Sussex League

Horsham 5 started the season at home against East Grinstead 3 on Tuesday in Division 3. On paper we are one of the lower rated teams in the league so it promises to be a tough season.

East Grinstead 3 are amongst the favourites this year and despite being heavily outgraded on every board, we came away with a creditable 2-2 draw.

Horsham 2 faced Horsham 3 this week, the first in a series of such matches, since Horsham is fielding three teams in the second division this year. Of course, Horsham 2 would like to achieve promotion at the end of the season, so it was important for us to start off on the right foot.

Alex, Julie and Anthony represented Horsham at the Sussex League AGM last night and received the Mowatt Cup for league Division 1 winners Horsham 1. Team captain James is pictured with the cup after it was delivered to him in the pub the same evening!

Last Tuesday, Horsham 1 scored a memorable victory in an exciting match against a strong Brighton 1 team.

Since my last report, on the excellent away win against Worthing 1, Horsham 1 had accumulated enough points, given the results in other matches, that they needed a win by any margin to definitely take the league title.

Horsham 2 had another successful evening on Friday with a good draw against Bexhill maintaining our 4th position in Division 1.

I have been very lax in not posting on the progress of the 4th team as the season progresses. Our 4 - 0 thrashing of our luckless Eastbourne opponents last night has spurred me into action.
The season opener intra-club match had Roger's 5th team hold us to a draw. We then had a long break till past mid-November when we hosted East Grinstead Bookshop 2 (but following problems fielding teams, now their only team in the League) and we notched up our first win, by the margin of 3 - 1.

Horsham 1 scored a fine away win over Worthing 1 last night.

First to finish was Mark Broom, who was up against Russell Granat with Black on board two. His position look passive to start with, but he managed to launch a counter-attack to exploit his opponent's over-extension, winning material and forcing resignation.

The score was now 1-0 in Horsham 1's favour.

Horsham 1's progress in Sussex League Division 1 was halted by Eastbourne 1, as they crashed to a narrow away defeat.

The match looked to be going well for Horsham 1 as Gavin Lock secured a good win against the dangerous Maks Rozman on top board. However, progress was not so serene on the other boards.

Anthony Higgs ran into difficulties against Laurence Butt on board 4. He came under pressure from his opponent's Stonewall Attack and blundered, resulting in a loss.

The Horsham Knockout team have reached the knockout final for the second year in succession after a 2.5-2 win over Crowborough in the semi-final. The match was a tight affair with the teams fairly close on grading, Horsham conceding only a half point handicap with 2.5 points required for the win.

Horsham 1 continued their good run with an away win against Crowborough 1.