W/C 28/10/24 – Week 5

This week, there were only 3 matches, but all on the same night, and all at home at the Methodist Church. Yes, you saw correctly, 3 matches on the same night for the same club in the same venue. A landmark event, and one we should be proud of. In action, the 1st team, 3rd team, and 5th team were all at home.

The first team were in action against our old friends at Market Harborough. Captain Matt Connor has written an excellent match report/summary, which you can find here:
https://ansteychessclub.co.uk/2024/11/10/anstey-1-1%C2%BD-3%C2%BD-market-harborough-1/

The third team hosted a very strong Wigston 3 side but Anstey had a strong side themselves. Matt was on board 1 but unfortunately lost to the exceptionally talented Stefan Savic, who was 100 points higher graded. Also out graded were Mick on board 2, Noor on board 3, and Ted on board 4. Ted lost out to the experienced Les Corlett. Noor declined a draw, then offered a draw but went down to the ever solid Iain Dodds. This left Mick to finish things off and he earned a good draw against the seasoned Phil Harlow – therefore an expected 3.5-0.5 loss given the strength of the opposition. 1 or 2 of the results could have been different though…..

The 5th team looked to make their mark in division 5 by hosting our friends at the Heathcote Arms’ second team. Both teams had good sides selected, with Heathcote’s total grades – 6924 – very close to Anstey’s – 6888. Ken Ronald played on board one and narrowly lost to Josh Graves – a friend of Anstey as he appears at our club nights every now and again. Jakub got right down to a King and Pawn ending against Mick Broadhurst but made a crucial mistake and a loss was inevitable and he resigned. Glynn played a slightly dodgy game against the returning Paul Wylie (having played for Red Admiral before) but having been down on material, Glynn kept fighting and forced a mistake from Paul which turned the game on it’s head and Paul resigned. Curtis never looked in trouble against Ray Beach, remaining calm in a won position and delivering the point for the team. The night came down to the last game with the scores locked at 2-2 with El Capitan Oskar last to finish against Bill Roberts. Bill found a lovely combination in the middle game to checkmate Oskar’s King in a very double-edged position where Oskar had his own attacking chances. A 3-2 loss for the 5th team but again, it could have gone either way.