BEXHILL (V) –2.5–1.5– EAST GRINSTEAD BOOKSHOP
On Friday 5 December, we hosted East Grinstead Bookshop for a 4th Division match. Overall the ratings were fairly even, apart from Board 4, where Lawry outrated his opponent by around 250 points and gained an early win after he was able to pick up 2 central pawns, one of which became decisive when it reached e7, forcing more material loss.
Bill Luxton, with White, was next to finish on Board 2 after winning multiple pieces. and looked in control throughou.
Michael Hayward on Board 1 was outrated by about 100 points, but maintained the balance as Black in the endgame to achieve a sound draw.
Oli, with Black on Board 3 , was evenly matched on rating points and looked to have good play into the middle-game. At the end of a long game, Oli fell foul of a pawn fork of 2 rooks, leaving him the exchange down , his King very exposed to White’s rooks and then was unable to save the position.
It was a good result and our thanks go to East Grinstead for visiting and playing good chess in a good spirit, on a stormy night.