of 10, with one match left. It's still just mathematically possible for us to fall into the relegation zone, but hopefully unlikely.