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.

David Reynolds Cup 2025/26

The David Reynolds Cup standings, as at the 28th November 2025/2026, have now been published and can be viewed either here or from the tab at the top of the page.

Thursday Night Results

We had three matches against Anstey last night, with Anstey coming out on top in two of them.

Ashby 1 were away against Anstey 1 in what looked to be a match we could get something out of. Unfortunately it wasn't to be and, despite good performances from Gheorghe, Richard and Tom, we were beaten 3-2. Click here for Tom's match report.

Ashby 3 were at home against Anstey 4 and fared somewhat better. Larry got his usual draw on board 1, whilst Steve and Nick wrapped the match up with wins on boards 2 and 3. 

Ashby 5 took half the Club with them to Anstey 7 and were beaten 5.5 - 1.5 in a 7 board match. A second win of the season for Tyler Rowney on board 3 and a draw for the Bird Man on board 4 was all we could manage.

There was one game played in the Club Championship, with Chris Tipper beating Dominic Lennon to ensure a joint 4th finish on 3.5/5.

Recent Results

Having been away on holiday for the last week and half I have been unable to post any match reports, so I will just summarise the results of our league matches since the 10th November.

11th November - Division 5 - Market Harborough 4 beat Ashby 5 by 5-0

13th November - Division 2 - Ashby 2 beat Leicester University 1 by 3.5 - 1.5

13th November - Division 3 - Ashby 3 beat Melton Mowbray 2 by 3-1

19th November - Division 4 - Lecicester University 2 beat Ashby 4 by 3.5 - 0.5

20th November = Division 2 - Anstey 3 beat Ashby 2 by 3-2

All match score cards available, as usual, from the tab at the top of the page.

Normal service will be resumed next week !!

Holiday

I will be on holiday for a couple of weeks from next Monday 10th November, so there will be no news or match reports on either the website or Facebook. I will, however, try to post our League results during this period - but just results, no match reports.

Ashby 4 Throw It Away

Ashby 4 entertained Loughborough 3 last night and were held to a 2-2 draw. In the absence of GM Mick Brown, who was away playing in an international tournament somewhere, Paul Meyer was drafted into the team. His selection was justified when he put us into an early lead with a win on board 4. This was followed by a win on board 1 by Steve, against the same opponent he had beaten in a Division 2 match the night before, to put us 2-0 up. Ric slipped up on board 3, enabling Loughborough to pull one back, but it still looked like we were heading for a 3-1 win as IM Ian Maskery had an overwhelming position on board 2, with a Pawn on the 7th rank, supported by a Bishop and Rook. However, a rush of blood to the head saw him leave  a Rook en prise and his position evaporated, enabling his opponent to snatch a win from the jaws of defeat, and giving Loughborough a share of the points.

Tom Dove Wins The Club Championship

Congratulations to Tom Dove on winning the 2025 Club Championship, following his win in the final round against Tom Gerrard last night. Tom G only needed a draw to take the title but Tom D was in fine form and the win gave him the title by just half a point, with 4.5/5. His only blip was being held to a surprise draw by Dominic Lennon in the 1st round.

Click here for Tom Dove's report on the game.

There were a also couple of other Club Championship games played last night, with Neil Roberts beating Jan Oldham and Andrew Wilson beating Patrick Buckley. There was also a game the previous day, with Richard Vann and Roy Evans drawing.

Regardless of the results of any other outstanding games, Andrew and Tom G are joint runners-up.

Click here to view the Current Standings - not the Final Standings, as there are still several outstanding games to be played.