Ashby 5 were beaten 2.5 - 1.5 by high flying Heathcote Arms 2 last night. Neil Roberts has submitted the following match report:
"Ashby 5 were outrated by an average of over 200, but despite this they could have drawn, and possibly even beat Heathcote Arms 2, who will top Division 5 if they win their game in hand. Unfortunately some avoidable errors led a the narrow loss.
Jan put up a good fight against a strong opponent, and Paul
was doing well against a much stronger opponent, who then made a poor mistake
and resigned.
Neil fought back to level after gifting a pawn early on, but
lost a Rook in the endgame as a result of touching another piece, and resigned
a few moves later. His opponent said he thought the game was heading for a draw
until then.
Damian played excellently, and had his opponent under all
sorts of pressure, with a win seeming inevitable. A second illegal move
unfortunately denied him what would have been a well earned victory. His
opponent graciously offered him a draw."