Horsham 2 Feb/March update

It's been a busy few weeks for Horsham 2 with 4 games in as many weeks.

Firstly Crowborough away on a Friday night was looking touch and go if there were going to be 4 Horsham players turning up, many thanks to Daniel and Julie for playing in the end. Julie fell foul of a nasty attack in a Scotch gambit while Daniel was pressing in a rook endgame that ended in a draw. Alex missed his chance for a draw after sacrificing his queen to defend against a very strong junior and my own game was stopped by the match clock after 2 exchange sacrifices to lock the position into a draw.

Next was Haywards Heath. Peter on board 3 looked to have a promising position but agreed to a draw with the other boards looking strong. Next to finish was Phil on board 2 - each time I looked over, he seemed to be on the verge of winning a piece but his opponent always had a way to escape it. I must have missed something because by the time I checked again, he was a clean 2 pieces up. I won a pawn early on that gave black a few tempo moves against my queen which thankfully didn't lead to anything more. Anthony looked OK on board 1 from a distance but turned out to be in zugswang in the middlegame and forced to resign. First win of the season and just moved us off the bottom of the table.

Horsham 2 have a remarkably good record against Brighton 1 with 3 draws from the last 4 seasons. Peter first to finish again - the onlookers thought he had sacrificed a pawn in the opening for some excellent piece activity. It turned out not to be intentional but the dynamic compensation resulted in mate on the board so no complaints. Alex was in trouble on board 2 against a nasty French and eventually was forced to resign. Anthony was in another typically complicated position where both sides had winning opportunities that were all missed and ended in a draw. While I hit the match clock again but somehow allowed a drawn position from 2 pawns up. Still, a great result against the league leaders that could almost have been in favour of either team.

Finally away to Lewes. Peter was true to form with another early finish, under pressure from the start though. It seemed fairly equal but he was always chasing and unfortunately missed a tactic that lost a piece. I finished next after my opponent sacrificed 2 pieces for an attack that didn't work. The top 2 boards were under pressure though, both down a pawn by the time the endgame came about. Anthony couldn't find a defense with the queens still on the board but Phil managed to cling onto a draw once he had neutralised any attacking chances that came with the opposite coloured bishops.

Still not guaranteed to avoid relegation but grabbing a few points has made our position a lot more comfortable with 1 game left in the season - the dreaded away match to Hastings 23rd April.