Results to End of January.

Some recent results:


HA1 leads Division 2 by 4 points.

21 Jan		Braunstone 2		v	Heathcote Arms 1
				1½ - 3½
1	B	159	Salisbury, Michael	0 - 1	Sharpe, Graham	178
2	W	154	Hanscombe, Richard	1 - 0	Thethi, Pritpal S	183
3	B	141	Sandrovitch, David	0 - 1	Ganger, Rajan	183
4	W	146	Bingham, James	0 - 1	Bray, Dave	176
5	B	127	Hamby, Stephen	½ - ½	Mad Mike	141

HA3 is only second from bottom of Division 5. Good performance here.

21 Jan		Heathcote Arms 3		v	Ashby 4
				3 - 1
1	B	92	Raymondov	1 - 0	Brown, Mick	87
2	W	80	Urquhart, Graham	0 - 1	Williams, Richard	86
3	B	80	Roberts, Bill	1 - 0	Roberts, Neil	80
4	W	78	AWOL Hacker	1 - 0	Nicholson, Brian	59

HA2 is at the top of Division 3 by a point.

22 Jan		Thurnby 2		v	Heathcote Arms 2
				1½ - 2½
1	B	155	Pattinson, John	1 - 0	Peter the President	156
2	W	148	Hart, Gavin	0 - 1	Mad Mike	141
3	B	137	Busby, Michael	0 - 1	The Grinder	140
4	W	130	Tate, Michael	½ - ½	Big Boss	107

30 Jan		Hinckley 1		v	Heathcote Arms 2
				1 - 3
1	B	128	Phillips, Howard	1 - 0	Peter the President	156
2	W	113	Radesk, Brian	0 - 1	Mad Mike	141
3	B	109	Smith, Jason	0 - 1	The Grinder	140
4	W	108	Clay, Terry	0 - 1	Big Boss	107

Here are my two recent games. Both involved a certain amount of jam:








Tonight, HA3 play away at Syston.
On Thursday, HA1 play away at Ashby.

Well done everyone,

Colin.

Recent Results and Fixtures for this Week.

 By drawing with Ashby, HA1 maintain a three point lead at the top of Div 2.

16 Jan		Ashby 1		v	Heathcote Arms 1
				2½ - 2½
1	B	185	Agnew, Alan	½ - ½	Sharpe, Graham	178
2	W	177	Dove, Tom	½ - ½	Hewitt, Sean	166
3	B	156	Vann, Richard	½ - ½	Booley, Graham	153
4	W	157	Evans, Roy	½ - ½	Peter the President	156
5	B	144	Hayden, Lawrence	½ - ½	Mad Mike	141

HA3, however, got absolutely panned.

14 Jan		Heathcote Arms 3		v	Wigston 6
				½ - 5½
1	B	92	Raymondov	0 - 1	French, Barry	115
2	W	80	Maconnachie, Richard	½ - ½	Winterton, Paul	111
3	B	80	Urquhart, Graham	0 - 1	Hammond, Grant	109
4	W	78	AWOL Hacker	0 - 1	McKiernan, John	110
5	B	65	Harbidge, Drew	0 - 1	Poulacheris, Darren	102
6	W	49	Golf Man	0 - 1	Ben Wotsisname	104

Tonight, HA3 are at home to Ashby 4, whilst HA1 are away to Braunstone 2.

On Wednesday, HA2 are away at Thurnby 2.

Colin

All 3 Teams in Action this week

Let me start by apologising to those people who went to the Arms on Tuesday instead of to Braunstone. This was my fault.

Having torn across town to beat the 8PM default cut off, HA3 were able to draw the match. Richard won his second game for us, and Drew was able to draw against impressive opposition.

07 Jan		Braunstone 5		v	Heathcote Arms 3
				2 - 2
1	B	101	Closs, Guy	½ - ½	Beach, Ray	92
2	W	89	Barlow, Steve	0 - 1	Maconnachie, Richard	80
3	B	95	Chen, Qiyuan	½ - ½	Harbidge, Drew	65
4	W	60	Lo, Matthew	1 - 0	Milner, Gordon	49

HA1 were on fine form at home. This was Pritpal's first game for us - which he followed up with a blindfold game against Stewart.

07 Jan		Heathcote Arms 1		v	Loughborough 2
				4½ - ½
1	B	178	Sharpe, Graham	½ - ½	Glover, John	139
2	W	183	Thethi, Pritpal S	1 - 0	Hickman, Peter	126
3	B	176	Bray, Dave	1 - 0	Adcock, Terry	121
4	W	156	Harrison, Peter	1 - 0	Gordon, Stewart	52
5	B	141	Cowley, Michael	1 - 0	**DEFAULT**	?

I was the weakest link away at Ashby on Thursday when I gave away a free pawn in what had been a very drawish position.

09 Jan		Ashby 3		v	Heathcote Arms 2
				2½ - 1½
1	B	142	Gibson, Paul	1 - 0	Harrison, Peter	156
2	W	136	Reynolds, David	½ - ½	Booley, Graham	153
3	B	134	York, Russell	0 - 1	Manger, John	140
4	W	118	Armstrong, Victor	1 - 0	Ross, Colin	107

This coming week, HA2 has a rest; HA3 play at home on Tuesday against Wigston 6 (where there may even be a chance to see the Lesser Spotted Ricketts), and HA1 play away at Ashby on Thursday.

Well done everyone.

Colin

Chess on the Radio

Hacker Dave has spotted some chess related programmes on Radio 4. On Friday, there was a programme about the Polgar Sisters (sorry don't know the title, but it will probably still be available to listen to from the Radio 4 listen again website).
And, Monday to Friday this week in the 13.45 slot, Dominic Lawson interviews 5 different people whilst playing a game with them. Apparently John Ely, of the Grass Arena, is one of them.

Colin.

This Week

Just a few friendlies, and maybe some sims and blindfold exhibitions in the bar.

Colin.

Ben Speaks

The Tuesday before last, I decided that I needed some match practice and I decided that the one friendly club I know was the Heathcote and whaddya know, they play on Tuesday nights. I donned my jacket and I tried to remember my chess head as I usually forget it on Thursday nights at Wigston.
I was slightly disappointed to see that it was a busy night and Heathcote's 1st and 3rd teams were playing. I gave a quick wave/nod of acknowledgments to Raymondov, Sean Hewitt (still burning hot from Atkins duty I guess), The Grinder and Colin.
I settled down to play Rajan's brother. He was a very accommodating opponent, massaging my ego a bit, letting me go two pawns up and then proceeding to grind me down, winning the two pawns back wih interest and beating me. I didn't mind as I was there for practice.
Meanwhile Big Boss Ross had sat next to us and played a 5 minute game against a new face. I don't think anyone at the Heathcote had seen him before and it was quite exciting to see a new face. During the 5 minute game there were a couple of sighs from Colin after he lost a piece, or two, or three. I also believe that the call 'I think we have an internet shark here', was heard. Big Boss Ross got absolutely spanked. Not one for losing, Colin decided that he didn't like 5 minutes and said 'Can we play a 15 minute each game?' His opponent obliged and proceeded to spank him again, albeit a little slower.
I must say that by this time, myself and Rajan's brother had gotten about halfway through our second game. Interest in our game was fading due to the fresh piece of meat that had showed up. Big Boss Ross's opponent then chirped up 'Do you mind if I play you blindfolded?' Now I am not sure how I'd have taken that. By this time my game had no significance to me whatsoever. I was reeled in. I said what I felt - 'Are you taking the ****?' (This is a family website people!)
We all had a good laugh about it to be fair and we all decided not to turn it into a riot. Colin played him whilst he faced away from the board, without looking at it once, he steamrolled Colin again. I think I may have played one or two moves of my own game, I was fascinated by this new guy. After steamrollering Colin (who I'm sure was a bit peeved by now), this new guy said 'I can play more than one of you if you like'.
We were game. I think Colin had had enough and decided to let me and Ray play. It is only now that I've realised that Ray's game for Heathcote's third team must have ended quickly! But enough about that, I'll save Raymondov's blushes. We settled down to both getting torn to shreds by this guy who was playing a game against Ray and myself whilst facing away from the boards. I don't think that Raymondov will mind me saying that me and him aren't the best chess players in the world, but to be part of that, being spanked by a guy that wasn't even looking at the board, was phenomenal. And against two of us too. I've never seen anything like it. I was in awe of this guy, I don't mind saying it.
Now for legal reasons and my own self will, I am going to insert the fact that I beat him in the second game that we played on the night. As Colin has eluded to, I was in short, erm, slightly happy about that. The last phrase was understated. Slightly.
Last night I had the same thoughts as I had the previous week about getting match practice and so on and I was also dying to know if our new friend had showed up. I got to the Heathcote and got the usual warm welcome from Colin, Gordon and Ray who were having a drink at the bar. I found out the his name is Pritpal and just as we were talking about how good he was/is, he turned up with his ears on fire. Tonight, he played 5 of us at once. Me, Colin, Ray, Gordon and the Grinder, (who joined us around the same time as Pritpal).
Me, Colin, Ray and Gordon were no match for this guy but John beat him twice and the relationship (or lack of) between chess and alcohol was confirmed. As Pritpal consumed more alcohol, to be fair to him, his chess dropped a little. I can't think of any other examples of alcohol affecting performance, I might ask the wife if she has an opinion. Peter Harrison joined the little gaggle of chess players and took on Pritpal whilst he was blindfolded. Pritpal lost the position and resigned after being an exchange up.
My only success of the night was speaking to Ray and Gordon about golf and arranging to have a game of golf with them when the summer starts to appear on the horizon. I am as good/poor (delete as necessary) at golf as at chess and so are Raymondov and Gordon, so I'll be in good company again.

Ben Vaughan
Wigston Chess Club
(Frequent visitor to Heathcote Arms until sub demands are made again)

Last Tuesday at Home

Tonight saw Richard's first win:

03 Dec		Heathcote Arms 3		v	Kirby Muxloe 3
				1 - 3
1	B	110	Hewitt, Graham	0 - 1	Townsend, Arthur	135
2	W	92	Beach, Ray	0 - 1	Shaw, Peter	85
3	B	80	Maconnachie, Richard	1 - 0	Richardson, Gary	75
4	W	80	Urquhart, Graham	0 - 1	Bowles, Les	69

A great result for HA1 with Raj and Sean.

03 Dec		Heathcote Arms 1		v	Ashby 1
				4½ - ½
1	B	178	Sharpe, Graham	1 - 0	Vann, Richard	156
2	W	176	Bray, Dave	1 - 0	Hayden, Lawrence	144
3	B	183	Ganger, Rajan	1 - 0	Gibson, Paul	142
4	W	166	Hewitt, Sean	1 - 0	Tipper, Christopher	139
5	B	156	Harrison, Peter	½ - ½	Reynolds, David	136

Meanwhile in the bar, this guy had shown up and was playing blindfold chess against two of us at a time. Ben Vaughan was very pleased to win a game:

Pritpal Thethi, 138537K, Enfield , 183 E in July 2012.

Pritpal is working in Leicester at the moment.

Well done everyone,

Colin.