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Anstey Chess club in Your Local magazine

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Your own Anstey Chess club has received attention from Your Local magazine in Anstey.

In half page article, our own chairman Ben makes sure that the local community is aware of everything going on in the Methodist Church every Thursday from 7 pm.

After a short summary of the first two games of the season for our club, Ben takes us on an informative journey starting with our venue along with several acknoledgments. Our own ansteychessclub.co.uk is also mentioned, while important information is provided about Junior Chess classes.

All in all, a very good article from our club leader, so make sure to take Your Local magazine, turn on page 16 and enjoy it!

Sunday chess review – 23/01/2022

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Welcome to another Sunday chess review where we take a look at selected events to remember from the past week and to look forward in the next.

In our own Anstey Chess club we had another amazing club night, a report from the evening and a gallery of photos can be seen on Club Night – 20/01/22. This week we are looking forward to another club night for our first team and casual players, while the second team will have to face Heathcote Arms 2. We wish them good luck and two wins in a row.

In the area there were several competitive games in all divisions. In Division 1 Braunstone 1 won over Wigston 1, while Shepshed’s first two teams had to play each other, with the first team taking the honours. In the second division, Melton Mowbray 1 delivered a crushing 3 – 1 defeat to the unfortunate team of Loughborough 1. In Division 3 where our own Anstey 1 plays, Market Harborough 2 did not leave any chances to the team of Kirby Muxloe 2, the game finished 8.5 – 1.5 for the division leaders. In the fourth division, Wigston 4 an Loughborough 2 shared a point after a 2.5 – 2.5 draw. To follow all action in out own county, follow the LRCA website.

In the country, the Independent published a piece about “the real-life” Beth Harmon (fictional character from the Queen’s Gambit series on Netflix), the first World Women’s Championship winner Vera Menchik. More on Vera Menchik can be found on chess.com.

Worldwide the main topic in chess as usual is the world champion in classical chess Magnus Carlsen. The Norwegian is again aiming to write history by achieving 2900 ELO rating and his road starts at the TATA Steel Chess tournament held in Wijk in the Netherlands. Currently the world champion is in first place, followed by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov who is trailing by only half a point. Meanwhile, Vidit Gujrathi is hovering around the third place a full point behind Carlsen, while Anish Giri received a point by default after Daniil Dubov got himself in a “Covid-y” situation. Full coverage of the tournament, as presented by chess.com on YouTube can be found on our own website. Just head back to the home page and scroll down to the bottom or click here.

Club Night – 20/01/22

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On 20 January Anstey Chess club opened its doors for another club night. With attendance of 8 people in the Methodist Church in Anstey, the night started with four sharp battles. While some were preparing for the Nottingham Rapid tournament next month with a 20/10 time limit, others decided to keep it casual and refuse the timers.

We welcomed our new member John who played interesting solid games against some of our top experienced players. Matt also decided to join us and is now becoming a regular attendee of our club’s events. He used the opportunity to crush Boris both as white and as black and then went on to play a more challenging game against Julian. In the other corner, Mick tried hard to focus on his games despite Boris’ and Ben’s occasional irrelevant comments, which seemed funny only to themselves. Although the distractions were substantial, Mick played in his usual sophisticated style and led successfully several sharp tactical battles.

  • Four boards and plenty of action
  • Mick and Ben dicussing poisitions and groceries in a casual chat
  • Julian and Matt in a serious tactical battle
  • Julian looks happy with his position while Matt is seriously thinking
  • Boris and Ben confused by the move ‘En passant’ while Mick is not impressed at the back

Julian and Hal started their preparation for the Nottingham Rapid tournament with time controled games against each other. Always class acts, both engaged in a few battles with Julian showing interesting lines to the always eager to learn Hal. The latter decided to leave a little earlier and Julian went on to play challenging games with Matt.

Ben and Oscar played a few games in preparation for next week’s game against Heathcote Arms 2. Following the educational play, Oscar took on the newcomer John while Ben and Boris irresponsibly went on to discuss our new website and watch Liverpool’s game (a happy coincidence) over a pint in the club’s old home The Stadon.

While Matt and Julian were finishing off their last game, Mick engaged in a conversation with Ben and Boris who played a little blitz after coming back from the pub.

Overall, it was another entertaining fun night in our club. Join us next week for more fun and a serious challenge for our second team. We will be open from 7pm in the Anstey Methodist Curch.

Sunday chess review

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Welcome to the very first ‘Sunday chess review’. Every Sunday we will try to summarise news from our own club along with main titles from our county, country and around the world. We hope you will find it informative and enjoyable and we will appreciate any feedback, so do not hesitate to leave it.

In our own Anstey Chess club we are preparing for a quiet week with only a club night on Thursday in sight. As usual in the last few weeks, masks are mandatory as the health of our players and guests is paramount for us.

Locally, a rapid OTB tournament has been announced to take place in Nottingham on 20th February. If rapid is your format, do not hesitate and book yourself in. More information on https://www.nottinghamshirechess.org/competitions/.

In the meantime, the ECF is scheduling a one-day Endgame Challenge Rerun on Saturday 29th January with IM Lorin D’Costa and GM Keith Arkell. The Endgame Challenge Rerun will cover fundamental endgames you really must know with theoretical positions and practical examples. More information on https://www.englishchess.org.uk/endgame-challenge-rerun/ .

On the international stage, the TATA Steel Tournament started a couple of days ago. At the end of today, Duda, Carlsen and Vidit Gujrathi are in the lead, only half a point in front of 8 other players, including Caruana, Mamedyarov and the always entertaining Daniil Dubov. More information on https://www.chess.com/news/view/tata-steel-chess-2022-round-2.

We hope you enjoyed the very first Sunday chess review. More to come next week.