Horsham 3 Takes the Lead

Yesterday's game against Brighton & Hove 2 saw another win for Horsham 3, bringing the team's total score to 5.5 out of 8 games. The match started off strong with another Barry Attack played by Jordy Savill. After sacrificing a bishop on h7, he achieved a resignation from Chris Lake (1788), who was forced to sacrifice his queen to avoid mate.

Ian Edgson was the next player to reach a conclusion. With the black pieces, he defended against a London where white was able to generate a kingside attack. Ian sacrificed a pawn to stop the attack, and was able to trade down to a sharp endgame. Paul Edwards (1780) was happy to accept a draw here, rather than take more risk to press for the win.

On the first board, John Marshall was defending a Marshall Defense by transposition against Ian Kelly (1843). In the opening, John won two pawns but had to defend against an attack. He sacrificed two pieces for a rook to gain some activity and advance his pawns. After his opponent missed some chances, John was eventually able to win some material and bring home the win.

I was the last Horsham player to reach a resolution again, playing the white side of a Catalan where my opponent quickly traded off dark-square bishops. With a nice advantage in a queenless middlegame, I could press without much risk. Unfortunately I allowed too many trades and was unable to win the endgame with an extra pawn, so Paul Selby (1743) and I agreed to a draw.

In the end, Horsham scored 3 - 1, despite being somewhat outranked by the opposing team (1789 vs 1738 averages). The result has brought Horsham 3 to the top of the Division 2 table. Hopefully that is a sign of things to come!