Heathcote Arms (2) 2-2 Braunstone (4)

Another point for HA(2). On board 3, they raced through to the 30 move time control with half an hour each to spare. Dave had a rook for a knight and was able to force a pawn promotion. As soon as Dave won on 3, John (with the black pieces) resigned on 2 as he was material down and in serious time trouble. Alan on board 4 was then mated. I had been a pawn up, but under some pressure from some central rooks. Both under time pressure, we swapped off some bits and entered an endgame where i had two extra pawns.
board 1 Manger, John (134) 0-1 (95) Closs, Guy
board 2 Ross, Colin (112) 1-0 (97) Martin, Paul
board 3 Ricketts, Dave (104) 1-0 (90) Impey, John
board 4 Goodwin, Alan (80) 0-1 (60) Tangney, Vince

Heathcote Arms (2) 2 - 2 Braunstone (4)

Well done everyone.

Thanks to Alan Goodwin for stepping in at the last minute, and to to the Braunstone Team for showing up before us and setting up the boards.

Next time, we are away at Hinckley. The date in the handbook is wrong again - we play on Thursday 11th March.

Colin

January Rapid Play Grades

Although they have not yet appeared on the LRCA site, the January rapid play grades have been out for a while now. They can be viewed here on the gradings page (this page is linked directly to the ECF online database and so updates automatically). Looking at the ECF site, i can see that Brandon's rapid play grade is now up to 214.

Colin

Hmm...Another Loss for HA2

Fortunately, this time it was only the junior league cup.
We won the toss and opted for the white pieces on the odd boards.
The sides were dead even at 471 grading points apiece.

Rob won, Ray succumbed to a queen sacrifice in the middle game, and John lost too.
I had been in a very drawish game with Mick Slater and had offered him the half point earlier in the proceedings. He had just gotten the advantage with a passed pawn in the endgame and should really have won, but offered me a draw - which i accepted immediately.

The results were:

Heathcote Arms Vs Red Admiral 1
board 1 Ensor, Rob 135 1-0 135 Wylie, Paul
board 2 Manger, John 134 0-1 137 Thomas, Barnaby
board 3 Ross, Colin 112 Drawn 100 Slater, Mick
board 4 Beach, Ray 90 0-1 99 Engels, Aaron

calculated score 1.5 - 2.5

Well done everyone.

Our next match is on Tuesday 23rd February, at home, against Braunstone 4. We need to start winning again as the Red Admiral and Melton are not too far behind us.
 
Colin

Radio 4

A couple of recorded pieces about Mesothelioma and Insurance Archaeology, featuring the voice of George Winterton, have been aired on the PM programme, on radio 4, this week. They are available to listen to on the BBCi player for a week following broadcast.

Go to: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qskw click on the programme dated 9.2.10 and listen from 45.47 to 50.00. A follow up piece was broadcast on 10.2.10 between 26.41 and 30.00.

Colin

Division 5 as at 6th February 2010

If RA3 and/or MM3 win or draw their next couple of matches, then things might still be close,
 
Colin

HA2 Meltdown at Home Against Red Admiral 3

We took an unexpected kicking from RA3.

I had survived some early difficulties against Stan and offered him a draw when things looked more even. He declined. We continued to play as an attack of Rob's went badly wrong resulting in him being down several pawns against Mick Slater. Ray then defeated Calvin and John lost to Andy Carter. At this point, Stan offered me a draw which i would have taken if it hadn't meant that we would lose the match - but then things deteriorated again and i lost on time in a hopeless position.

board 1 Ensor, Rob 135 0-1 100 Slater, Mick
board 2 Manger, John 134 0-1 100 Carter, Andy
board 3 Ross, Colin 112 0-1 83 Parsons, Stan
board 4 Beach, Ray 90 1-0 80 Burton, Calvin

Well done Ray.

RA3 was the next team in the table behind us and Melton - they also have a couple of matches in hand - so may yet pose a threat.

Next Tuesday we play Red Admiral 1 in the League Cup at our place.

Colin