October 21st Heathcote 1 had a good win playing away against Kirby Muxloe.

 Against Anstey 1, on October 26th they managed a win while Heathcote 2 lost their game against Wigston 4 on October 19th.  

October update

 Heathcote 1, in division 3 have played three games, won two and drawn one.

 Heathcote 2, in division 4 have played two games, won 1 and lost one. Their 3rd game is on November 4th at Market Harborough.

After covid

 Heathcote 1 and Heathcote 2 got off to a good start with a win for both teams on their first game of the 2021 season.

Heathcote 2 had a few distractions during their game but still pulled through. The first thing was some of the boards were set up incorrectly. I am putting that down to lack of cross the board games. The second thing was that one of the clocks started malfunctioning and whilst the clock was being adjusted I knocked over half a pint of Tiger. After the mess from the beer spillage and a replacement clock being set up everyone settled down and we had a good evening of chess.

We are nearing the end of the season for league games and at the time of writing this blog Heathcote 2 are in 6th place in division 5 with three games to play and Heathcote 1 are in 3rd place in division 4 also with three games to play.
 I must just take one more opportunity to congratulate the landlord of The Heathcote Arms at Croft for the amazing improvements he has made to the skittle alley. All the visiting chess players have commented on how good it looks and the comfort of the seating is as good as any other venue we have had the pleasure to visit.

Haborough 3

This game didn't start too well but finished okay from Heathcote's point of view.
I sent a request to all the players asking them if they are available to play, as I normally do. My first reply was from John to say that on this occasion he was not available. I then heard from Richard who also could not play. Bill notified me that he was away therefore not available. Ray informed me that he was available and would play if required. I immediately informed him that he would be playing. At this point I had three players, from a total of eight, who were not available to play. I had not heard from Wendy regarding Drew's availability or from Pete so Ray and myself were the only two players confirmed to play this game.
Time was getting short as regards to notifying Harborough whether we could raise a team or not. I sent another email to Pete and Ray to let them know the situation and I sent a text directly to Drew explaining that I had not heard from Wendy and asking him if he was available.
The result of all the enquiries and the game was, Pete and Drew both got back to me and confirmed they were available and we went on to beat Harborough three and a half to a half.

Latimer 1 v Heathcote 1

28th of November, Pete was struggling to put a strong team together. I played board 4 against Roy Gurney. I was very pleased with my game Roy out manoeuvred me in the end game. Bill was in a winning position against Michael Garland (snr) when he moved his rook one square too many and conceded the game too quickly. Mike and John both fought well and ended up with a draw.

Heathcote 1 v Ashby 3

 Pete Harrison, John Manger, Mike Cowley and recruited from Heathcote 2, Bill Roberts took on the might of Ashby 3.
Paul Gibson, Lawrence Hayden, John Howlett and Nick Wild.
Pete went a piece ahead very early in the game but Paul brought the game even in material and they had a good close game with Pete eventually winning. John played a cautious game against Lawrence and they agreed a draw. Mike kept his head down as usual to have a win against John Howlett and Bill went a piece up in his game with good pawn support and a passed pawn won the game.