SUBSCRIPTIONS DUE

A reminder to all members that your 2007-8 season subscriptions are now due.
Full Membership - £36 ; Reduced Membership - £18

(A reduction of £9 is available for members who already are Direct Members of the ECF).
Please Pay Neil or Martin asap

County Individual Championship

2007 Leics Chess Champion is Martin Burrows

For the 3rd consecutive year a Wigston member has won the County Individual Chess title.
After the scheduled 5 rounds Martin Burrows and Birstall's Graham Sharpe were level on 4 points. In the first two quick play games they had two draws and so a further two games were played and Martin ran out as champion by winning one of those games

Neil

LEAGUE MATCH RESULTS - WEEK 2

Div 1 - Wigston 2 give Wigston 1 a good fight:

 

	4-Oct-07	v.	Wigston 1 (H)
1.	A. Morley	0.5		A. Byron	0.5
2.	I. Dodds	0.5		M. Burrows	0.5
3.	P. Watkinson	0		W. Dehnen	1
4.	S. Smith	0		P. Gibbs	1
5.	A. Pike	0.5		P. Harlow	0.5
		1.5			3.5

 

Div 3: Wigston 4 get excellent Draw away to Braunstone 2

 

	2-Oct-07	v.	Braunstone 2(A)
1.	P. Colburn	0		P. Watkinson	1
2.	D. Sandrovitch	1		J. Daniel	0
3.	P. Hogan	1		B. Shuter	0
4.	G. Young	0.5		D. White	0.5
5.	A. Robinson	0		P. Gray	1
		2.5			2.5

 

Div 4: Wigston 6 lose away to Ashby 2 - Bd 4 at best is drawn

 

	4-Oct-07	v.	Ashby 2(A)
1.	P. Gibson	0		D. White	1
2.	V. Armstrong	1		P. Gray	0
3.	T. Rossell	1		P. Winterton	0
4.	R. Evans	a		C. Eastlake	a
		2			1

 

Neil

 

 

 

Tony Peterson Chess Books

Hi,

As you may know the Club recently sold some of it's older, unwanted, chess books. The buyer was Tony Peterson, who runs a mail order business in secondhand and rare chessbooks from his house in Southend-on-Sea in Essex. I went down to see him with the chess books and we did a good deal which I think both parties were very happy with. Tony is a modest man, with a modest lifestyle and I can recommend him if you are looking for a particular book and prefer to do business directly with a person rather than through the anonymity of eBay.

He has a website - www.chessbooks.co.uk - with a catalogue and all the information to make a purchase.

Regards,
Phil.

Wigston 4 v Braunstone 2 : Match Report

Hi,

The boys did good! Outgraded on every board, we managed a fighting draw:

1 Paul Colburn    (135) v Phil Watkinson(123) 0-1
2 David Sandovitch(124) v John Daniel   (120) 1-0
3 Pat Hogan       (121) v Brian Shuter  (112) 1-0
4 Gavin Young     (118) v Dave White    (109) draw
5 Tony Robinson   (107) v Paul Gray     (103) 0-1
total                                       2.5-2.5

John and Brian were well beaten by much stronger opponents; Dave managed a good draw without any pawns being exchanged (!); I easily beat Paul Colburn who didn't play anywhere near his strength; leaving Paul Gray to make an excellent fight back to win his game and so draw the match!

Ray popped in later (having been to the Braunstone Social Club first and wondering why nobody was there) and so has the score sheet for submission to the LRCA.

Regards,
Phil.

Peter and the Wolf

Hi,
I just thought you may like to hear a little story; I smiled and I think you will too, and I hope Peter will not be too embarassed.

Anyway; I was chatting to Peter Gibbs after the last round of the Charity quickplay event recently. Peter was our Board 1 for the Wigston2 team (I was playing on Board 4). We had just played Birstall, led by GM Mark Hebben, and had been well beaten 3-1.

"What was it like playing Mark Hebben?", I asked; "The same feeling as being run over by a steamroller" was the reply. Dimly aware of Peter's illustrious past, I asked "When did you last play a grandmaster?"
"Oh, that guy will the Bc4 move in the Sicilian - what was his name - aah yes, Velimirovic" was the reply(!). There was a pause. "But I won that one" came the afterthought (!!).

Phil.

The LRCA Charity and Prize Giving Event - Report

Hi,

I just want to tell everyone about the LRCA annual prize giving event a couple of Thursdays ago (20th September), held this year at the Spinney Hill WMC.

I went up to collect the Divison 1 winners trophy and Phil Watkinson collected the Chapman Cup on behalf of the Wigston 2 team. Then the charity quickplay took place, with 15 teams of 4 players with 4 rounds of 30minute (15 minutes per player) chess.

The Quickplay event was very tight, and going into the last round the score stood:

 Birstall  9.0 (out of a maximum of 12)
 Wigston2  9.0
 Wigston1  8.5
 Shepshed  8.5

Birstall (a very strong team lead by Mark Hebben) were then due to play Wigston2 and Wigston1 played Shepshed. We went all out for it and beat Shepshed 4-0 and Wigston2 managed to get a point out of Birstall's bottom board Graham Booley, thus giving us the tournament by half a point!

We should not have won if there was any justice in the world, since, in the third round, I was utterly lost against Graham Booley (really, really lost! ) but he went wrong and allowed me to get an endgame that should have been a draw - but with quite a bit of play in it. I offered a draw and, after a couple of minutes thought, he accepted. He really shouldn't have, because he still had 3 minutes left and I had 17 seconds!

I think the psychological blow of frittering away a win affected his judgement! Our individual scores:
Martin Burrows: 1 win, 2 draws and a loss to Hebbo
Alan Byron: 4 wins
Walter Dehnen: 3 wins and a draw
Andy Morley: 2 wins and 2 draws

So we won by half a point, and so retain the Charity Board. It was a very good evening, well run in an excellent venue, and enjoyed by all.

Regards,
Andy.

LEAGUE MATCH RESULTS - WEEK 1

DIVISION 2 - Wigston 3 beat a strong Loughborough 2

 

	27-Sep-07	v.	Loughboro 2(H)
1.	I. Dodds	0.5		A. Jex	0.5
2.	P. Harlow	1		J. Dawkins	0
3.	S. Smith	0		J. Glover	1
4.	P. Watkinson	1		O. Hardy	0
5.	A. Pike	1		J. Beauquel	0
		3.5			1.5

 

DIVISION 4 - Wigston 6 caused an upset by Beating Wigston 5

 

	27-Sep-07	v.	Wigston 5 (H)
1.	F. Hulford	0		R. Townsend	1
2.	P. Winterton	1		B. Shuter	0
3.	C. Eastlake	1		D. White	0
4.	P. Turland	1		P. Gray	0
		3			1

 

Neil

 

NEW SEASON

LEAGUE MATCHES START NEXT WEEK

 

I now have League Handbooks for all members.

 

The first matches on 27 September at the club are:

 

W3 v. Loughborough 2 in Division 2 (a repeat of the Chapman Cup Final!)

 

W5 v. W6 in Division 4

 

Welcome to new member Peter Turland who will be playing in my W6 team.

 

Neil

A good night in Loughborough

The finals of the Chapman Cup took place last night between Loughborough 2 and Wigston 2. It was going to be our toughest match yet in the competition and we had used up all our luck in the first rounds against Loughboro' 1 and Birstall 1.
We decided to take the team picture before the match commenced, since we reckoned we would be looking too battered and bruised afterwards:

And this is what then happened:

1. John Dawkins (142) 0-1 Phil Watkinson (127)
2. John Glover (135)  ½-½ Stephen Smith (124)
3. Otto Hardy (131)   0-1 Andrew Pike (115)
4. Terry Adcock (109) ½-½ Barrie Cooper (111)
Team Bonus            0-½
-----------------------------------------------
Total                 1-3½

I am so proud of the team - we all had the right attitude and motivation and were going to provide as much resistance to our opponents as possible whatever the outcome.

This perservance paid off with excellent results - Andrew, with positive play, gave Otto too many problems to solve; Stephen defended for a long time in the kinght and pawn ending with four knights (although the position was so complicated I'm sure I counted five knights on the board at one time); Barrie agreed a draw in an equal game but where he had all the chances. My opponent allowed me a kingside hack attack in all the best traditions of the Grunfeld Exchange, which, of course, failed but he had used up so much time that he mucked up the resulting drawn endgame.

We therefore won the match even without the handicap bonus (the team were out graded by 40 points).


The award ceremony will take place next Thursday at the Association prize giving event at Spinney Hill. We will get Andrew to comb his hair and I will try not to look like I have a broom handle up my a**e.


Cheers,Phil.

We're off to Wem - bley...!

Yes, we're in the final! The Chapman Cup, that is, and we are actually off to Loughborough for the final against the Loughborough 2 team.

The score against the Hinckley team in the semi-final played last night at the new venue was closer than may be seen:

Phil Watkinson (126) 1-0 Simon Fisher (135)
Steve Smith    (124) 1-0 David Moore (107)
Andrew Pike    (115) 1-0 Terry Clay (89)
Barrie Cooper (111)  1-0 Douglas Opie (92)
Team Handicap        0-½
----------------------------------------------
Total                4-½

Steve Smith had to see through the complications of a hack attack against him before winning; Barrie had a confidient win on Board 4. Andrew's game looked very drawish until his opponent allowed a back rank mate (oops!) and I should have lost, or drawn at best, but my opponent threw away a king and pawn endgame in time pressure.

I would like to thank the team for a sterling effort - let's do it again in a fortnight's time.
Regards,
Phil.

Wylie Cup result

Played on the 13th August in the Wylie Cup (rapid play):

Littlethorpe 1 Wigston W-B B-W
1 Jones, Chris         Burrows, Martin   ½-½ ½-½
2 Cowley, Mike         Edwards, Alan     0-1 0-1
3 Hewitt, Sean         Morley, Andy      0-1 1-0
4 Karsisiotis, Ioannis Horspool, Phil    ½-½ ½-½
------------------------------------------------
Total:                                    3   5

It looks like we're playing our final Wylie Cup game (v Littlethorpe 2) at the Club on August 30th. (subject to venue availability). But after this win this is now academic according to my calculations, this means we have now secured the Wylie Cup with one game to spare!
In addition to losing to us the other teams,Braunstone, Littlethorpe and Birstall have all drawn with each other and Scraptoft Valley and Littlethorpe 2 have lost most/all of their games and Loughborough have pulled out.

Regards,
Andy.

Chapman Cup Semi-Final

The Chapman Cup semi-final between Wigston 2 and Hinckley will be held at the chess club's new venue on Thursday 30th August. The team will be:

Phil Watkinson, Stephen Smith, Andrew Pike and Barrie Cooper

Unlike the first two matches in this handicap tournament when we won because of winning or drawing one game against very strong opposition; this time the two teams will be equally matched so we will need to contest every board.

We are one match from the final - if we get through, Wigston would be in the final twice in the last three years.

Regards,
Phil.

New Venue for the chess club

I have updated the website home page with details of our new venue. A map is available; along with directions from J21 of the motorway. Any comments or improvements, please let me know.

Regards,
Phil.

Ivor Burton 1930 - 2007

It is with sadness that I report the death of Ivor Burton, a Vice-President and life member of the club, on the 26th July 2007. Ivor was involved in the club for over 50 years; joining in the late 1950s, he had two sessions as club secretary; 1963-65 and 1985-88; afterwards he was club President until 1998 when he resigned due to health. He ran tournaments for many years after Harry Tharp's death in 1982.

Husband of Doreen for over 50 years, he leaves three children and five grandchildren.

Neil.

Wylie Cup

The first match was played on July 19th at the new club premises, the Wigston Liberal Club. Everything went well, including the result - Wigston beating Braunstone 5 -3. We were made welcome and the playing conditions were very good. A lot of time has gone into sorting the equipment out, and the sets are much better to play with now. Thanks Barrie and Phil.
For the record, the match result was:

    Wigston      Result Braunstone Result
1 B Martin Burrows 0.5 John Robinson 0.5
1 W Martin Burrows 0.5 John Robinson 0.5
2 W Alan Byron      0  Mike Salisbury 1
2 B Alan Byron      1  Mike Salisbury 0
3 B Alan Edwards   0.5 Jim Bingham   0.5
3 W Alan Edwards    1  Jim Bingham    0
4 W Walter Dehnen   1  Paul Colburn   0
4 B Walter Dehnen  0.5 Paul Colburn  0.5
----------------------------------------
TOTAL               5                 3

This win gives us 4 wins from 4 matches, although we had a scare in the first leg, which we should undoubtedly have lost 1 - 3 - until Walter's opponent lost an ending in which he was Q + N v Q.

Chapman Cup - draw for the semi-finals

Dear Colleagues - The draw for the semi-finals of the Chapman Cup, made today, is as follows:

Loughborough 2 vs. Market Harborough
Wigston 2 vs. Hinckley

Home teams, listed first, must offer two dates as usual to the opposition. The CC final is, as you know, to be played on September 13th, so we have plenty of time to complete these two matches. However, in case of any disputes, slip-ups etc, I suggest that you arrange dates before the end of August.

Best wishes.

Jim Miller

Chapman Cup round 2 result

Played last night (Tuesday 10th July) at Birstall:

1    Norton, Craig 171 Drawn 124 Watkinson, Phil
2   Sharpe, Graham 159 1-0   139 Dodds, Iain
3       Bray, Dave 152 1-0   127 Marlow, Jack
4      **DEFAULT**     0-1   124 Smith, Stephen
BONUS                  0-2.5
                    ---------
TOTAL               2.5 - 4.0

Birstall fielded a tough team; luckily for us they defaulted their bottom board (although this meant a wasted journey for Steven); also the grading difference (129) just put our bonus into the 2.5 points category.

We all had good long games, Jack was unlucky to lose; Iain looked if he was going to hang onto the draw. But the Birstall board 1 allowed a perpetual check which gave a draw which was sufficient for a win.

Roll on the next round - the semi finalists are:

Hickley
Market Harborough
Wigston 2
Loughborough 2

Regards,
Phil.

Birstall Cup result: Wigston 3 v Littlethorpe 2

Here is result of Wigston 3 match against Littlethorpe 2 in the Birstall Cup, played on Monday 18th June 2007:

1. S. Wylie       0.5 I. Dodds   0.5
2. I. Karsisiotis   1 J. Daniel  0
3. D. Crane       0.5 D. Wilkins 0.5
4. P. Findley     0 F. Hulford   1
5. Bonus          0 Bonus        0
-------------------------------------
Total            2                2

Littlethorpe win on board count.
Neil.

Lightning Tournament Results

Result table now available at http://www.wigstonchess.org.uk/results/lightening07.htm.
Well done to Alan Edwards who won with a 6 out of 6.