Match report from our captain Bill Tracey:
On Friday 3rd March, Bexhill 2 hosted Haywards Heath 1 in Division 2 of The Mid Sussex league.
This was always going to be a big challenge as their number 1 player is currently the highest ranked player in all 3 Mid Sussex Leagues.
As it turned out we were out rated by just over a 1000 points across the top 3 boards!
John on board 2 was first to finish. He played a very exciting attacking game and presented his opponent with many challenges but in the end John had to concede defeat when faced with an impossible end game.
Steve Merchant played exceptionally well on board 3 and managed to go into the end game completely level. As so often in a pawn endgame one wrong move can be crucial and unfortunately Steve made the one error that decided the outcome.
On board 3, Michael Hayward making just his second appearance for the club played a splendid game and had his opponent on the backfoot from very early on. He maintained the pressure and eventually forced a resignation.
Leo had the ultimate challenge on board one, and to his credit made his illustrious opponent work very hard for his victory. By the end his opponent had only 4 minutes left on his clock, but Leo was in an impossible position and had to resign.
The final score of 3 to 1 does not reflect how how well the team played against such a strong team.