v Horsham

Brian took a junior Rapid Play team to Horsham.  Again selection of the team was blighted by illness, which I am sure many well know is rife at the moment in the populace. Because of the length of the journey, which was extended on the way there due to a road closure, it was good that I had selected a mature team from amongst our available juniors as we faced a strong team from Horsham.  Again the match was very close on all boards. Lydia Munn was playing her first game of the season for the town and quickly gained an advantage in pawns and she managed to finish the game quickly with a checkmate in a rook and pawn ending.  James Hanson was playing his second match of the season and is growing in experience all the time, but unfortunately he allowed a well-won minor piece advantage to be clawed back into a minor piece deficit when he could have swapped off major pieces and maybe cruised to a win, but he will have learned from this loss. Oliver Christian is growing in strength and confidence with every match and in this he too had strong pawn advantage, though may have missed a quicker winning opportunity earlier in the game. However with the advantage he was relentless and efficient against a very experienced Sussex junior and wore her down, finishing things off neatly with a pawn promotion.  Benedict as always on the top board had the most difficult task against a very experienced opponent but for much of the game had strong positional advantage but sadly under increasing time pressure he could not sustain the attack – though we both think he may have missed a chance – and lost because if passed pawn development by his opponent, which he could not stop in the time available.  So a 2-2 draw, but very creditable and it lifts us off the bottom of the table.