Braunstone 1 Vs HA1

Graham B Reports:

An excellent bounce back from the week before.

Graham produced great end game technique to win.

Dave held his nerve in a time scramble to beat John Robinson.

Mike took a simple draw offer to avoid a time scramble. 

I produced one of my better games of recent times to secure a nice win.

It was good to see Dave playing again and an excellent win for HA2.

25 Jan		Braunstone 1		v	Heathcote Arms 1		GD
				½ - 3½			7
Handicap				0 - 0
				½ - 3½
1	W	167	Colburn, Paul	0 - 1	Sharpe, Graham	192	25
2	B	170	Robinson, John	0 - 1	Bray, Dave	168	-2
3	W	167	Salisbury, Michael	½ - ½	Cowley, Michael	156	-11
4	B	158	Gonem, Sherif	0 - 1	Booley, Graham	153	-5

We have a week off now and go back to Braunstone on 8th Feb

Graham 

HA2/3 Vs Wigston 1

We were expecting to have to work hard to win this match in the third round of the Minor League Cup. After round two we had reached the top of the table alongside Wigston. There was no handicap since there was only a slight difference in total gradings. We won the toss and opted for the white pieces on the odd boards.


The first result was a draw for Haka Dave against Dennis Wilkins. Then, in a knight endgame, at move 30, i offered a draw and this was accepted. Ray had looked to be holding his own on board 4 when his opponent blundered a rook and then immediately resigned. This meant that Pete needed only a draw or better for us to win the match. A pawn up though, Pete thought that he could do better, however, and when offered a draw - declined it, and then went on to win only a short time later.

25 Jan		Heathcote Arms 2		v	Wigston 1		GD
				3 - 1			7
Handicap				0 - 0
				3 - 1
1	W	138	Harrison, Peter	1 - 0	White, David	113	-25
2	B	102	Ross, Colin	½ - ½	Hammond, Grant	111	9
3	W	99	Ricketts, Dave	½ - ½	Wilkins, Denis	110	11
4	B	90	Beach, Ray	1 - 0	Winterton, Paul	102	12

A fantastic result, putting us in an excellent position in the Minor League Cup with two rounds to go.
Loughborough 2's plan of playing a low graded side, in order to maximise their handicap against Melton, backfired on Wednesday. As a result, we are sure to meet Melton in the next round.

26 Jan		Melton Mowbray 2		v	Loughborough 2		GD
				4 - 0			-213
Handicap				0 - 3½
				4 - 3½
1	B	139	Peters, Simon	1 - 0	Uski, Ville	118	-21
2	W	134	Farquharson, Ian	1 - 0	Gordon, Stewart	60	-74
3	B	128	Cope, Shaun	1 - 0	Trusz, Ashish	60	-68
4	W	110	Toon, Roy	1 - 0	Kohli, Sameer	60	-50

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	GPD	Pts
1	Heathcote Arms 2	3	3	0	0	4	6
2	Melton Mowbray 2	3	2	0	1	1	4
3	Wigston 1	3	2	0	1	-1	4
4	Loughborough 2	3	1	1	1	2	3
5	Spinney Hill 2	2	1	0	1	-1	2
6	Hinckley 1	2	0	1	1	-1	1
7	Braunstone 2	2	0	0	2	-1	0
8	Market Harborough 1	2	0	0	2	-4	0

Well done everyone.

Next week: HA2 are at home to Kirby Castlers 1, and on Wednesday, HA3 play away at Red Admiral.

Colin.

The Curse of the Phils

Graham B Reports:

Disaster at Wigston having lost against Wigston 1 the week before, as expected.

We went on Thursday to play Wigston 2 with high expectations of a win to consolidate our 2nd place behind Wigston 1.

Oh dear, we lost 3.5-1.5

Graham S lost to Phil Horspool who had prepped something for Graham

Mike lost badly to Phil Watkinson

I thought I was winning against Phil Harlow and seemed to lose my way and lost.

This must be Curse of the Phil's!!

The only positive to come out of the night was what I believe to be Dave Bray's 1st win against Andy Morley.

Graham B 

20 Jan		Wigston 2		v	Heathcote Arms 1
				3½ - 1½
1	B	186	Horspool, Philip	1 - 0	Sharpe, Graham	192
2	W	178	Morley, Andrew	0 - 1	Bray, Dave	168
3	B	157	Dodds, Iain	½ - ½	Ganger, Rajan	167
4	W	152	Watkinson, Phil	1 - 0	Cowley, Michael	156
5	B	145	Harlow, Phil	1 - 0	Booley, Graham	153

HA2 Vs Ashby 3

Haka Dave Reports:

The second team put a slightly weaker side than normal due to Pete Harrison going "all theatrical". Despite Pete's unavailability, on paper the grades were pretty even, so a close match was to be expected. However, personally I've found Ashby to be a bit of a bogey side in the past.

Your reporter missed the openings, as he was playing a couple of friendlies at the other end of the room.  By the time he strolled up to have a look, he found that Rob was in the stuck against David Reynolds, who had got a pawn to the seventh rank.  Not long after this Rob resigned.  Rob said later that David's pawn arrived on the sixth rank around move 10, and the seventh five moves later.  David must be the most improved player amongst the lower echelons of the Leicestershire Chess League.

Both Colin and Ray's games followed a similar path.  They both got into end games with a small(ish) disadvantage and their opponents showed excellent end-game technique to get the full point for Ashby.  Colin also had his standard time scramble at 30 moves, and when he resigned he was living on fumes.  Ray got to the time control with time to spare, although not as much as his opponent.

Whilst Boards 3 & 4 were in their end-games, John was grinding out a very good win.  In fact, at the point of everyone else being in end game territory, in John's game only a single piece had been removed from each side. John had all the threats, and in time this told on his opponent who starting shedding material.  So at least it was not a Heathcote Arms zero.

18 Jan		Heathcote Arms 2		v	Ashby 3
				1 - 3
1	B	139	Ensor, Rob	0 - 1	Reynolds, David	137
2	W	122	Manger, John	1 - 0	Williams, Richard	111
3	B	102	Ross, Colin	0 - 1	Jones, Peter	100
4	W	90	Beach, Ray	0 - 1	Roberts, Neil	78

Dave

Wigston 1 Vs HA1

13 Jan		Wigston 1		v	Heathcote Arms 1
				3½ - 1½
1	B	197	Byron, Alan	½ - ½	Sharpe, Graham	192
2	W	190	Burrows, Martin	1 - 0	Bray, Dave	168
3	B	186	Horspool, Philip	1 - 0	Cowley, Michael	156
4	W	178	Morley, Andrew	½ - ½	Booley, Graham	153
5	B	162	Ward, Alan	½ - ½	Harrison, Peter	138

Week Beginning 17th January 2011

Hi All,

This week, HA2 play at home on Tuesday against Ashby 3. There will also definitely be a club night.
On Thursday, HA1 play away at Wigston (again).
No HA3 match this week.

The January 2011 rapid play grades can be seen on the Gradings page.

Cheers,

Colin

HA3 Vs Oadby

Haka Dave Reports:

From the Scoresheet it was clear it was going to be a tough evening.  Bubbs Senior & Junior lost fairly quickly, and neither Ray nor I saw anything, and i didn't have the chance to ask about it as they had both left, so can pass no comment about their performance, although they were facing a big Grading difference.

I got to the time control a pawn down, but my position was a mess and I was under a lot of pressure.  Not long after that I went a piece down and was mated on Move 46, although it was forced from Move 38.  On Board 2 Ray looked like he was going to spring a surprise against Dave Pettitt, a face from Littlethorpe in "the good old days".  At the time control, Ray had seven minutes to Dave's one and a bit.  Ray had a massive attack against Dave's king-side, and won a rook back.  However, he then fell to a sucker punch (which was fairly simply blocked if the mate threat had been seen), and was mated quite neatly.  So near yet so far...  we didn't do a team Haka, so that is probably where we went wrong.

Brian & Gary were down to see what was what, so it was nice to have a bit of much-needed support.

Dave (99) - Don Canlin (136) 0-1
Ray (90) - Dave Pettitt (125) 0-1
Drew (80) - Mike Thornton (109) 0-1
Michael (60) - J. Gutteridge (72) 0-1

Cheers,


Dave

Tuesday 4th January

HA2 were to be at home against Braunstone 3. There had been some confusion about dates, however, and only one of the Braunstone squad arrived on the night. Braunstone were forced to concede.
Following this, we ended up with a decent club night turnout: Haka Dave, Ray, Mike C, Rob, Pete, John and myself all played some friendlies. Granville Hill - an old face from club nights at Littlethorpe - came down and put in a decent performance against Rob.

Next week: HA3 are at home to Oadby on Tuesday, and HA1 are away at Wigston 1 on the Thursday.

Good luck everyone,

Colin.

January Fixtures

Happy New Year to all. This Tuesday sees HA2 playing at home against Braunstone 3. There will also be a club night too. Graham B points out that, besides an away Cup match, HA1 have 5 away League matches on the trot - so it might be a while before the rest of us see them again.

January's Fixtures in full go like this:

HA1
13th January away against Wigston 1 (League)
20th January away against Wigston 2 (League)
25th January away against Braunstone 1 (Major League Cup)

HA2
4th January at home against Braunstone 3 (League)
18th January at home against Ashby 3 (League)

HA3
11th January at home against Oadby 1 (League)

HA2/3
25th January at home against Wigston 1 (Minor League Cup)

Cheers,

Colin