Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year !!

Please note that the Ivanhoe Club will be closed on both Thursday 25th December and Thursday 1st January. So our next Club night will be on Thursday 8th January, when Ashby 3 and 4 will both be playing at home, and Ashby 2 will be playing away.

In the meantime, a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our Members and their families.

Club Championship

Steve and Nick drew their 5th Round Club Championship game on Wednesday evening.

If the 2 remaining games -- Ric Dawson v Paul Mayer and Larry Hayden v Paul Gibson - cannot be played by the 31st December they will have to be treated as unplayed games.

If anybody wants to enter the 2026 Club Championship can they please notify Tom Gerrard as soon as possible. Tom can be contacted by email at tfgerrard@hotmail.com or by telephone/text/WhatsApp on 07961 616223.

I won’t be asking for entries for the 2026 U1450 Championship until the publication of the 1st May Rating List, as this is what will be used to determine eligibility.

It is a requirement of entry to both competitions that you are an ECF Member. 

David Reynolds Cup Standings

As we have now completed all of our 2025 fixtures, we can publish the end of year standings in the David Reynolds Cup. You can click here to view them, or use the tab at the top of the page. Suffice it to say that Tom Gerrard holds a healthy lead with an adjusted percentage score of 81.34%.

First Point Of The Season For Ashby 1 But Ashby 5 Beaten Again

For the second time in a fortnight Ashby 1 and Ashby 5 both travelled to Anstey last night.

Ashby 1 came away with their first point of the season against Anstey 2 in a 2.5 - 2.5 draw. I await Tom Dove's match report !!

Ashby 5, once again, took a 7 man team to play Anstey 8 and, although doing slightly better than they did in the previous match, were still on the end of a 4.5 - 2.5 defeat. Tyler Rowney got a good draw on board 2, and Ivan Wright and Peter Anderton beat lower rated opposition on boards 6 and 7, but the middle order boards all disappointed against lower rated opposition and were all beaten.

Ashby 3 Give Heathcote Arms An Early Christmas Present

Santa came early for Heathcote Arms 2 last night, as Ashby 3 gifted them a 2.5 - 1.5 win.

We looked to be doing ok as when I looked at Nick's game on board 4 he had a Queen, Bishop and 4 Pawns against  a Queen and 7 Pawns. Difficult, but not impossible, to draw. Unfortunately, the next time I looked his Bishop had myseriously disappeared from the board and he was just 3 pawns down and the inevitable loss ensued. Larry chipped in with his usual draw on board 2, but then Chris, who looked to have had drawing chances on board 1, was unable to prevent a powerful attack by a Queen, 2 Rooks and and an advanced Pawn. This wrapped up the match for Heathcote but Steve was still to finish on board 3. After giving away a Pawn on move 3 - or an Accidental Gambit as he likes to call it - he clawed his way back into the game, played possibly his best game of the season, retrieved the lost Pawn and mated his opponent on the back rank with a combination of 2 Knights and 2 Rooks. Steve was that pleased with his game that he has published it here. 

December Rating List

The ECF December Rating List has been published and the ratings for all Ashby players can be viewed here, or from the tab at the top of the page.

Thursday Night Double For Ashby

Unfortunately it was not the double we hoped for, with both Ashby 2 and Ashby 4 being beaten at home by Syston 2 and Heathcote Arms 2 respectively.

The Ashby 2 result was something of a disappointment as, apart from board 1, we outrated our opponents on every board, although it was marginal on boards 2 and 3. A win for Paul Gibson on board 4 and the predictable draw for Chris Tipper on board 5 was all we had to show for our efforts as we went down by 3.5 - 1.5.

Ashby 4 were without Ric Dawson, who was in hospital, and Steve E., who was suffering from a major bout of man flu. Nick Wyld and Neil Roberts stepped in to fill their places on boards 1 and 4, but were both unable to contribute to the score card, and neither was GM Mick Brown on board 2.  On the bright side, IM Ian Maskery ended his recent run of losses with a good draw on board 3 against a higher rated opponent, thus avoiding the team the ignominy of a whitewash.

Next Thursday sees our final fixtures of 2025, with both Ashby 1 and Ashby 5 away at Anstey 1 and Anstey 8 respectively, while Ashby 3 entertain Heathcote Arms 1.

New Club Secretary

As most of you probably already know, Jan Oldham is standing down as Club Secretary. I am sure we would all like to thank her for the work she has done since taking on the role.

We are pleased to announce that Ben McDermott has agreed to take over from Jan. We wish him well in the job and I am sure we will all give him any help that he needs.