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A Bleak Week

It was a bleak week for Ashby last week.

Ashby 4 were beaten 3-1 at Market Harborough 3, although there were good draws from GM Mick Brown and Paul Mayer, on boards 1 and 2 respectively, against considerably higher rated players.

Ashby 2 were beaten 3-2 at home by Shepshed. We did well on the top 3 boards, with Andrew Wilson winning on board 1 and Paul Gibson and Tom Gerrard drawing on boards 2 and 3 respectively. Unfortunately they proved to be a bit stronger than us on the bottom two boards.

Tom Gerrard continues to put distance between himself and the rest of the chasing pack in the Reynolds Cup. I will publish the full table in the next day or so.

If anybody wants to enter the U1450 Club Championship, apart from those who have already declared their intentions, please let me know by the end of February. Please note that it is a condition of entry that you are an ECF Member of at least Bronze level.

The February ECF Rating List has been published and I will also update this on the website in the next day or so.

This Week's Results

There were 2 matches played this week - both of them at home.

Ashby 3 drew 2-2 against Wigston 4. Nick put us into an early lead with a win on board 4. Chris and Larry got their usual draws on boards 1 & 2. Steves poor start to 2026 continued as he lost on time on board 3 although, to be fair to his opponent, he was in a totally lost position anyway.

Ashby 5 were beated 4-2 by a Market Harborough 4 team containing 2 Ashby Old Boys - David and Stephen Holmes. There was a solitary win by Ben McDermott on board 6, plus draws on boards 1 and 5 for Paul Mayer and Dan Vernon. This result leaves us marooned at the bottom of the table with just one win from 8 matches. However, this is not surprising as we are primarily using Ashby 5 to give new and inexperienced players their first chance of competititive chess, so nothing to get down about.

Last Week's Results

There were 2 matches last Thursday, with Ashby 4 travelling to Anstey 6 and Ashby 2 hosting Melton Mowbray 1.

Ashby 2 beat the Pork Pies by 3-2, courtesy of wins for Tom and Larry on boards 3 and 4, and draws for Andrew and Paul on boards 1 and 2. Steve was a Pawn up on board 5 and looked to have a strong atack. His opponent offered him a draw, which he refused, and he then blundered his way into a lost endgame !!

Ashby 4 were beaten 3-1 by Anstey 6, with just a win for IM Maskery on board 2 to show for our efforts.

Staffordshire Congress 2026

This year's Staffordshire Congress is being held at Kidsgrove Town Hall over the weekend of 27th/29th March if anybody is interested in entering. Steve, Richard and Les all played last year. Further details and an online entry form can be found here.

Ashby Start 2026 With A Win And 2 Losses

The league Season got underway again last week after the Christmas/New Year break, with mixed fortunes for Ashby.

Ashby 3 travelled to Market Harborough 2 on Tuesday and came away with a 2.5 - 1.5 win. Tom Gerrard on board 1 was the difference between the two teams as all the other boards were drawn.

Ashby 1 hosted a  very strong Wigston 1 team on Thursday and continue to prop up the Division 1 table following a 4-1 defeat. However, it is worth noting that the top 4 boards for Wigston were all rated over 2000 and their board 5 was only rated 2 points lower than our board 1. There were some highlights to take from the match though, with Gheorghe Albu and Tom Gerrard getting draws on boards 1 and 4 against much higher rated opponents.

Ashby 5 were also at home on Thursday, against Kirby Muxloe 2 in a match played over 6 boards. Despite losing by 4-2, there were excellent wins for Paul Mayer on board 1 against an opponent rated over 200 points higher, and Graham Bird on board 4 against an opponent rated  almost 200 points higher.

Thursday Night Wipeout

All 3 of our fixtures last night - Wigston 2 v Ashby 2, Ashby 3 v Braunstone and Ashby 4 v Anstey 5 - were victims of the weather and had to be postponed. 

Despite the weather we also welcomed a New Member - Joe Swancott - to the Club.