Harsh scoreline against Horsham 3 not entirely reflective of the match

Towards the end of the evening's proceedings a tied match or even a narrow win still seemed on the cards for Horsham 3 but in the event, Sussex University ran out deserved winners 4-1.

My own game didn't last all that long against a strong player. Whilst far from happy with my opening I seemed to have all bases covered and was reasonably comfortable, as later confirmed by computer. I then missed a tactic which was dropping a pawn, for which I found a 'brilliant' antidote that unfortunately lost me my queen!

Meanwhile Ian sacrificed a pawn for piece activity (which he subsequently regained) but with just rooks left on the board, his opponent's queenside pawns proved too strong.

Even at 0-2 down, there remained cause for cautious optimism when given the state of the three remaining games, which feeling was enhanced by the next to finish. Nick A has been on an good run of results and this continued with a smooth conversion of a far flung passed pawn and an exposed enemy king to engineer a nice checkmate.

At that point John appeared to be well on top in his game but fair to say that both kings were living dangerously! Under time pressure, opportunities appeared to be missed on both sides over the next several moves until unfortunately John left a rook en prise to clinch the match win for Sussex.

This left Bob to add more respectability to the scoreline but in an ending difficult for both sides with N v B and scattered pawns he came off second best to leave the final result at 1-4.

You can see the full match scorecard here.