Black is OK...

...as Andras Adorjan likes to say - and it was proved last Monday as Black was successful in Worthing 1 vs Horsham 2...

Alex sat this one out so I was stand-in captain. I walked into the Worthing venue to be met with the smell of fish and chips as Matthew and Lucy were finishing dinner at the board!

Once cleared away we were ready to go. First to finish was Peter on board 5 vs Max Bennett - both players launched violent attacks on opposite wings but Peter couldn't see his way to the mate that his computer announced later! Instead Max consolidated his extra material and won. Next up Matthew on board 3 had an interesting scrap vs Mike Nicholas, a pawn down but with opposite coloured bishops in a sharp position. A draw was offered and declined, and not long afterwards Mike emerged the winner. 2-0 to Black so far!

On board 1 I offered a pawn sacrifice to Dominic Miller which he (rightly) declined. The position was dynamically equal when I put my queen on the wrong diagonal and had to give up the exchange. There were still some tricks and I came close to saving it but Dom is a top class player these days and finished me off. Both of us had been interested in the board 2 struggle next door, where Phil had given up a knight for 2 pawns and a dangerous attack vs Dave Graham. Dave eventually returned material to blunt the attack and the R&R vs R&B (with extra pawns) endgame proved straightforward to hold thanks to Phil's excellent bishop. Finally Lucy managed to defend a rook and pawn endgame vs Joe Everett to hold another draw, leaving Black as winners on the odd-numbered boards and Horsham as draws vs stronger players on the evens.

Black is still OK... and a valiant effort from Horsham 2 against strong opponents.

Worthing 1
4-1
Horsham 2

Result link at http://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/55642