17 February 2022

After their recent 4:0 defeat against Brighton and Hove, the Hastings and St Leonards 2nd team was keen to improve their performance in their home match against Eastbourne 1. However, when they saw their opponents they realised that his was going to be a tough ask, with higher graded opponents on every board. On board 4 Alex Lebedev was making his first appearance this season, and he was facing Colin Clark, who was 500 grading points above him. Alex was the first to finish and Eastbourne were 1:0 ahead.

Next to finish was Adrian Cload, who was facing Laurence Butt. Like Alex, Adrian was facing a higher graded player, but this did not daunt him. Indeed, while a later analysis of the game on his computer showed that Adrian made plenty of errors, it also showed that he had a winning position for most of the game. On the day, Adrian was not able to capitalise on his advantage and in the end a draw was agreed.

The third game to finish was Board 1, where Paul Kelly was also facing a strong opponent – Oliver Froom. Paul played an excellent game, giving Hastings a win and levelling the match, with one board left to finish.

The final game was Board 3, where Martin Fletcher played a long game against Matthew Pannett. The game was even throughout the opening and middle game, and they entered the endgame with Martin just 1 pawn down, but with a passed pawn and a bishop against a knight. However, Matthews greater experience proved too much and Eastbourne were able to gain the victory, 2½ points to 1½. This was a close result and the team now move on to their next match with renewed confidence.

Contact – Martin Fletcher – fletcherinsussex@btinternet.com

Postal Address: Hastings and St Leonards Chess Club, Pelton House, 2 Cornwallis Terrace, Hastings, East Sussex, TN34 1EB, United Kingdom.

 

Email: HastingsChessClub@outlook.com