Horsham Chess Club

In the Sussex League, Horsham 1 continued their good start with another big win.

Eastbourne 2 arrived with a team filled with players who had previously graced their first team. However, the 200 point average grading difference proved too much as Horsham 1 defeated them by the margin of 3.5-0.5. Gavin Lock defeated Adrian Pickersgill, Mark Broom defeated James O'Dell, and James Mansson defeated Laurence Butt, while Paul Carpenter was the only Eastbourne player to salvage something by drawing with Anrthony Higgs.

At the recent Hampshire Congress (3rd-5th November) several Horsham players were successful and some even came away with the spoils...

Horsham 1 started the season with a 3-1 win over Horsham 2. Mark Broom beat Phil Stimpson and Mike Forster beat Ian Comley, while Gavin Lock drew with Anthony Higgs and James Mansson drew with Rob McDonald. The last game was an eventful encounter, where both sides had chances to gain a signficant advantage.

Yesterday's game against Brighton & Hove 2 saw another win for Horsham 3, bringing the team's total score to 5.5 out of 8 games. The match started off strong with another Barry Attack played by Jordy Savill. After sacrificing a bishop on h7, he achieved a resignation from Chris Lake (1788), who was forced to sacrifice his queen to avoid mate.

Domestic circumstances have recently prevented me from enjoying the competitive camaraderie of the club but in modest compensation that has meant no 'over the board' losses for some months now! It has also enabled me to enter the latest 4NCL online tournament which always seems to be played on Tuesday evenings and hence off limits in normal times.

Mike has advised that the lure of trick or treat was too high and there will be no junior club tomorrow! Back as normal next week (Nov 7th).

I was looking through the Sussex League results and noticed Horsham 1 leading Division 1 at this early stage.

Horsham 3 are nestled at third position of Division 2 after the first game and both Horsham 4 and 5 are both on the scoreboard in Division 3 having drawn with each other!

Horsham 3 started the season with a 2.5 - 1.5 win against East Grinstead 2. The teams were very evenly matched, with an average grading of 1728 for Horsham and 1724 for our opponents.

Jordy Savill was the first to score with a quick win in the Barry attack, after Ian Dennis (1698) allowed a mate in 3. The next to arrive at a conclusion was Robert McDonald, who equalized with the Slav against Asanka Amarasinghe (1828). Although the game would continue for a while, Black had an easily drawn endgame with dark-colored bishops.

This is now available for members on the website, under the 'Members Only' area after logging in. There are reports from around the county plus games by Horsham members.

The junior chess club will restart 12th September at the normal times of 6:25pm-7:25pm.