Horsham 1 finish season on a high

The first team completed their fixtures with a win away to Haywards Heath 1 on Wednesday night. Resounding victories for our supersubs and a long overdue win from the captain sealed the deal...

With Mike and Dix unavailable, Ian and Mick had kindly stepped in and were to prove a sound investment. On board 5 Mick got us off to a flying start, winning very quickly with a punishing kingside pawn storm against David Curtis's king. I didn't see the finish but it looked like White had the advantage from an early stage. On board 4 Ian was able to get in his e5 break in the Dutch, after which he pressed forward in the centre and some tricky tactics spelled the end for Graham Ewens.

On board 2 I had a real to-and-fro game with Jeff Boardman. Jeff offered a pawn sacrifice on move 9 which I rightly judged to be far too dangerous to accept. Some careful defensive manoeuvring followed against Jeff's aggressive and imaginative attack, and I accepted two further pawn sacrifices (one soundly, one not). Eventually a pawn sacrifice of my own was unwisely accepted and my pieces coordinated in a winning position just before Jeff blundered his queen in time trouble, an unfortunate end to a fascinating battle.

Two games went to the time control - on board 1 Gavin was unable to gain much impetus against Feliks Kwiatkowski's Modern Benoni, and they eventually swapped down to a level rook & bishop endgame. On board 3 James was in real trouble at one point, his king being menaced by a swarm of Robert Fitzgerald's pieces. Black did not find the right continuation however, and James was able to escape into a rook & knight endgame. Initial analysis suggests a draw but we await Haywards Heath's opinion.

3.5-0.5 so far:

F.J. Kwiatkowski 1/2-1/2 G.R. Lock
J. Boardman 0-1 A.R.J. Higgs
R. Fitzgerald A-A J.C. Mansson
G. Ewens 0-1 I.S. Comley
D. Curtis 0-1 M.C. Harris

This means we will finish at least 4th in Division 1, with a likely 3rd place finish unless Crowborough 1 beat Worthing 1 heavily.