Uckfield 2 vs Sussex Uni

he second team finished its fixtures at the last club session at home to Sussex University, who brought a very strong team.  Once again I felt I let the team down on board 3 as my opponent responded to my usual favourite variation of the Sicilian with a move I had not considered ever before and I did not react to it as well as I should have done, so I came out of the opening the poorer with his pieces very well developed and I could not get back into it, so was the first of us to finish with a loss. Ian on Board 2 came out out of the opening into the middle game and was a pawn down, but although the pawn was passed, in the face of blocking moves on both sides this was agreed as a draw.  Carel on 4 seemed even for a long time, but although I did not see what happened it appeared he lost material and had to succumb to the loss. Michael on 5 and Artur on 1 both fought tigerishly and on gaining a piece in the middle game Michael took his time to coast to a well-deserved win.  The pressure then mounted on Artur to get the team something from the match and it was an intriguing battle, albeit he was up against a young player Michael and I have known for years, who has the same rating as Chaski and has played around the world for England Juniors. At one stage Artur seemed to be edging the battle and had a time advantage but unfortunately he lost the battle with a knight against a bishop and rooks and pawns on the board as the game focused on two opposing isolated pawns; when Artur lost his, and a swap-off was forced, the bishop had the edge.  So we lost our last match 1.5-3.5 and now linger towards the bottom end of Division 3.  There’s always next year !!