Horsham Chess Club

Horsham 1 have completed their season with two wins and one defeat in matches played in March.

The defeat was in the first match against Eastbourne 1 by the narrowest margin (1.5-2.5). Horsham had looked like the might win, as they were 1.5-1.5 on the bottom three boards with just the top board clash (Maks Rozman - Mark Broom) to finish and Mark looking like he had winning chances; however, a reversal in the endgame saw the Horsham player go down to a defeat.

Having not unexpectedly lost heavily against Hastings 1 last week, Horsham 2 was looking for an element of revenge in last night's match against Hastings 2 but alas it was not to be. As a result of a 1.5-2.5 defeat we will definitely finish in the bottom 2 (and hence presumably relegated) though in practice this had already been decided by other results - not only would we have had to win this match but also our last fixture of the season against a very strong Worthing 1.

... if you will forgive such an oxymoron.

Approaching our fixture against Haywards Heath 1, (an unexpected relegation from Division 1 last season?), the omens didn't look great, not helped by needing to play a reserve (me) after a stronger choice had to pull out due to work commitments. Seeing Feliks Kwiatkowski and Jeff Boardman on boards 1 and 2 did nothing to allay my concerns.

Horsham 2 made the long trek to play Hastings 1 only to find that the A27 was closed for the return journey which led to exploration of parts of the globe I had never visited before!

Anyway, as regards the chess we were not unexpectedly heavily beaten (an average grading deficit of 270) but did get on the scoreboard with one draw and indeed might well have added to that.

First to finish was Peter on board 1 as white who employed a sort of reverse Slav (or Saragosa?) but the game never really took off and peace was declared after just 20 moves.

A bit late reporting this but congratulations to Matthew C for winning the Challengers section of the most recent Crowborough Rapidplay on 25th Feb with 5/6. Dad Andy scored 2 points in the same section whilst Ian Comley scored 3/6 in the Championship section.

An excellent performance from Matthew, well done!

We have acquired a magnificent new trophy in honour of John Cannon who served the club over so many decades. The Cannon family have generously contributed this superb cup and agreed the criteria we will use to award it.

Completing my trilogy of over-due reports, is one on the County Association's Paul Watson Trophy. Alas, our participation was short and not sweet! We faced an opening match against East Grinstead. Although we out-rated them on the top 3 (out of 4) boards, we went down to a 1 - 3 defeat. My thanks to Roger Waddingham, who stood in for me at short notice after I'd tested positive for covid.

The KO competition doesn't manage to attract a large entry, although Horsham have consistently taken part for many years. This season there were 6 entrants, including 2 teams from Crowborough. Our first match was due to be against Crowborough 2, but their club was laid low by covid and they conceded the the match. We then faced a semi-final match against Sussex University. Knowing they had a potentially strong line up of players this season, we confronted them with a strong team, including Mark Broom and James Mansson.

I've been remiss in not posting match reports for the 3rd team as the season progressed, so I'll now do a bulk update!

Horsham 1 scored a narrow 2.5-1.5 win over Hastings 1 at home last night. Neither side was quite at full strength, which probably evened things out overall.

The first game to finish was Rayner vs Lock, as the Horsham 1 held his opponent to a draw with the Black pieces.

Horsham 1 vs Hastings 1 match score: 0.5 - 0.5

Phil Stimpson looked to have a dangerous attack with White against James Wheeler, but it eventually petered out and the players agreed a draw.

Horsham 1 vs Hastings 1 match score: 1 - 1