Saturday, 8 February 2025

Website Comments

You are now able to post your own comments on the website posts. Just click on the Yellow No Comments message at the bottom left of each post. Once you have posted your comment this will change from No Comments to however many comments have been posted. Please note that you will need to be logged into Google to be able to do this.

ECF Appointment

Steve E. has just been appointed an Officer of the English Chess Federation as LMS Administrator. In this capacity he is responsible for the management of the ECF League Management System and providing support to all Users of the System. There are currently 125 Leagues, Counties and Congresses throughout the country using LMS. In addition to this, every Club in every League using LMS also has access to the system to allow them to organise their internal competitions and have them rated. At the moment there are over 1000 Clubs that are able to do this. Ashby have been using  the system for their internal competitions since 2022.

Friday, 7 February 2025

Ashby 4 Beaten At Anstey

Ashby 4 came up against Division 4 leaders Anstey 4 last night and came away with the runners-up medal in a 3-1 defeat. There were draws for Nick Wyld  on board 1 and Mick Brown on board 3. James Foster's winning streak came to an abrupt end on board 2, while on board 4 Ric Dawson, the Team Captain, was a piece up but with some inspired play managed to conjure up a loss.

Ashby 1 Scrape Past Ashby 2

Tom Dove's Match Report:

It was business as usual for Ashby 1 as they overcame a spirited display by their somewhat less glamorous opponents.

Disaster struck early on for the eventual victors as Tom suffered his first loss of the season.

He'd bought a brand new Google 9 Pixel mobile earlier that day, and could've sworn  he'd switched the unfamiliar device off - but with Paul's defence in tatters having totally misplayed the opening and with Tom's Queen hovering menacingly, the phone began to ring.

Tom later said "It was bitterly disappointing to lose in such a miserable way, but rules are rules. It's the game we choose to play".

 Typical 'take it on the chin' stuff from our no.1 player.

 Controversy reigned on board 4.

Steve's crippling misophonia is well known at the club, our understanding members always going out of their way to create a quiet and stress-free environment for him to play his chess.

It thus raised a few eyebrows when Patrick sat down at the board clutching three packets of cheese and onion crisps and sucking on a raspberry slushie.

He proceeded to munch, chomp, chew and slurp for what seemed like hours to the rest of us, but must have been an eternity to poor Steve, who nonetheless managed to whip up an unstoppable mating attack.

The unrythmical tip-tapping of fingernails on wooden table was the final straw for Steve who finally let out a scream of anguish, overturned the board, ripped up his membership card and staggered from the room, a broken shell of a man.

Patrick went to the bar to celebrate.

Quote from Steve:

 "The crisps and slushie I could just about cope with - but it was the inept paradiddle, utterly devoid of any rhythm or musicality that did for me" 

Les had prepared for Andrew's London System by downing twice the medically advised amount of Red Bull, but by move 9 both players were sound asleep with Les' clock still running down and eventually flagging. Both were still softly snoring when everyone tiptoed out at the end of the night (can someone pop to the club to check if they're ok? Ed.)

Larry (whose idea of blitz is postal chess with first class stamps) got into a fantastic position, but sadly hadn't left enough time to deliver the killer blow and had to settle for a forced draw by repetition, much to the relief of an out-played Richard.

Last to finish were Chris and Gheorghe.

After a lifetime of moving the wrong pawn on move 1 (f4???) Chris finally got it right with 1 c4.

The result was scarily impressive.

Instead of meandering to inevitable defeat somewhere around move 20, Chris had Gheorghe on the ropes until the very end.

Unfortunately, just like Larry, Chris had left himself too little time to find the winning sequence. Gheorghe gratefully accepted the draw.

Final result - 3-2 to Ashby 1, who maintained their 100% winning record.

 

 

 

Wednesday, 5 February 2025

Ashby 2 v Ashby 1 Preview

From Tom Dove:

"It's derby day as high flying Ashby 1 take on their fierce rivals Ashby 2.

Ashby 2 have been struggling of late with only a single point to show for their campaign so far - a mixture of bad luck and appalling judgement leaving them languishing second from bottom.

In contrast, Ashby 1 are running away with the title, bolstered by the electric form of returning star player Tom Dove, the destructive power of chess machine Gheorghe Albu, the dogged performances of indefatigable Richard Vann, and the dull as ditchwater openings of Andrew Wilson.

Paddy Buckley also plays.

Will Paul Gibson survive the opening? Will Gheorghe be troubled by Chris Tipper's Birds Opening? Will Larry Hayden manage his time effectively? Will Paddy avoid embarrassing himself against Steve Emmerton and will Andrew's opening lead to a thrilling encounter with Les Fancourt?

 The answer is 'No. Of course not'.

 A comfortable 4-1 'away' victory beckons."


Nottingham Rapidplay

Les Fancourt, the Leicestershire Minor Champion and joint Ashby Champion, powered his way to joint 29th out of 44 entries in the Intermediate Section of this weekend's Nottingham Rapidplay Congress. His score of 2.5/6 meant he attendance wasn't required at the prize giving.

Monday, 3 February 2025

U1450 Championship - 2nd Round Draw

The draw for the 2nd round of the Club U1450 Championship has now been made and can be viewed here. All games to be completed by the 27th March, or sooner if possible.

Saturday, 1 February 2025

Ashby Player Ratings Update

The current rating of all Ashby players has been updated and can be viewed here, or from the tab at the top of this page. Your current rating is your rating as at 1st February, as opposed to your LRCA rating, which uses the January List. 

The biggest change has seen Les jump up by a massive 55 points over the course of the month, rising from 1570 at the start of January, to 1625 at the start of February. Very well done to him.