Annual General Meeting

I will get the minutes out in the next few days. The main points agreed at the AGM on Tuesday were:

• A decision not to merge with the Red Admiral.
• An increase in annual membership subscriptions to £30 for adults and £20 for juniors with a £5 discount for both if paid before the end of August.
• Committee members  to remain the same.
• To enter a third team (in the bottom division).
• To enter one team in the Major League Cup, and one Team in the Minor League Cup.
• Team Captains to be Graham B (HA1 in Division 1), Pete Harrison (HA2 in Division 4), and Colin Ross (HA3 in Division 5).
• A change in the name of the Club to Blaby District Chess Club at the Heathcote Arms for the purposes of the website - still to be the Heathcote Arms in the fixtures pages of the handbook.
• To perform an audit of our equipment so that we can establish what we have and what we need.

Colin

HA2 Succeeds in 2nd Round of Chapman Cup.

Having had a bye in round 1, we were drawn away against Market Harborough for the second round.
A grade difference of 67 meant that we had a bonus of 0.5 points - this would have been 1.5 points if the differential had been 75 or over. MH won the toss and chose white on even boards.

The first result was a draw between Pete and Romily, this was followed by a draw between Haka Dave and Robert King. I had been in a very drawish position against Charles Oppenheim and entered into a knights and pawns endgame - i blundered a pawn and attempted to set up blockades against my opponents queenside pawns with my knights. Meanwhile Ray had been involved in a streetfight with Sean Kennedy - Sean had turned down Ray's offer of a draw and shortly afterwards Ray mated him. Afterwards, Dave summed up Ray's performance rather well: 'He is like something from a horror movie. He keeps coming at you because he doesn't realise he is dead'.

Ray's win put the match out of Market Harborough's reach and so Charles offered me a draw which i accepted.

Market Harborough (1.5 - 3) Heathcote Arms 2
board 1 Ilersic, Romilly (163) Drawn (140) Harrison, Peter
board 2 Oppenheim, Charles (139) Drawn (112) Ross, Colin
board 3 King, Robert (111) Drawn (104) Ricketts, Dave
board 4 Kennedy, Sean (100) 0-1 (90) Beach, Ray
handicap 0-0.5
Final Score 1.5 - 3

No losses and a won match against the team that put us out of the Chapman Cup in the Semi-finals two years ago.

Bloody well done everyone.

Colin

Annual General Meeting

The AGM will be held at the Heathcote Arms at 7.30PM on Tuesday 13th July. Please forward any items for the agenda to me.

In the coming week, HA1 will be playing a Wylie Cup match, at home on the Tuesday 6th. On Wednesday 7th, HA2 play away against Market Harborough in the Chapman Cup.

Colin

Reynolds Vs Ross (County Champs - Major)

After 28 moves, thinking that i had a slight advantage, i offered David a draw. He considered for a while, but then played 29 Nxe6. Play then continued 29...Ng5 (which seemed to take David by surprise), 30 Qg4 Rf7, 31 h4 Nxe6, 32 Rxe6 Qc8 and then white resigned faced with the prospect of losing his rook. The was my first ever non-loss against David.

Colin

Captain's Blog Star Date 29-June-10

Heathcote Arms win vs. Braunstone in the Horrid Cup & I win a game too! The side outgraded Braunstone by 66 points, and in the end it showed as we won 7-1.

I didn't see any of Pete's game against Roy Lathwood, or Ray's against Vince Tangney, but both HA players racked up 100%. I beat Steve Barlow playing Black, and then proceeded to lose with White. Frankly, as we'd amassed a total of 4 League wins between us last season, the games weren't going to win any brilliancy prizes.

I saw the end of Rob's second game with Guy Closs. Guy ended up losing on time despite having material advantage, although Rob only had 15 seconds left too. It is understandable that Guy is leading the Minor section of the County Championship given the way he is playing.

We then retired to the bar for the social activities.

County Champs

Last night in the Minors, Ray defeated Dave, and i drew with Dennis Wilkins.

In the Open, Rajan and Graham B drew.

David Reynolds, the leader in the Major section, was mated, in the middle game, by John Daniel.

This coming Tuesday, at the Heathcote, HA2 have a Harrod Cup match against Braunstone and i play my second game of the Major against David Reynolds - wish me luck.

Colin

Ross Vs Reynolds

Last Thursday i was panned by David Reynolds. Text below with helpful comments courtesy of Fritz.

{C01: French: Exchange Variation} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3 Bg4 5.
h3 {White threatens to win material: h3xg4} Bh5 6. c4 Bb4+ 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. Bd2 O-O 9. Be2 Ne4 10. Nxe4 dxe4 11. Bxb4 exf3 12. Bxf8 fxe2 13.Qd3 Qxf8 14. g4 Bg6 15. Qxe2 Qb4+ 16. Kf1 Nc6 17. Re1 h6 18. Qd1 {the final mistake, not that it matters anymore} Qxc4+ 19. Kg2 Nxd4 20. Re7 Qc6+ 21. f3 Ne6  22. Rd7 Re8 23. Kg3 Bc2 24. Qd2 Ba4 25. Re1 (25. Rd5 {
the last chance for counterplay} Bb5 26. Rd1) 25... Qxd7 0-1

This Tuesday, the first team play at home in their Chapman Cup match. There is unlikely to be much casual chess this week as several of the HA2 squad will instead be playing in the Counties at Wigston on Thursday.

Colin