LRCA Minor Championship Goes To A Play-Off

The LRCA Minor Championship is going to a play-off for the second year running after Chen Yingxin of Leicester Uni won her 5th round match. Both her and Les Fancourt finished on 4/5. Les will now play her in 2 x 20 minute rapidplay matches to decide the title. Should they still be level after the 2 rapidplay matches then there will be an Armageddon game to decide the title. For those of you not familiar with Armageddon games, the 2 players toss for choice of colours, the player with the White pieces typically gets something like 6 minutes on the clock, while Black gets 5 minutes on the clock. However, Black only needs to draw to win the match, while White needs to win.

Go Les !!!!!!

Harrod Cup On A Knife Edge

A 4-4 draw between Ashby 1 and Ashby 3 last night leaves the outcome of the Harrod Cup on a knife edge. We are 2 points clear of both Wigston 1 and Mkt Harborough 2, who play each other in their final match next Wednesday. A win for either of them would give them the Cup on Game Points difference over us. A draw would see us win the Cup by a single point. Whatever the final outcome, it has been a great performance by Ashby 3, who remain unbeaten with 3 wins and 2 draws from their 5 matches.

In other news, Jan Oldham continued her recent run of good form with a win against Doris Pearce in Group A of the U1450 Championship. Mick Brown beat Darren Oldham in Group B. 

LRCA Major Championship

Tom Gerrard played his final game in the LRCA Major Championship last night, to finish on 2/5. In his own words 'At least I doubled my score of 1/5 from last year !!' 

Opening Traps

Want to surprise your opponent and spring an opening trap on them ? Click here for a plethora of opening traps - from easy to difficult - to catch your opponent off guard. If you would like to view traps in a specific opening you will need to enter an ECO Code from the Encyclopaedia Of Chess Openings. You can click here for a list of ECO Codes. Alternatively, you can use the tab at the top of this page.

LRCA 2024/2025 Fixture List

The 2024/2025 LRCA fixture list has now been published and can be viewed here - or from the tab at the top of this page.

The fixtures can also be viewed from the Ashby Calendar link on the right hand side of this page. This will give you an overall view of all the fixtures in the current month.

LRCA Championship Results

Les Fancourt won his 5th round game against Daniel Talbot of Market Harborough in the LRCA Minor Championship on Thursday to finish on 4.5/5. He is now guaranteed at least a play-off for the title. If  Chen Yingxin of Leicester University fails to win her last game then Les will become the new Champion. Should she win then there will be a play-off. Jamie Rhodes, also playing in the Minor, lost his 5th round game and finishes on 2.5/5.

Joss Cherrington, playing in the Challengers Championship, drew his 5th round game and finishes on 3/5.

Tom Gerrard plays his 5th round game in the Major Championship this Thursday.

In other news, Richard Vann beat Neil Roberts in the 3rd round of the Club Championship.

Jan Oldham continued her recent run of good form with a win against Brian Wood in the U1450 Championship.

Harrod Cup 5th Round Draw

The draw for the 5th, and final, round of the Harrod Cup has now been made. Ashby 3 will, as expected, play Ashby 1, with Ashby 3 being the nominal home team. Ashby 2 will be at home against Latimer. Dates for both matches to be confirmed. 

Harrod Cup Update

There were two Harrod Cup matches at the Club on Thursday evening. 

Ashby 1 were up against Market Harborough 2 in a match that they needed to win to keep alive their chances of winning the Cup. However, they were surprisingly beaten by 5-3 and have dropped to 4th in the table with just one match left to play.

Ashby 2 played Market Harborough 1 and after a shaky start, in which they were 3-1 down at the halfway point, they rallied in the second half to draw the match 4-4. Great performance from Jan Oldham on board 4, making her Harrod Cup debut, who won both of her games.