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).