Horsham 3 spoil league 2 leaders' 100% record

Modestly out graded on all boards, Horsham 3 put in a good effort to share the honours with the Argumentatives, who had until last night, enjoyed seven wins out of seven.

Our opponents featured three ex Horsham players and you would have got long odds on board 5 between Bob and Paul Kington being anything but a draw...and so it proved relatively early in the evening.

Likewise on board 2 where it seemed to me that the battle was only just beginning when hostilities ceased, though Ian insisted it was a complex structure for all of the 17 moves after his English opening!...and to be fair, it did seem to take a different path to the norm.

I didn't see much of John's game but what I did see was very encouraging with a raging attack against the Caro Kann which indeed brought home the full point mid way through the session.

Nick on board 3 seemed under pressure for most of the game but some aggressive pawn advances led to a double edged position with mating threats though ultimately petering out into a shared point.

My premature e5 break on the black side of the Leningrad Dutch led to a fairly difficult game after a nice white tactic but which I subsequently managed to largely neutralise. Unfortunately I then dropped a pawn going into the end game (B+3P v N+4P) and whilst there may have been a way to hold the position (?) I was unable to find this over the board. Having strung matters out for the full time and 72 moves, my final position was instantly resignable, thereby leaving a tied match.

Whilst the tie prevented the Argumentatives from being confirmed as champions on the night, this is almost certainly just a question of time and our congratulations to them.

You can see the full match scorecard here.