Revenge for Worthing

Having recently suffered a loss against Horsham 1 as reported by Mark (below), Worthing secured an element of revenge in beating Horsham 2 by 3-1.

First to finish was Peter on board 2. I confess I did not see much of his game, partly because it was all over before the evening had properly begun! His d4 and c3 was mirrored by his opponent and hostilities were abandoned at an early stage with neither side having made any real progress.

Next up was Rob on board 4 whose English (against a Stonewall Dutch) seemed to herald a reasonable middle game with all to play for after the queens came off and with the kingside locked. Unfortunately a miscalculation of a subsequent tactical sequence meant the loss of a minor piece and inevitably the game in the fullness of time.

Facing strong opposition with the black pieces on board 1, Anthony's Philidor resulted in an early exchange of queens with displacement of his king and doubled and isolated pawns on the e file. As Anthony explained afterwards, this is all apparently OK for black and indeed as the middle game unfolded, chances appeared equal on both sides. Unfortunately, however, some subsequent modest inaccuracies tipped the scales in his opponent's favour.

I misplayed my Yugoslav defence and ended up with a knight stuck on a7 and a less than ideal pawn structure. Having nothing to lose, I sacrificed (or lost!) a pawn for some counterplay with a battery of heavy artillery along the f file. The position became quite difficult for both sides, albeit the silicon beast subsequently suggesting that white was always comfortably ahead. Thankfully that does not necessarily determine the result and indeed I missed the opportunity to completely turn the tables before a draw was agreed with just R and 3P's remaining on each side.

As home team, Horsham 2 had black on the odd boards.
1 (B) 2050 0 - 1 2223
Higgs, Anthony RJ Granat, Russell G
2 (W) 1913 ½ - ½ 1901
Harbott, Peter Larwood, Peter
3 (B) 1826 ½ - ½ 1915
Heath, Chris W Nair, Rakesh
4 (W) 1797 0 - 1 1884
McDonald, Robert Hedger, Alec
Average 1897 1 - 3 Average 1981