Saturday 17 December 2011

Website Traffic - Big in Japan?

Colin asked earlier in the month about where our traffic was originating, and the audience location is traceable. In terms of pageviews since the start then the traffic top nine is as follows:

  1. UK


  2. USA


  3. Japan


  4. India

  5. Germany


  6. Russia


  7. China


  8. Canada


  9. Netherlands

In the last month the traffic has originated as follows:



  1. UK


  2. USA


  3. Russia


  4. Germany


  5. Japan


  6. China


  7. Georgia


  8. Latvia


  9. Slovakia


  10. Spain.

I enjoyed the opportunity to get an 80's music reference into the blog title.


With reference to the performance at Kirby on Thursday, as widely predicted, my trusty old straight-talking chess critic Fritz showed that I blew a winning position in grand style. At move 7 it suggest d7-d5 "and Black can already relax". I, of course, played d7-d6. Notwithstanding that, at move 20 my coefficient was about 6. At move 30, it was about 3, at 40 we were level, and I resigned on move 47. I would like to say I was feeling sorry for my opponent, as he'd had a bit of a car shunt earlier in the day, but the truth is I WAS RUBBISH. As I told Colin on the way back, I'm thinking about taking up bowls, as they seem to have nice badges, and there might be the possibility I might not be so terrible at that.

Loss for HA3 at Kirby Muxloe


Before the match, both sides had been keen, and had agreed, to play five boards. On the night, however, we arrived with six. This was fine. Kirby nominated the next person to walk through the door as a new board 1. It was Jim Cowley. Everybody else moved down a board.

The first result was a welcome win for Michael against Scott Turner. If memory serves - i think Michael lost to Scott at the Heathcote Arms last time they met. At this point, in the remaining games we were looking alright: Gordon was a rook up on board 3, Haka Dave was a piece up on board 2, Drew on board 5 was a piece down but still kicking and i think Gary was slightly down on material on board 4. On board 1, there was material parity, but I thought i had a slight edge in position.

Drew then lost, and this was quickly followed by a loss for Gary. The rest of us played on for a while only to see some decent positions dissolve. Gordon lost his additional material and then the game. Dave had two rooks against rook and bishop and a passed pawn that could only be stopped by sacrificing material. As usual, i had met the time control with seconds to spare and my 30th move needlessly dropped a pawn. Things went downhill from there.

Kirby Muxloe 2 win matches only slightly more often than we do, so they asked us to leave so that they could celebrate by dancing naked around the Christmas Tree. I don't think that they were joking.

15 DecKirby Muxloe 2vHeathcote Arms 3
5 - 1
1B108Cowley, Jim1 - 0Ross, Colin118
2W60McEachran, Ewan1 - 0Ricketts, Dave93
3B60Shaw, Peter1 - 0Milner, Gordon100
4W56Kellock, Jim1 - 0Sanders, Gary50
5B55Turner, Scott0 - 1Bubb, Michael36
6W50Bowles, Les1 - 0Bubb, Andrew40

 

At Christmas, the Division 5 table looks like this.

 

Division 5

PosTeamPlWDLGPDPts
1Braunstone 58341710
2Syston 4632188
3Red Admiral 2732258
4Oadby 1540148
5Syston 3531167
6Ashby 46123-64
7Kirby Muxloe 26204-34
8Heathcote Arms 37016-211


League Matches

Our next League matches are as follows: HA2 plays at home against Leicester University 1 on Tuesday 10th January; HA3 plays away against Ashby 4 on Thursday 12th January; HA1 plays away against Willowbrook 2 on Thursday 19th January.


Cup Matches

Our next Cup matches both take place against Braunstone and both take place on Tuesday 24th January. HA1 play at home against Braunstone 1,and HA3 play away against Braunstone 2.


Club Nights

I am not sure if there will be much of a club night on Tuesday 20th December, but i will be up there at 7.30 if anyone wants a friendly. There will not be a club night on Tuesday 27th, but i suspect that by Tuesday 3rd January we will all be itching for a game.

Well done everyone,

Colin

Friday 16 December 2011

Loughborough 2 (1.5 - 3.5) HA1


Graham B Reports:

Rob and John came to the 1st team's rescue on Wednesday, when Graham and Raj couldn't make the match.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view), their opponents didn't put up much resistance and both won quite easily. John had managed to take both rooks off of their original squares by the 12th move!!

Dave survived a scare against Jim Miller, who launched an attack against h2 with Bishop and queen, which resulted in him being 2 pawns up. Thought he was only going to stay 1 pawn up and offered a draw which Dave accepted and then realized the move Jim had just made was a blunder - so a draw was probably a fair result.

Mike's game fizzled out to a draw when Mike realized he could take a draw to give us the match.

I didn't play the opening very well, but managed to nick a pawn somewhere and was a pawn up in a queen and pawn ending. Terry offered me a draw, which I turned down knowing I couldn't lose, but I let my time drift away and had to settle for the draw in a won position.

I put Dave, Mike and my poor opening play down to the fact we spent 15 mins driving round Loughborough trying to park!!

This puts us 2 points clear at the top of Div 2 going into the Christmas break. Let's hope that lightning doesn't strike twice. We were top of Div 1 at Christmas last year and never won another match!!

Merry Christmas everyone,

Graham B 

14 DecLoughborough 2vHeathcote Arms 1
1½ - 3½
1B157Miller, James½ - ½Bray, Dave170
2W130Hickman, Peter½ - ½Cowley, Michael159
3B122Adcock, Terry½ - ½Booley, Graham147
4W100Cragg, N0 - 1Ensor, Rob128
5B80Cragg, O0 - 1The Grinder119
 Division 2
PosTeamPlWDLGPDPts
1Heathcote Arms 176101513
2Braunstone 2641179
3Wigston 36231-27
4Ashby 1522136
5Ashby 27214-55
6Melton Mowbray 27214-65
7Willowbrook 25023-42
8Loughborough 25014-81

Thursday 15 December 2011

HA2 (1-3) Hinckley 1

Peter the President Reports:

Had to play in the alley and at 7.15 we had no heat! The landlord rallied round and set the fire and after a while it was warm as toast! Rob came off worst against Howard and the Albin Counter Gambit. John drew and Ray lost, but i didn't see anything of their games. I was up against it all game, I decided to offer Peter a draw and made a total blunder with the move, but then found a way out with a perpetual that if he didnt take was curtains. So HA2 lose another one!

 Peter the President

13 DecHeathcote Arms 2vHinckley 1
1 - 3
1B149Harrison, Peter½ - ½Gibbs, Peter167
2W128Ensor, Rob0 - 1Phillips, Howard134
3B119The Grinder½ - ½Radesk, Brian113
4W105Raymondov0 - 1Smith, Jason106

Division 3
PosTeamPlWDLGPDPts
1Latimer 175201212
2Market Harborough 1632178
3Wigston 4640268
4Melton Mowbray 37322-28
5Hinckley 17304-36
6Heathcote Arms 27124-64
7Syston 16033-43
8Leicester University 16114-103

Sunday 11 December 2011

University of Leicester Vs HA2 Result

Last week's HA2 result has now reappeared. Here it is:

30 NovLeicester University 1vHeathcote Arms 2
2½ - 1½
1B135Wei, Elyn1 - 0Peter the President149
2W135Gomes, Matthew1 - 0Ensor, Rob128
3B80Kularatnam, Ahalya0 - 1The Grinder119
4W80Tan, Ce Dong½ - ½Raymondov105

Over the last year, interest in our website seems to have grown. Recently, we have been having 500+ hits per month, and for November we had around 850 hits. Not bad for a chess club with fewer than 20 players. It would be interesting to know who visits us. If any of our readers out there want to submit a guest blog, then e-mail it to me and i will put it up on Boxing Day.

Colin.

Wednesday 7 December 2011

Record Score

Nine-Nil / Nine-Nil / Nine-Nil / Nine-Nil / Nine-Nil / Nine-Nil / Nine-Nil

...Join in anytime you like...

Nine-Nil / Nine-Nil / Nine-Nil / Nine-Nil / Nine-Nil / Nine-Nil / Nine-Nil

06 DecHeathcote Arms 2vLatimer 1
0 - 4
1B149Peter the President0 - 1Nwachukwu, Chino170
2W128Ensor, Rob0 - 1Potter, Karl162
3B119The Grinder0 - 1Slater, Brian L123
4W118Ross, Colin0 - 1Hill, Granville120

06 DecHeathcote Arms 3vSyston 4
0 - 5
1B105Raymondov0 - 1Veitch, Robert105
2W93Haka Dave0 - 1Mitton, Judith96
3B100Milner, Gordon0 - 1Martin, Maurice93
4W36Bubb, Michael0 - 1Agger, Reg86
5B40Bubb, Andrew0 - 1Mundy, Rob70

Well done to absolutely no one.

Colin

p.s. Something weird has happened on the LRCA website to the HA2 / University result from last Thursday. The match took place, and the result was late appearing - and now it has disappeared again. When it returns, we will post something here.

Next week: HA2 at home to Hinckley on Tuesday, HA1 away at Loughborough on Wednesday, and HA3 away at Kirby Muxloe on Thursday.

Thursday 1 December 2011

HA3 and HA1 Both Play at Home

Gary was the first to finish. His opponent laughed out loud before unleashing a knight attack on Gary's queen whilst discovering a queen and bishop mate in one along the long diagonal. Five minutes later, in a return friendly, Gary had his revenge as he removed a queen for free whilst discovering check. This prompted an immediate resignation.

Michael and Drew were both fine in the openings, but went on to be outplayed in the middlegame.

My own game had been looking drawish for a while. I had black. We were down to pawns and same coloured bishops with Barry having a pair of isolated double pawns. When we got to the time control Barry offered me a draw. Being only slightly better, and the match being lost, i took it.

Read Vs Ross


29 NovHeathcote Arms 3vBraunstone 5
½ - 3½
1B118Ross, Colin½ - ½Read, Barry101
2W50Sanders, Gary0 - 1Hoch, Toby100
3B36Bubb, Michael0 - 1Martin, Paul93
4W40Bubb, Andrew0 - 1Tangney, Vince76

I did not see any of the HA1 match, but there looks to have been a straightforward win for the home team.
29 NovHeathcote Arms 1vAshby 2
4 - 1
1B181Sharpe, Graham1 - 0Gibson, Paul152
2W173Ganger, Rajan1 - 0Hayden, Lawrence137
3B170Bray, Dave½ - ½Dove, Tom139
4W159Cowley, Michael1 - 0Reynolds, David125
5B147Booley, Graham½ - ½Wyld, Nick121

Next week:

HA2 Vs Latimer 1, and HA3 Vs Syston 4 both at home on Tuesday.

I will be contacting people for their availabilities.

Well done everyone,

Colin.

Wednesday 30 November 2011

Bobby Fischer Documentary on TV Tonight

BBC4 9PM Wednesday 30th November.

Bobby Fischer - Genius and Madman (90 minutes)

It is not clear whether this is the same film as Bobby Fischer Against the World (which is the same length and came out in the summer) or something different - should be worth a look anyway. It centres on the World Championship Match.

Stuck in Icelandic traffic! Really?

Colin.

It is indeed the same film - excellent stuff.

Friday 25 November 2011

League Cup Matches & CCs (Major) Play Off

Running three League Cup teams is altogether a different thing from running three League teams. The principal difference being the stricter barring rules in the Cup competitions which commit all players to a specific squad once they have played once for that team.

It became obvious to us that we were not going to be able to field three teams in the League Cups this week. HA1 and HA3 were both a player short and HA2 was going to be two players short. On Monday, we took the decision to fold the HA2 cup team. I contacted Peter Poolan at Melton to default the match and apologise. I also contacted Iain Dodds to withdraw the team from the rest of the Minor League Cup.

We had been hoping to play Rob in HA2, but with HA2 out of the picture, we were able to donate him to the HA1 squad. This just left the problem of getting an HA3 team out.

In a discussion between Iain Dodds and Mike Salisbury, the decision was made that since only one round of the competition had been played, and since there might still be problems in playing an HA3 side, that we could play HA2 players in the HA3 side. This reduced the chances of us having to fold HA3, too, in future rounds and also enabled us to play John and Ray rather than the higher rated Pete (who would have been able to play for HA3).

HA3 had a 1.5 point head start. I was not around on the night, but from what i hear, Drew and Michael (or maybe Michael and Drew) finished first and second. John then won, and it all came down to Ray's game with bits all over the place. Ray losing, then winning, and then his opponent achieving a perpetual.

A 3 point to 2.5 point win after the handicap was added.

22 NovHeathcote Arms 3vBraunstone 3GD
1½ - 2½65
Handicap1½ - 0
3 - 2½
1W119The Grinder1 - 0Closs, Guy118-1
2B105Raymondov½ - ½Barlow, Steve91-14
3W40Bubb, Andrew0 - 1Tangney, Vince7636
4B36Bubb, Michael0 - 1Reid, Patrick8044


A draw over the boards, but a loss after the handicap for HA1.


23 NovLoughborough 1vHeathcote Arms 1GD
2 - 220
Handicap½ - 0
2½ - 2
1B173Mitchell, John½ - ½Sharpe, Graham1818
2W167Eagleton, Greg1 - 0Bray, Dave1703
3B136Fraser, Michael½ - ½Booley, Graham14711
4W130Hickman, Peter0 - 1Ensor, Rob128-2


On Thursday, it was my play off against David Reynolds and Bob Collins for the Major Section of the County Championship. The format was for each of us to play two games, one with white and one with black with a time control of 20 minutes each. If after the first round there was a tie, we were to do the same again with half the time limit.

We spun some coins and it was David with white versus me with black in the first game. David opened with g4 and some unusual stuff. I was quickly in trouble losing a pawn and with some threats against me. I was able to reorganise though - forced him to double some pawns - swapped off queens and was able to pick up the pawn to equalise. I then had a mate threat with a rook along the seventh - David defended against that but allowed me to knight fork his king and rook. An exchange up, for a while i felt that things were going well, but then ran in to the inevitable time trouble and, returning the earlier favour, allowed David to knight fork my two rooks. Game over.

David then had the black pieces against Bob. David, by now warmed up, piled on the pressure, and then some more pressure, against Bob's kingside and Bob had no chance.

With David 2-0 up, he could not be caught and so there was no point in Bob and I playing a third game. Bob, and The Grinder (who had come to lend some support), and i retired to the bar for a few halves.

Next Tuesday:

HA1 play at home against Ashby 2
HA3 play at home against Braunstone 5

There will probably be the chance of some friendly games for anyone popping down on spec.

Well done everyone,

Colin.

Wednesday 16 November 2011

Ay Caramba!

HA3 were at home against Red Admiral 2.

Michael lost out to the more experienced Calvin Burton.

Gordon was a piece down but hung on against Stan and made him work for it.

Haka Dave started out looking worse, but ended up with Queen and King against Bishop and King. His opponent offered him a draw two moves from mate - this was refused. There was some confusion after this game as Peter (with a barely detectable twinckle in his eye) told his Captain that a draw had been agreed.

As usual, i was last to finish. I had been equal on material throughout, but an isolated queen's pawn, having been a thorn in my side for most of the game, proved too much of a weakness in the ending.

15 NovHeathcote Arms 3vRed Admiral 2
1 - 3
1B118Ross, Colin0 - 1Carter, Andy110
2W93Ricketts, Dave1 - 0Barabas, Peter80
3B100Milner, Gordon0 - 1Parsons, Stan82
4W36Bubb, Michael0 - 1Burton, Calvin79


Next week, we have League Cup matches:

HA3 is at home against Braunstone 3 on Tuesday 22nd November.
HA2 is away at Melton Mowbray on Wednesday.
HA1 is away against Loughborough in the Major League Cup on Wednesday.

On Thursday, i take part in the play off for the County Championship Major Section.

Well done everyone,

Colin.

Saturday 12 November 2011

Latimer (1) 3-2 HA (2)


Peter the President Reports:

Karl sent me a text about 6pm on Tues asking if we could play 5 boards. I said I'd ask at the club. Gordon was there and keen to play. So we arrived to find we were outgraded on every board. Gordon played really well only to lose out in the end to a very strong opponent. Ray won nicely. I was a pawn up against Chino and he sacrificied a second pawn to block the position. I offered a draw missing a trick to win the exchange pointed out to me afterwards. Shucks! Rob did really well to hold out against Karl, which left the match at 2 - 2 with John's game the decider. He was recovering from the lurgy and his stamina wilted at the end unfortunately. So, our first defeat but well played by everyone as we nearly upset the odds.

Peter the President.

10 NovLatimer 1vHeathcote Arms 2
3 - 2

1B170Nwachukwu, Chino½ - ½Harrison, Peter149
2W162Potter, Karl½ - ½Ensor, Rob128
3B123Slater, Brian L1 - 0Manger, John119
4W126Gurney, Roy0 - 1Beach, Ray105
5B120Zainuddin, Zaime1 - 0Milner, Gordon100

Wednesday 9 November 2011

Heathcote Arms (1) 4-1 Ashby (1)

Graham B Reports:

This match was not as easy as the score line suggests, one thing Ashby do is make you grind out your results, and apart from Graham's rather exciting game that's what we did.

Rajan's was a slow positional game that eventually just strangled Chris Tipper's position and it cracked under Rajan's and the clocks pressure.
Dave looked like he had won an early pawn, but then realized his opponent could allow his own bishop to be blocked in on a7 & b8 and get the pawn back, Dave said from this point he didn't think he was better but Roy decided to swap pieces off which gave Dave an easy winning ending.
After 2hrs 35mins Mike and Larry had only took off 1 major piece and 1 or 2 pawns each and although Mike had queen and 2 rooks on the g file he couldn't break through and Larry wasn't doing anything. I think his last 5 or 6 moves were Qe7,Qd8,Qe7,Qd8,Qe7- draw agreed.
Graham's was a typically solid game until Richard sacked a rook on h6 to give him an attack on Graham's King, which looked like a winning attack, however, Graham doesn't give in and manages to manoeuvre his king toward his queen, although Richard was still threatening mates and forks with only a queen and knight. Graham has to give his rook back, gets Richards knight off for his bishop and goes into the ending 2 pawns down (Queen & 5 against Queen & 3) but has done enough to eventually get the draw.  An ending well worth seeing, I will try and get a copy from Graham.

So, a hard fought win keeps us top of Div 2 and on course to return to div 1 next season.

Graham B

P.S. pleased to see Michael get a win     

08 Nov
Heathcote Arms 1
v
Ashby 1
1
B
181
Sharpe, Graham
½ - ½
Vann, Richard
163
2
W
173
Ganger, Rajan
1 - 0
Tipper, Christopher
147
3
B
170
Bray, Dave
1 - 0
Evans, Roy
143
4
W
159
Cowley, Michael
½ - ½
Hayden, Lawrence
137
5
B
147
Booley, Graham
1 - 0
**DEFAULT**
?

4 - 1

Tuesday 8 November 2011

Braunstone (5) 2-2 Heathcote Arms (3)

HA3 are on the scoreboard at last. Everyone started solidly enough. Gary was the first to succumb. Then Michael pulled off a fabulous win when his opponent resigned a bishop and a rook down with only pawns remaining. Drew had chances but lost out against Paul Martin. It was down to me to draw the match. Things had been even for most of my game, but then my opponent blundered a rook.
We are now no longer bottom of the table.

Well done everyone

Colin.


08 Nov Braunstone 5 v Heathcote Arms 3
2 - 2
1 B 101 Read, Barry 0 - 1 Ross, Colin 118
2 W 100 Hoch, Toby 1 - 0 Sanders, Gary 50
3 B 93 Martin, Paul 1 - 0 Bubb, Andrew 40
4 W 76 Tangney, Vince 0 - 1 Bubb, Michael 36

Shropshire Vs Leicestershire

Leicestershire lost 10-6 to Shropshire on Saturday. As usual, Heathcote Arms players were in action.


Section:  Minor open

Home Team: Shropshire
Away Team: Leicestershire
Venue: Shifnal
Date: 5th November
Team having white on odd boards:
Result reported by: Graham Booley
Board
ECF Code
Grade
Home team players’ names
Score
Score
Away Team players’ names
Grade
ECF Code
1
118369C
205
N.Rutter
0
1
Mark Hebden
241
112455K
2
110539F
190
N.Ferrington
½
½
Martin Burrows
200
125697L
3
240985K
188
G.Cooper
½
½
Ray Burgess
182
107674H
4
112969H
182
J Hopkins
1
0
John Denton
174
109613J
5
107574D
178
R Bryant
½
½
John Robinson
169
118096E
6
110730G
176
J Footner
1
0
Richard Vann
163
163691B
7
183527A
160
P Kitchen
½
½
Brian Galligan
173E

8
117515E
159 
G Pugh
1
0
David Farrall
168
213110K
9
106353F
159
J Bashall
1
0
Alfonso Jimenez
164
279527K
10
240258D
156
C Lewis
½
½
Patrick McDermott
158
115247G
11
245834C
151
N Paul
1
0
Jim Miller
157
115535A
12
256377A
150
A Tonks
1
0
Jim Bingham
161
106748F
13

143
R Gillispie
1
0
Greg Adcock
157
130161F
14
240291K
146
J Whittaker
½
½
Mike Cowley
159
108975E
15
116900C
130
W Peck
0
1
John Pattinson
157
116818G
16
179346K
129
S Tennent
0
1
Graham Booley
147
106989F