Horsham Chess Club

I thought it was time to replace the suspension news with a more jolly post - so here you go Horsham 1 dominating a very strong Division 1!

In the meantime we are looking into how best to promote chess in the new strange times - we are hoping to arrange some online tournaments so watch this space.

The club has closed with immediate effect as the church has been forced to close its premises:

It is with sadness that I email to let you know that as of this Friday the 20th March we will be closing our premises and cancelling all bookings for the time being. Unfortunately this will mean that you will be unable to meet next Tuesday. We do hope that we will soon be open for business and look forward to welcoming you back as soon as it is safety do so.

All parents should have received an email from me announcing the suspension of the junior club until the Easter holidays due to the coronavirus.

Stay safe everyone.

Announcement from Mid Sussex League:

In view of current events, including the advice of the ECF that evening leagues should be suspended, and the fact that some of our member clubs have already decided to curtail their activities, all MSCL matches are suspended from today, until further notice.

Obviously we are all being affected in one way or another by this ongoing health crisis.

The club and the Mid-Sussex League continues to meet as normal and we have made minor but sensible concessions where necessary - there is no need to shake hands for instance.

Of course some individuals are affected more than others , either at our club or other clubs . As a club we will respect anyone who needs to take additional measures. Please keep myself and Anthony informed if you have any queries.

Last Tuesday, Horsham 1 scored a crucial win over Worthing 1 in Mid-Sussex League Division 1.

Mike Forster was unable to make headway against Mike Nicholas's customary Alekhine, and so the game ended in a draw.

(Horsham 0.5 - Worthing 0.5)

Anthony Higgs's favourite Philidor proved an effective weapon against Cassie Graham, allowing him to pick up the first win of the match.

(Horsham 1.5 - Worthing 0.5)

However, Worthing struck back as Matthew Payne defeated Mark Broom in a wild game.

(Horsham 1.5 - Worthing 1.5)

Horsham 1 beat a spirited Lewes 1 side in a match in early February.

Despite their position at the bottom of Division 1, Lewes 1 proved tricky opponents for Horsham 1.

They secured draws on the bottom two boards (Higgs -M.Britnell and Badham - Roberts), before Horsham managed to win on boards one (J.Britnell - Lock) and three (Maufe - Mansson). Although they had already lost the match 3-1, they were finally able to pick up a consolation win in the last game to finish (Broom - Welford).

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.

Followers of the fortunes of teams I've captained in either this competition or the MSL Knock Out over the past several years should probably have been advised to sit down before reading that headline. However, the chess gods finally looked favourably on us last night as we hosted Woodpushers.

With 7 teams in the competition this season, Horsham had a bye in the first round and only entered at the semi-final stage. Matches are between teams of 4 with an average grade not exceeding 150.

As the new captain of Horsham 2 I hadn't realised how to put a report on the website until recently so this is an update about how Horsham 2 have been getting on this season. Full results are available on the new League Management System: https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/45436/tfixtures

Our first match of the season was against Horsham 1 and as expected we lost to our own first team. For a full report please see James' excellent report at the beginning of the season.