Sussex League

Unfortunately, Horsham 5 only fielded 3 players against Hastings & St Leonards 4 on Tuesday. We were caught out by an ineligibility that had been overlooked - not something that was expected to catch us out this early in the season, but between agreeing to play and the actual event Roger notched up a 4th match for higher teams. The other default was an unexplained no-show. I succumbed quite quickly on board 1, putting the match beyond contention, but Richard Barrowclough and Peter Helliwell both drew, ensuring at least some honour for the team.

A tough Friday night for the 2nd team who travelled down to Eastbourne - four of the five games went the full session but it was worthwhile as we gained a 3-2 win, thanks in part to a little bit of good fortune.
The team was strengthened by the appearance of Dix on Board 1 and he played strongly against Rasa and held a slight advantage throughout the game but did not have quite enough to convert the endgame into a win. Paul had been the first to finish accepting his opponent’s offer of a draw in a level position that resulted from the exchange variation of the French.

Four Crowborough juniors travelled to Horsham to kickstart our campaign in the MSL's new rapidplay league and an exciting match ensued...

A pleasant evening at The Args ended with victory for Horsham, but by a narrower margin than the score suggests...

The 2nd team had a disappointing Division 1 match away at Haywards Heath, eventually losing 4-1. Despite being heavily out-graded on the top two boards both Phil & Peter had very close matches - their opponents only gaining advantages towards the very end of the playing session.

Following Horsham 5's overturning of Horsham 4 last week, the first team managed to avoid the banana skin and eased past the second team last night...

Horsham 4 were humbled last night in the opening MSL match of the season against Horsham 5. The match had been brought forward by one week to assist Horsham 4 with player availability!

First blood went to a joyful Oliver, defeating the 4th team captain. I managed to make it 2 up for the 5th team with a victory over John Marshall. Mick Harris restored some standing for the 4th team, but with Richard B beating Richard M, the victory was assured. Finally, with only personal honour at stake, Nick managed to make the bottom line look not too bad for the "stronger" team.

Horsham 1 made a masterful second in the MSL Division 1 with Horsham 2 achieving a very creditable sixth position, ahead of Crowbough 1 and Haywards Heath 1.

In the second division Horsham 3 just missed out on promotion, coming third. Horsham 4 had a tough season and will be relegated for next season.

The third division saw Horsham 5 come fourth and Horsham 6 ended bottom of the league this season.

The club played a total of 253 games in the MSL scoring 130 points. Well done to all those involved,

The first team travelled down to Crowborough for the last match of the Mid-Sussex League season, and came away 3-2 victors making us runners-up in the league overall...

This was a home match played with a full strength team against an under-strength Lewes side, who made a good fight of it but lost out in some highly tactical games...