Author: veutilep

On Thursday 17th November Bexhill 3 travelled to East Grinstead to take on The Bookshop 2nd team.

Our team, in board order was Bill Luxton, Steve Merchant, Alan Ticehurst and myself.

The Bookshop had made a good start to the league having won both their games so we expected a strong challenge.

First to finish was Alan on board 3. Alan played a wonderful attacking game, rather in the manner of his hero Tal. His opponent was soon under immense pressure and soon after Alan sacrificed a rook his opponent realised that the game was up and resigned.

Playing on board 4 I was next to finish. I had gradually established a strong position and was 2 pawns up when, just as I was about to win another pawn, my opponent decided to resign.

Steve, was locked in a tight game, but looked to have an edge, when, knowing we just needed a draw for a match win, he offered a draw, and, rather surprisingly his opponent accepted. This was excellent team play by Steve.

Bill on board 1 was last to finish. He and his opponent were equal in material, but Bill had a big edge in position. Eventually Bill created an over whelming position and finished the game in style with a checkmate.

Final score Bookshop 2 .5   Bexhill 3 3.5

Match report from our captain, Bill Tracey:

Monday 7th November saw the 1st team play their first league match
of the season. We have been promoted to Division 1 and were looking forward to some tough matches.
Brighton have a reputation for being one of the strongest clubs in the league and we knew we were in for a tough match.
We were heavily out rated. In fact we were out rated as a team by almost 1400 points!

First match to finish was John on board 3 Playing as white and employing the Bishops opening.
John played exceptionally well against an opponent out rating him by about 280 points.
The game was even throughout and eventually a draw was agreed.

I was next to finish. I used the Budapest opening and it gave me a solid start against an opponent
out rating me by 500 points. Going into the endgame we were level with 4 pawns each, but I missed the chance for a draw and eventually resigned.

Andrew on board one had the challenging task of playing an opponent rated 2230.
A fine game was played by both players and it seemed that with material equal but with a better pawn structure that Andrew had a slight edge in the endgame but his opponent played tremendously well to eventually get the win.

On board 2 Janis proved to be the star of the night. Out rated by 300 points he managed to survive a strong attack and eventually win an exchange. He continued to push his advantage and, with checkmate imminent his opponent resigned.

Although we lost, a score line of 2.5 to 1.5 was a tremendous effort given the disparity in ratings.
All 4 games were close and hard fought affairs and this has boosted our confidence for the matches ahead.

Well done Bexhill!

Match report from our Captain Bill Tracey:

On Friday 4th November, Bexhill 2 hosted Worthing’s second team.

We expected a tough match as they are probably the strongest club in the league and our expectations proved correct.

The final score was Worthing 3.5 Bexhill .5.

However, after 2.5 hours of the match any result was still possible, as the match proved to be far closer than the score line suggests.

I was first to finish on board 4 and managed to gain a draw from what at one point looked a difficult position.

On board 3, Bill Luxton was in a very evenly contested game and both players ended up with 5 pawns each. Unfortunately for Bill, his opponent had the last pawn move and Bill was forced to move his King from the defence of a pawn and the game was lost.

On board 2 the game reached a point where Leo was up 3 pawns and a rook to 2 pawns and a rook but just one wrong pawn move allowed his opponent to gain a win from what had seemed a very promising position for Leo.

On Board one John was playing a very highly rated young player. John played extremely well to go up a pawn in the middle game, but his opponent fought back well and by the end game material was all square at 5 pawns and a rook each. Unfortunately, John made one wrong move and his opponent was able to secure a win.

So what could potentially have been a 2 all draw became a heavy loss.

One consolation is that Worthing 2 are quite likely to be the highest rated team in the Division.

Friday 15th October saw Bexhill 3 host Worthing 3 in the first Division 3 match of the season.

Worthing are the strongest club in the Mid Sussex Leagues and we expected them to field a powerful side, which they duly did.

On board 1 Steve Merchant was up against a player rated 375 points higher than himself and had the black pieces. Analysis showed that going into the end game Steve had a 2 point lead, but unfortunately played the wrong line and his opponent duly took advantage to record a win for Worthing.

Board 2 saw Bill Luxton making his league debut for us. His opponent made an error on move 14 which Bill capitalised on immediately and his opponent was forced to resign a few moves later.

Board 3 Saw Phil Swain also making his league debut. Phil played very solidly to gain a draw. It seemed that Phil may have had a slight edge at this point but with the final game looking like a certain win Phil made a good decision for the team to take a half.

On board 4 we had another player making his league debut.Alfie Reed only started to learn to play Chess 7 months ago and has made remarkable progress since. He played a very effective game and had established a 3 pawn advantage when he forced a resignation from the Worthing captain.

The Worthing team had an average rating of 1672 and, it is unlikely, that any other team in this division will have such a high average.

An excellent start for the team which bodes well for the season.