A draw for first team against Hastings 1

Last Saturday we travelled down to Hastings for a Mid-Sussex League match against old rivals Hastings. Like last season the match ended in a draw. Hastings were without Bernard Cafferty who is ill. I myself played against Francis Rayner, a Welsh international, and declined an offer of a draw after about twenty moves, when I was pressing for an advantage. After the match I greatly regretted that I had not accepted the offer as a horrendous move of mine about ten moves later completely compromised my position after which my opponent won efficiently. Simon fell victim to the experienced Howard Tebbs, who played a fine game. Howard's London System has given him a lot of success against strong players in particular. On board three Geoffrey played what was probably his best game this season as he won against promising junior Ollie Willson after establishing a strong bind on the position from the opening. Paul came up against the experienced John Sugden and at the end of the game had a slightly worse position, though the blocked nature of the pieces resulted in a draw. John Henshaw won against Paul Kelly in a game in which one side of the board was completely blocked for a while. I was dreading that the other side of the board might also be blocked (!), but John did well to turn his extra space into a win. This means that we have so far recorded three wins and a draw in our four matches.