Horsham 2 vs East Grinstead 1

Horsham hosted two matches, Horsham 2 vs East Grinstead 1 and Horsham 6 vs East Grinstead Bookshop. Along with the other internal club competition matches, it was another full night. As usual we were out-graded on every board, particularly so with this very strong East Grinstead team.

First to finish was Phil on board 3. Black had a strong kingside attack after an opposite-side castling Scandinavian but white found all the defensive moves and with the position destined for a drawn rook ending, the players agreed a draw.

Shortly afterwards, Roy resigned on board 2. He forgot that a pinned piece had become unpinned and unfortunately blundered a skewer that lost the exchange. However he did seem to have a very good position but it didn't quite make up for the material disadvantage and was forced to throw in the towel.

Peter on board 4 also had a very dynamic position with opposite-side castling from a Leningrad Dutch. However black seemed to have a big head start on the attack and white's king never found a safe haven and was forced to resign in the face of checkmate.

With the match result now clear, Anthony agreed to a draw on board 1. An interesting position where black had a large pawn centre against white's bishop pair. Pub analysis suggests that perhaps black had more to play for but in the context of the match (and Anthony's league record this year), a draw was perfectly acceptable.

3-1 loss to a very strong team but even the lost boards were only due to one sub-optimal move each that let the position slip away. Certainly not a walkover.

Next match away to Worthing 10th Feb.