Horsham 2

MSL have let us know that the first match of the season will be Horsham 1 v Horsham 2 on 16 October - let the opening preparation begin!

Horsham 2 finished their season with a disappointing loss 2-3 away against Lewes 2. As a result we will finish 3rd or 4th in Division 2 depending on the result of Woodpusher’s final game against Uckfield.
Lewes fielded one of their strongest teams of the season and all of the games were well contested. Phil was first to finish, agreeing a draw. I blundered badly on move 30 and resigned shortly afterwards as I was completely lost – this subsequently proved to be the critical game that cost us the match.

Horsham 2 returned to winning ways with a convincing 4-1 home victory on Tuesday against Eastbourne 2.
The four games that we won were all done so fairly comfortably – Dix, Lucy & Chris all won material quite early on and had no problems converting their advantage to win. Phil was able to play one of his favourite lines of the Grand Prix Attack and a strong attack also lead to a comfortable win.

Woodpushers 1 were only able to field four players against Horsham 2 last night but they somehow managed to conjure wins on the top three boards to take the match 3-2.
Lucy, playing her first match for the 2nd team, produced a top class win. From a Maroczy Bind position against the Sicilian she had full control of the whole board and black’s position fell apart after Lucy sacrificed a piece in an attack against her opponent’s King and followed this up with clinical accuracy.

Horsham 4 saw a pretty comprehensive victory tonight against East Grinstead with good wins for Zevon, Richard and John with Julie and Nick drawing. In contrast Horsham 2 started the evening with a default on bottom board and Lucy played an excellent game on board 4. But Phil lost to an impressive Ian Kelly and Dix's strong attack didnt quite pay off and finally Anthony missed a tactic in a strong position. So Woodpushers won despite their default.

In the Rook James beat Paul Taylor to return to winning form.

Hastings 2 brought a very strong team to Horsham last Tuesday, as the winners of this match would more than likely win the Division 2 championship.
Gradings were very similar from Board 2 to Board 5 but on Board 1 Anthony was heavily out-graded playing a 210, so he did exceptionally well to secure a draw with the black pieces. In fact at adjudication Anthony was pawn up but the position was such that this was insufficient to get a win.

Horsham 4 pulled off a comprehensive victory last night beating Eastbourne 3 4.5-0.5. Some fine chess all round confirms their position as third in the fourth division.

Meanwhile in the committee room Horsham 2 were having a tougher evening playing Hastings 2. Paul Taylor managed a draw but Peter Harbott lost and Anthony Higgs drew an adjourned game against a 210 player. Unfortunately both Phil Stimpson and Dix Roberts both lost despite Dix having a threatening outside passed pawn.

The 2nd team welcomed Division 2 league leaders, Crowborough 1, on Tuesday 5th December. Horsham lead 2½-1½ with one game being sent for adjudication, in which we are claiming a win and they are claiming a draw, so a 3-2 win is at least guaranteed, in what was a tight match.
Phil was the first to win on Board 4 – playing the Blumenfeld Attack in the Scotch Opening – a line he was very familiar with having won previously with the following sequence of moves!!

In Horsham 2 v Crowborough on Tuesday, Morgan Blake was facing David Fryer and Black had just taken his Rook.

No doubt David expected simply BxB but Morgan demonstrated fantastic attacking style in this position and shortly won...solution in the comments

The 2nd team travelled down to Uckfield last Wednesday and secured a good victory 4½-½.
On top board Anthony faced Chaski Patrick (graded 206) and played 1. Nc3 - an opening referred to as either the Dunst, the Van Geet or Der Linksspringer (“The Knight on the Left”). Chaski played a very solid Caro-Kann set up in reply and Anthony held a space advantage for much of the game. In an exciting climax Anthony held his nerve as both players queened pawns in a King and Pawn ending before agreeing a draw.