Disaster at Wigston

HA2 played away at Wigston on Thursday in the first round of the Junior League Cup.
Readers may remember that this was where we lost our chance of winning the Junior Cup in last year's final round. The gradings of our sides were only 11 points apart - so no bonuses.

Dave was the first to fall, with an early piece blunder; John had looked alright earlier, but ran into trouble on board 1; Ray accepted his opponent's third draw offer, and i found myself a pawn down in a blocked position with no real hope of progress - so resigned.

Wigston Heathcote Arms
B Cooper (118) 1-0 John Manger (134)
C Eastlake (117) 1-0 Colin Ross (112)
F Hulford (114) 1-0 Dave Ricketts (104)
P Winterton (102) Draw Ray Beach (90)
Bonus 0-0
Score 3.5-0.5

Well done to Ray.

On Tuesday, we play at home to Syston 3 and we get to try out a new secret weapon.

Colin

HA2 Victorious at Hinckley

Dave attacked like crazy and was rewarded with a swift victory. John was offered a draw and accepted. Ray outplayed his opponent. I messed up royally and lost to Terry Clay on time - though my position was awful anyway. Howard Philips was literally jumping up and down trying to make my flag fall.

Afterwards, Howard told both sides how useless they all were.

Scores on the doors were:

B Bailey (116) Draw John Manger (134)
T Clay (99) 1-0 Colin Ross (112)
J Smith (85) 0-1 Dave Ricketts (104)
D Chizra (80) 0-1 Ray Beach (90)

Hinckley (2) 1.5-2.5 Heathcote Arms (2)

Our first victory of the season.

A break for half term now. We have a League Cup match away against Wigston on Thursday 29th October, and our next League match is at home against Syston 3 on Tuesday November 3rd.

Well done everyone,

Colin

Shaky Start to Season for Heathcote Arms 2

For once we had the grade advantage. Fat lot of good it did us.
John dropped a piece early on. Ray drew. Dave lost and was rather angry with himself.
From a winning position, i managed to throw the advantage away, but my opponent agreed a draw about 5 seconds before my flag dropped.

Heathcote Arms (2) Vs Braunstone (4)
John Manger (134) 0 -1 Paul Martin (97)
Colin Ross (112) Drawn Steve Barlow (96)
Dave Ricketts (104) 0-1 Guy Closs (95)
Ray Beach (90) Drawn John Impey (90)
Score 1-3

Next match for HA2 is on Thursday 15th away against Hinckley.

Well done everyone.

Colin.

Near Miss at Home Against Syston

The last round of the Harrod Cup had us at home against Syston. Everybody won a game except the home Captain. Shame on him!

Heathcote Arms Vs Syston
John Manger (139) 1,0 Vs J Leonard (121) 1,0
Colin Ross (90) 0,0 Vs Stuart Hollingworth (116) 1,1
Dave Ricketts (90) 1,0 Vs R Stone (100) 1,0
Ray Beach (74) 0,1 Vs R King (100) 0,1

3 Points Vs 5 Points

Ray played especially well and was unfortunate not to take both points.
Well done everyone.

Atkins Congress this weekend.

Colin

Leicester Chess Congress 2009

The H E Atkins Memorial Congress will be taking place from 2nd to 4th October at Regent College. Contact www.leicesterchess.co.uk for details. It looks as though our club will be well represented.

Colin

Harrod Cup 4th Round

Unfortunately, we were a player down on Wednesday when we played Red Admiral 2 in the Harrod Cup 4th round. We came close to drawing the match, however, and with a fourth player who knows what might have been?

board 1 Ross, Colin 93 1-0 1-0 104 Slater, Mick
board 2 Ricketts, Dave 95 Drawn 0-1 95 Winterton, George
board 3 Beach, Ray 75 1-0 0-1 80 Carter, Andy
board 4 **DEFAULT** 87 0-1 0-1 Parsons, Stan

Heathcote Arms 3.5 Vs Red Admiral (2) 4.5

Well done everyone.

Colin

Gradings

The new grades have been amended on the ECF website. They are now:

Graham Sharpe 192 (Rapid 169)
Dave Bray 168 (Rapid 162)
Graham Booley 157 (Rapid 133)
Mike Cowley 148 (Rapid 154)
Pete Harrison 141 (Rapid 147)
John Manger 134 (Rapid 139)
Colin Ross 112 (Rapid 90)
Dave Ricketts 104 (Rapid 90)
Ray Beach 90 (Rapid 74)
Herve Tribouilloy 62 (Rapid 37)

Colin