4NCL Round 1

Another 4NCL season is upon us.  This year, with more players wanting to play we have stretched to three teams.  Although this is a push, especially for the first round at Sunningdale it has been made possible by one or two players volunteering to help out in the first weekend.  The first team has been strengthened with the inclusion of FMs Andy Smith and Manuel Weeks, as well as British Major Open winner John Sugden and should be real promotion candidates this season, if only we could ever win two matches in a row!  The draw pitted

 

FCA Solutions 2 v Littlethorpe 2

Warwickshire Select 2 v Littlethorpe 1

Bristol 2 v Littlethorpe 3

 

As it turned out, the first team heavily outrated their opponents, the seconds were evenly matched and the thirds were outgunned.  The results were

 

RD 1		FCA SOLUTIONS 2	2017	v	LITTLETHORPE 2	1999
1	w	Smith, Graham	2085	1 - 0	Compton, Alistair	2088
2	b	Kendall, Paul S N	2062	½ - ½	Jackson, James P	2017
3	w	Elwin, Adrian G	2015	½ - ½	Jones, Christopher M	1947
4	b	Valentine, Brian J	1995	0 - 1	Gibson, Christopher A	1949
5	w	Adebajo, Femi	2014	1 - 0	Jaszkiwskyj, Peter	2020
6	b	Matthews, Adrian	1928	0 - 1	Stokes, Paul	1975
				3 - 3

 

RD 1		WARWICKSHIRE SELECT 2	1977	v	LITTLETHORPE 1	2165
1	w	Webster, Paul	2095	½ - ½	Smith, Andrew P	2191
2	b	Fallowfield, Nicholas	2060	½ - ½	Byron, Alan M	2204
3	w	Fallowfield, Jeremy	2006	½ - ½	Weeks, Manuel	2174
4	b	Stepanyan, Henrik	1975	0 - 1	Sugden, John N	2173
5	w	Weaving, Richard	1950	½ - ½	Mansson, James C	2160
6	b	Stepanyan, Astghik (F)	1775	0 - 1	Edwards, Alan	2085
				2 - 4

 

RD 1		BRISTOL 2	2006	v	LITTLETHORPE 3	1854
1	w	Dilleigh, Stephen P	2147	1 - 0	Hewitt, Sean D	1995
2	b	Humphreys, Jerry	2067	1 - 0	Turvey, Steven	1915
3	w	Bass, John W	2099	1 - 0	Farrall, David J	1818
4	b	Littlejohns, David P	2066	½ - ½	van der Westhuizen, Charles	1795
5	w	Varley, Ed	1910	½ - ½	Rajeswaran, Kiruthika (F)	1850
6	b	Jennings, Michael	1745	0 - 1	Hewitt, Graham	1750
				4 - 2

The first team wussed out big style, leaving it to John and Alan to bring home the points.  Special mention must be made of Graham Hewitt.  Playing due to illness to another player, he showed great endgame technique to win a tricky rook and pawn endgame.  And it wasnt just me who thought that - Steady Eddie said so, so it must be true!

Littlethorpe A 3½-1½ University B

So, we playing University B, perennial strugglers in the Coventry League.  As it happens, we have a much stronger side than the one that we beat Rugby with two weeks ago so this is going to be a bit one sided insn't it?  Then University arrived.  First I saw Chris Russell (graded 180).  Then I saw Tom Pym's name on the score sheet (192).  I said to Steve Turvey (University player as well as Littlethorpe 4NCL regular) "I thought we were playing your B team!"  Thats when he explained that they had recruited some good new players this year so had decided to run with two strong sides in division 1 instead of a strong and a weaker side.  Good for the league certainly, tough for this match!

 

So, the game starts and despite Mike Salisbury playing there are no early finishes.  Its gone 9pm before the first result is in, a nice win for Alan Edwards.  Then Mike draws (although he doesnt count this as a draw - apparently it was his opponent that made the offer!).  Alan Byron is two pawns up in a nice position and converts the point - a good win against an improving youngster - leaving Brandon and Graham Sharpe playing.  Both games have plenty going on but end up as draws to give us a nice win against a team that will take points off of other teams.

 

	Littlethorpe A		University B
1	Alan Byron	1-0	Tom Pym
2	Graham Sharpe	½-½	Chris Russell
3	Alan Edwards	1-0	Mike Harris
4	Brandon Clarke	½-½	Alex Mapletoft
5	Mike Salisbury	½-½	Steve Turvey
		3½-1½

Littlethorpe 5 Open Season With Draw

On Tuesday, Littlethorpe 5 began its mission to conquer the fourth division. Away against Braunstone 4, we were outgraded on every board, but managed a respectable 2-2 draw.

Results were:

John Impey (111) 0 -1 Colin Ross (100)
Guy Closs (107) 1-0 Ray Beach (99)
Paul Martin (105) 0-1 Aaron Engels (82)
Steve Barlow (104) 1-0 Herve Tribouilloy (62)

Colin

Rugby A 1-4 Littlethorpe A

A fine start to the new Coventry League season saw the A team win 4-1.  Not that it was really as easy as the scoreline suggests.  We were soon 1-0 up when Sean's opponent missed an intermezzo and lost, then Brandon's opponent got a draw by repetition in a R+P ending.  This left Alan Byron with a tight game, Dave Bray with a slight advantage and Pete Harrison a pawn down for very little.

 

Alan agreed a draw, Pete's opponent blundered a piece and Dave won with a very nice mating net.  Well done all!

 

	Rugby A		Littlethorpe A
1	J Naylor	½-½	Alan Byron
2	R Wildig	½-½	Brandon Clarke
3	M Wilson	0-1	Sean Hewitt
4	J Cox	0-1	Dave Bray
5	N Kadowala	0-1	Pete Harrison
		1-4

25 Years of Chess

Littlethorpe Chess CLub formed 25 years ago in 1983 as Aylestone Chess Club and to celebrate a Littlethorpe -v- The Rest of the League match was played last night to celebrate. Played over 21 boards, each player played his opponent twice (once with each colour - ala Harrod / Wylie Cup) in all your moves in 30 minutes rapid play with food laid on at half time, courtesy of Jim and Tina from The Plough.

The match was delicately poised at 9½-10½ to the visitors at half time but, despite a valiant effort, the match was eventually lost 19-23. Nevertheless a fun time was had by all, and we look forward to the 30 year anniversary!

 

Board	Littlethorpe	White	Black	The Rest
1	Clarke, Brandon	1-0	1-0	Morley, Andy
2	Hewitt, Sean	½-½	1-0	Miller, Jim
3	Salisbury, Mike	½-½	½-½	Jex, Alan
4	Cowley, Mike	1-0	0-1	Farrall, David
5	Harrison, Pete	0-1	1-0	Colburn, Paul
6	Deacon, Paul	1-0	1-0	Watkinson, Phil
7	Graves, Chris	½-½	0-1	Potter, Karl
8	Townsend, Ray	0-1	1-0	Pattinson, John
9	Sim, George	0-1	0-1	Tipper, Chris
10	Salter, Dick	½-½	0-1	Hayden, Larry
11	Wylie, Steve	1-0	1-0	Reynolds, Dave
12	Johnson, Andy	1-0	0-1	Daniel, John
13	Draper, Peter	0-1	0-1	Robinson, Darryl
14	Townsend, Gary	0-1	0-1	Slater, Brian
15	Townsend, Arthur	0-1	1-0	Lathwood, Roy
16	Townsend, Andrew	1-0	1-0	Davis, Richard
17	Beach, Ray	0-1	0-1	Findley, Laurence
18	Ricketts, Dave	1-0	0-1	Findley, Paul
19	Engels, Aaron	1-0	½-½	Closs, Guy
20	Townsend, Steve	0-1	0-1	Parsons, Stan
21	Tribouilloy, Herve	0-1	0-1	Butler, Alan
	19			23

Littlethorpe 1 into the Chapman Cup Final

Littlethorpe 1 make it ! Even after the captains best efforts to lose it , Littlethorpe sail into the cup final . Up against an Ashby side chosen to maximise the handicap we found ourselves needing to win 3 - 1. The captain (myself) was under the delusion that this was draughts , his opponent quickly showed him the error of his ways ! That mean't the other three had to win.
I don't need to say anymore . Thanks to Sean , Steve and especially Graham B for bringing home the bacon. Onwards to the final !

Results
C.Tipper 0 - 1 Sean Hewitt
L.Hayden 1 - 0 Pete Harrison
T.Dove 0 -1 Steve Wylie
V.Armstrong 0 - 1 Graham Booley

Littlethorpe 2 out of Chapman Cup

On Tuesday night, Littlethorpe 2 lost narrowly to Market Harborough in the Semi-Final of the Chapman Cup. With a half point bonus due to grade difference, we needed two points from four boards to be sure of victory. First, Howard drew on the top board; Colin then won on the fourth; Andy lost on the second; and that left Dick needing a draw on three. Market Harborough, needing a win, were not going to offer or accept any draws, however, and this game went right to the end of the time available with their man gaining the edge in the closing few minutes. The results were:

Phillips, Howard (119) Draw Oppenheim C (125)
Johnson, Andy (117) 0 - 1 Thomson J (117)
Salter, Dick (86) 0 -1 Hatton P (112)
Ross, Colin (70) 1-0 Gilbert J (87)

Market Harborough beat Littlethorpe 2.5 points to 2.