Horsham 5 –2-2 –Bexhill 4

Division 3 Tue 27th Jan 2026 00:00 Winner: Draw

Results from Sussex League LMS  

Board	Rating	Horsham 5	V	Bexhill 4	Rating
1	1744	Lanzer, Robert AG	1 – 0	G Swain, Philip	1716
2	1586	Taylor, JonathanB	0 – 1	G Kuzmanoski, Oliver	1631
3	1562	Turvey, GuyG	0 – 1	G Rhodes, Lawrence	1616
4	1533	Denning, Julie LP	1 – 0	G Hayward, Michael	1596
Average	1607		2 – 2		1640

Phil on top boards had a great battle in a French Defence, Winawer Variation ( 1.e4, e6 2.d4, d5 3. Nc3, Bga4 4.e5, Bxf3 5.bxc3) which deprives Black of a bishop covering black squares on the K-side, but compensation with White’s weak Q-side. Phil said , after a ‘crushing’ advance on the K-side with pawns wedged in black squares at h6, f6, he said he ‘couldn’t find the winning move’. The Q-side weaknesses supervened.

Oliver battled really hard, as black after a N for B exchange on g6 which doubled K-side pawns ; they were on h5 ,g6, g7 – looking weak. But Oliver took the open f-file, and castled Q-side, and took advantage and pawns with his active pieces in the endgame. He was the last to finish after a full session and clinched the draw for the team. Well done, Oliver!

I had a tricky struggle on Board 3 – English Opening as White. Gained early space on the flanks. A breakout by Black in the centre had to be countered, which I managed by the ‘skin of my teeth’ and the game went into an endgame where I had N,N,B v R, B. I was able to co-ordinate the pieces against a rook invasion and blockade Black’s passed pawn on d4 ( which Black’s black-squared bishop was tied down to defending) . Eventually I cut down the rook’s scope, and advanced my King and picked up pawns to force promotion of a passer.

Michael had a solid opening – a Czech Pirc Defence. However White ( with a classic pawn centre e4,d4) put middle-game pressure on with bishops on b5, g5 and e5 and exploited an overload on Michael’s f6 N , which could not move without deserting its buddy N on d7.