Club Championship Result

There was one game played in the Club Championship this evening, with GM Mick Brown beating IM Ian Maskery in a battle of the giants.

Ashby 1 Beaten At Loughborough

It wasn't quite as bad as our opening loss against Syston but last night's result was still the same - a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Loughborough. Life in Division 1 is proving to be tough !! Draws from Gheorghe and Tom on boards 1 and 3, and a win for Reece on board 5 against his old Club, weren't enough to salvage anything from the match. Click here for Tom Dove's report on the proceedings.

Ashby 5 Eat The Pork Pies

Great result for Ashby 5 earlier this evening when they came away with a 4.5 - 2.5 win at Melton Mowbray. Despite defeats on the top two boards, Ashby were too strong on the middle and lower order boards, conceding just half a point.

H E Atkins Congress Cancelled

This weekend's Leicestershire (H E Atkins Memorial) Congress has, unfortunately, been cancelled due to lack of entries. This is a great shame because Les had entered and I had a big bet on with William Hill that he would win it !!

So the Ashby flag is being flown this weekend by Steve, who is making up the numbers in the Bury St Edmunds Congress.

Club Championship 5th Round Draw

The draw for the 5th and final round of the Club Championship has now been made and can be viewed here. All games to be played by the end of December. However, the only game that really matters is between the two Toms. Regardless of the outcome of this game nobody in the chasing pack can catch them. Tom Gerrard only needs a draw to win the Championship, while Tom Dove needs to win.

Mixed Fortunes

There were mixed fortunes for the Club last night, with Ashby 2 winning and Ashby 5 losing.

Ashby 2 travelled to Shepshed and, despite being substantially outrated on the top 3 boards, came away with a 3-2 win. There were particularly good wins for Paul Gibson and Tom Gerrard on boards 2 and 3, while Chris Tipper and Steve E. chipped in with their usual draws on boards 4 and 5.

Ashby 5 had a middle order collapse against Wigston 5, with boards 2, 3 and 4 all losing against higher rated opponents, and the team going down by 3.5 - 1.5.  Paul Mayer had an excellent draw on board 1 against an opponent rated 260 points higher, and Dan Vernon opened his account for the season with a win on board 5.

Match score cards for both matches can be viewed from the tab at the top of the page.

Ashby Kick Off 2025/2026 With A Double Defeat

 It  was back to earth for Ashby 1 last night on their return to Division 1. A very strong Syston team, headed by GM Mark Hebden, and where their board 4 narrowly outrated our board 1, were far too strong for us and a 5-0 whitewash ensued. Click here for Tom Dove's usual inimitable match report.

Ashby 4 were also on the wrong end of a 3.5 - 0.5 result against Market Harborough 3 in Division 4. Unfortunately, Les got stuck in traffic and was unable to get to the match, resulting in a default on board 1.

Match score cards from both matches can both be viewed from the tab at the top of the page.

There was also a 4th round Club Championship game played last night, with Chris Tipper beating Nick Wyld.

County Match

Steve and Les failed to impress for Staffordshire in their MCCU County Championship match against Derbyshire yesterday, both losing their games on boards 5 and 7 respectively in an 8-8 draw.