Saturday 28 January 2012

January Grades

For the first time, we have new grades in January - out today. The new grading website is at: http://ecfgrading.org.uk/

RefNameSexAgeClub(s)CategoryStandardPreviousCategoryRapidPrevious
263015BBeach, RayMBlaby District aka Heathcote ArmsA87105D10585
106989FBooley, Graham MMBlaby District aka Heathcote ArmsA147147C141138
107208ABray, Dave JMBlaby District aka Heathcote ArmsB165170D170168
283532ABubb, Andrew DMBlaby District aka Heathcote ArmsD3340
282104HBubb, Michael AM15Blaby District aka Heathcote ArmsD4136
108975ECowley, Michael HMBlaby District aka Heathcote ArmsB154159C160153
263024CEnsor, RobMBlaby District aka Heathcote ArmsB134128E146
161682BGanger, RajanMBlaby District aka Heathcote ArmsA178173D174171
112216CHarrison, Peter KMBlaby District aka Heathcote ArmsB149149E163151
112575JHewitt, Sean DMWidnesA156158E150150
250159EManger, John DMBlaby District aka Heathcote ArmsA133119D130
263017FRicketts, Dave CMBlaby District aka Heathcote ArmsC9393D9496
272934KRoss, ColinMBlaby District aka Heathcote ArmsA120118D9493
283533CSanders, GaryMBlaby District aka Heathcote ArmsE4450
118781JSharpe, Graham JMBlaby District aka Heathcote ArmsB195181D192191

Thursday 26 January 2012

HA1 (3-1.5) Braunstone 1

HA1 won in their Major League Cup fixture on Tuesday.

24 JanHeathcote Arms 1vBraunstone 1GD
3 - 1-31
Handicap0 - ½
3 - 1½
1B181Sharpe, Graham½ - ½Robinson, John169-12
2W170Bray, Dave1 - 0Salisbury, Michael167-3
3B173Ganger, Rajan1 - 0Colburn, Paul155-18
4W159Cowley, Michael½ - ½Bingham, James1612

Wednesday 25 January 2012

Minor League Cup Team Lose on Handicap

Fairly evenly matched sides, in the third round of the Minor League Cup, meant only a half point handicap difference - in favour of Braunstone. This proved to be enough to swing things Braunstone's way though as we drew 2-2 over the boards. Dave lost first to Paul Martin, Ray then to Toby Hoch. I went a pawn up, then two, and my opponent resigned in the end game with a rook and knight against my rook, bishop and two pawns. Rob had a knight and six pawns against his opponent's bishop and five pawns and won on time with ten minutes to spare.

24 JanBraunstone 2vHeathcote Arms 3GD
2 - 216
Handicap½ - 0
2½ - 2
1W125Hall, Nick0 - 1Ensor, Rob1283
2B110Hill, Cyril0 - 1Ross, Colin1188
3W100Hoch, Toby1 - 0Raymondov1055
4B93Martin, Paul1 - 0Haka Dave930

Next Tuesday (31st January), HA1 play at home against Braunstone 2, and HA3 play at home against Syston 3.

Rob will be leaving us in about three weeks. He has agreed to play us all in a sim before he goes.

Well done everyone,

Colin.

Saturday 21 January 2012

Oadby Vs HA3

Haka Dave was the first to finish with an early checkmate. In the post game analysis, Dave described this as a sucker punch, but all his pieces seemed to be working together and had been pointed at his opponent's king.
Michael had been material up and looked the favourite in his game, but let this slip away. There were some serious tactical chances focussing on the f7 square in the opening. Drew was struggling from early on. Gordon had been even well into his game, but then gave a rook away.

I was able to grind out a win against Don Candlin. Last to finish was Ray who agreed to Mike Thornton's offer of a draw in an even position.
Well done everyone. This Oadby side (although missing its usual top board player) was one of the strongest we have met this season.

19 JanOadby 1vHeathcote Arms 3
3½ - 2½
1B126Candlin, Don0 - 1Ross, Colin118
2W100Thornton, Mike½ - ½Raymondov105
3B100Jagdev, Sam0 - 1Haka Dave93
4W98Glenton, Ivor1 - 0Milner, Gordon60
5B96Williams, Ted1 - 0Bubb, Michael36
6W70Gutteridge, John1 - 0Bubb, Andrew40

Next week has been set aside for League Cup matches. On Tuesday, HA1 play at home against Braunstone 1, and HA3 play away against Braunstone 2.

Well done everyone,

Colin.

Friday 20 January 2012

Willowbrook 2 Vs Heathcote Arms 1

Graham B Reports:
Never take anything for granted. Although we out graded the opposition by between 30 and 50 points on each board, Dave and Mike decided to make hard work of it.

Raj and I won quite quickly (my opponent gave me his queen after 9 moves) but Dave gave a pawn away for nothing, managed to win it back but in doing so everything came off and he was left with an equal king and pawn ending.

Mike fluked a draw by repetition because his opponent didn't realize he was winning and seemed happy to take a draw against a higher grade.

The only interesting game was Graham S which went down to the last few seconds. It all looked very blockaded with 6 pawns each, 2 rooks and opposite colored Bishops, but a slight positional error by his opponent allowed Graham to get his bishop behind enemy lines and win a pawn, and push on for the win.   

A better start to the new year than last season.

Graham B



19 JanWillowbrook 2vHeathcote Arms 1
1 - 4
1B150Hart, Gavin0 - 1Sharpe, Graham181
2W135Pratt, Dave0 - 1Ganger, Rajan173
3B130Collins, RF (Bob)½ - ½Bray, Dave170
4W128Busby, Michael½ - ½Cowley, Michael159
5B94Adams, Mick0 - 1Booley, Graham147

Thursday 19 January 2012

Syston 1 (2-2) Heathcote Arms 2

Peter the President Reports:

We drew 2-2 . Their board 1 couldn't play because of personal reasons. They were a player short, so we all moved up one and, unfortunately, Ray didn't get a game . I withstood Ben's onslaught - when we put the clocks back he'd got more time than he started with! Rob lost the exchange and the game to Cyril and John ran out of time against Rob Stone after losing a piece and then winning it back.

Peter the President

17 JanSyston 1vHeathcote Arms 2
2 - 2
1B137Pourmozafari, Ben0 - 1Harrison, Peter149
2W133Johnson, Cyril1 - 0Ensor, Rob128
3B113Stone, Robert1 - 0Manger, John119
4W?**DEFAULT**0 - 1Beach, Ray105

Friday 13 January 2012

Ashby 4 (5-1) HA3

As Ben noted in his blog, the University did not show on Tuesday.

10 JanHeathcote Arms 2vLeicester University 1
4 - 0
1B?1 - 0**MATCH DEFAULTED**?
2W?1 - 0**MATCH DEFAULTED**?
3B?1 - 0**MATCH DEFAULTED**?
4W?1 - 0**MATCH DEFAULTED**?


On Thursday evening, Ashby 4 had been good enough to agree to six boards in our HA3 match against them. Ashby are in a similar position to us with lots of new and improving players eager for games.

We literally started the evening with our backs against the wall. A bit later in the evening, our backs were metaphorically against the wall too.

Haka Dave and Michael both finished with losses at 8.20PM, Gary and Gordon both followed. Drew and myself were the last to finish and both managed draws. So, a decent evening of chess with some friendly hosts, but a 5-1 loss. Neil Roberts, the Ashby 4 Captain, has suggested another six, or even a seven, board return match when they come to us in a few weeks from now.

12 Jan Ashby 4 v Heathcote Arms 3
5 - 1
1 B 111 Jones, Peter ½ - ½ Ross, Colin 118
2 W 105 Williams, Richard 1 - 0 Ricketts, Dave 93
3 B 80 Brindley, Jonathan 1 - 0 Milner, Gordon 60
4 W 80 Roberts, Neil 1 - 0 Sanders, Gary 50
5 B 80 Holmes, Stephen 1 - 0 Bubb, Michael 36
6 W 55 Nicholson, Brian ½ - ½ Bubb, Andrew 40

League matches next week:

Tuesday 17th, Syston 1 Vs HA2
Thursday 19th, Willowbrook 2 Vs HA1
Thursday 19th, (A very strong) Oadby Vs HA3

Well done everyone,

Colin.

Thursday 12 January 2012

University's No Show Used For My Gain

Tuesday the 10th rolled around, and considering that I had nothing better to do, I decided to roll over to Heathcote Arms for two reasons:

1) To scope out the new Leicester University side and 2) To see some old friendly faces (Old and friendly used in no particular order)

Come 745pm, nobody had showed up from the University side and Raymondov, The Grinder, were amongst the familiar faces, looking forward to what was a re-match with the Uni side. I also realised that in the blog about the Leicester congress, I had said that I was looking forward to seeing the Heathcote players in a league match or two. I since realised that Wigston 5 are not in the Heathcote 2 or 3's division. (Note to self, check facts before posting).

Well, it appears that the Uni side had disappeared to Wyld-land, (coined from Haka Dave). Standing in the bar with the Grinder and Raymondov, we decided to play a friendly or two. This was after various quips about coming to see the 'Masters in action' at Heathcote.
Raymondov paired with The Grinder.

There were two faces that I wasn't familiar with (One was called Peter I think)
Peter reported that he had a text from Colin to say that the Uni had let Heathcote know at 805 that they weren't coming due to it not being the Uni's term time. Fair enough I suppose, but there must be some form of gag in there. Term-initis? Uni-itis. Nasty diseases.

A chap called Gordon showed up too, just looking for friendlies I guess, so I was paired with him.
Two games of pretty poor chess resulted in me beating Gordon twice, once as white, once as black.
Gordon was a very nice chap and was very gracious in defeat.

I then wandered over to the Raymondov vs Grinder game to see a very interesting position. Pawns in the middle, pieces developed and just as I joined, The Grinder trapped Ray's Bishop (Ray could have gotten out of it, but didn't see it) - (Like everybody else, I am brilliant when I am watching games, less than brilliant when playing them). The Grinder doubled his rooks, picked his rook up to exchange and realised that this was not as good a move as it should be. Ray created a mate threat, with a Queen in front of a Bishop and then used his Queen to proceed to check John's King with forks, removing a pawn and a Knight and John knocked his King over. (He may have wanted to pick it up and throw it across the room given that he was probably slightly better positionally).
After having a nice conversation and catch up with Ray and John, having a joke or 10 on the way, I left the Heathcote Arms feeling like I seen some friendly faces and won a chess duel.
Job done

Ben Vaughan
Wigston Chess Club

Monday 2 January 2012

Happy New Year

Happy New Year Everyone.

There will be a club night down at the Heathcote this Tuesday.

Maybe we will see you there. Any new players welcome.

Colin.