HA3 (1-3) Leicester University 2

12 Dec		Heathcote Arms 3			v		Leicester University 2
				1	–	3
1	B	122	Ross, Colin	0	–	1	Ammon, Dominik	138
2	W	94	Maconnachie, Richard	0	–	1	Lyon, Alexander	124
3	B	92	Roberts, Bill	0	–	1	Lichnovsky, Marian	100
4	W	90	Harbidge, Drew	1	–	0d	(Default)

Colin

HA3 (2-2) Ashby 4

05 Dec		Heathcote Arms 3			v		Ashby 4
				2	–	2
1	B	122	Ross, Colin	0	–	1	Wilson, Andrew	97
2	W	94	Maconnachie, Richard	1	–	0	Lassetter, Neil	94
3	B	92	Roberts, Bill	1	–	0	Brown, Mick	84
4	W	39	Milner, Gordon	0	–	1	Hart, Jake	83

In my game, Andrew seemed determined to lose on time despite having the better position. I was 30 minutes ahead, but despite this, on both moves 56 and 57, I missed a mate in one with Rxh2#. Ay Caramba!
Good wins for both Richard and Bill.



Colin

Red Admiral (2-2) HA3

A pleasant evening at the Red Admiral finished with a drawn match and both teams at the bottom of the table.

29 Nov		Red Admiral			v		Heathcote Arms 3
				2	–	2
1	B	133	Johnson, Andy	0	–	1	Ross, Colin	122
2	W	96	Matts, Stephen	1	–	0	Roberts, Bill	92
3	B	91	Slater, Mick	0	–	1	Maconnachie, Richard	94
4	W	90	Carter, Andy	1	–	0	Harbidge, Drew	90

Here was my game against Andy Johnson.



Colin

HA3 Not Bottom of the Table Anymore.

31 Oct		Heathcote Arms 3			v		Wigston 4
				2	–	2
1	B	122	Ross, Colin	1	–	0	Eastlake, Charles	118
2	W	92	Roberts, Bill	0	–	1	Woods, Trevor	99
3	B	94	Maconnachie, Richard	0	–	1	Kershaw, Harry	89
4	W	90	Harbidge, Drew	1	–	0	McKiernan, John	87

Last night, HA3 took its first step towards its main mission for the season - namely finishing above Red Admiral in the table. Gordon, our non-playing Captain, had a plan. Hooray - a point!

My game below against Charles Eastlake was rather sharp.



Colin

Atkins Rapidplay

On Sunday 15.10.17 Ray, John and I competed in the latest version of the Atkins. This was a six round Rapid Play Swiss held at Leicester Grammar School in Great Glen. This was a nice venue and there was a decent turnout. Time control was 20 minutes plus 10 seconds per move from the start.

One of the highlights was Hebden (with White) K+Q+P winning against Dong K+Q in a game that lasted around 50 minutes.

I was very pleased to jointly win the Minor with 5/6.

Sorry, no games recorded.

Results available at: https://leicestershirejuniorchess.com/chess/Atkins/2017/Open/

Colin.

Syston 1 (4.5-0.5) HA1

On Tuesday, I was drafted in as a sub for HA1 against a seriously strong Syston 1 team.

I opened with the Ruy Lopez. Black played 8...d5, a move known as the Marshall Attack. The idea of the Marshall is that black sacrifices a pawn for development and then throws everything at White's kingside. This was the first time that I had faced it. My queenside pieces became trapped and I did not get time to untangle them and bring them into the game. Some homework required.



Graham B was a pawn up, but running short on time. He had at least a draw, but then made an error (I made the same mistake as I played along in my head).

10 Oct		Syston 1			v		Heathcote Arms 1
				4½	–	½
1	B	242	Hebden, Mark	1	–	0	Sharpe, Graham	177
2	W	186	Galligan, Brian	½	–	½	Bray, Dave	177
3	B	178	Taylor, Robert	1	–	0	Booley, Graham	149
4	W	181	Naylor, John	1	–	0	Manger, John	139
5	B	167	Robinson, John	1	–	0	Ross, Colin	122

Market Harborough were also playing Syston 3. I watched a very exciting finish between Ian Clarke and Ben Pourmozafari. Ben had over 30 minutes in hand to Ian's 2 minutes, and eventually seconds. Both sides were pushing pawns towards the end of the board. It ended with Ben's King jumping around six squares into a corner out of harm's way.

It is the Atkins Rapidplay Tournament this Sunday.

Colin.

Braunstone 2 (3.5 - 0.5) HA3

03 Oct		Braunstone 2			v		Heathcote Arms 3
				3½	–	½
1	B	120	Closs, Guy	½	–	½	Ross, Colin	122
2	W	124	Reid, Patrick	1	–	0	Maconnachie, Richard	94
3	B	105	Gulab, Vijay	1	–	0	Harbidge, Drew	90
4	W	96	Barlow, Steve	1	–	0	Milner, Gordon	39

Ray was also present as a supporter. The match was perhaps not as one sided as the score suggests. Gordon played well on board 4 and he and Steve were the last to finish.



Against me, Guy missed a win with 42...Qe1+ picking up the Bishop. I was so relieved that he missed this, that I offered a draw following my next move. My best hope was Qf8 followed by Qg7#, but getting the time to make these moves was far from certain. 



Colin

County Champs (Minor) 5th Round

After round 4, I was on 4 points, but could still be caught by Granville Hill and Les Corlett - both on 3 points. For round 5, I was drawn with the white pieces against Granville. In order to retain the Minor title I would have to at least draw. If I lost, I would have had to playoff against Granville; and if I lost and Les won, there would have been a playoff between Granville, Les and myself.

I had played Granville twice before. I had been white both times and Granville had played the Sicilian both times, so I had spent the last week preparing for a Sicilian. This turned out to be a waste of time since, on the night, he met e4 with the Scandinavian Defence.

Things started badly. I made poor opening moves, moved my queen twice and allowed my king to get stuck in the middle of the board with a centralised rook and queen bearing down on it. Granville had an active position and things were not looking at all good for me.

On the next board, Les demolished Charles Eastlake in seven moves.

Fortunately for me, Granville blundered on move 16. He had meant to retake my bishop with his rook, but picked up his knight in error. This left me a piece up and I was able to hang on.


Also in the Minor, Ray won against Harry Kershaw; and Gordon's opponent did not appear.
John lost to Jim Bingham in the Challengers and this sealed the section for Jim.

Heathcote play in the 5th round of the Harrod at Ashby on the 14th.

Colin.

Harrod Cup 4th Round

22 Aug	Heathcote Arms		W	–	B		B	–	W	Wigston
			3			–	5
1	182	Sharpe, Graham	1	–	0		1	–	0	Dawkins, Stuart	119
2	109	Ross, Colin	0	–	1		0	–	1	Chalashkanov, Nikola	115
3	83	Roberts, Bill	0	–	1		1	–	0	Kershaw, Harry	118
4	85	Beach, Ray	0	–	1		0	–	1	Woods, Trevor	114

A bad day at the office. Rapidplay, so unfortunately no moves recorded.

Colin

Well done COLIN  4 wins I think you have retained  the  cup

Philidor's Legacy

I am not around on the 10th, so John Oliver and I played our 4th round Minor game at the Heathcote Arms on Tuesday. Ray came down to watch.



Colin

Harrod Cup Third Round & County Champs Third Round.

Following wins in the first two rounds, we faced a perfectly selected 500 grade Ashby team on Tuesday. It looked very much like we were going to lose until John pulled off a quite excellent save with only seconds left on his clock.

11 Jul	Heathcote Arms		W	–	B		B	–	W	Ashby 2
			4			–	4
1	182	Sharpe, Graham	0	–	1		1	–	0	Dove, Tom	173
2	127	Manger, John	0	–	1		1	–	0	Gibson, Paul	146
3	109	Ross, Colin	1	–	0		1	–	0	Worrow-Goodin, George	97
4	39	Milner, Gordon	0	–	1		0	–	1	Hart, Jake	84

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	GPD	Pts
1	Heathcote Arms	3	2	1	0	2	5
2	Wigston	2	2	0	0	9	4
3	Ashby 1	2	2	0	0	3	4
4	Ashby 2	3	1	1	1	1	3
5	Kirby Muxloe	3	1	0	2	3	2
6	Loughborough	3	1	0	2	2	2
7	Melton Mowbray	2	1	0	1	0	2
8	Syston	2	1	0	1	-2	2
9	Latimer	3	1	0	2	-6	2

On Thursday, several of us were in action in the CCs at Wigston. Ray beat Gordon. Bill lost. Graham S won. I beat John McKiernan, who I last met in the play off for last year's Minor.





Colin

Birstall Cup Match at Loughborough

Already knocked out of the Chapman Cup, things did not go any better in the Birstall. There was no handicap. I lost early to Peter Hickman. Game below:




Ray then lost too. John won, but then Mike was in time trouble in this position with the black pieces. Mike took the pawn on g6 and lost to h7 - it cannot be stopped. Can you see anything better for black?

 

05 Jul		Loughborough 2			v		Heathcote Arms		GD
				3	–	1			-19
Handicap				0	–	0
				3	–	1
1	W	158	Miller, James	1	–	0	Cowley, Michael	148	-10
2	B	119	Adcock, Terry	0	–	1	Manger, John	141	22
3	W	112	Hickman, Peter	1	–	0	Ross, Colin	112	0
4	B	119	Adcock, Michael	1	–	0	Beach, Ray	88	-31

Tuesday, we are home in the Harrod against Ashby and on Thursday it is the County Championship.

Colin

CCs Minor (Round 2) Bill Vs Colin

In Round 2 of the Minor, Bill and I were drawn against each other. I am not around next week, so we played our game early. I was up against it in the middle-game, but hung on. After white's 23rd move, we were equal on material and Bill offered me a draw, but by then I felt I had the edge and was able to convert the point.




Afterwards, we watched the exciting 0 - 1 conclusion of Graham Sharpe Vs Shabir Okhai in the Open. Graham B was around too, playing Sherif Gonem, but I did not get to see any of that game.

Next Thursday, in the Minor, Ray plays Andy Carter and Gordon plays Paul Martin and John is down to play Jez Wells in the Challengers. 

Good luck everyone.

Colin.

Two of Colin's Recent Games

The first below, was my final league game of the season. Kirby Muxloe 3 Vs HA3. I am afraid that I mis-recorded a few moves and even with the aid of opponent's score sheet, I could not quite make sense of the ending. I have entered all the moves that I am certain of here.  What I can say is that I did have the upper hand with around 10 minutes left on the clock, and my opponent with 27 seconds, when I made an illegal move at around move 60. We put the clock back 2 minutes, and then my position disintegrated.

04 May		Kirby Muxloe 3			v		Heathcote Arms 3
				4	–	1
1	B	105	Kruitbosch, Gijs	1	–	0	Ross, Colin	96
2	W	107	Hill, Eddie	1	–	0	Beach, Ray	81
3	B	59	Bowles, Les	0	–	1	Maconnachie, Richard	93
4	W	50	Apgarth, Osian	1	–	0	Roberts, Bill	76
5	B	17	Gonzaga, Edda	1	–	0	Milner, Gordon	38

We finished the season in second place.

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	GPD	Pts
1	Ashby 4	16	10	3	3	21	23
2	Heathcote Arms 3	16	9	3	4	9	21
3	Melton Mowbray 4	16	7	5	4	5	19
4	Braunstone 5	16	8	3	5	2	17*
5	Ashby 5	16	6	4	6	4	16
6	Red Admiral	16	4	6	6	-3	13*
7	Melton Mowbray 5	16	6	0	10	-14	12
8	Kirby Muxloe 3	16	4	3	9	-11	11
9	Oadby	16	2	5	9	-13	7*

The County Championships have started. Ray and I know each others games very well and it is always difficult playing him.



Also in the Minor, Bill scored an impressive win against Andy Carter. Gordon had played well, but eventually lost to John McKiernan. 

Colin.

Hi would like to thank all the players  who played for the 3rd team  this season well done all of you 2nd was brilliant thanks ray

A Couple of Colin's Recent Games

I have not been around much for a couple of weeks. My two most recent games. First a draw:

The next was a technical king and pawn draw, but I still managed to lose. My first loss in the league all season. See if you can spot what I should have done to save the half point.
　

With one match to play, HA3 look set for second place in Division 5

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	GPD	Pts
1	Ashby 4	15	10	3	2	23	23
2	Heathcote Arms 3	15	9	3	3	12	21
3	Melton Mowbray 4	16	7	5	4	5	19
4	Ashby 5	16	6	4	6	4	16
5	Braunstone 5	15	7	3	5	0	15*
6	Melton Mowbray 5	15	6	0	9	-12	12
7	Red Admiral	15	3	6	6	-5	11*
8	Kirby Muxloe 3	15	3	3	9	-14	9
9	Oadby	16	2	5	9	-13	7*

Colin

HA3 (4-0) Melton 5

21 Mar		Heathcote Arms 3			v		Melton Mowbray 5
				4	–	0
1	B	96	Ross, Colin	1	–	0	Martin, Steve	85
2	W	88	Harbidge, Drew	1	–	0	Smith, Peter	80
3	B	81	Beach, Ray	1	–	0	Freeman, Trevor	80
4	W	76	Roberts, Bill	1	–	0	Walton, Alison	66

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	GPD	Pts
1	Heathcote Arms 3	13	8	3	2	10	19
2	Melton Mowbray 4	13	6	5	2	11	17
3	Ashby 4	11	7	2	2	15	16
4	Ashby 5	14	5	4	5	1	14
5	Braunstone 5	13	6	2	5	-1	14
6	Melton Mowbray 5	14	5	0	9	-13	10
7	Red Admiral	12	2	5	5	-5	9
8	Oadby	13	2	4	7	-9	8
9	Kirby Muxloe 3	11	2	3	6	-9	7

We are at the top of the table with three matches to go. Melton 4, Ashby 4 and Braunstone 5 are all within striking distance.

Colin

HA3 (2-2) Ashby 5

14 Mar		Heathcote Arms 3			v		Ashby 5
				2	–	2
1	B	96	Ross, Colin	1	–	0	Griffiths, Mike	97
2	W	93	Maconnachie, Richard	1	–	0	Brown, Mick	96
3	B	81	Beach, Ray	0	–	1	Lassetter, Neil	90
4	W	38	Milner, Gordon	0	–	1	Roberts, Neil	76

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	GPD	Pts
1	Melton Mowbray 4	13	6	5	2	11	17
2	Heathcote Arms 3	12	7	3	2	6	17
3	Ashby 4	11	7	2	2	15	16
4	Braunstone 5	12	6	2	4	3	14
5	Ashby 5	13	4	4	5	-3	12
6	Melton Mowbray 5	13	5	0	8	-9	10
7	Red Admiral	12	2	5	5	-5	9
8	Oadby	13	2	4	7	-9	8
9	Kirby Muxloe 3	11	2	3	6	-9	7

 4 matches left now. It is getting a bit tight at the top of Div 5.

Well done everyone.

Colin

"Time Waits For No Man"

HA3 had a good evening at Braunstone.

The first result in was a loss for Richard with the black pieces. I then beat John Oliver who had lost a couple of pawns early on. The last two games literally went the distance with both flags dropping. See the image at the end for the final position in Gordon's game. Bill's opponent refused a draw offer when both had only a few minutes left on the clock.

28 Feb		Braunstone 5			v		Heathcote Arms 3
				1	–	3
1	B	105	Oliver, John	0	–	1	Ross, Colin	96
2	W	101	Read, Barry	1	–	0	Maconnachie, Richard	93
3	B	100	Hall, Nick	0	–	1	Roberts, Bill	76
4	W	87	Martin, Paul	0	–	1	Milner, Gordon	38

We ended with the same result as Leicester City against Liverpool the night before.

Here is my game against John Oliver:




Here was the final position from Paul and Gordon's game. White to move when the flag dropped.

 

 

Well done everyone,

 

 

Colin.

Sorry guys i should have put against braunstone again GREAT

Well done  all great result ray

HA3 (3-1) Red Admiral

Red Admiral are struggling a bit to get a team out at the moment and, unfortunately they had to default on one of the boards. This gave us a point, but left Gordon without a game.
Stan Parsons, with his make them up as he goes along openings, is always tricky to play against and this was too much for Ray on the knight. Bill was victorious with his opponent having refused an earlier draw offer. Mick made me work for it, but I was able to recover a win.

14 Feb		Heathcote Arms 3			v		Red Admiral
				3	–	1
1	B	96	Ross, Colin	1	–	0	Slater, Mick	96
2	W	81	Beach, Ray	0	–	1	Parsons, Stan	87
3	B	76	Roberts, Bill	1	–	0	Burton, Calvin	74
4	W	38	Milner, Gordon	1	–	0	(Default)

 

 

Amazingly, this result leaves us at the top of the table, whereas usually we are glued to the bottom of it.

 

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	GPD	Pts
1	Heathcote Arms 3	10	6	2	2	4	14
2	Ashby 4	8	6	1	1	16	13
3	Braunstone 5	10	6	1	3	5	13
4	Melton Mowbray 4	10	4	4	2	7	12
5	Ashby 5	11	4	2	5	-3	10
6	Melton Mowbray 5	10	4	0	6	-9	8
7	Red Admiral	9	1	4	4	-4	6
8	Kirby Muxloe 3	9	2	2	5	-7	6
9	Oadby	11	1	4	6	-9	6

 

 

Well done everyone.

Colin