Going into last Tuesday’s match, Horsham 1 needed to win to keep up their push for the Mid-Sussex League title. Unfortunately, the wheels came off and the team crashed to a hugely disappointing defeat.
Gavin Lock’s top board game against Feliks Kwiatkowski is still unresolved, but seems lost for him. Apparently earlier on their was a mutual oversight, when both players overlooked a possibility that would have led to a winning position for Gavin. On the other boards, Mike drew on two, Anthony won on four and Dix Roberts blundered on five to go down to a loss.
My game on board three was frustrating to say the least. I quickly established a very strong position, but in the crucial position at move 20 I saw the first few moves of the winning continuation, but was unable to fully work out the follow up. At that point, I could have forced a draw by repetition, but seeing the difficult positions on the other boards, I decided to play on. However, as I rejected the correct line, the resulting position was not won for me. Just before the time control, I made a crucial mistake, and I was lost.
I give the game below with some notes.