LRCA Teams Update

Following  a meeting of the Team Captains last week, it was decided that we did not have the numbers to run 5 teams this season so will only be running 4.

The Captains will be as follows;

Ashby 1  -  Tom Gerrard

Ashby 2  -  Patrick Buckley

Ashby 3  -  Ric Dawson

Ashby 4  -  Graham Bird

We aso appear to have lost one of our first team players, Reece Whittington, who has moved away to Exeter.

Ashby 1 Draw At Market Harborough 1

Ashby 1 were held to a 4-4 draw at Market Harborough in the Harrod Cup last night, the point taking them up one place to 6th in the table. Paul Mayer was the hero of the night, winning both of his games. Steve and Ben got one win each but Larry, unfortunately, lost both of his games.

U1450 Championship - 5th Round Draw

The draw for the 5th and final round of the U1450 Championship has now been made and can be viewed here.Tyler Rowney was unable to play his 4th round game so it was awarded to Neil by default.

I mistakenly said in an earlier post that Ian Maskery had won the competition with a round to spare. This was wrong. If he loses his 5th round match, and Neil win his, it will be a tie for first place. However, Ian still only needs a draw to win it outright.

Ashby Success In Lancaster Congress

Josh Cherrington won the U1800 Rating Prize in the Major Section of last weekend's Lancaster Congress, with a score of 3.5/5 and finishing joint 3rd.

His brother Joe, who has also attended Ashby on several occasions, won the U1200 Rating Prize in the Minor Section, with a score of 3/5 and finishing joint 7th.

Congratulations and well done to both of them.

English Chess Championships

Following hot on the heels of the British Championships, the English Championships are being held in Peterborough from Saturday 24th October to Sunday 1st November. For anybody considering entering you can find the full details here.

Entry is free to GMs and IMs, so GM Brown and IM Maskery have the chance to redeem themselves after their dismal performances in the British Championship. Everybody else will have to pay for the privilege  of playing. 

Leicestershire County Teams

Leicestershire will be re-entering the County fray this season after several years absence. They will be entering teams in the MCCU Open Championship, the U1850 Championship and the U1650 Championship. If anybody is interested in playing for any of these teams then please contact the relevant Captain. Their contact details can be found under Latest News on the LRCA website.

Last Week's News

Ashby 2 had a great result in the Harrod Cup last week, beating top of the table Syston by 5-3 and leapfrogging them into first place in the process. 2 wins each for both Paul G. and Neil, and 1 win for Chris, gave us the points. A win in our last game will guarantee us a first place finish, whilst a draw would probably do it as well. Syston could, in theory, catch us on points but the head to head result between us would give it to Ashby.

Ashby 1 play Market Harborough 1 in their 4th round match on the 26th August, where a win could push us towards the top half of the table.

In the Club Championship, Tom Dove and Tom Gerrard drew their 4th round match, leaving Richard Vann the front runner by half a point, although he could be caught, depending on the result of the last outstanding 4th round game between Andrew Wilson and Roy Evans.

British Championships

GM Mick Brown failed to make any impression at the British Championships this week, failing to register a single point from his 9 games, a result that makes it unlikely that he will be invited to take part in the next FIDE World Championship Candidates Tournament. IM Ian Maskery suffered the same fate.

However, they both retain the support of Ric Dawson, who has confirmed that they will still be the anchors on boards 3 and 4 for Ashby 4 this season. At least I think he said anchors but my hearing isn't what it was and I might have misheard him.