HASTINGS – 7 – 6 BEXHILL
Here is Bill Tracey’s report for the recent Hastings v Bexhill match, kicking off the start of the season with a narrow defeat in the annual ( since 1896 !!) friendly martch.
“Sunday 28th October saw Bexhill make the short journey to take on Hastings in our annual match.
There was a time when Hastings would very kindly leave out their top players to make an even match. However with several strong players joining us in the last few years, plus the ever improving juniors in our club both clubs are now able to field their best players.
Our team, in board order was
Luke Chapman
Andy Nguyen
Mike Hubbard
Andrew Fleming
Phil Swain
Oliver Kuzmanoski
Bill Luxton
Michael Hayward
Lawry Rhodes
Rose Burgess
Bill Tracey
Harry Morter
Jon James
Both Oliver and Jon were making their debuts for Bexhill.
Jon gained a very credible draw against a much more experienced opponent.
Oliver faced a tough challenge against an opponent who out rated him by about 170 points. He stayed in the game very well up to move 17 but there after the game slowly got away from him.
Rose was making her competitive debut for the club and played a fine game to win on board 10
Harry played on board 12 against an experienced opponent who out rated him by 90 points. Harry was up an exchange in the endgame but his opponent had a very solid defensive position so a draw was offered and accepted. Harry has now played 3 matches for the senior section of the club and is still unbeaten with 2 draws and a win.
Lawry had a tough match which could have been a draw but his opponent declined to go for a draw by repetition and Lawry proceeded to use his active King and Bishop to force a win.
Michael Hayward on board 8 faced a fast improving opponent and unfortunately made an error that he could not recover from.
I played on board 11 with a rating advantage of 90 points over my opponent. The game was very even until I was able to win a bishop for a pawn, and then swapped off the remaining pieces, whereupon my opponent resigned.
On board 7, Bill Lurton appeared to have a very strong attack but unfortunately his much higher rated opponent kept finding the right moves and Bill’s sacrifice ultimately proved to be in vain.
Phil played on board 5 against an opponent out rating him by 200 points. Phil played extremely well but eventually had to resign when it became clear that his opponents one remaining pawn would eventually be promoted.
On board 4, Andrew enjoyed a fine win and his opponent resigned with Andrew having two extra pawns.
Michael Hubbard was on board 3. He and his higher rated opponent agreed a ‘grand master’ draw after about 45 minutes.
Board 2 saw Andy in action. Unfortunately he lost after his opponent won an exchange.
On the top board was Luke. He had a long tough game with the very strong Daniel Lowe, and after almost four hours the game ended in a draw.
The final score was 7-6 to Hastings. It is interesting to note that we were out rated on 9 of the 13 boards. It is also interesting to note, that the results of the top 4 boards, which is the number that make up a league team, would have been a draw.
Many thanks to Hastings for their hospitality and we look forward to trying to regain the cup next year.”
Some photos from Karen Burgess, giving a flavour of the day generously hosted at Hastings’ historic venue.
