HA2 Vs Thurnby 2 & Wigston 3 Vs HA1

There was a great start to the season for HA2 last Tuesday with a 3-1 win against visiting Thurnby 2.

The first result in was a draw on board 1 for Graham B. This was followed by a win for Ray on 4 against Bob Collins. I was being crushed, but some exchanges let me out of gaol and I was able to recover and win against Mick Tate. John was in a materially unbalanced game, but when his opponent overlooked a win and offered John a draw, he was lucky not to lose his hand shaking arm.

Heathcote Arms (2) Vs Thurnby 2
Graham Booley (B) 153	Draw	John Pattinson (W) 155
John Manger (W) 140	Draw	Mick Busby (B) 137
Colin Ross (B) 107	1-0	Mick Tate (W) 130
Ray Beach (W) 92	1-0	Bob Collins (B) 125
3-1

Here is my game against Mick Tate:



HA1 played away on Thursday and scored a 4-1 win against Wigston 3.

03 Oct		Wigston 3		v	Heathcote Arms 1
				1 - 4
1	B	158	Reeves, Andrew	0 - 1	Sharpe, Graham	178
2	W	158	Harlow, Phil	½ - ½	Bray, Dave	176
3	B	152	Dodds, Iain	½ - ½	Booley, Graham	153
4	W	151	Wylie, Stephen	0 - 1	Harrison, Peter	156
5	B	143	Vaja, Ricky	0 - 1	Cowley, Michael	141

This week, there will be a club night at the Arms on Tuesday.

Then on Thursday we have two matches:

HA2 Vs Hinckley AT HOME on Thursday.

Ashby 4 Vs HA3 Away.

We could do with someone else to play at home. James or Richard, are you available?

Colin

Start of the Season

HA2 plays at home on Tuesday.

We need to sort out ECF memberships as a matter of urgency:

Adult Membership of the Club and Bronze ECF membership = £27-50
                            "                           Silver ECF membership = £33-50
                            "                           Gold  ECF membership = £42-50

For juniors, knock £10 off - and I think the LRCA have been talking about paying the bronze portion for juniors in their first year - there is something about this on the website www.lrca.org.uk

Bronze entitles people to have their league games graded, Silver allows people to enter congresses at a reduced rate, and gold allows people to enter FIDE competitions. People can start off with Bronze and pay the difference if and when they need to.

Our membership rates are far less than most other Chess Clubs in Leicestershire and these are the only fees for members to pay all year.

Colin.

Final Round of CCs (Open and Major)

The Grinder Reports:

Ricky Vaja exacted revenge for his defeat by me in round 4. I lost both of the quickplay games in the playoff so Ricky takes the Major title.
Apologies to Ray, who turned up to offer moral support but witnessed an inept performance by me!

The main event was much more interesting. Andy Morley vs. Graham Sharpe and Martin Burrows vs. Alan Byron to decide the county championship. Andy held a half point lead from the others.

Alan beat Martin in a queen vs. rooks ending. So Graham needed to win to force a playoff against Alan. A draw would see Andy vs. Alan in a playoff, and a win for Andy would give him the title outright.

It was a great game. Andy had a pawn wedge on e5, open lines and appeared to have prospects for a kingside attack. Graham held a solid defensive position and exchanges took place which led to a bishop v knight ending with 6 pawns each.

It was a superb endgame. Graham's knight seemed better than the bishop. His pawns were all on the opposite colour squares, king holding the centre and threatening the pawn at e5. Andy's h3 pawn also came under attack by the knight, but it could not be taken due to the threat of being paralysed by the bishop. It was complicated, and Andy came under great time pressure. He offered the draw. Graham, knowing a draw was no use to him, played on, and  with his own time ebbing away, lost whilst trying to get the win he needed.

John

County Champs (Open and Major)

The last round (6), of the Open Championship was due to be played last night at Wigston, along with the remaining games of the final round of the Major.

 

Open

 

It turned out that all the leading contenders are due to play next Thursday due to other commitments.

Three games were played. Paul Colburn drew with Karl Potter, Mike Salisbury also drew with Phil Harlow. I think Jez Wells beat Mick Tate but I'm not certain.

 

Next week, the leading contenders play each other. Andy Morley has a half point lead (4), and plays our own Graham Sharpe (3.5), with the white pieces. Martin Burrows (3.5) has white against Alan Byron (3.5). They all need to win so it should be interesting to watch.

 

Major

 

Three players shared the lead on 3.0/4 going into the final round, Ricky Vaja, Toby Hoch and myself.

Pat Reid played a good game against Ricky, but blundered late on. My game against Toby was quite exciting, with mistakes made on both sides. A difficult ending was reached. I had a bishop and 5 against a knight and 4. My extra pawn was passed and isolated, and his knight was a good blockader. I think Toby might have drawn this but lost his way in the end.

 

This leaves myself and Ricky Vaja to play off with two 20 minute games. If a decider is needed its Armageddon.

 

John

Horrid Cup 5th Round

The fifth (and final) round of the Harrod was our first outing for James and Graham U. They played on boards 2 and 3. John (The Grinder) Manger was on board 1, and Drew was our board 4.

Ray and I were along for support.

In the first round our side had the black pieces. Drew dropped a rook; James looked solid enough, but was ground down; Graham and his opponent played a very exciting game which ended when Graham (realising that he was about to lose on time) was in a winning position, but wisely offered his opponent a draw; John and Parin agreed a draw.

After the break, with the white lumps, Graham dropped a clanger immediately, but came back with a sharp win; Drew exacted his bloody revenge in what was a truly horrible position for Reg; and James was again ground down.

Three points to four down, it was all up to The Grinder to secure the draw. When James had finished, John was an exchange up and looking good. In a sharp middlegame, however, John castled queenside and then it all fell to bits.

10 Sep	Syston 1		W - B	B - W	Heathcote Arms 1
			5 - 3
1	127	Suchak, Parin	½ - ½	1 - 0	Manger, John	143
2	125	Damodaran, Somanathan	1 - 0	1 - 0	Roberts James	90
3	100	Mutambara, Seth	½ - ½	0 - 1	Urquhart Graham	80
4	92	Agger, Reg	1 - 0	0 - 1	Harbidge, Drew	67

Next week, friendlies at home. Any new players out there are welcome.

I have had an e-mail from Chris Johnson - he has now finished at University and has taken a job in Poland. He hopes to see us again next Summer.

The new handbook for the coming season is now available online at:

http://www.lrca.org.uk/newlrca/Documents/Handbook%202013%20to%202014%20DRAFT.pdf

Well done everyone,

Colin.

Tuesday 3rd September 2013

No matches tonight, but a few friendlies in the Skittle Alley.

Drew was there, Graham Urquhart returned, and James Roberts (age 11), a very promising Leicestershire junior came for the first time. Pete was around, but was acting.

On Tuesday 10th, we play away in the Harrod against Syston 1. The format is that each player plays the same opponent twice - once with the white pieces and once with the black. Time limits are 30 minutes each, with no need to record the moves. This will be a good opportunity to give Graham and James some match experience before the start of the season.

Graham has been given a provisional grade of 80, and James 90 (having beaten a 105 graded player recently).

Tuesday's team already know who they are, but supporters will be welcome.

Colin.

CCs Major (5) Ross Vs Beach

On Tuesday, Ray and I played our fifth round major tie at the Arms. Ray had been playing at the e2e4 Coventry Congress for most of the weekend - see previous blog.




The Grand Prix Attack was popularised by Mark Hebden and a few others who won a lot of games very quickly with it in the 1980s. Gawain Jones has written a nice book on it and has also produced a DVD ROM with Simon Williams' Ginger GM Series - both really good. I learned to play this from AWOL Hacker and have been able to surprise a few 130 and 140 players with it.

White plays an early f4 and develops rapidly on the kingside before pushing the pawn to f5. If Black accepts the pawn, this opens up a file and white has a space advantage. White then attempts an early attack on the castled black king.

Here, Fritz gives 10. Ng5 as a ?? preferring 10. d3 d5, 11. exd5 Nxf3 12. Rxf3 Bxc3 13. bxc3 Nxd5 14. Qh6 with an advantage for white.

Gordon, Drew, and new Graham were also in the skittle alley for some friendlies.

Next Tuesday, there will some friendlies at the Arms, and on the 10th we have an away Harrod Match against Syston 1.

Colin.