The club competitions have been updated again as of April 7th.

Reminder: The club Lightning Competition will be held on Tuesday 22nd April - please try and turn up promptly so we can make the draw for pairings and get underway quickly.

Anthony Higgs

Game of the Month

Here's an amazing comeback from Dick Newman in Division 3 (Newman - Nixon, Horsham 3 vs Haywards Heath 2):

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 f5 3.Bf4 e6 4.e3 Bd6 5.Ne5 Nh6?? [Oops...] 6.Qh5+ g6? [6...Kf8 is still terrible after 7.Bxh6 Bxe5 8.dxe5 gxh6 9.Qxh6+ Kg8 but doesn't lose a piece outright] 7.Nxg6?? [Simply Qxh6 wins - I assume Dick missed Black's 8th move] 7...hxg6 8.Qxg6+ Nf7 9.Bg5?? Qxg5 10.Qxg5 Nxg5 [The crazy opening is over and Black should win this by a country mile - but things aren't that easy in chess...  See position below which is what Dick had to come back from, two pieces down:] 

11.Nc3 c6 12.g3 e5 [12...Rxh2!] 13.0–0–0 e4 14.Be2 Be6 15.h4 Nf7 16.Rdf1 a5 17.Na4 Nd7 18.h5 b5 19.Nc3 a4 20.Rh4 a3 21.b3 b4 22.Nb1 Ra5 23.f4 c5 [Black's strange decision to keep the position closed with his 13th, 20th and 21st moves continue with this move, instead of the straightforward 23...exf3 which speeds up the win] 24.g4 cxd4 25.exd4 Nf6? [At last White has something to do - passed pawns must be pushed...] 26.g5 Ng4 27.h6 Ke7 28.h7 [Suddenly Black feels a bit awkward, how will he prevent g6...] Raa8 29.g6 Kf8? [Allowing a third pawn to join the fun.  29...Kf6 still wins] 30.Bxg4! fxg4 31.f5 [Now two black pieces are en prise but Black is still better after 31...Kg7 - instead disaster strikes...] 31...Bg3?? 32.Rxg4 [Black's 32nd move is partially illegible but is probably 32...e3, he is totally lost now anyway.  This position deserves a diagram to compare with the previous one - the triumph of the white pawns is complete!]

32...e3  33.Rxg3 Bc8 34.g7+ Ke7 35.g8Q Rxh7 36.Qxh7 1-0 [A fantastic comeback!]

New players

If you are a budding chess player, don't be shy - come and join us!  More details are available on the About Us and Venue pages, and you can contact the webmaster through the New Players page.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------