14 Nov		Wigston 6		v	Heathcote Arms 3
				2 - 2
1	B	111	Winterton, Paul	0 - 1	Manger, John	140
2	W	109	Hammond, Grant	1 - 0	Ross, Colin	107
3	B	109	Hulford, Frank	1 - 0	Urquhart, Graham	80
4	W	69	Dean, Simon	0 - 1	Harbidge, Drew	65

 
A disappointing draw with Heathcote.
Simon was first to finish, he seemed to be a piece for a pawn down in the middlegame and his opponent slowly but surely ground him down. I thought that Simon had a chance of a draw (confirmed when he asked me the drawing rules), but it wasn't to be, his opponent managed to manoeuvre his extra Knight to win Simon's central pawn and he resigned.
Next to finish was Paul against the very strong John Manger. Paul was disappointed to lose, which was good to see, but in the end Paul was mated in a very bizarre but pretty fashion. Paul was 3 pawns down, but had potential in the game with a Queen and rook on his opponent's 7th rank.
So 2-0 down with 2 to play, Grant was next to finish with an excellent victory. Grant played the middlegame very well and won a piece with a neat little tactic and this also allowed him to win an exchange aswell. Grant managed to get his stuck pieces out and his opponent eventually resigned.
Last to finish was Frank on board 3. His opponent played very well and seemed to find the move that Frank didn't want him to but in the end Frank had two connected passed pawns, one on the 7th rank, supported by a Queen which forced his opponent to resign. Very well played team - an extremely pleasing effort.
 

A very impressive win for the 6th team last week: -
 

1	B	85	Shaw, Peter	0 - 1	Winterton, Paul	111
2	W	75	Richardson, Gary	0 - 1	Cooper, Barrie	107
3	B	62	Kellock, Jim	0 - 1	Hammond, Grant	109
4	W	60	Brown, Thomas	½ - ½	Vaughan, Ben	104
5	B	60	Woodhall, Henry	0 - 1	Poulacheris, Darren	102
6	W	14	Gonzaga, Edda	0 - 1	Dean, Simon	69

 
A crushing 5.5 to 0.5 win.
 
Special thanks to Barrie Cooper for stepping in.
 
Regarding the actual match, it's the same story I'm afraid chaps, I can't really comment on too many games aside from my own. I played a promising young man called Tom Brown. He equalled me all the way, anticipating my plans, foiling my plans and just being a pain. Simon won first (and it looked pretty convincing), Barrie won next, his game again looked pretty one sided and Paul won on board 1, didn't see the end position Paul, sorry. I then offered young Tom a draw which in truth he had earnt so I was only too happy to secure the points and the win for the team. Richard Hanscombe was at the Bowls Club and he took one look at the final position and said 'draw'. Then shortly after, Darren beat his young opponent. Darren was a full rook up and after avoiding back rank mate threats, went on to convert the point. Last to finish was Grant. After neutralising the threat of a passed pawn in the middlegame (how?), Grant pushed his passed pawns on to win the point.

LEAGUE RESULTS - WEEK 6

DIV 1 – 1st Team Win away at Thurnby 1

 

	6-Nov-13	v.	Thurnby 1(A)
1.	R. Burgess	0.5		A. Byron	0.5
2.	P. Deacon	0		M.Burrows	1
3.	R. Graf	0.5		A. Morley	0.5
4.	J. Pattinson	0.5		A. Ward	0.5
5.	G. Hart	0.5		P. Harlow	0.5
		2			3

 

 

DIV 1 – 2nd Team Beat Shepshed 2

 

	7-Nov-13	v.	Shepshed 2 (H)
1.	A. Morley	1		R. Henfrey	0
2.	P. Horspool	1		P. McDermott	0
3.	G. Cohen	1		D. Jarvis	0
4.	I. Dodds	0.5		S. Rice	0.5
5.	P. Harlow	0		K. Bennett	1
		3.5			1.5

 

DIV 3 – 4th Team Lose away against Ashby 3

 

	7-Nov-13	v.	Ashby 3 (A)
1.	C. Tipper	0.5		S. Wylie	0.5
2.	D. Reynolds	1		A. Pike	0
3.	R. York	0.5		S. Smith	0.5
4.	V. Armstrong	0.5		G. Sim	0.5
		2.5			1.5

 

 

DIV 5 – 6th Team Win away against Kirby 3

 

	7-Nov-13	v.	Kirby Muxloe 3(A)
1.	P. Shaw	0		P. Winterton	1
2.	G. Richardson	0		B. Cooper	1
3.	J. Kellock	0		G. Hammond	1
4.	T. Brown	0.5		B. Vaughan	0.5
5.	H. Woodhall	0		D. Poulacheris	1
6.	E. Gonzaga	0		S. Dean	1
		0.5			5.5

Neil

31 Oct		Wigston 5		v	Oadby 1
				2 - 2
1	B	129	Chalashkanov, Nikola	½ - ½	Pettitt, David	131
2	W	114	Goldsmith, Rory	½ - ½	Thornton, Mike	116
3	B	110	McKiernan, John	0 - 1	Candlin, Don	112
4	W	107	Cooper, Barrie	1 - 0	Gutteridge, John	61

 
A disappointing draw at home to Oadby.
I was entertaining new boy Marcus and giving him a much needed practice game in match conditions.
Barrie was first to finish, before I'd finished my friendly. He approached me and gave me the thumbs up. I looked briefly at his board and the final position and it looked like a very nice win indeed, I think it was a crushing mate......?
John was next to finish, unfortunately on the wrong end of a poorly played middlegame which we had a brief look at after the game. John made a couple of mistakes and wasn't able to recover after a fairly decent opening.
Rory was next to finish, agreeing a draw where both players had attacking chances swiftly followed by a draw for Nik. Both looked very even closed boards and draws looked sensible.

LEAGUE RESULTS - WEEK 5

DIV 1 – 1st Team Win away at Shepshed 2

 

	31-Oct-13	v.	Shepshed 2(A)
1.	R. Henfrey	0		M. Burrows	1
2.	A. Jiminez	1		A. Byron	0
3.	D. Farrall	0		A. Morley	1
4.	S. Rice	0		P. Horspool	1
5.	K. Bennett	0		A. Ward	1
		1			4

 

DIV 1 – 2nd Team Draw away at Braunstone 1

 

	29-Oct-13	v.	Braunstone 1(A)
1.	J. Robinson	0.5		A. Morley	0.5
2.	P. Colburn	0.5		A. Ward	0.5
3.	R. Hanscombe	0		I. Dodds	1
4.	J. Wells	1		P. Harlow	0
5.	D. Sandrovitch	0.5		S. Wylie	0.5
		2.5			2.5

 

DIV 2 – 3rd Team lose heavily to Braunstone 2

 

	31-Oct-13	v.	Braunstone 2(H)
1.	A. Reeves	0		M. Salisbury	1
2.	P. Harlow	0		R. Hanscombe	1
3.	S. Wylie	0.5		J. Bingham	0.5
4.	R. Vaja	0		T. Hoch	1
5.	S. Dawkins	0.5		S. Hamby	0.5
		1			4

 

DIV 4 – 5th Team Draw with Oadby

 

	31-Oct-13	v.	Oadby (H)
1.	N.Chalashkanov	0.5		D. Pettitt	0.5
2.	R. Goldsmith	0.5		M. Thornton	0.5
3.	J. McKiernan	0		D. Candlin	1
4.	B. Cooper	1		J. Gutteridge	0
		2			2

Neil

24 Oct		Wigston 5		v	Kirby Muxloe 2
				2½ - 2½
1	B	120	Eastlake, Charles	1 - 0	McEachran, Ewan	124
2	W	115	French, Barry	0 - 1	Walker, John	125
3	B	114	Goldsmith, Rory	½ - ½	Cowley, Jim	116
4	W	110	McKiernan, John	0 - 1	Skelley, John	115
5	B	107	Cooper, Barrie	1 - 0	Lund, Malcolm	90

 
In a quite crazy match, Barry French lost early, which I think it's fair to say gutted him a little. After a good opening, Barry made a mistake, which then led to a blunder and it all went wrong I'm afraid, Barry did the noble thing and resigned after allowing a rook to be pinned to his King by a Bishop.
Rory then marked his debut with a draw against the dangerous Jim Cowley. Jim is a very experienced player and in a tight opening, Rory's opponent mounted a strong Kingside attack with a Queen and rook battering ram on the h file. Rory worked out in analysis with his opponent that he didn't quite defend the position in the best way, (the analysis line had better chances for him!) and a draw was agreed in what was a tight game that could have gone either way.
John and Barrie finished closely together, Barrie's game looked very closed and tight with Barrie slowly improving his position. His opponent eventually blundered a Knight with check, which allowed Barrie to gradually steamroller his opponent into resigning.
John lost to a very capable opponent. In mounting an attack consisting of a passed pawn, John overlooked the fact that advancing this passed pawn blundered his Bishop and it all kind of went wrong from there. Fair play to John for trying to play on but a rook and 3 pawns vs King and 2 pawns and short on time John, you were right to resign!
This left Charles on board 1. Having asked the match score, he knew we were 2.5 - 1.5 down with just his game to play. He said to me afterwards that he'd considered offering a draw (which in the position was totally feasible), but alot of credit must go to Charles for at least trying to force a win. 3 pawns each, rook each, Charles had a knight and opponent had bishop, the important thing is, his opponent's bishop covered the h pawn's queening square. To cut a long story short, Charles maouvered his Knight to block the Bishop's sight of the queening square in a quite magnificently played endgame allowing said pawn to queen, win the game
and draw the match.
Well done team!

LEAGUE RESULTS - WEEK 1 & 2

DIV 1 – 1st Team LOSE heavily to 2nd Team!

 

	10-Oct-13	v.	Wigston 2 (H)
1.	M. Burrows	0		A. Morley	1
2.	A. Byron	0.5		P. Horspool	0.5
3.	I. Dodds	0.5		S. Wylie	0.5
4.	P. Harlow	0		R. Vaja	1
5.	A. Reeves	0		S. Dawkins	1
		1			4

 

DIV 2 – 3rd team Lose to strong Heathcote 1

 

	3-Oct-13	v.	Heathcote 1(H)
1.	A. Reeves	0		G. Sharpe	1
2.	P. Harlow	0.5		D. Bray	0.5
3.	I. Dodds	0.5		G. Booley	0.5
4.	S. Wylie	0		P. Harrison	1
5.	R. Vaja	0		M. Cowley	1
		1			4.0

 

 

DIV 3 – 4th Team start season with a good win over Kirby 1

 

	10-Oct-13	v.	Kirby Muxloe 1(H)
1.	A. Pike	0.5		P. Gray	0.5
2.	R. Van Stee	0		R. Townsend	1
3.	S. Smith	1		E. McEachran	0
4.	G. Sim	1		J. Walker	0
		2.5			1.5

 

 

Neil