Thursday 30/03/2023. Anstey 1’s push for a top 2 finish in the division was dealt another blow as Market Harborough 1 took all the points in this LRCA Division 2 clash. Hopes were high going into the match after walloping Wigston 2 the week before but despite a brave effort they could not replicate the performance.

With John returning from ill-health Anstey fielded their regular side against an odd-looking Harborough team. Harborough out-rated Anstey on the top 3 boards but fielded an unknown (at least to us) 1,250 player rated on board 4. (A ringer? – Ed). At 19:30 the players shook hands and battle commenced.

John Robinson’s game against Dave Walker on board 2 was the first to finish and immediately put the home team on the back foot. Dave, with black, had equalised out of the opening and countered John’s queenside castling and kingside expansion with his own queenside attack leaving his king in the centre. John’s attack lost momentum and he went defensive before Dave made a brilliant knight sacrifice:

The game continued 22. … Nxb2!! 23. Kxb2 Qa4 24. Kc1 Qa2 25. Re2 Ba3+ 26. Nxa3 b2+ and John resigned a hopeless position. Instead of 22. Rd1-e1 John should have played 22. h5! when both 22. … Nxb2 and 22. … Ne3 are met with 23. hxg6 but hey-ho, that’s chess! Anstey 0 – 1 Market Harborough.

Mick Sandham was white on board 4 against Steve Bizley. Mick got the better of the opening and had a development and space advantage. Steve tried a desperate counter with 12. … e5 but after a few careful moves by white this lost a pawn. Mick then found what looked to be a lovely outpost for his knight on b6 but this turned out to be a blunder:

Steve found the brilliant defensive tactical resource 18. … Bxc5+!! winning back the pawn and then won another to be up in material. Mick lined up his queen and bishop against black’s king and Steve made a defensive inaccuracy with 21. … g6 rather than 21. … h6 allowing 22. f5! The bishops came off and with a slightly exposed king Steve accepted Mick’s draw offer despite being the pawn up. (Stockfish eval was 0.0 – Ed). Anstey ½ – 1½ Market Harborough.

Matt Connor had a strange game against Romilly Ilersic with black on board 3. After an odd opening line it looked like black had an edge, with lots of little tactical motifs at play but Matt missed a key move harassing white’s queen on c2 with 10. … Nb4. Instead, he defended his e4 pawn with 10. Bf5 but this allowed Romilly to regroup and re-position his knights on c3 and c4 targeting black’s soft underbelly and slightly exposed king. The pressure eventually told and white won a pawn and had a lovely position with black squarely on the back foot. Matt tried to mix it up and get some counterplay, it was just enough with the clocks running down to give Romilly pause for thought and to accept Matt’s (rather cheeky – Ed) offer of a draw although this pretty much secured the points for Harborough in the match situation. Anstey 1 – 2 Market Harborough.

Last to finish was board 1, Julian Tarwid as black against Ian Clarke. The game was even throughout with no side gaining any advantage to speak of (reflected in both sides move accuracy of over 95%). In the endgame Julian activated his rook and pushed and prodded for a weakness but Ian made no mistakes defending. In the end it came down to a completely level opposite colour bishops ending and a draw was agreed. This secured match victory for Harborough. Anstey 1½ – 2½ Market Harborough.

Anstey remain 3^rd in the division but are now only 2 points ahead of Braunstone who have a game in hand, yikes:

Anstey’s next game is home against Syston 2 on the 20^th April.

Anstey captain Matt Connor told Men’s Health:
Once again I’m very disappointed, our third loss this season. True, the losses are all against the teams above us in the league but our biggest problems have been the number of drawn matches and points lost against lower sides. Two matches to go, we now need to ensure that we finish third.

Thursday 23/03/2023. Anstey 1 made the trip to the Wigston Liberal Club for the second time in a week for this LRCA Division 2 fixture against Wigston 2. Self confidence in the team was at an all-time low having drawn their last two matches against the bottom two sides in the division. Err, apart from Julian that is who is Mr Confidence. Still, they were hoping to improve on the 2-2 draw in the reverse fixture. Once again super-sub Boris (who’s having a superb run in the 1^st team – Ed) was called upon after John Robinson pulled out of the team due to ill health.

Once again, the team were warmly greeted by Wigston. When the captains exchanged team sheets it was revealed that Anstey had a significant rating disadvantage on paper (7,467 vs 6,933). The players shook hands and battle commenced.

For only the second time this season Matt Connor finished first, playing black on board 2 versus Stefan Savic. Matt equalised out of the opening and built up a bit of an edge in the position but this petered out and a draw was agreed. Yawn. Still, it gave him the opportunity to enjoy watching the other games. Wigston ½ – Anstey ½.

Julian Tarwid was out for revenge for his loss in the reverse fixture against Lewis Turner. Playing white on board 1 the middlegame was fairly even until Julian managed to mobilise his bishops and rooks and was putting pressure on black’s position. Tempted by a cheap checkmate threat Julian then made a mistake allowing black’s white-squared bishop into the game with tempo, a potentially game-changing move. Unfortunately for Lewis he then returned the favour, Julian swinging into full kingside attack mode:

Julian replied with 24. Bxf5! And after 24. … Bxe1 (24. … gxf5 25. Rg3+ leads to mate in 9) 25. Rg3 Kh7 26. Qf3 was crushing, Lewis resigned. Sweet. Wigston ½ – Anstey 1½.

Mick Sandham faced off against Stephen Smith with white on board 3. Despite being out-rated by over 200 points Mick played a great game, building up an advantage in the middlegame and creating a menacing looking attack against black’s draughty looking king. In one of those positions where you think there must be something here but you can’t quite see it (yes Matt – Ed) he missed a great but very hard to spot move:

Mick could now have played 26. Rf6! After 26. … Nxf6 27. Qg5+ Qg7 28. Qxg7+ Kxg7 29. Nxe6+ Kg8 30. exf6 white comes out with a knight and 2 pawns for the rook with black probably having to give back the exchange to deal with the monster passed pawn on f6. But that didn’t happen, instead with the clocks running down pieces were traded off and it came down to queen, 2 knights and 6 pawns vs queen, bishop, knight and 6 pawns. White still had a tiny advantage but a draw was agreed. Wigston 1 – Anstey 2.

With just a draw required to secure the W it was down to Boris on board 4 (with the black pieces) against Andrew Pike. Andrew played slightly passively in the opening giving himself a bad dark-squared bishop. He eventually went for a Stonewall like setup pushing on the kingside with g4 then f5. But black had a solid grip on the centre. Pawns came off, white ending up with an isolated queen-pawn. Boris piled on the pressure on the d4 pawn. Andrew defended manfully but became extremely short on time. Boris manoeuvred his knight around in an attempt to find the perfect square, Andrew reduced to shuffling pieces at this point. Eventually the black knight threatened to jump in to the 6^th rank and Andrew walked into a fatal fork:

41. … Ne3+ game over. Wigston 1 – Anstey 3.

A great win for Anstey, consolidating their 3^rd place in the division but still 4 points behind the leaders.

Anstey face Market Harborough 1 in the next match on 30^th March, another “6-pointer”.

Anstey captain Matt Connor told Self Confidence Magazine:
I am delighted with that team performance, that’s probably our best win of the season so far. The way Julian converted his queenside pressure into a sudden, devastating kingside attack was Grandmaster-esque. Boris’s superb form also continues, he made Andrew squirm like a squirmy thing.

Thursday 16/03/2023. Anstey 1 made the first of two consecutive visits to the Wigston Liberal Club for this LRCA Division 2 fixture against Wigston 3. They were full of confidence having won the reverse fixture 4-0 (to date, still the only whitewash result in the division). The was despite star-player Julian crying off at the last minute with an eye condition (he could have played blindfolded surely? – Ed). Super-sub Boris once again stepped up to the plate (or sat down at the board, whatever).

After being warmly greeted and getting the mingling out of the way, the captains exchanged team sheets. Anstey had a significant rating advantage on paper (6,358 vs 6,796) but as we’ve seen before this often counts for nowt. The players shook hands and battle commenced.

John Robinson was first to finish, playing white on board 1 versus Les Corlett. John was no doubt hoping to do the double over Les having defeated him in the reverse fixture but it was not to be. Les equalised easily out of the opening, a few pieces were exchanged off and with neither player making any mistakes the position was dead-level. A draw was agreed after 21 moves. Wigston ½ – Anstey ½.

The other games pretty much went down to the wire but Mick Sandham’s game against Phil Watkinson on board 3 was the next to finish. Mick, with white, had a small advantage after the very sharp opening but was slow developing his queenside pieces. After an exchange of a white bishop for a black knight Phil equalised then moved into the ascendency with his dangerous looking bishop pair. Mick continued with a rook lift and kingside attack and the game descended into chaos with both sides making errors as the clocks ticked down. As so often happens a final blunder decided the game with Mick moving his rook where it could just be taken (albeit backwards) by black’s (now sole remaining) bishop. An outburst of “blast deary me!” gave the game away, Phil took the rook and the win. Wigston 1½ – Anstey ½.

Matt Connor was black on board 2 versus our good friend Paul Mottram. In a cagey game, Matt equalised fairly easily out of the opening. After pushing pawns and jamming up the queenside, Paul stood well in the centre of the board with a commanding e4 square for a knight whilst Matt built up pressure down the half open f-file. Matt mobilised his queen and both rooks and started probing for weakness against white’s castled king. As the clocks ticked down Paul defended well and the position was dynamically equal. Realising a draw would not be enough for the team Matt set a sneaky trap with a discovered attack on white’s rook on a1. Paul missed the threat (had he seen it he would have stood better), Matt gobbled up the rook with his bishop and a few moves later Paul resigned. Wigston 1½ – Anstey 1½.

So it all came down to Boris, also with black, against Peter Collings on board 4. Peter made an of inaccuracy in the opening allowing Boris to fork pawns on d4 and b2 with 10. … Qb6. Boris followed up winning another pawn then another and had a healthy advantage. Peter won a pawn back then followed a long spell in the game where various pieces came off and we were left with rook and 5 pawns vs rook and 3 pawns. Even though white’s rook (and king) were active and black’s rook slightly passive, this was still winning easily. Until Boris had a rush of blood to the head:

Boris inexplicably played 48. … e5+? and after 49. Kxd5 f4 50. exf4 exf4 51. gxf4 g3 52. Rb2 the position is completely drawn. Boris carried on for another 30-odd moves, the rooks coming off and ending up with king and rook’s pawn vs king before the draw was finally agreed. Wigston 2 – Anstey 2.

A great result for Wigston but not so much for Anstey, another dropped point against lower teams. They do move up one place in the league but remain 4 points off the lead.

Anstey return to Wigston on the 23^rd March for the “6-pointer” against Wigston 2.

Anstey captain Matt Connor told Chess.com:
Wow, what a shocker, another disappointing result. Too many dropped points against lower sides and the highest number of draws in the division, I fear this is going to be the story of our season.

Thursday 23/02/2023. Anstey 1 welcomed their friends Market Harborough 2 to the Methodist Church Centre for this LRCA Division 2 4^th vs 9^th fixture. It would be fair to say that the 2 sides, both promoted from division 3 last season, had fared differently in the league so far with Anstey challenging in the play-off places and Market Harborough rooted to the bottom of the table. But anyone can beat anyone on any given night of course!

With John returning from ill health Anstey fielded their regular side against a slightly weakened (on paper) Harborough. Anstey looked to have the edge with a rating total 7,031 vs 6,315. Posing for the photoshoot the players shook hands and battle commenced.

Julian’s game against David Curran on board 1 was the first to finish. Coming out of the opening roughly level, Dave, with white, took advantage of Julian’s automatic h6 in response to Bg5 with a nice tactic to win a pawn:

With the c-pawn pinned of course. Julian got some activity for the pawn deficit and white wasn’t able to castle. Play continued with white maintaining a slight advantage (+3.5 at one point) until Julian managed to coordinate his rooks and start harassing the white king. Dave pinched another pawn but then blundered retreating his bishop to f5 and then again to g4:

Allowing mate in 3 with 29. … Bg3+. 29. Rf1 was better but black, despite still being a pawn down, would have had the edge. A slightly lucky point for Julian and Anstey. Anstey 1 – Market Harborough 0.

In John’s latest comeback game, he faced off against Harborough’s captain Michael Garland (Jnr) on board 2. Mike equalised easily out of the opening and had a slight edge when John made a mistake allowing a nice queen move to threaten a fork and win a pawn:

Play continued 18. Nd1 Rxc2 giving black a near winning position. After the queens and one pair of rooks came off Mike picked up white’s loose a-pawn. With black’s king coming over to the queenside to assist, John set up a final trap:

Threatening the cheeky Nxc4+. Mike saw it and played 41. … Kc5 but after 42. Na4+ Kd6 43. Nb2 Kc5 43. Na4+ Kd6 44. Nb2 a draw by repetition was agreed. Of course, instead of moving back to d6 black should have played 42. … Kb5 and as long as he avoids 43. cxb4+ Kxa4?? 44. Ra1# he is still 2 pawns up and should be winning. So, a lucky half point for John and Anstey. Anstey 1½ – Market Harborough ½.

Mick played against Conor Hackett on board 4, a rematch from Market Harborough 3 vs Anstey 2 a few weeks back. That was a sharp game in which Conor triumphed, Mick was out for revenge this time with the white pieces. It was another sharp opening but Mick seemed to have it under control (witnessed by Matt on the next board when Mick said aloud that he’d play the odd-looking, un-developing but book move Bf1 on move 6…). Conor deviated from book giving Mick a +1 advantage but unfortunately a series of inaccurate moves followed and gave Conor a decisive advantage.

Mick blundered with 11. Bxd4??. Play continued 11. … exd4 12. Nge4 Qe5 with a -7 advantage. Conor kept up the pressure, swapping off all the minor pieces and hassling white’s king with his major ones. He did let his foot off the gas slightly swapping his two rooks for white’s queen but with advanced pawns on a5, b4 and c3 was still in control. Mick managed to rustle up a little counterplay but ultimately his rooks weren’t coordinated enough and eventually he dropped one to a queen fork. One of those horrible games when you’re on the ropes for most of it but well played Conor. Anstey 1½ – Market Harborough 1½.

This left Matt’s game against Jon Redding on board 3. Matt slightly misplayed the opening but actually got an ok position going into the middlegame. He pushed pawns in the centre and the queenside before mistakenly swapping pawns with cxb3. White’s space advantage gave him the edge and it was easier for Jon to manoeuvre his pieces forcing Matt into defensive duties. Matt missed a couple of opportunities to make a fight of it then played a couple of inaccurate moves in time trouble. With a minute left on the clock and his position deteriorating (and Mick’s game having just finished so the match score was level) Matt cheekily offered a draw. Jon though for a couple of minutes before accepting to secure the draw for his team. Another lucky ½ point for Anstey. Anstey 2 – Market Harborough 2.

A good result for Harborough:

Anstey miss the chance to move back up to 3^rd in the (still hotly-contested) division:

Anstey’s next game is against Wigston 3 on the 16^th March.

Anstey captain Matt Connor told Woman’s Weekly:
I’m very disappointed. In my last post-match interview, I warned about complacency against the division’s bottom 2 teams and that’s exactly what’s happened tonight. Having said that we could easily have lost this one so maybe it’s a point salvaged. We still have to play the 3 teams above us so there’s still a chance in the division.

Thursday 09/02/2023. Anstey 1 made the long, arduous journey to the bowls club in Kirby Muxloe for this LRCA Division 2 fixture against friendly rivals Kirby Muxloe 1 (although one town’s very like another when your head’s down over your pieces, brother). Without the services of John Robinson due to ill health (we wish you all the best John), super-sub Boris Lazarov was once again called-up.

As the venue very slowly began to warm up, the captains exchanged team sheets. With the teams evenly matched on paper (7,175 vs 6,933) it was going to be a close contest. The players shook hands and battle commenced.

Mick Sandham’s game against Ray Townsend on board 3 was the first to finish. In a repeat of the reverse fixture Mick was hoping to do the double over Ray. Coming out of the opening with more space and a lead in development, Mick brought his queen into the game and starting probing black’s defence to make weaknesses. Ray brought his queen over to defend and to try an exchange of queens but was so focused on it he dropped a piece, oops.

Which fails to 19. Bxf5 of course. Ray carried on blitzing out moves to try and rattle Mick and create some counterplay on the queenside. Mick calmly ignored it, kept the pressure up on the kingside and then set a nice discovered attack trap to win black’s rook for a knight. A rook down, Ray resigned. Kirby 0 – Anstey 1.

Boris played Dave Walker on board 4. In what can only be described as a masterclass of handling the black pieces (91.2% accuracy), Boris calmly defended Dave’s attack and lured him into a tactical mistake:

Black’s h-pawn had been pinned for a couple of moves, Dave missed that 14. .. Ne7-g6 defended the pin. Play continued 15. … hxg5 16. Rxh8 Nxh8 and a piece up Boris proceeded to swap off the remaining white pieces and picked up an extra pawn in the process. In a hopeless position Dave resigned. Kirby 0 – Anstey 2.

In another re-match from the reverse fixture Julian Tarwid played Simon Lazarus on board 1. Coming out of the opening the position was fairly even but with Julian (as white) play more attackingly (is that a word?). Simon made a couple of mistakes but Julian didn’t take advantage, making a few mistakes his own. Julian sacrificed a piece for 2 pawns and an exposed black king but Simon defended well. In the end after a few queen checks from white a draw was agreed even though black appeared to stand better despite his dodgy pair of h-pawns:

The draw was sufficient to secure match victory so well done Julian. Kirby ½ – Anstey 2½.

Matt Connor’s game again Gijs Kruitbosch on board 4 was the last to finish. Matt had told the team going into the match that the game plan was to win with white and draw with black. Unfortunately, he took that a little too much to heart, opting for a really passive setup from the opening. This allowed Gijs as white to freely develop and slowly build up pressure. In an effort to get some play Matt expanded on the queenside but missed the opportunity to try and open files. White’s knights then got in behind the pawns and black was squeezed hard, really hard. As time ran short Matt missed a move that would have kept the defence up for longer but then blundered in time trouble giving Gijs the deserved win. Kirby 1½ – Anstey 2½.

Anstey move up to third in the (still hotly-contested) division:

Anstey’s next game is against Market Harborough 2 on the 23^rd February, a game in which they cannot afford to drop any points to keep their title aspirations alive.

Anstey captain Matt Connor told Inside Bowls:
I’m very disappointed with my personal performance after contemplating a much more combative line but a massive shout out to Mick and Boris whose wins brought home the bacon. With 6 games to go there is still all to play for! We just need to make sure we don’t slip up against the bottom 2 teams and we’ll be in the mix come crunch time.

Thursday 26^th January 2023. Anstey 1 welcomed Braunstone 2 to the Methodist Church Centre in this first of the reverse fixtures LRCA Division 2 clash. Honours ended up even after a hard fought 2-2 draw.

Not for the first time this season a last-minute call was put out for availability after star player Julian cried off sick. Luckily a few players volunteered, thanks Ben, Bob and Noor. Captain Matt made the decision to go with Noor who is without doubt the form player at the club at the moment (9 wins 2 draws 0 losses in the league so far and a 5/5 performance at the Kenilworth Junior Open Under 18 Group B rapid-play last weekend).

Matt also promoted himself above John to play board 1, John taking the white pieces for only the second time this season. With Braunstone out-rating Anstey on paper 6941 vs 6341, the players shook hands and battle commenced.

It turned out to be a match of 100%s. Noor kept his 100% winning record for the 1^st team; Matt and John lost their 100% records with black and white respectively; and Mick 100% got out of jail free!

The first match to finish was Matt on board 1 as black against Mike Salisbury. Matt equalised fairly easily against Mike’s unorthodox opening going for a solid setup. After a bit of shuffling pieces around the queens came off and the draw was agreed. Yawn. Anstey ½ – Braunstone ½.

John faced off against Daniel Wilkinson with white on board 2 in a re-match of the first game of the season and was out to revenge defeat in that game. John had a nice position out of the opening with a slight space advantage until Daniel found an ingenious way to activate his pieces and equalise the position:

John took the knight on g4 (after which … exd4 regained the piece) but made a mistake a few moves later moving his queen back to h3 after Daniel played … Ne5 attacking it. Play transferred to the queenside but with white’s pieces a bit uncoordinated Daniel found a nice tactical sequence that won a rook and John graciously resigned. Anstey ½ – Braunstone 1½.

Mick played black on board 3 against Jim Bingham, also a rematch of the reverse fixture. But that first game was board 4 away which meant Mick was once again stuck with the black pieces (Editor: 7 blacks and just 1 white now Mick!). Mick came out of the opening slightly cramped and some clever piece play by Jim meant Mick was in rare full defensive mode. A couple of nice positional tactics won Jim a pawn and just when it looked like he would break through Mick finally rustled up some counterplay with a late kingside attack. It didn’t look like it was getting anywhere though but with Jim running a bit short on time Mick cheekily offered a draw. Which Jim agreed to.

White is a still a pawn up but the engines rate this as over +5! So a lucky escape for Mick. Anstey 1 – Braunstone 2.

So it all came down to Noor’s game on board 4 as white against Martin Steel. A slight error in the opening by Noor allowed Martin to snatch a pawn. Noor followed up by castling long and launching a kingside attack with h4 and h5 but Martin kept it solid. After various exchanges it came down to rook and two pawns vs knight and bishop with black still better. Until he played 30. … e5 which loosened his position and allowed Noor to threaten mate with Qf5:

Martin was forced to give back the exchange with 31. … Rxd3 and after grabbing the g2 pawn it was 3 pawns for a knight. Unfortunately for Martin, Noor swung his knight over into the attack on black’s king and just as he was beginning to weave a mating net Martin lost on time. As we’ve said many a time it’s not the first mistake that loses a game a chess it’s the last one! But well done Noor. Anstey 2 – Braunstone 2.

Anstey 1 remain 4^th in the league just 2 points behind the leaders Ashby 1 though Ashby do have a game in hand:

Anstey captain Matt Connor told BBC News:
A massive thanks to Noor for stepping in at the last minute and turning the tide in his game to secure us the draw. I am slightly disappointed though (despite the 600 rating point deficit) not to take the win and the full 2 points, I think that’s a measure of the expectations we have now at Anstey Chess Club, the soul of chess in Charnwood of course.

Thursday 12/01/2023. Anstey 1 travelled to the Ivanhoe Social Club in Ashby for this LRCA Division 2 top of the table, six-pointer, win at all costs, do not come home with anything other than victory, epic fixture against the league leaders Ashby 1. Except that they came home with a big fat zero and slipped to third place in the league (after Wigston 2 beat Market Harborough 2).

Playing in the back room was much better than playing in the bar (we’ve had enough of playing in bars for this season – Editor), the captains exchanged team sheets. The teams were very evenly matched on paper (6,957 vs 7,031), it was going to be a close contest.

The players shook hands and battle commenced. After just a minute or so there was a bit of a commotion, there was some kind of announcement from the snooker room next door (another famously quiet sport you would think). Matt reached for his ear defenders and in doing so knocked over a bottle of water demolishing half the pieces on the board. Many whisperings of “j’adoube” followed and the position set back up LOL. As an aside, a little-followed etiquette rule of chess, you should never adjust the pieces on the board when it’s not your move. You’re welcome.

John’s game against Andrew Wilson on board 2 was the first to finish. In what can only be described as a bore-draw John, as black, mirrored Andrew’s setup in fact copying white’s moves four to ten exactly! Shortly after the queens came off and in an equal position John offered the draw which Andrew accepted. Ashby ½ – Anstey ½.

Julian played Richard Vann on board 1. Going for his usual castle long and attack on the kingside approach, Julian pushed Gary the g-pawn to g6. Richard countered on the queenside but left his king in the centre of the board which Julian exploited with a brilliant knight sacrifice:

After 17. exd5+ Qe7 18. Qxc4 Julian had three pawns for the piece, with black’s pieces uncoordinated and his king stuck in the centre. Unfortunately, Julian got over-ambitious and sacrificed his other knight (and a chunk of his advantage) on g5 giving the crazy material deficit of four pawns versus two knights. He still stood better in game but a second mistake a few moves later allowed black to give back a knight for a pawn (it’s now three pawns for a knight, keep up) and a dynamically equal position. But it’s easy to go wrong in these types of positions especially with the clock ticking (Julian was down on time). A couple of further slips and black won another pawn and playing accurately Richard activated his knight then his rook and pushed his passed b-pawn with devastating effect to take the win. What a shame. Ashby 1½ – Anstey ½.

Mick was next to finish with black on board 4 versus Paul Gibson. By his own admission Mick mixed and matched his opening systems missing a key move which would have completely equalised. Instead, white came out of the opening with a slight but nagging advantage. A couple of passive moves by Paul though meant Mick was still in the game and his thoughts turned to attack by means of h6 and g5. Unfortunately, the idea was flawed and white hit back with a great move:

Mick compounded the problem with 23. … g4. White later opened the f-file and move his doubled-d rooks to the f-file bearing down on the pinned f7 pawn. As pieces were exchanged off and the dust settled white came out 2 pawns up and an overwhelming advantage. A final error meant black’s king was trapped on the h-file and a forced checkmate with rook, bishop and knight meant Mick had to resign. Ashby 2½ – Anstey ½.

Matt’s game against Chris Tipper on board 3 was the last to finish. Chris declined Matt’s opening gambit which unusually led to a more positional type of game for Matt. With a strong pawn centre for white with pawns on c3, d4 and e4, black tried to hit back with … d5 but after exchanging the dark-squared bishops on e7 Matt pushed on with e5 securing what turned out to be and everlasting space advantage. Plenty of piece manoeuvring on both sides followed but it was much easier for white than black with Chris trying to defend everything with awkwardly placed pieces. Eventually white pinched a pawn:

The manoeuvring continued but when Chris finally tried to break free (when he was running out of time) with f5 he mortally weakened his central pawns and allowed a nice tactical finish:

The game finished 32. Rxc7 Kxc7 33. gxf5 1-0 as after 33. … Nxf5 34. Bxf5 exf5 35. Nxd5+ wins the queen. Ashby 2½ – Anstey 1½.

Anstey 1 slip to third in the division at the (approximate) halfway point of the season, equal on points with Market Harborough 1 but MH have a game in hand. The division remains very tight with just 3 points separating the top 4 teams:

Anstey’s next game is against Braunstone 2 on the 26^th January, a win required to keep them in the mix!

Anstey captain Matt Connor told Snooker Weekly:
I’m gutted, a win tonight would have taken us top of the table. We need to work on our away form, we’re averaging 50% compared to 83% at home. Having said that we’ve only played 3 matches at home and 5 away so far, hopefully the crowd can get behind us in the coming home games to really lift the side. The very last game of the season we’re at home against Ashby, if we’re there or thereabouts in the league our fate could still be in our own hands!

Anstey 1 Return to Winning Ways by Smashing Syston 2

Wednesday 14/12/2022. Anstey 1 travelled to the Syston & District Social Club in, err, Syston for this LRCA Division 2 fixture. Well, most of the team did, for some reason Leo ended up at the Methodist church temporarily worrying captain Matt that he’d gone to the home venue in Anstey! Luckily the Syston Methodist church was just a few doors up the road from the social club, phew.

What was Leo doing playing for the first team I hear you ask. Is it panto season yet? Oh yes it is! A few days before the match Syston captain Brian Galligan had enquired as to whether we could play more than the normal four boards. Not thinking it was a trap (like some had mooted) three additional players in Boris, Leo and Noor were rustled up, with both Leo and Noor making their first team debuts. A big shout out to all three of them for stepping up to the plate. It turned out that Syston had some new players they wanted to give some match experience to.

Leo’s directions weren’t the only pre-match drama. The social club’s function room had been booked out (some kind of band practice we think) and the chess club had been relegated to the (very noisy) bar, the social club thinking it was just a club not a match night. In fairness to the social club and to Brian they did their best, re-arranging the match across the road at the Conservative Club. In the bar. The noisy bar. With lots of people. Drinking. With the World Cup on the TV. So not great match conditions…

Whilst we were waiting for the chess sets, boards and clocks, Julian led the pre-match warm up. Which lasted all of two seconds. Julian however continued exercising his right arm with a pint from the bar after borrowing a tenner. Eventually the boards were all set up, team sheets exchanged and battle commenced.

In what seemed like only a few minutes, Noor and his opponent Conor O’Boye started resetting the pieces on board 7. Noor, playing white, had demolished Conor, his un-castled king (having been weakened by f6 and g5 pawn moves) was harassed mercilessly by white’s and queen and bishops. Black’s king accounted for over a third of the 17 moves and was eventually mated on d8:

So a fantastic debut for Noor and taking the honour of the first Anstey player ever to win for the first, second and third teams, well done Noor. Syston 0 – Anstey 1.

Next to finish was Boris with white against Aron English on board 5. In an uncharacteristically positional game (instead of a raging kingside attack) against a passive small centre opening, Boris built up some pressure on the e-file and after the last of the minor pieces were exchanged won a pawn but in doing so had to exchange off a rook and the queen leaving a tricky rook and pawn (aka Nemesis…) ending. Aron didn’t make any mistakes in the next few moves, a few pawns were exchanged and it came down to the final position:

Boris must have had his “serious” face on because at this point Aron resigned! As long as the black rook move sideways (and not to b4) the position is dead level. Of course, over the board it’s easy to make a mistake and maybe Aron had had enough of looking at Boris’s face… Still, a bonus ½ point for Anstey. Syston 0 – Anstey 2.

John played black against Syston’s rising star Jack Pilley on board 2. Jack has been in great form of late and this was always going to be a tough game. John did ok in the opening and was roughly equal if a little passive going into the middlegame. In trying to get active he pushed e5 and then e4 but this was a square too far. White traded off the key defender, black’s knight on f6 then white’s knight gobbled up the e4 pawn before jumping to g5 and taking an outpost on e6:

John played on manfully in a pretty horrible position but Jack played the next dozen or so moves flawlessly, squeezing the black position. John ran out of space and also time, eventually losing on the clock. Syston 1 – Anstey 2.

Matt played another new Syston player on board 3, Janis Utatis. In an unusual start to the game Matt was out of his opening book on move 3 so reverted to basic principles ending up with an ok position going into the middlegame with black’s king stuck in the middle of the board. Just when he thought he was going to win black’s knight Janis sacrificed it on f2 to uncover an attack on white’s undefended rook on b1. Unfortunately for black this took the queen away from the defence of the king and after a desperate attempt to get back to defend on a6 white smashed through in the centre:

Black is defenceless but luckily for Matt (as he was bit short on time (Really? – Editor)) Janis made it easy for him with 20. … Kxc6 21. Nxe7+ Kb7 22. Qe4+ Kb8 23. Bf4#. Syston 1 – Anstey 3

The most anticipated match up of the night was Julian (with white) against Brian on board 1 (1894 vs 2077). It was a rollercoaster of a game with opposite sides castling, white attacking on the kingside and black on the queenside. Brian had pretty much equalised out of the opening before a misstep in the centre allowed Julian to consolidate a space advantage. Brian kept battling and after a couple of inaccuracies by white black was back in the game and on top. Julian responded by throwing everything into the attack and crashed through with the brilliant 32. Nxf7:

It’s now mate in 15, amazing calculation by Julian. Brian continued for the next few moves before realising he was doomed, the win securing match victory. Syston 1 – Anstey 4.

Leo faced off against Dave Bedder as black on board 6. In a wild tactical game both sides had chances to win but the winning tactic came down to a nice knight fork:

After winning the bishop, the knight and bishop and a pair of rooks were exchanged leaving Leo with rook, knight and 2 pawns vs rook and 2 pawns, each side having a passed pawn. In these situations Leo just excels, he’s so cool, plays so calmly and of course makes no mistakes. The only black win of the night. Syston 1 – Anstey 5.

This left Mick on board 4 playing Tarsem Dhillon as black. Tarsem built up a space advantage out of the opening but then made a mistake underestimating the pin on his e-pawn:

Unfortunately, Mick missed it as well blundering with 11. … c5 instead of winning a pawn with 11. …Bxd5 when the position is roughly equal. Tarsem consolidated with 12. Qe3 and after that kept the hammer down, castling kingside, opening the f-file, doubling rooks and breaking through to black’s king. Syston 2 – Anstey 5.

At the Christmas break (not quite halfway through the season) division 2 remains extremely tight with just 3 points separating the top 5 teams:

Anstey’s next match is away to Ashby in January, another 6-pointer and a win would see them go top of the table!

Anstey captain Matt Connor told BBC Sport:
A huge win for us tonight, it’s vital that we take points off the other top teams to challenge for first place and a nice +3 for the goal difference too (which will almost certainly be worth ½ a point in the final reckoning). Thanks to Boris and debutants Leo and Noor for stepping in and wow, what an impact they had on the match! We now have a few weeks off, take it easy on the turkey and mince pies lads, we need to be fighting fit for the Ashby game in the new year!

Thursday 08/12/2022. Anstey 1 welcomed Wigston 2 to the Methodist Church Centre in this LRCA Division 2 clash where honours ended up even after a 2-2 draw.

For the second match in a row Anstey were out-rated on every board (6,868 vs 7,370 in total) and once again had to make a last-minute change after John pulled out in the pre-match warm-up (get well soon John). Club president Ben stepped in after a brief discussion with Boris on who should be super-sub this time. With Iain Dodds running late for Wigston the start of the match was amicably delayed and cups of tea all round were offered. The clocks were started after 15 minutes with Iain eventually turning up after a few more minutes. Opponent Mick then very graciously paused Iain’s clock whilst he settled in.

Not that time on the clocks matted much on board 3, as Iain and Mick fairly quickly agreed a “grandmaster” draw. Iain as white had a tiny edge with Mick’s queenside a little undeveloped but he had no real threats. A dull start although Mick did check on the other boards and though the match was going ok before agreeing to the draw. Anstey ½ – Wigston ½.

Next to finish was Ben (making his first team debut this season) with white on board 4 against Andrew Pike. In an interesting game black had a tiny edge coming out of the opening before white expanded on the kingside. Andrew mistakenly blocked the centre with … e5 which game him a permanently backward pawn on d6. Ben tripled his major pieces on the d-file, Andrew holding onto d6 with doubled rooks and queen. When Ben switched to advancing his queenside pawns Andrew activated his queen with 26. … Qg5 and managed to get in behind white’s e4 & f5 pawns. Ben brought his king forward to stop the check on e3 but now he was exposed and with check black picked up the e4 and b4 pawns. In return Ben finally took the black pawn on d6 and with the threat of a back rank mate Andrew took perpetual check:

Anstey 1 – Wigston 1.

Julian faced off against Lewis Turner with black on board 1, his 3rd 2000+ rated opponent of the season so far. He equalised quickly in the opening and had a promising position with his pieces starting to gang up on the white’s king:

Instead of exfiltrating the queen the other side of the board with 11. … Qa4 he went for 11. … Be4 and after Nxc5, Ne1 and f3 the bishop was trapped in the centre of the board. Julian came out with three pawns for the piece but couldn’t get them rolling to provide any meaningful threat, Lewis activated his pieces before exposing black’s dark squared weakness around the king.

So unfortunately Julian’s first loss of the season but still a cracking 4/6 records against some quality players. Anstey 1 – Wigston 2.

Not for the first time this season, Matt’s game was the last to finish as he played white against Rob White on board 2. After losing on time in the last match he played the opening and early middlegame more quickly and after giving up a pawn had good compensation in terms of space. Rob was solid if a bit passive but when Matt started his delayed kingside attack Rob classically struck back in the centre. With time getting tight for both sides Matt made a couple of mistakes and Rob crashed though getting a rook on the back rank and forcing the white king forward. But then Rob missed a couple of chances to finish off the game letting white’s own rook infiltrate on the 7^th rank before finally blundering the defence with 36. … Ne6:

Matt didn’t waste the opportunity, sacrificing the rook with 37. Rg7+! Nxg7 38. h7+ and after 38. … Kh8 to stop the pawn queening it’s mate in 4: 39. Nf7+ Kxh7 40. Qxg6+ Kg8 41. Nh6+ Kh8 42. Qh7#. A nice tactical finish but really (another) lucky win for Matt to secure the draw for the team. Anstey 2 – Wigston 2.

Division 2 remains extremely tight with 3 teams on 8 points behind Ashby on 11 with Anstey 4^th on “goal” difference:

Anstey captain Matt Connor told Sky Sports:
A big thanks to Ben for stepping in at a moment’s notice and a very good result for him against Andrew. It was a match that could easily have gone Wigston’s way, I was relieved to get a get out of jail free card in my game. Our next two games are huge “6-pointers” against Syston and Ashby, two wins could see us topping the table at the half way point of the season which would be phenomenal.

Wednesday 23/11/2022. Anstey 1 once again travelled south to Market Harborough, this time for the away LRCA Division 2 match vs the MH first rather than second team. But this time Anstey were sent home with their tail between their legs after a comprehensive defeat.

Although outrated on paper by 7,768 to 7,031 Anstey came into the match in a buoyant mood after thrashing Wigston 3 4-0 last time out. The captains exchanged team sheets and battle commenced.

John played black against Ian Clarke on board 2 and was the first to finish. In a quiet game John had equalised fairly easily before white started harassing black’s queen then picking off the a6 pawn with his remaining knight. John rustled up some counterplay on the c-file creating a passed pawn on c4:

White didn’t fall for 23. Qxc4 when 23. … b5 wins the knight on a6 instead playing 23. b5! after which John blundered 23. … Qd5? allowing 24. Nxc7, game over. Market Harborough 1 – Anstey 0.

Not much is known about Mick’s game on board 4 with black against Romilly Ilersic (Editor: Poor reporting this…) but we think his trademark attacking play came to nowt against Romilly’s extremely solid play, Romilly hitting back in the centre and eventually taking victory. (Mick, please advise!). Market Harborough 2 – Anstey 0.

Even less is know about Julian’s game on board 1 versus Simon Gay (Editor: WTF?) apart from it was a close game and ended in a draw thus securing victory for MH. (Julian, please advise). Market Harborough 2½ – Anstey ½.

Matt faced off against Dave Walker on board 3 in a re-match from the Chapman Cup game earlier in the year. Dave played a slightly different line than before in the offbeat opening which allowed Matt to play a series of accurate moves to gain a slight but solid advantage. Unfortunately, in getting there Matt used up too much time on the clock so when it got to the business end of the game where things got complicated he blundered in time trouble before (yes, unforgivably) losing on time. It was a good job Ben wasn’t captain… Market Harborough 3½ – Anstey ½.

Anstey captain Matt Connor told BBC Radio Market Harborough:
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