Hastings & St.L. 5 —1-3—Bexhill 5

Division 4 Thu 19th Feb 2026 00:00 Winner: Away   

Result from Sussex League LMS

Board	Rating	Hastings & St Leonards 5	V	Bexhill 5	Rating
1	1533	Cosens, DerekG	0 – 1	B Carthew, Jo	1662
2	1528	Hosannah, AaronG	0 – 1	G Luxton, William H	1669
3	1419	Fletcher, Martin GG	0 – 1	G Rhodes, Lawrence	1632
4	1374	Hosannah, AmirG	1 – 0	N O Niell, Thomas	0000
Average	1464		1 – 3		1241

A good result at Hastings. Tom, playing one of his first games as a new member with the Black pieces battled hard against a rising junior but came off worst in the R + P ending.

Bill, also with Black soon levelled the team score, gaining multiple pawns in a double rooks and pawns ending.

I didn’t get to see Jo’s game but a glimpse or two showed solid control.

I had an interesting, if hair-raising, game. on board 3. Having pushed pawns to squeeze the opponent on both wings, I pressed with a K-side attack, while I left the Q-side hanging.. The game was flawed, we both missed opportunities. We reached this position ( which had morphed from an English opening to a Saemisch formation against an Old Indian structure) after 25…Bd7

The Rc3 both cut off the entry points for the Black Q and protected a3. This would mean several moves to break open the Q-side and while the Black Q is off-side, the Black’s K-side is vulnerable. I was down to 5 mins or less on the clock and there were some interesting tactics which swung back and forth but eventually in my favour.

Th game concluded ( analysis by Fritz 19 ) :

26. Rg1 (26. Bxh6! gxh6 27. Nf5+ Kf8 28. Nxh6 Rg7 29. Qf2 Nxc4 !) 26… Nxc4 Now Black is better 27. Bxh6 (27. Rxc4 Bb5 28. Ke1! Bxc4 29. Nf5 Qxa3 30. Qg6 Qc3+ 31. Kf2 Qc2+ 32. Kg3 Rxf5 33. Qxf5 Rf8 34. Qe6+ Rf7 35. Bxh6 Qe2 36. Qe8+ Rf8 37. Qe6+ Rf7 =) 27… Bb5 (27… Nxa3 28. Ra1 Qb5+ 29. Kf2 Nc4 30. Bg5 Qxb4 31. Rac1 Na5 32. Kg1) 28. Kf2 +- Nd2 29. Nf5 Nxf3 30. Qxf3 Bd7 31. Bxg7 (31. Rxg7+ Rxg7 32. Bxg7) 31… Bxf5 32. exf5 (32. Bf6+ Kf8 33. Qxf5 Qd7 34. Qg6 Rxf6+ 35. Qxf6+ Qf7 36. Qxf7+ Kxf7 37. Rxc7+) 32… Rxg7 (32… Qd7 33. f6 e4 34. Qxe4 Qe8 35. Qg6) 33. Rxg7+ Kxg7 34. f6+ Kf8 35. Qg4 Qe8 36. Qg7# 1-0

The result leaves us well placed and undefeated near the top of Div.4 :

League table for Division 4 (top section)

Team	Play	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Against	Points	SP	MP	IM
Worthing 3	8	4	2	2	20½	11½	10	0	0	0
Bexhill 5	6	4	2	0	16	8	10	0	0	0
Lewes 2	6	4	1	1	16½	7½	9	0	0	0
Uckfield 2	6	3	2	1	13	11	8	0	0	0

The final match against Lewes 2 on 16 March looks as if will be the key one.