HA3 (1-3) Ashby 4

First match of the new season for HA3. We opted to play the new shorter 80 minute time control. It was all over by 9PM.

07 Oct		Heathcote Arms 3		v	Ashby 4
				1 - 3
1	B	108	Ross, Colin	1 - 0	Brown, Mick	99
2	W	80	Roberts, Bill	0 - 1	Roberts, Neil	80
3	B	40	Milner, Gordon	0 - 1	Lassetter, Neil	75
4	W	40	Williams, Oliver	0 - 1	Worrow-Goodin, George	60

Mick Brown let me off the hook by trapping his bishop.



Colin

Ross Vs Dawkins CCs (Major)

I have not posted anything in ages, but could not resist this. From last night, my best win in a long time:



Colin

Colin's CC Second Round Games; Harrod Cup Second Round

A poor show from me in the second round of the major:



I scraped a draw in the second round of the minor:



Our Harrod and 2nd Chapman Cup team were both due to play last Thursday. Dave and Ray had both tried really hard to get two teams together, but there were simply not enough bodies available to play all the boards. We reluctantly decided to default the Chapman match against Latimer and try to field a full Harrod Cup team.

That didn't work, however, but we did pull off an amazing win thanks to Ray and Richard's performances.

19 Jun	Kirby Muxloe 1		W - B	B - W	Heathcote Arms 1
			3½ - 4½
1	140	Walton, David	1 - 0	1 - 0	**DEFAULT**	?
2	139	Walker, John	1 - 0	0 - 1	Ross, Colin	103
3	124	Skelley, John	0 - 1	0 - 1	Beach, Ray	92
4	97	Hill, Eddie	½ - ½	0 - 1	Maconnachie, Richard	90

Apologies to the Latimer and to David Walton for not providing any resistance.

Colin

HA1 Out of Chapman in Preliminary Round

A strong HA1 needed to win convincingly against a weaker Kirby + a 2.5 point head start.
This was not to be, however. John and Gordon's opponents perhaps being stronger that their provisional grades suggest:

22 May		Kirby Muxloe 1		v	Heathcote Arms 1		GD
				2 - 2			136
Handicap				2½ - 0
				4½ - 2
1	W	76	Shaw, Peter	0 - 1	Cowley, Michael	161	50
2	B	74	Bowles, Les	0 - 1	Harrison, Peter	151	50
3	W	60	Brown, Thomas	1 - 0	Manger, John	141	50
4	B	60	Woodhall, Henry	1 - 0	Milner, Gordon	46	-14

John's Analysis from his game against Thomas Brown:

1. d4 d5  2.c4 c6  3.e3 Nf6  4.Nc3 Bf5  5.Nf3 e6  6.Qb3 Qc7 (I probably should have played Qb6 but decided I wanted to keep the queens on) 7.a3 h6  8.h3 Nbd7  9.Bd2 Be7  10.Be2 O-O  11.O-O Ne4

12.Nxe4 Bxe4 (was going to play dxe4 here then touched my bishop!)  13.Rac1 dxc4  14.Qxc4 Nb6  15.Qb3 Bd6 16.Bb4 Bd5? 17.Bxd6 Qxd6  18.Qc2 (threatens 19.e4) Bxf3  19.Bxf3 Rfd8

20.Qc5 Nd5  21.Qxd6 Rxd6  22.Bxd5 Rxd5  23.Rfd1 Rad8  24.Rd2? e5  25.Rcd1 c5  26.Kf1 cxd4

27.Ke2 Kf8  28.f4 f6 (...exf4 looks better)  29.fxe5 fxe5  30.Kf3 Ke7  31.exd4 Ke6  32.Ke4 g5

33.g4 R8d7  34.Rd3 exd4  35.Rxd4 Re5 (I knew that after 35...Rxd4  36.Rxd4 Rxd4  37.Kxd4 Kd6 the position was a dead draw, but decided to try for the win. This was unwise as I had 5 mins left to my opponent's 25 mins!)  36.Kf3 (obviously not Kd3 losing a rook) ...Rf7  37.Kg2 Re2  38.Kg3 Rxb2  39.Rd6 Ke5  40.R1d5 Ke4  41.Rd4 Ke3  42.Rd3 Ke2  43.Rc3 Rf1 (threatens 44. ...Rg1  45.Kh2 Kf1 with a discovered mate) 44.Kg2

 

At this point I stopped recording moves. The position was maybe slightly in my favour, but lack of time told and my opponent played more accurately than me over the next 15 moves or so until I resigned in a lost position with my flag about to fall.

 

There was a round of applause for Tom from everyone present (including me). I guess he is around 14 years old, and may be in his first year in the league. He played at about 120 strength in my opinion and fully deserved his win at the end. I think he is one to watch!

  

John

 

Horrid Cup 1st Round / 1st Round CCs Minor and Challengers

A loss by a narrow margin at home on Tuesday.

13 May	Heathcote Arms 1		W - B	B - W	Wigston 1
			3½ - 4½
1	185	Sharpe, Graham	1 - 0	½ - ½	Harlow, Phil	150
2	139	The Grinder	0 - 1	1 - 0	Eastlake, Charles	133
3	92	Raymondov	0 - 1	0 - 1	Hammond, Grant	114
4	78	AWOL Hacker	½ - ½	½ - ½	Vaughan, Ben	95

At Wigston on Thursday, we saw the start of the Challengers and Minor Sections of the County Championship. Although i did not see the end of it, I gather that John lost against Jim Bingham. Earlier, Ray lost to Paul Findley, and I was eventually able to finish off John McKiernan.



Next week, there will probably be a club night on Tuesday, and there will be a Chapman Cup Prelim Round Fixture away at Kirby Muxloe on Thursday.

Well done everyone,

Colin.

Broken Foot / End of Season / CCs

I fell over on Good Friday and fractured the base of my fifth metatarsal - an injury sometimes known as a Beckham fracture. It has not affected my chess playing ability, however - I am still as bad as ever. No driving for 6-8 weeks though.

Thank you to The Grinder for stepping in to oversee HA3's last match of the season:

29 Apr		Heathcote Arms 3		v	Syston 5
				2 - 2
1	B	140	Manger, John	1 - 0	Mundy, Rob	86
2	W	92	Beach, Ray	1 - 0	Agger, Reg	88
3	B	75	Loudon, Hector	0 - 1	Veitch, Robert	88
4	W	49	Milner, Gordon	0 - 1	Morelli, Nando	58

The final league tables look like this:

Division 2

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	GPD	Pts
1	Heathcote Arms 1	14	13	1	0	32	27
2	Ashby 1	14	8	3	3	9	19
3	Syston 1	14	8	1	5	5	17
4	Braunstone 2	14	6	2	6	7	14
5	Ashby 2	14	5	2	7	-7	12
6	Wigston 3	14	5	2	7	-7	12
7	Melton Mowbray 2	14	5	1	8	-10	11
8	Loughborough 2	14	0	0	14	-29	0

Division 3

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	GPD	Pts
1	Heathcote Arms 2	15	11	1	3	11	23
2	Syston 2	15	6	6	3	6	18
3	Thurnby 2	16	6	5	5	7	17
4	Latimer 1	16	7	3	6	3	17
5	Market Harborough 1	16	6	5	5	2	17
6	Ashby 3	16	7	3	6	0	17
7	Wigston 4	15	6	3	6	-1	15
8	Hinckley 1	15	3	2	10	-14	8
9	Kirby Muxloe 1	16	3	2	11	-14	8

Division 5

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	GPD	Pts
1	Braunstone 6	16	11	2	3	17	24
2	Braunstone 5	16	7	6	3	9	20
3	Syston 5	16	7	5	4	9	19
4	Wigston 6	15	9	1	5	16	19
5	Syston 4	15	6	4	5	5	16
6	Red Admiral 2	16	6	2	8	-6	14
7	Ashby 4	16	6	2	8	-5	14
8	Heathcote Arms 3	16	2	7	7	-11	11
9	Kirby Muxloe 3	16	2	1	13	-34	5

Brilliant performances from all three teams, with HA1 and HA2 both winning their divisions, and HA3 not coming last in Division 5.

Now that the league has finished, it is officially summer.

On Thursday, there was the first Round of the Open and Major Sections of the County Championship at Wigston.

Here is my game. I missed the last few moves owing to time, but I was able to force a draw through perpetual check.



Summer Cups this coming week - and more County Champ games at Wigston on Thursday.

Well done everyone,

Colin.

Kirby 3 Vs HA3

Hi All,

First blog for a while. HA3 recently travelled to Kirby Muxloe for what was essentially meant to be a six board friendly. Despite not counting, Gordon was still able to give Henry a game on board 5.

This was Hector's first outing - he fell foul of a back rank combination on board 6. Graham U was a piece down, but was able to pull a win out of the hat. Bill, Richard, and Malcolm all won on boards 1 to 3.

We had friendlies in the Skittle Alley last Tuesday, and will be doing the same again this week.

I have fractured a metatarsal, however, and may have difficulty getting down.

Colin.

10 Apr		Kirby Muxloe 3		v	Heathcote Arms 3
				2 - 4
1	B	90	Lund, Malcolm	0 - 1	Beach, Ray	92
2	W	85	Shaw, Peter	0 - 1	Maconnachie, Richard	90
3	B	70	Smith, Steven	0 - 1	Roberts, Bill	80
4	W	60	Brown, Thomas	0 - 1	Urquhart, Graham	70
5	B	60	Woodhall, Henry	1 - 0	**DEFAULT**	?
6	W	39	Richardson, Gary	1 - 0	Loudon, Hector	75

HA2 Champions in Division 3

It was announced on the LRCA website recently that HA1 have succeeded in being promoted back to Division 1.

This Tuesday, HA2 needed to win their match against Ashby 3 in order to be sure of becoming champions.

I was first to finish. My game against Vic had looked pretty even, but things fell apart a bit for my opponent after the time control.
Pete then drew; The Grinder tried his best in a King +7P against King +7P end game, but they agreed a draw. Mike then took the whole point.

01 Apr		Heathcote Arms 2		v	Ashby 3
				3 - 1
1	B	156	Harrison, Peter	½ - ½	Tipper, Christopher	139
2	W	141	Cowley, Michael	1 - 0	Reynolds, David	136
3	B	140	Manger, John	½ - ½	York, Russell	134
4	W	107	Ross, Colin	1 - 0	Armstrong, Victor	118

Well done everyone,

Colin.

March So Far...

At the time of writing HA1 is five points clear at the top of Division 2.
So confident are they of promotion that they let me play for them on board 4.
Ray played a blinder.

04 Mar		Heathcote Arms 1		v	Braunstone 2
				3 - 2
1	B	178	Sharpe, Graham	1 - 0	Salisbury, Michael	159
2	W	141	Cowley, Michael	½ - ½	Bingham, James	146
3	B	140	Manger, John	½ - ½	Wells, Jeremy	139
4	W	107	Ross, Colin	0 - 1	Reid, Conor	128
5	B	92	Beach, Ray	1 - 0	Reid, Patrick	100

A strong HA2 wins away at Kirby.

06 Mar		Kirby Muxloe 1		v	Heathcote Arms 2
				1½ - 2½
1	B	140	Walton, David	0 - 1	Bray, Dave	176
2	W	135	Gray, Paul	½ - ½	Cowley, Michael	141
3	B	125	Townsend, Ray	0 - 1	Manger, John	140
4	W	124	McEachran, Ewan	1 - 0	Beach, Ray	92

Gordon was last to finish and achieved an impressive victory over Paul Martin.

11 Mar		Heathcote Arms 3		v	Braunstone 5
				1½ - 2½
1	B	80	Roberts, Bill	0 - 1	Closs, Guy	101
2	W	70	Urquhart, Graham	0 - 1	Barlow, Steve	89
3	B	65	Harbidge, Drew	½ - ½	Chen, Qiyuan	95
4	W	49	Milner, Gordon	1 - 0	Martin, Paul	88

HA2 is three points clear in Div 3 ahead of Market Harborough 1 and looks good for the silverware.

13 Mar		Market Harborough 1		v	Heathcote Arms 2
				1 - 3
1	B	161	Ilersic, Romilly	½ - ½	Ganger, Rajan	183
2	W	139	Oppenheim, Charles	0 - 1	Bray, Dave	176
3	B	121	Hatton, Paul	0 - 1	Booley, Graham	153
4	W	102	King, Robert	½ - ½	Manger, John	140

Tonight (Tuesday 18/03/14), HA1 are at home to Syston 1, and HA3 play at home against Braunstone 6 over 5 boards.

Well done everyone,

Colin.

Digital Clocks are Rubbish

I was playing board four for HA2 at home last Tuesday against Syston 2. The first result was a draw for Graham B on Board 2. The next result was a loss from me. I didn't quite believe it at first, but Rob still had 39 minutes left, and I had used up all my time despite being material up.
I went home early in disgust, but had a quick look at how Pete and the Grinder were doing - both appeared to have their work cut out. The results have not been posted on the site yet so I am not sure how they finished.




The only match this week is HA2 at home this evening (Tuesday 25th).

Well done everyone,

Colin.

Red Admiral 2 (3.5-3.5) Heathcote Arms 3

A pleasant evening in the Red Admiral Skittle Alley where we played 7 boards. Our bottom boards did rather well. Things were a bit tougher further up the order. Richard looked good for the win, but blundered towards the end. As usual, my game was the last to finish - game below.

12/02/14

Red Admiral 2 Vs Heathcote Arms 3

1 B 125 Adam Ant 0.5 - 0.5 Not so big boss 107
2 W 105 Andy Carter 1-0 Raymondov (92)
3 B 094 Stan the Man 1-0 Richard Maconnachie (80)
4 W091 Mick Slater 1-0 AWOL Hacker (78)
5 B 090 Ed Findley 0-1 Graham Urquhart (80)
6 W 060 Ben Cunnold 0-1 Drew Harbidge
7 B 050 Stephen Matts 0-1 Golf Man (50)



Well done everyone,

Colin.

HA1 & HA3 Last Week and This

We arrived at Syston to find that they did not have a team. Ray and I were outplayed, however, and the match was drawn 2-2 (but we still got a point!):

04 Feb		Syston 4		v	Heathcote Arms 3
				2 - 2
1	B	102	Leonard, John	1 - 0	Ross, Colin	107
2	W	96	Martin, Maurice	1 - 0	Beach, Ray	92
3	B	?	**DEFAULT**	0 - 1	Urquhart, Graham	80
4	W	?	**DEFAULT**	0 - 1	Harbidge, Drew	65

Another great result for HA1 on the Thursday.

06 Feb		Ashby 2		v	Heathcote Arms 1
				1½ - 3½
1	B	156	Vann, Richard	0 - 1	Thethi, Pritpal S	183
2	W	157	Evans, Roy	½ - ½	Bray, Dave	176
3	B	144	Hayden, Lawrence	½ - ½	Harrison, Peter	156
4	W	139	Tipper, Christopher	0 - 1	Cowley, Michael	141
5	B	136	Reynolds, David	½ - ½	Manger, John	140

Tonight (11.2.14), HA1 are at home to Wigston 3; and tomorrow night HA3 are away against Red Admiral 2, where we will be playing at least 6 and possibly 7 boards (and it always feels good to beat them).

Well done everyone,

Colin.

January 2014 ECF grades

The January 2014 Grades have been issued by the ECF, and are available on their website.

http://www.englishchess.org.uk/grading/database/

and search on Blaby for the club.

Mike Cowley has made the early (and strong) running to win the David Ward Cup for the biggest grade improvement in the 12 month period through to the summer, as in this half year he has improved his grade by 20 points.  A great result & well done to him.

Results to End of January.

Some recent results:


HA1 leads Division 2 by 4 points.

21 Jan		Braunstone 2		v	Heathcote Arms 1
				1½ - 3½
1	B	159	Salisbury, Michael	0 - 1	Sharpe, Graham	178
2	W	154	Hanscombe, Richard	1 - 0	Thethi, Pritpal S	183
3	B	141	Sandrovitch, David	0 - 1	Ganger, Rajan	183
4	W	146	Bingham, James	0 - 1	Bray, Dave	176
5	B	127	Hamby, Stephen	½ - ½	Mad Mike	141

HA3 is only second from bottom of Division 5. Good performance here.

21 Jan		Heathcote Arms 3		v	Ashby 4
				3 - 1
1	B	92	Raymondov	1 - 0	Brown, Mick	87
2	W	80	Urquhart, Graham	0 - 1	Williams, Richard	86
3	B	80	Roberts, Bill	1 - 0	Roberts, Neil	80
4	W	78	AWOL Hacker	1 - 0	Nicholson, Brian	59

HA2 is at the top of Division 3 by a point.

22 Jan		Thurnby 2		v	Heathcote Arms 2
				1½ - 2½
1	B	155	Pattinson, John	1 - 0	Peter the President	156
2	W	148	Hart, Gavin	0 - 1	Mad Mike	141
3	B	137	Busby, Michael	0 - 1	The Grinder	140
4	W	130	Tate, Michael	½ - ½	Big Boss	107

30 Jan		Hinckley 1		v	Heathcote Arms 2
				1 - 3
1	B	128	Phillips, Howard	1 - 0	Peter the President	156
2	W	113	Radesk, Brian	0 - 1	Mad Mike	141
3	B	109	Smith, Jason	0 - 1	The Grinder	140
4	W	108	Clay, Terry	0 - 1	Big Boss	107

Here are my two recent games. Both involved a certain amount of jam:








Tonight, HA3 play away at Syston.
On Thursday, HA1 play away at Ashby.

Well done everyone,

Colin.

Recent Results and Fixtures for this Week.

 By drawing with Ashby, HA1 maintain a three point lead at the top of Div 2.

16 Jan		Ashby 1		v	Heathcote Arms 1
				2½ - 2½
1	B	185	Agnew, Alan	½ - ½	Sharpe, Graham	178
2	W	177	Dove, Tom	½ - ½	Hewitt, Sean	166
3	B	156	Vann, Richard	½ - ½	Booley, Graham	153
4	W	157	Evans, Roy	½ - ½	Peter the President	156
5	B	144	Hayden, Lawrence	½ - ½	Mad Mike	141

HA3, however, got absolutely panned.

14 Jan		Heathcote Arms 3		v	Wigston 6
				½ - 5½
1	B	92	Raymondov	0 - 1	French, Barry	115
2	W	80	Maconnachie, Richard	½ - ½	Winterton, Paul	111
3	B	80	Urquhart, Graham	0 - 1	Hammond, Grant	109
4	W	78	AWOL Hacker	0 - 1	McKiernan, John	110
5	B	65	Harbidge, Drew	0 - 1	Poulacheris, Darren	102
6	W	49	Golf Man	0 - 1	Ben Wotsisname	104

Tonight, HA3 are at home to Ashby 4, whilst HA1 are away to Braunstone 2.

On Wednesday, HA2 are away at Thurnby 2.

Colin

All 3 Teams in Action this week

Let me start by apologising to those people who went to the Arms on Tuesday instead of to Braunstone. This was my fault.

Having torn across town to beat the 8PM default cut off, HA3 were able to draw the match. Richard won his second game for us, and Drew was able to draw against impressive opposition.

07 Jan		Braunstone 5		v	Heathcote Arms 3
				2 - 2
1	B	101	Closs, Guy	½ - ½	Beach, Ray	92
2	W	89	Barlow, Steve	0 - 1	Maconnachie, Richard	80
3	B	95	Chen, Qiyuan	½ - ½	Harbidge, Drew	65
4	W	60	Lo, Matthew	1 - 0	Milner, Gordon	49

HA1 were on fine form at home. This was Pritpal's first game for us - which he followed up with a blindfold game against Stewart.

07 Jan		Heathcote Arms 1		v	Loughborough 2
				4½ - ½
1	B	178	Sharpe, Graham	½ - ½	Glover, John	139
2	W	183	Thethi, Pritpal S	1 - 0	Hickman, Peter	126
3	B	176	Bray, Dave	1 - 0	Adcock, Terry	121
4	W	156	Harrison, Peter	1 - 0	Gordon, Stewart	52
5	B	141	Cowley, Michael	1 - 0	**DEFAULT**	?

I was the weakest link away at Ashby on Thursday when I gave away a free pawn in what had been a very drawish position.

09 Jan		Ashby 3		v	Heathcote Arms 2
				2½ - 1½
1	B	142	Gibson, Paul	1 - 0	Harrison, Peter	156
2	W	136	Reynolds, David	½ - ½	Booley, Graham	153
3	B	134	York, Russell	0 - 1	Manger, John	140
4	W	118	Armstrong, Victor	1 - 0	Ross, Colin	107

This coming week, HA2 has a rest; HA3 play at home on Tuesday against Wigston 6 (where there may even be a chance to see the Lesser Spotted Ricketts), and HA1 play away at Ashby on Thursday.

Well done everyone.

Colin