Horsham 2 Triumph !

The 2nd team journeyed down to Hove on Thursday and recorded a 3½ – 1½ win against Brighton 2. Overall it was a fairly comfortable win, being materially ahead on all five boards after 2½ hrs. play. Alex, playing a Sicilian with black, scored our first victory, winning a couple of pawns following a central thrust. Paul then put us 2-0 up winning a Sicilian with white; having captured a pawn through sheer force he had full control of the position and Paul Selby resigned shortly after.
Peter had an interesting game facing the Giuoco Piano Moeller (Therkatz) Attack – he was a comfortable pawn ahead when he missed a rook pin following the exchange of queens. Despite losing the exchange he played very accurately to win another pawn and in fact held a very slight advantage when he agreed a draw.
Phil played really solidly against Simon Wilks’s French Defence and held a good advantage after 27 moves. Simon then built up some pressure against the white king and in a tricky position Phil overlooked black’s breakthrough – chess can be a tough game sometimes!?
Finally, Roy was in complete control of the whole board in his match, having created some pressure on the Kingside before breaking through on the Queenside. Deciding not to castle he played both h5 and a5 (!), before winning the exchange and in the final position he had a forced mate in two.
Simon Wilks (177) 1-0 Phil Stimpson (173)
Robin Jones (158) ½-½ Peter Harbott (178)
Paul Selby (156) 0-1 Paul Taylor (173)
Chris Lake (152) 0-1 Alex Freeland (172)
Mikolaj Rogacewicz (130E) 0-1 Roy Page (169)