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.