It was 2 out of 2 for the Club last night in our LRCA matches.
Ashby 4 travelled to Wigston 6 and came away 3.5 - 0.5 winners. Only a draw on board 2 from James Foster enabled Wigston to avoid the whitewash.
The Ashby 1 juggernaut rolls on. A 4-1 win at home against Market Harborough 2 puts us 3 points clear at the top of the Division 2 table, and with a massive game point difference of 20. We have now played exactly half of our matches and still have a 100% record, so Division 1 beckons. Tom Dove has sent me the following match report:
"Ashby 1 continue to sweep all before them, Market Harborough
2 being the latest casualty of our flawless push for promotion in a
drama-filled evening .
Market Harborough's woes started before a hand was shaken.
George Gowers, having been delayed in heavy traffic and in a rush to get to the
match room on time, took a nasty tumble en route and bounced his head off a
snooker table.
More later.
First to finish was Gheorghe, playing white on board 2.
Gheorghe produced yet another crushing performance as he
demolished Graham Heilbuth in a mere 21 moves.
Andrew was taken aback by Rene Butler's impressive
performance on board 5. Faced with an opponent playing well above his grade,
Andrew thought the better of risking playing for a win in a dead position, and
instead accepted the draw.
Controversy reigned on board 4.
George Gowers staggered into the match room, bleeding
profusely, confused and clearly severely concussed.
Everyone assumed that board four would be marked up as a
draw, allowing George to receive urgent medical attention - but Patrick had
other ideas, insisting that the game go ahead as planned.
His teammates briefly explained the rules of the game to George
and propped him up in the chair. Drifting in and out of consciousness, George
somehow managed to whip up an unstoppable mating attack, but Patrick had over
an hour on his clock and made it abundantly clear that he was more than willing
to run his clock down.
By now, George had lost a significant amount of blood and
the prospect of further delaying medical treatment was simply too much. Patrick
gleefully accepted his resignation and went to the bar to celebrate.
In stark contrast to the embarrassment being played out on
board 4, board 1 was the epitome of gentlemanly conduct, harkening back to the
golden age of chess.
Fresh from his recent back to back victories in the British
and French Open championships, IM Romilly Ilersic had good reason for optimism
- but his quiet opening was overwhelmed by Tom's irresistible play, and by the
end Romilly was reduced to shuffling his rook back and forth, awaiting the
inevitable coup de grâce.
However, Tom had noticed that his opponent's time was
desperately low, and offered the honourable draw - a characteristically
magnanimous gesture.
Romilly gratefully accepted, and a respectful handshake was
shared between the two gentlemen of Leicestershire Chess.
David Curran had Richard under the cosh for much of his game,
but Richard managed to turn the game on its head by trading queens and entering
a favourable endgame. His knight proved better than David's bishop, and the
resignation was inevitable."
Full match score cards for both matches can be viewed, as usual, from the Match Results tab at the top of the page.
