Uckfield 2 v Haywards Hth 2

The last club night saw our second team face its last league match of the season.  Our visitors Haywards Heath 2 had assembled a strong team and surprisingly from past away selections they actually out-rated us, not least because they brought in a higher rated player on Board 1 to face me. Clearly the battle for third place in this division was on. After an hour I was so impressed by the effort and skill of all.  Halfway through my own match, for which I am thankful I had practised the King’s Indian twice against Michael the day before at the local College chess club, my opponent offered me a draw. I paused my decision to look at the match state and saw that Artur on 2 and Benedict on 4 were winning, and Steve on 3 and Richard on 5 in his first match for the club looked very sound and capable of at least a draw. Reflecting on my own game, I had come out of the opening with the momentum but with a rook each and a bishop on opposite colours I could not easily make progress without risk, so having learned from the rest of the season I accepted a draw only halfway through the allotted match time. I then had the pleasure and pride of watching the rest of the matches.  Artur secured an exchange advantage and then a full piece and clinically progressed to victory. Steve had a very interesting position which could so easily have been lost but he marshalled his defence wisely and had threats of his own. Exchanges eventually broke down his opponent’s attack from which a draw was the only acceptable outcome.  Benedict’s game was the most exciting. When first I looked he was a rook up, but then he made two crucial errors, first with his queen trapped against his king, so he had to lose it for the rook; he then lost one of his rooks in another trap.  He could have folded then, but he showed great maturity – and skill - in using the single rook to attack his opponent’s king and progress pawns, eventually progressing one to the seventh row. It was his opponent, their captain’s turn to feel the pressure and when time expired his only option was to perpetually check to achieve the draw instead of facing a checkmate.  A draw was agreed. On Board 5, Richard had played a really effective game and dourly but deftly negated every attempt at offence from his opponent and again with bishops on opposing colours a draw was the only sensible option.  So, we managed a 3-2 win thanks to Artur’s win, but actually well done to every player as none of us lost and all played well.  With that we have achieved third place in Division 4 and were only one match point away from a promotion place.  We won all of our home matches well, so it is only our away form and strength we perhaps need to consider for next year.  Please come to the AGM later in the year all who have contributed to our season to make your views known.