Horsham 2

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 2 completed their Division 1 fixtures on Tuesday with another narrow 2-3 defeat, this time at home to Eastbourne 1 - the 5th time this season that we have suffered this score-line!
Alex faced an on-form Rasa who executed her attack clinically to secure the only victory on the night. Paul held the initiative for much of his game and won a pawn but the resulting Rook, Knight and Pawn ending was difficult and his opponent was able to equalise.

The 2nd team acquitted themselves quite well in a tough away fixture losing 2-3 to Worthing 1.
A special mention for Alex and Peter who both drew against opponents who out-graded them significantly on Boards 1 & 2 respectively. In fact we went home thinking we had a good chance of drawing the match as Alex seemed to have the initiative in his position at adjudication - unfortunately on deeper analysis there was not enough advantage to give a win.
David Graham (201) ½-½ Alex Freeland (182) (W)
Michael Nicholas (200) ½-½ Peter Harbott (171)

Horsham 2 had another close encounter, this time against Crowborough 1 on 15th March. At adjudication we were 0-1 down, Roy having lost with the black pieces to a highly talented junior who has represented England.

The 2nd team travelled down to Lewes 1 last Tuesday and were unfortunately narrowly defeated 2-3. As expected this proved to be a very tight affair between two evenly matched teams and there were some interesting games.

Horsham 2’s strength in depth enabled the team to record another impressive victory to move into 4th place in Division 1.
Alex, playing Board 1 for the first time, had a tough initiation with the black pieces. Paul was unlucky on Board 2 having outplayed Howard Tebbs for much of the game and winning his opponents backward e pawn. Unfortunately his opponent found some counter-play that enabled him to win back his pawn and move into a won ending.

Horsham 2 achieved a pleasing 3-2 victory against Haywards Heath 1 last Tuesday. This promised to be a very tight match with both teams having the same average grade of 173 – they were stronger (on paper) on Boards 1 & 2 and we out-gunned them on 4 & 5 (with our strength in depth!).

Horsham 2 faced a tough match on paper with the visit of Brighton 1 on Tuesday. Despite missing three of their regular players, Brighton still out-graded us heavily on the top four boards so it was a marvellous effort by our players to secure a very creditable 2½-2½ draw.
Peter was the first to finish – his Torre Attack lead to a very blocked position and a draw was agreed after 21 moves with all the pieces bar two bishops still on the board! Alex was next to finish having won a pawn fairly early on followed by another, before mating Paul Selby to give us the lead in the match.

The 2nd team journeyed down to Hove on Thursday and recorded a 3½ – 1½ win against Brighton 2. Overall it was a fairly comfortable win, being materially ahead on all five boards after 2½ hrs. play. Alex, playing a Sicilian with black, scored our first victory, winning a couple of pawns following a central thrust. Paul then put us 2-0 up winning a Sicilian with white; having captured a pawn through sheer force he had full control of the position and Paul Selby resigned shortly after.

On paper Horsham 2 are very strong this season, and the first team needed some good fortune to run out 3-2 winners last night...