Horsham 1 defeat Crowborough comfortably

Following their shock draw against Horsham 2, Horsham 1 got back on track last Tuesday with a comfortable win against Crowborough.

The first game to finish was James Mansson against Gary McCulloch on board four. To quote from James's chess blog:

I was White on board four against Gary McCulloch. My opponent went wrong early in the opening (a sideline of the Ruy Lopez) and very soon ended up in trouble. Although I made a couple of inaccuracies in response, on moves 7 and 11, my opponent returned the favour. By move 12, I had a winning advantage, which I was able to exploit with reasonable accuracy. My opponent castled queenside in desperation, but I was able to launch an attack there; his blunder on move 25, allowing a neat mate in one, just shortened things.

This made the score: Horsham 1 - 0 Crowborough

Next up, was Mike Forster, who overwhelmed Jon Lawrance on board three with the black pieces. He offers the following thoughts on the game:

White misplayed the opening and was at a disadvantage but then played well to recover after some missed opportunities by black in the middlegame. In a tense but equal position white finally blundered and black was lucky to take the point.

This made the score: Horsham 2 - 0 Crowborough

Gavin Lock sealed the match with a win with Black against David Fryer on board one. He has kindly provided the following account of his game:

It was a Caro-Kann Advance. The early trade of white's d3 bishop gave me good light square control and when I broke with ...g5, trading this pawn for White's d4 pawn the game started to open up for my two bishops. Probably aware of the long-term impact of the bishop pair White started trying to keep everything covered, rather than seek active play, and this turned an equal position into one where the initiative turned in my favour. A couple of passive moves was all it took for me to transition to a rook endgame with dangerous connected c and d passed pawns while White's rook was out of the game on the other side of the board. White needed to spend many tempi to get this rook back into the game, during which time my pawns advanced quickly. Anthony found an even quicker way of finishing the game than the one I chose, but the path I took was safe, easy to play, and got the job done.

This made the score: Horsham 3 - 0 Crowborough

The final game, on board three, saw Mark Broom - playing White - pitted against promising junior Luke Freeman . The game was unfinished on the night; subsequent analysis established that the position was dead level, so a draw was agreed. Mark offers the following account of the course of the game:

In a Catalan that started from an English move order, white quickly got a nice advantage. Black defended well and with a couple of inaccuracies by me I drifted into an equal position. There was a lot of play and my opponent exchanged pieces in the wrong way to leave me with an advantageous ending. It was never quite enough and with accurate defence he held the draw.

This made the final score: Horsham 3.5 - 0.5 Crowborough