Disaster and Triumph for Horsham 1

In a sequence that summed up the team's season, Horsham 1 veered from disaster to triumph in consecutive matches, as they slumped to a big loss against Hastings 1 before they scored a narrow but deserved victory over a very strong East Grinstead 1 team.

In the Hastings 1 match, Horsham 1 went down at home by the margin of 0.5-3.5, with most boards suffering some sort of disaster. Only James Mansson was able to escape with a draw.

In the East Grinstead 1, Horsham 1, despite being out-graded by an average of nearly 80 points, managed to secure a narrow victory. Gavin Lock got the better of Chris Baker playing White on top board, as the latter lost a piece in a complicated position. Mark Broom, who was Black on board two, adopted a solid defence and held a draw comfortably against Gareth Anthony. As White on board 3, James Mansson exploited Bob Noyce's dubious choice of opening to score a decisive victory. The last game to finish was Alex Taylor's game with Black against Daniel Rosen on board four; despite a heroic rearguard action, he was unable to avoid defeat in the endgame. This meant that the final score was 2.5-1.5 in Horsham 1's favour.