Horsham Chess Club

Horsham 1 are poised to defeat Hastings 1 following a successful performance last Tuesday. The score was 2-1 on the night, with a result not agreed in the games Mansson - Howell and Almond - Higgs. In both cases Horsham has at least a draw. Subsequent examination of the final position in Mansson - Howell indicated that it was a book draw, but we still await a final verdict on Almond - Higgs.

The top board encounter Sugden - Lock saw Black adopt the Stonewall against White's passive line with e3, and he seemed to hold the draw easily enough.

Horsham 5 defeated Brighton 6 away last Thursday by 3 points to 2.

The results of the individual games are given in the table below:

1066 pun? Surely not... Horsham 2 picked up some handy game points against the perennially strong Hastings first team last night...

The top 8 players in the world will be competing to qualify to play against Vishy Anand for the world championship...

Horsham 2 fancied their chances against a Lewes team who were missing 2 of their top 4 players, but the visitors deservedly triumphed in some interesting games.

Horsham 5 defeated East Grinstead 2 at home on Tuesday. The team is 3.5-0.5 with only the top board game unfinished.

UPDATE: Richard Barrowclough has been awarded the win, giving a final score of 4.5-0.5 in Horsham's favour.

The results of the individual games are given in the table below:

Gavin Lock scored a neat win against Alan Barton, in the recent Horsham 1 match against Hastings 2. The game is given below, with some detailed notes by Gavin.

The new grades are out at http://www.ecfgrading.org.uk/ - this is for all games played up until the end of December.

Horsham 1 travelled down to Hastings last night to take on their second team. James Mansson won quickly on board 2 against an unsettled Alfredo Luaces, then Phil Stimpson and Bernard Cafferty bailed out with a draw. Hastings 2 came back into it as Paul Taylor made an oversight that lost a piece against James Wheeler. However, Gavin Lock was always on top against Alan Barton, and it was no surprise when he broke through on the kingside to force mate. It was therefore all down to the last game between Mel Young and Dix Roberts.

Levon Aronian (Armenia); Magnus Carlsen (Norway); Boris Gelfand (Israel); Alexander Grischuk (Russia); Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine); Vladimir Kramnik (Russia); Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan); Peter Svidler (Russia).

All these leading players will be competing for the right to play Vishy Anand for the World Championship. It starts on March 14 and looks like the most amazing competition.