Friday 15th October saw Bexhill 3 host Worthing 3 in the first Division 3 match of the season.
Worthing are the strongest club in the Mid Sussex Leagues and we expected them to field a powerful side, which they duly did.
On board 1 Steve Merchant was up against a player rated 375 points higher than himself and had the black pieces. Analysis showed that going into the end game Steve had a 2 point lead, but unfortunately played the wrong line and his opponent duly took advantage to record a win for Worthing.
Board 2 saw Bill Luxton making his league debut for us. His opponent made an error on move 14 which Bill capitalised on immediately and his opponent was forced to resign a few moves later.
Board 3 Saw Phil Swain also making his league debut. Phil played very solidly to gain a draw. It seemed that Phil may have had a slight edge at this point but with the final game looking like a certain win Phil made a good decision for the team to take a half.
On board 4 we had another player making his league debut.Alfie Reed only started to learn to play Chess 7 months ago and has made remarkable progress since. He played a very effective game and had established a 3 pawn advantage when he forced a resignation from the Worthing captain.
The Worthing team had an average rating of 1672 and, it is unlikely, that any other team in this division will have such a high average.
An excellent start for the team which bodes well for the season.