Ashby 1 started 2025 the way they finished 2024 - with a 4-1 win against one of their closest challengers, Anstey 2. Tom Dove has kindly submitted the following match report:
"Ashby 1 continued their relentless push for promotion with a convincing win over fellow promotion hopefuls Anstey 2.
Tom was the first to finish, heroically fighting of IM Robert Taylor, and agreeing a draw in a dead position, after an an exhilirating display of dazzling chess from both players.
Next to finish was Andrew, trapping John Robinson's Queen and graciously accepting his opponent's immediate resignation.
Richard managed to salvage a draw from a difficult position, after a series of accurate moves left Rob Mitchell unable to see any way to progress.
Controversy reigned on board 4. Patrick, facing 7 year old Ted Ronald, found himself the exchange and 3 pawns down by move 15 and staring down the barrel of a forced mate in 4. Intending to pick up his Queen and start the final sequence, Ted violently sneezed, causing his hand to lightly brush his King. Patrick ruthlessly enforced the touch-move rule, which left Ted's King only one legal square, walking stright into a Royal fork. Visibly shaken and a Queen down, Ted's resistance was short lived and his mother quickly took the distraught and sobbing child home.
Gheorghe punished his opponent's slow opening play, leaving Matt Connor too many problems to solve with precious little time on the clock. A lovely Knight manouevre saw a glue factory nag transform into a rampant stallion, dominating the board. An unstoppable mate threat ended the game."
A couple of the above descriptions are tongue in cheek. I'll leave you to decide which ones !!
On a serious note, it would be nice if the Captains of all of our teams could produce a match report for publication on the website.