Uckfield 1 v Hastings 2
Our last home match was against the Division 2 leaders Hastings 2, who had not dropped a point yet, scoring 6 out of 6. They defaulted on Board 5, which meant that Stephen Perris was without a match (though he nominally wins). We were outgraded on all of the other boards so it looked a difficult task.
Chaski on Board 1 lost to a very strong opponent having missed an opportunity for his opponent quite early on. Arran drew against his counterpart and I am hoping for some commentary on his game since I saw him breathe a sigh of relief at the end-must have been a tough encounter. Simon on 4 drew with my opponent of last week, again no idea what happened except for a discussion about whether there had been a 3 move repetition. Presumably it was resolved amicably. I (Mark) on 2 had what was essentially a winning position quite early on having sacrificed a bishop for the attack. Sadly, I missed any one of about 5 winning moves and then ended up in a losing position. On the point of resigning I noticed the match score needed me to draw so I played on...and my opponent made a slip that allowed me, by one tempo, to liquidate into an ending where he was left with bishop and king only. A draw. He was clearly disappointed, but really I should have won much earlier on. So the match ended 2 1/2 - 2 1/2. This means that we are almost safe from relegation..and our opponents can also be satisfied because they have secured promotion (and probably the second division title).