Atkins Rapidplay

On Sunday 15.10.17 Ray, John and I competed in the latest version of the Atkins. This was a six round Rapid Play Swiss held at Leicester Grammar School in Great Glen. This was a nice venue and there was a decent turnout. Time control was 20 minutes plus 10 seconds per move from the start.

One of the highlights was Hebden (with White) K+Q+P winning against Dong K+Q in a game that lasted around 50 minutes.

I was very pleased to jointly win the Minor with 5/6.

Sorry, no games recorded.

Results available at: https://leicestershirejuniorchess.com/chess/Atkins/2017/Open/

Colin.

Syston 1 (4.5-0.5) HA1

On Tuesday, I was drafted in as a sub for HA1 against a seriously strong Syston 1 team.

I opened with the Ruy Lopez. Black played 8...d5, a move known as the Marshall Attack. The idea of the Marshall is that black sacrifices a pawn for development and then throws everything at White's kingside. This was the first time that I had faced it. My queenside pieces became trapped and I did not get time to untangle them and bring them into the game. Some homework required.



Graham B was a pawn up, but running short on time. He had at least a draw, but then made an error (I made the same mistake as I played along in my head).

10 Oct		Syston 1			v		Heathcote Arms 1
				4½	–	½
1	B	242	Hebden, Mark	1	–	0	Sharpe, Graham	177
2	W	186	Galligan, Brian	½	–	½	Bray, Dave	177
3	B	178	Taylor, Robert	1	–	0	Booley, Graham	149
4	W	181	Naylor, John	1	–	0	Manger, John	139
5	B	167	Robinson, John	1	–	0	Ross, Colin	122

Market Harborough were also playing Syston 3. I watched a very exciting finish between Ian Clarke and Ben Pourmozafari. Ben had over 30 minutes in hand to Ian's 2 minutes, and eventually seconds. Both sides were pushing pawns towards the end of the board. It ended with Ben's King jumping around six squares into a corner out of harm's way.

It is the Atkins Rapidplay Tournament this Sunday.

Colin.

Braunstone 2 (3.5 - 0.5) HA3

03 Oct		Braunstone 2			v		Heathcote Arms 3
				3½	–	½
1	B	120	Closs, Guy	½	–	½	Ross, Colin	122
2	W	124	Reid, Patrick	1	–	0	Maconnachie, Richard	94
3	B	105	Gulab, Vijay	1	–	0	Harbidge, Drew	90
4	W	96	Barlow, Steve	1	–	0	Milner, Gordon	39

Ray was also present as a supporter. The match was perhaps not as one sided as the score suggests. Gordon played well on board 4 and he and Steve were the last to finish.



Against me, Guy missed a win with 42...Qe1+ picking up the Bishop. I was so relieved that he missed this, that I offered a draw following my next move. My best hope was Qf8 followed by Qg7#, but getting the time to make these moves was far from certain. 



Colin

County Champs (Minor) 5th Round

After round 4, I was on 4 points, but could still be caught by Granville Hill and Les Corlett - both on 3 points. For round 5, I was drawn with the white pieces against Granville. In order to retain the Minor title I would have to at least draw. If I lost, I would have had to playoff against Granville; and if I lost and Les won, there would have been a playoff between Granville, Les and myself.

I had played Granville twice before. I had been white both times and Granville had played the Sicilian both times, so I had spent the last week preparing for a Sicilian. This turned out to be a waste of time since, on the night, he met e4 with the Scandinavian Defence.

Things started badly. I made poor opening moves, moved my queen twice and allowed my king to get stuck in the middle of the board with a centralised rook and queen bearing down on it. Granville had an active position and things were not looking at all good for me.

On the next board, Les demolished Charles Eastlake in seven moves.

Fortunately for me, Granville blundered on move 16. He had meant to retake my bishop with his rook, but picked up his knight in error. This left me a piece up and I was able to hang on.


Also in the Minor, Ray won against Harry Kershaw; and Gordon's opponent did not appear.
John lost to Jim Bingham in the Challengers and this sealed the section for Jim.

Heathcote play in the 5th round of the Harrod at Ashby on the 14th.

Colin.

Harrod Cup 4th Round

22 Aug	Heathcote Arms		W	–	B		B	–	W	Wigston
			3			–	5
1	182	Sharpe, Graham	1	–	0		1	–	0	Dawkins, Stuart	119
2	109	Ross, Colin	0	–	1		0	–	1	Chalashkanov, Nikola	115
3	83	Roberts, Bill	0	–	1		1	–	0	Kershaw, Harry	118
4	85	Beach, Ray	0	–	1		0	–	1	Woods, Trevor	114

A bad day at the office. Rapidplay, so unfortunately no moves recorded.

Colin

Well done COLIN  4 wins I think you have retained  the  cup

Philidor's Legacy

I am not around on the 10th, so John Oliver and I played our 4th round Minor game at the Heathcote Arms on Tuesday. Ray came down to watch.



Colin