County Champs Update, Pairs, and Chess in May

Last night we had the first round of the Minor, Major, and Challengers sections of the County Championships.

Ray was the first HA player to finish, having agreed to a draw offer from Dennis Wilkins.

I then managed a surprise win against the comparatively strong Jez Wells (136).



 

With the black pieces, I had been feeling quite comfortable. White had just played 17 Nc5. From here, i completely ruined my game with 17...Bxc5, 18 dxc5 Qxc5, 19 Bxf6 resulting in a discovered attack on my queen and both of my rooks being forked.

 

... some time later...

 

 

 

 

I had just played 28...Rg8 and offered a draw. My opponent replied with a firm 'No' and then played 29 Qe5. This allowed 29...Nf3+ forking king and queen with the pawn unable to take. Jez resigned straight away.

 

It is surprising how often i have my draw offers refused only for my opponent to blow up immediately afterwards.

 

The last game in the room to finish was Haka Dave against Roy Lathwood. Dave had held the upper hand earlier, but things deteriorated later on. Afterwards Roy remarked to Dave that ''You were 5-0 up at half time''. 

 

Results were:

 

Ray Beach (90) Draw Dennis Wilkins (110)

Dave Ricketts (99) 0-1 Roy Lathwood (117)

Jez Wells (136) 0-1 Colin Ross (102)

 

On Tuesday 10th May, at the Arms, we have the George Winterton Pairs Competition against the Red Admiral. We are expecting 7 Red Admiral players. As with last year, pairs will be in order of strength and we will use Harrod/Wylie time controls and the pairs on each board (also as in the Harrod/Wylie Cups) will play one game with black and one game with white. There will be some hot food at half time (curry maybe?).

 

There is a lot going on this month:

 

10th May George Winterton Pairs Competition.

11th May HA1 play in the Wylie

17th May Heathcote Arms 2 (actually HA3) at home against Wigston, Chapman Cup

24th May Heathcote Arms at home against Wigston, Harrod Cup

25th May Leicestershire and Rutland Chess Association AGM

31st May Club AGM.

 

In addition, Heathcote Arms 1 (actually HA2) will also be playing in the Chapman Cup, at home, against Shepshed on either the 17th or 24th May.

 

We have put some links on the website (on the right hand side). These include a link to the Master Game programmes that have recently appeared on you tube. Programmes from 1980,81 and 82 are being added over time. The 1981 final between a 15 year old Nigel Short and a stressed out Tony Miles is well worth a look. Besides the links, we have also put a counter on the website. We had over 500 hits last month - so someone is obviously visiting our site.

 

Well done everyone,

 

Colin.