Welcome to the Ashby Ivanhoe Chess Club website. We meet on Thursday evenings from 19:30 onwards at the Ivanhoe Social Club, Wilfred Place, Ashby, LE65 2GW. We are open to members of all ages and abilities, whether novice or experienced, so please come along and join us. You are assured of a warm welcome. Use the tabs below to navigate the website. Use the Contact Form lower down the left hand side of this page if you would like more information.
I have just discovered that the Chess Microbase website has closed down, so any Members Games that had been posted on it have now disappeared. I have removed the links at the top of the page. Any suggestions for an alternative repository will be more than welcome.
Also, nobody seems to use the Comment facility that I added to postings, so I am removing that as well. You can still continue to make comments on postings via our Facebook page.
There were 3 LRCA matches for the Club this week, resulting in one win and two losses.
Ashby 4 were away against a strong Leicester University team on Wednesday and were massively outrated - by a total of 901 points. Not surprisingly, we failed to score a single point, with even Magnus Brown, looking for his 2nd GM norm, falling by the wayside, much to the consternation of the assembled FIDE officials.
On Thursday evening Ashby 2 were hosting Anstey 2, and hoping to do Ashby 1 a favour by getting something out of the match. Unfortunately it wasn't to be and, despite excellent draws by Chris and Larry on boards 3 and 4 against higher rated opponents, the rest of the team failed miserably and a 4-1 defeat ensued.
Also on Thursday evening, it was much better news for Ashby 5 as they beat Kirby Muxlowe 2 by 4-2. There were particularly fine wins against much higher rated opponents by Paul, Neil and Graham on boards 2, 3 and 4. Dan Vernon, playing in his second game for the Club, kept up his winning start with another win on board 6. Neil's more detailed match report can be viewed here.
After a 4-1 win against Braunstone 1 on Thursday evening, Ashby 1 are on the brink of promotion. Click here for Tom Dove's usual inimitable match report !!
Ashby 3 didn't fare nearly so well, going down by 2.5 - 1.5 against bottom of the table Anstey 3 in Division 3. Tom and James both went for very early baths on boards 1 and 4 repectively. Steve got his usual draw on board 3, whilst the Wyld Thing bounced back from his loss last week with a very good win on board 3.
There were two 3rd round games played in the U1450 Championship earlier this evening, with Paddington Fordham beating the Ghost Of Christmas Past. What would have happened had the real Colin Marley appeared instead of his apparition ? The Bird Man Of Ashby beat Peter Anderton in the other game.
Ashby 2 entertained Loughborough 2 last night, although it wasn't very entertaining for Ashby as we were well beaten by 4-1.
Team Captain Larry Hayden totally abdicated his reponsibilities and dropped out in order to avoid losing any more rating points !! Into the team in his place came 1st team Captain Patrick Buckley, who then proceeded to disgrace himself by being well beaten on board 1. Paul Gibson made a speculative sacrifice in his game on board 2, which was ultimately unsound and cost him the game. Les was playing on a different planet to everybody else and was a Rook and a Bishop down after 15 moves on board 5 and was back home in bed with a cup of cocoa by 9:00. It was then left to Chris and Steve to draw their games and avoid the whitewash. With only 1 point to show from their 9 matches, Division 3 beckons.
The 2024 Club Championship finally came to a close last night, albeit 2 months late, with the final game between Dominic Lennon and Ric Dawson ending in a draw, and having no bearing on the final result. So that was well worth waiting for !! Tom Gerrard should be publishing the draw for the 2025 Championship soon and, hopefully, we'll get that finished by the end of the year.
The final standings can be viewed here.
The last 2 outstanding games in the 2nd round of the 2025 U1450 Championship were also played, with Neil Roberts beating Jan Oldham and Damian Oldham drawing with Graham Bird. The draw for the 3rd round has now been made and can be viewed here. All games to be completed by the 26th April. The standings, after 2 rounds, can be viewed here.
There is a new series called Chess Masters starting on BBC2 and BBC iPlayer on Monday 10th March. I'm sure that many of you will be keen to watch it. Click here for further details -https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapack/chess-masters.