Bexhill 5 —3.5 – 0.5— Haywards Heath 3
Division 4 Fri 6th Mar 2026 00:00 Winner: Home
Results and Revised League Table from Sussex League LMS. For full details please go to our SUSSEX LEAGUE page on this site and click on he link.
A good all-round performance emerged from our 5th team on Friday 6 March as we hosted Haywards Heath 3rd team.
| Board | Rating | Bexhill 5 | V | Haywards Heath 3 | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1669 | Carthew, JoB | 1 – 0 | G Rattray, Roland | 1529 |
| 2 | 1670 | Luxton, William HG | ½ – ½ | G File, Matthew | 1508 |
| 3 | 1637 | Rhodes, LawrenceG | 1 – 0 | G Soni, Pujan | 1427 |
| 4 | 0000 | Veale, GeoffreyE | 1 – 0 | B Baldry, J Chris | 1276 |
| Average | 1244 | 3½ – ½ | 1435 |
It was a remarkable debut – not just for the club but also as a first Standard Play game over the board – from Geoffrey Veale. He played a heavy pieces + B v N middlegame through to endgame, with his K still on e1, activating his R via h1- h4 to the Q-side exploiting a fragility in Black’s castled Q-side to pick up a N, followed by more pawns. It was cool and careful play. Welcome and well done Geoffrey!
Bill continued his solid scoring, using active pressure with a double rooks’ battery on the d-file.
I didn’t get to see much of Jo’s game, clearly the crucial win, on top board with the Black pieces. Congratulations, Jo! ( Game scores always welcome from players afterwards for analysis and publication on the website)
In the final game to finish, Lawry (your editor) spotted an opportunity to pick off a N, for a pawn, to stymie an oncoming K-side attack, at the expense of a broken pawn structure in front of his King. Choosing not to take a 2nd pawn as some compensation, instead his opponent pushed on with the attack with a Q on h6 trying to intimidate, as if the N had been a sacrifice, but the mating options were covered against just a Q & the remaining N. Among a variety of tactical options in a counter-attack, Lawry settled on exchanging pieces and simplified to a won ending, a piece plus eventually 2 pawns up.
Our position in the Division 4 League Table currently speaks for itself :
League table for Division 4
| Team | Play | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | Points | SP | MP | IM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bexhill 5 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 19½ | 8½ | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lewes 2 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 9 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Worthing 3 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 20½ | 11½ | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Uckfield 2 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 14½ | 13½ | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The deciding match will be on 17 March when we travel to Lewes to play their 2nd team. It may be the 4th Division , but all points are hard-fought on both sides and if we get through it shows that with 5 teams in the Sussex League, we have strength in depth.