Horsham Chess Club

Every other Tuesday Horsham Chess Club is running a blitz tournament on LiChess.org. The time control is 5minutes + 5seconds increment and they run 7:30-9:30pm. If you are interested you will need to join LiChess.org and then join the Horsham Team: https://lichess.org/team/horsham-chess-club. The tournaments are listed on the Team page.

Back in April and shortly after lock down 14 members embarked on an online tournament on chess.com which completed yesterday with an inconclusive conclusion!

The format involved four blocks of three or four players playing a double round all play all with the winners going through to what was expected to be a final group with similar arrangement. Time control was 3 days per move (quasi correspondence chess) though in practice it rarely stretched that far and there were bursts of activity sometimes akin to live chess.

Horsham 1 were up against Celtic Tigers, who are easily the highest rated team in the group. The top three games were close and Nick won a cracking game on board 4 for it to end up as a 2-2 draw.

Horsham 2 were outgraded against Braunstone (average grade difference of 33 ECF). In the end all 4 white players won, particularly impressive was Guy's queen sac and Marian's smooth victory. The other two games were close, so Horsham 2 were unlucky to only draw 2-2.

Horsham 3 scored an astonishing victory. Heavily outgraded on every board Andrew, Charlie, and Alex won and Harry completed a mammoth 108-move draw.

Horsham 2 lost against a very strong team that would give the 1st team a challenge with their IM on board 1. Nonetheless, Guy had a great win on board 4, turning down a draw offer which meant a couple of pawn sacs, then finishing with a nice attack.

Horsham 1 took on Wimbledon 2. Horsham looked hot favourites with a 70-point average grade advantage.

With Horsham having had just one team in the inaugural (I think?) 4NCL online league season recently concluded (as previously reported) the new online season has begun with three teams entered.

Horsham's first team remained where they were previously (division 3) whilst teams 2 and 3 have been placed in the new division 6 where the sheer number of teams indicates the interest that this has generated in the absence of 'normal' chess.

Congratulations to Horsham 1 who have won the Mid Sussex League . The MSL was suspended with a couple of games outstanding and Horsham 1 have won this competition for the first time since 2010.

The other results are also included in the picture - well played to all who represented the club last season.

With apologies for using the club website for a plug for the ECF, but I'd like to ensure this reaches as many people as possible over the next few days.

On behalf of the whole club I would like to extend birthday congratulations to our Chairman John Cannon.

John has given the most exceptional service to the club for decades and his service is unsurpassed.

Hoping John enjoys a very happy birthday and enjoys his many celebrations!

Over the past weekend Horsham took part in the National Club Championships. The Championships was split into a Major, Intermediate, and Minor with Horsham being placed in the Intermediate with 11 other teams.

I happened to see "How to Win at Chess" on BBC 2 and I see it is available on iplayer.

It is definitely an interesting watch including a younger Danny King defeating Raymond Keene and even a very young David Howell wearing a Junior Sussex Chess sweatshirt! It is very much aimed at the outsider so I dont think it will revolutionise your play. At one point Ray Keene offered the unconventional advice to offer check whenever you can - "as it might be checkmate, you never know!"