In the penultimate round Horsham were up against the Four Horseman, fortunately they were not bringing the apocalypse too.
First to finish was Nick on board 3 who was up against the Nimzo-Larson attack. Tackling the opening head on Nick managed to secure a pawn on d4 nurturing the b2 bishop. After a bit of horse-trading in the middle Nick won a pawn and his opponent resigned quickly. Second to finish was Monika on board 4, her first game in the team against a much higher-rated opponent was going well with Monika creating some attacking chances. Sadly, her opponent managed to survive and went into an opposite colour bishop endgame that with precise play they converted. Third to finish was Dix on board 1 in an e6 Sicilian that got quite heated strategical in the middlegame his opponent managed to create a pawn majority on the queenside. Dix countered this but in the meantime his opponent had broken through on the kingside with some tricky tactics to win the point. This left us 2-1 down with Chris still going on board 2, he had outplayed his opponent in a tricky French to win an exchange and everything seemed to be going smoothly until his opponent managed to use some knight forks to win off some pawns. This left Chris with a difficult endgame to convert and knowing that a loss was as good as a draw for the team he worked hard but ultimately lost on time under the pressure.
Final result: Four Horseman 3 - 1 Horsham
Full results: http://www.4nclresults.co.uk/2019-20/online/9/3/export/#t5
In our ultimate round Horsham were up against Preston South End and things did not end up going South.
First to finish again was Nick with a smooth win. He was up against the Dutch Défense and won the exchange with ease. From there Nick converted with some slick play. Second to finish was Chris who defended with the French and managed to turn the central tide to put pawns on e5, d5, c5, and b5. These pawns looked like they could be targeted but Chris held them together and then decided to throw his kingside pawns forward to, this lunge netted Chris a piece and he soon converted with those dominant central pawns. Third to finish was Monika on board 4, she was up against a much higher rated opponent and initially things looked dangerous as they castled on opposite wings and her opponent got their attack going quicker. But with more careful calculations it was Monika who broke through to checkmate first in a nice combination finish. Last to finish was me on board 1. I was up against the French and had played the advanced variation for them to play an unusual move order and me to drop a pawn to a tactic. I managed to recover and create an attack against their king for them to blunder the exchange and we entered an equal endgame. My opponent had a bishop and 2 pawns against a rook and unfortunately those pawns got marching to create a queen and win the game.
Final result: Horsham 3 - 1 Preston South End
Full results: http://www.4nclresults.co.uk/2019-20/online/10/3/export/#t8