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Weekly Round up – Week 5

/ Ben V / Leave a comment

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.

Weekly Round up – week 2

/ Ben V / Leave a comment

W/C 7/10/24 – Week 2 of the league season

Week two of the league season saw Anstey’s new look 2nd team in action. New look due to the welcome influx of players for the new season. Newly elected 2nd team captain Boris took his team to Loughborough. Boris has written an excellent summary to save me waffling on!
https://ansteychessclub.co.uk/2024/10/13/narrow-defeat-for-the-second-team-at-the-start-of-the-new-season/

The 4th team also started their league campaign away at Ashby 4. More debuts resulted, with father and son team Ken and Ted Ronald making their debuts, alongside Theo also making his debut for Anstey. Unfortunately, Alex dropped out on the day, meaning El Presidente had to fill in to avoid a default. El Presidente soon regretted travelling with a loss on board 1 against the seasoned John Howlett. Other results were good with Theo winning his game in double quick time, Ted winning on debut, and Noor beating Dom Lennon – one of the nicest guys on the chess circuit. The last two to finish were Mike Griffiths in a complicated end game with Ric Dawson. Ric had two connected passers but Mike was an exchange up with a Rook against a Knight, but the Knight was the glue holding Ric’s position together. Ric offered a draw but when most would snap Ric’s hand off with the two passers rolling, Mike said ‘No’. The next thing was the two passers were gone, each player had a rook each and there were a g and h pawn each – definitely a draw. Last to finish was Ken, in another complicated game but an exchange up, but low on time. Fortunately for Ken, his opponent blundered a Knight when giving a check, leading to his inevitable resignation a few moves later with Ken a full rook up.

League Season 2022/2023

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Results

Anstey 2 – Wigston 4 Result: 1.5 – 3.5 (29/09/2022)

Braunstone 2 – Anstey 1 Result: 2 – 2 (05/10/2022)

Anstey 3 – Braunstone 3 Result: 2.5 – 2.5 (06/10/2022)

Anstey 2 – Market Harborough 3 Result: 4 – 2 (13/10/2022)

Anstey 1 – Kirby Muxloe 1 Result: 2.5 – 1.5 (20/10/2022)

Anstey 3 – Loughborough 3 Result: 0.5 – 3.5 (20/10/2022)

Melton Mowbray 3 – Anstey 3 Result: 2 – 2 (26/10/2022)

Wigston 4 – Anstey 2 Result: 3.5 – 3.5 (27/10/2022)

Market Harborough 2 – Anstey 1 Result: 1 – 3 (02/11/2022)

Loughborough 2 – Anstey 2 Result: 2.5 – 1.5 (03/11/2022)

Ashby 4 – Anstey 3 Result: 3.5 – 3.5 (10/11/2022)

Anstey 1 – Wigston 3 Result: 4 – 0 (10/11/2022)

Leicester University – Anstey 3 Result: 2 – 2 (16/11/2022)

Ahsby 3 – Anstey 2 Result: 1.5 – 2.5 (17/11/2022)

Market Harborough 1 – Anstey 1 Result: 3.5 – 0.5 (23/11/2022)

Anstey 2 – Latimer Result: 2.5 – 1.5 (24/11/2022)

Anstey 3 – Kirby Muxloe 2 Result: 4 – 3 (01/12/2022)

Heathcote Arms 1 – Anstey 2 Result: 0 – 4 (06/12/2022)

Anstey 1 – Wigston 2 Result: 2 – 2 (08/12/2022)

Syston 2 – Anstey 1 Result: 2 – 5 (14/12/2022)

Anstey 2 – Ashby 2 Result: 1.5 – 2.5 (15/12/2022)

Anstey 2 – Melton Mowbray 2 Result: 2.5 – 1.5 (05/01/2023)

Anstey 3 – Leicester University Result: 2 – 2 (12/01/2023)

Ashby 1 – Anstey 1 Result: 2.5 – 1.5 (12/01/2023)

Anstey 3 – Ashby 5 Result: 3 – 3 (19/01/2023)

Braunstone 3 – Anstey 3 Result: 3 – 2 (25/01/2023)

Anstey 1 – Braunstone 2 Result: 2 – 2 (26/01/2023)

Market Harborough 3 – Anstey 2 Result: 1.5 – 2.5 (01/02/2023)

Loughborough 3 – Anstey 3 Result: 2.5 – 2.5 (08/02/2023)

Kirby Muxloe 1 – Anstey 1 Result: 1.5 – 2.5 (09/02/2023)

Ashby 2 – Anstey 2 Result: 1.5 – 2.5 (16/02/2023)

Anstey 1 – Market Harborough 2 Result: 2 – 2 (23/02/2023)

Anstey 3 – Melton Mowbray 3 Result: 3 – 1 (23/02/2023)

Anstey 2 – Loughborough 2 Result: 1.5 – 2.5 (02/03/2023)

Latimer – Anstey 2 Result: 0 – 4 (08/03/2023)

Wigston 3 – Anstey 1 Result: 2 – 2 (16/03/2023)

Anstey 3 – Ashby 4 Result: 3 – 3 (16/03/2023)

Wigston 2 – Anstey 1 Result: 1 – 3 (23/03/2023)

Kirby Muxloe 2 – Anstey 3 Result: 1.5 – 4.5 (23/03/2023)

Heathcote Arms 2 – Anstey 3 Result: 1 – 3 (28/03/2023)

Anstey 1 – Market Harborough 1 Result: 1.5 – 2.5 (30/03/2023)

Anstey 2 – Ashby 3 Result: 3 – 1 (06/04/2023)

Anstey 2 – Heathcote Arms 1 Result: 4 – 0 (13/04/2023)

Anstey 1 – Syston 2 Result: 2 – 2 (20/04/2023)

Anstey 3 – Heathcote Arms 2 Result: 3.5 – 0.5 (20/04/2023)

Melton Mowbray 2 – Anstey 2 Result: 2 – 2 (26/04/2023)

Ashby 5 – Anstey 3 Result: 5 – 3 (27/04/2023)

Anstey 1 – Ashby 1 Result: 2.5 – 1.5 (04/05/2023)

Tables and player stats

Standings:

Anstey 1 – Division 2

Anstey 2 – Division 3

Anstey 3 – Division 4

Top 5 Results:

1Anstey 1 vs Wigston 3 Result: 4 – 0
2Latimer vs Anstey 2 Result: 0 – 4
3Heathcote Arms 1 vs Anstey 2 Result: 0 – 4
4Syston 2 vs Anstey 1 Result: 2 – 5
5Kirby Muxloe 2 vs Anstey 3 Result: 1.5 – 4.5

Teams Performance:

Player rankings:

Another episode of the Anstey Chess Club Podcast finally out

/ bobideco / Leave a comment

In this episode The Toaster and El Presidente were joined by one of the top performing players in the league season Noor The Prodigy. The hosts were also helped by the returning guest and co-host in this episode, Julian Mr. Engine. In the second part of the episode, all four discussed the 16 remaining games of the three Anstey teams in the LRCA and everyone gave their summary of the league season in the end.

Please subscribe, comment, like and get in touch!

www. ansteychessclub.co.uk

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instagram.com/ansteychessclub

http://www.reddit.com/r/ansteychessclub/

Episode 6 of the Anstey Chess Club podcast – The hosts-guests and the domination of The Prodigy

/ bobideco / Leave a comment

It has been an interesting period for our club as Anstey Chess Club and its members grow both over and off the board. Following the growth of the club, we have decided to take the next step in our development through the release of a monthly podcast. Throughout the next year, we will use this new platform to give you updates on the season and Leicestershire chess in general. Our team is also committed to do their absolute best to interview each episode a member of the club or the community.

In the sixth episode of our podcast, the hosts Boris “The Toaster” and “El Presidente” Ben decided to turn themselves into hosts-guests and answered the very same questions they usually ask their guests. After touching on their chess journeys and their experience in our favourite chess club, Ben and Boris discussed four away games of the 2022/23 season.

To listen to the episode, follow this link. It is also available on Anchor, Spotify and Amazon Music. Subscribe, comment, like and share!

Episode 5 of the Anstey Chess Club podcast – The Dark Destroyer and the rise of The Prodigy

/ bobideco / Leave a comment

It has been an interesting period for our club as Anstey Chess Club and its members grow both over and off the board. Following the growth of the club, we have decided to take the next step in our development through the release of a monthly podcast. Throughout the next year, we will use this new platform to give you updates on the season and Leicestershire chess in general. Our team is also committed to do their absolute best to interview each episode a member of the club or the community.

In the fifth episode of our podcast, the hosts Boris “The Toaster” and “El Presidente” Ben were joined by Matt “The Dark Destroyer”. Our first team captain spoke about his journey in Anstey Chess Club and OTB chess. After the interview, the three discussed eight games of the very busy 2022/23 season for Anstey Chess Club.

To listen to the episode, follow this link. It is also available on Anchor, Spotify and Amazon Music. Subscribe, comment, like and share!

Anstey’s 2nd team defy form and defeat top-of-the-table Melton 2

/ Ben V / Leave a comment

5/1/23

Anstey Chess Club kicked off 2023 with a home match against the in-form, top-of-the-table and unbeaten Melton Mowbray 2nd team. Expecting a good hiding and a short night, the second team players wished each other a Happy New Year. As usual, El Presidente and Just Mick set the boards up in good time ready for battle to commence at 7:30(ish). It was good to see Shaun Cope, Shaun is a friend of the club as one of the players who gave up a Thursday evening to play a simul against us at our old venue, the Stadon.

First to finish (and a very rare occurrence!) was actually El Presidente. All 4 boards were incredibly intense and it was quite some way into the evening before the first board finished. El Presidente had the black pieces and was facing Ross Murphy – a name he was familiar with from Nottinghamshire chess but never played or even seen him before. There was also a significant grade difference of 126 FIDE points so it was to be an uphill battle! The game started as a ‘Mieses’ opening (google it!) with slow pawn pushes from white, consisting of d3, c3 and e4 whilst developing Knights to f3 and d2. El Presidente was duly wary of such an opening and such openings are coiled springs with pawn breaks likely and a rapid opening of the position can catch the unwary off guard. El Presidente played cautiously as both developed pieces but took the centre that was on offer.

Both sides played solidly, white aiming at a plan to win the e5 pawn by ganging up on it with the Bishop on g3 and Knights on f3 and c4, missing a chance to win a pawn after black’s bold plan of b5 and a6. El Presidente solidified against the threat on the e5 pawn and used it against his opponent forcing the pieces back and white played odd looking moves.

Soon, El Presidente was able to trade off white’s light squared Bishop and a strong central Knight, leaving white with a dark squared Bishop that was out of the game and a Knight not doing much on f3, whilst his pieces were far more active and pressing on the Queenside.

After white’s 29th move, you can see that black is totally winning but El Presidente’s plan was slightly different to that of Smallfish on his iPhone. El Presidente went for the following line:

29. Qxe2, 30. Rxe2 Bd1 31. Re1 Bxf3 32. gxf3 Nxb2 and white can do little to parry the threat of the a pawn Queening. (If Ra1 Rd1+ wins as none of white’s pieces can stop the a pawn – the dark squared Bishop is poorly placed. The game continued 32. Kg2 Rd1 33. Re3 a3 and white resigned.

1-0 to Anstey

Almost immediately the next to finish was Boris ‘The Toaster’ on board 2. The Toaster had the white pieces against Kerry Kidd – 86 points ‘better’ on paper. Kerry did the same as Just Mick – left the game for a long time but returned because the pull of over the board league chess is too much! The game started with a Queen’s pawn Chigorin variation (source – chess.com’s analysis board) and meandered along whilst both players developed their pieces. Black gained equality with the pawn break first and e5 but the important thing to note is that the Toaster had castled and his opponent hadn’t. The push on e5 forced a trade of pawns and minor pieces but Kerry left a pawn on e4 which was a target after a nice manoeuvre by the Toaster of Ng3 and 16. Qb4 – Qb4 preventing black from castling and also targeting the e pawn. Black tried to deflect the Queen with a5 but in the end, this lost the a pawn after some very accurate play by The Toaster, delivering checks and finally robbing black of his right to castle and picking up the a pawn and a +4.6 advantage.

The Toaster picked up the e pawn after a neat combination in the picture on the right. Black played 26. .. Kg6 here and after 27. Qxc8 Rxc8 28. Rxe4 wins another pawn for the Toaster.

After 28. .. c5 from black (a last try to reduce the Rook’s movement) 29. Kf1 b5 30. Ke2 Kf7 31. a4 f5 32. Rf4 – black resigned almost immediately having had enough with a +3.5 advantage in The Toaster’s favour.

Another excellent result for The Toaster and Anstey were 2-0 up with 2 to play – surely they couldn’t do the unthinkable?!

Third to finish was Brian ‘The Griller’ on board 1. The Griller has been good for the 2nd team this season, occupying board 1 and was looking to continue his good (not perfect) form. The Griller had the black pieces and was facing club friend Shaun Cope who was 43 points ahead of The Griller on ECF ratings – the Anstey team were out graded on every board. The game started symmetrically down the book line of the London system until the symmetry was broken with white’s 5th move c4 replied to by The Griller’s c6 to solidify d5. The game was equal but white allowed 9. .. Qa5+ which resulted in a Queen block and the Queens coming off. The light squared Bishops also disappeared for both players after they were subsequently traded on d3. White’s inability to castle wouldn’t appear to be harming him too much. The Griller seemingly gained equality after managing to get e5 in on move 13. The Griller relinquished his own ability to castle with a penned in dark squared Bishop on f8 and played Kf7 to get his pieces into the game.

The parity continued and this game seemed to only be going one way.

In the position on the left after white’s 20th move, recapturing a traded off Rook, as you can see, Smallfish says that it is totally level with a 0.0 assessment of proceedings. The Griller felt he had to be wary of the roaming Knight and felt that b5 was necessary. Slightly inaccurate play from both players (according to the engine) followed but after an uninspiring Bd8 as black’s 26th move, both players agreed to a draw.

Another solid result for the Griller as the second team’s top board.

This secured the match for Anstey with the score 2.5-0.5 with just one board to play.

Last to finish on board 4 was Bob. Bob had the white pieces against Ian Farquharson and again – just like his teammates – Bob was out graded but this time by 68 points. The game started with a Queen’s pawn opening and Ian opted for a Queen’s Indian setup but early on, Ian got his pieces in a bit of a tangle, playing Bd6 when his d-pawn was yet to advance.Bob rightly played e4, threatening the fork of pieces and Ian was forced to move his Bishop twice in the opening. At this point, with central dominance, Bob had a +4.9 advantage with the ability to push his opponent’s pieces back and dominate the centre. Bob started to push but was ever so slightly inaccurate and developed his pieces – as one would. (It should also be noted that Boris the Toaster and El Presidente didn’t make full use of this looking at the game retrospectively too!). A few moves later and the pressure eased with a trade off of pieces in the central e5 square. Bob initiated a plan to get his light squared Bishop to f5 and lift his Rook to eye the f, g and h files via the 3rd rank but this slower plan allowed Ian back into the game and by move 25 the game was level (source: Smallfish on iPhone).

More pieces were traded and Bob’s attack on the Kingside had seemingly lost its bite and Ian was able to push back in the centre. By move 35, Ian had pushed back in the centre and Bob’s plan to plant a Knight on e6 had it’s weakness exposed and to those watching the position on the right looked lost. Smallfish says otherwise and due to spending so much time planning his Kingside attack and being so surprised with his good opening advantage, Bob was low on time. At this point, Bob played Qc2, giving up the seemingly doomed Knight. As Smallfish points out, Nf4 Rg5, followed by Rc3 is a try for equality but that was tough to see over the board.

Bob ran out of time after the Knight was lost and Ian won the game.

2.5-1.5 to Anstey and a good team win.

Captain El Presidente to BT Sport Chess:

Absolutely delighted for the team, a really good win. A best ever result for me OTB in terms of grade that I’ve beaten and really pleased for the Toaster too. It’s just a shame we now have to wait so long for the next game!

Anstey’s second team warm things up with a narrow win over Latimer

/ Ben V / Leave a comment

Anstey Chess Club’s second team scored a narrow home victory to exercise the demons that Latimer are in fact our bogey team. This dates back to the pre-COVID era where Latimer always seemed to beat us or draw with us – much to our frustration!

The evening started off in bizarre fashion – the visiting Latimer team commented on how cold the venue was. Indeed it was a little bit on the chilly side but for one of the teams who have the coldest venues in the County to tell us it was cold, it must have been so! The visitors swiftly gathered around the radiator that was in the middle of the room and huddled, as if to symbolically tell us it was cold. Once everyone arrived and with the warming words from El Presidente that the room would soon warm up – keeping everyone’s ears warm at least! – battle commenced just after 7:30.

First to finish was Boris The Toaster with the white pieces facing off against Mike Garland Senior, father to the Junior version (of course!) but just as sound a Gentleman as his son. The game started with Boris’ trademark 1. d4 opening and the game transcended into a London but with black playing a rapid Bd6 in an effort to trade off the dark squared Bishop. In reply, Boris’s e3 led to Bxf4 exf4 and doubled f pawns. What followed was some very sensible chess, developing pieces to better squares, along with pretty much every trade being accepted, leading to doubled b pawns for black. The Toaster managed to get his Rooks doubled on the open e file which surely yielded an advantage but Mike Snr was able to get his own Rooks traded off with his opponents superior counterparts. In order for Mike Snr to exchange Rooks, he had to manoeuvre a little bit and The Toaster used this time to advance his Kingside pawns. The only real position to show is the one that eventually won Boris the game:

Here, white had played 42. g5 and after hxg5+, 43. hxg5, black simply plays anything but fxg5+, which instantly loses as the advanced white King shepherds his f pawn counterpart to Queening after taking the black g pawn, or after the re-captures, white’s King has the opposition and picks up the remaining black pawns and there is nothing black can do.

Unfortunately for black, Mike Snr played fxg5 and very soon, (as quickly as the pieces had come off the board in the first place), The Toaster had forced a resignation from Mike when Mike was in a completely lost position.

A good win for the Toaster and a well deserved one.

1-0 to Anstey.

Next to finish was Bob on board 4 playing with the white pieces against David Gamble. David is a tricky and slippery customer and there are 1 or 2 members of the club who have come a cropper against him.

The game started with 1. d4 – Bob clearly has been to the 1. d4 section of the club – I was sure he’d played 1. e4 before. Anyway, the game meandered down the Marshall variation of the Queens Gambit Declined and the first out of book move came from Bob with 6. Be5 – planting the dark squared Bishop on a good square and daring black’s counterpart to trade. Eventually it was traded which led to Bob fighting to defend his e pawn as black freely developed his pieces. Looking at his scoresheet, Bob has questioned some of his own moves. Most seem unjustified as the engine (source Smallfish on an iPhone) agreed with some of his moves but the crucial trade down was after the Queens came off, along with black’s light squared Bishop and white’s f3 Knight, leaving Bob with doubled f pawns and a -2.0 position. Despite this seeming disadvantage, Bob pressed on but unfortunately got his pieces into a bit of a tangle and according to his notation, Dave Gamble missed a piece win but did manage to get a good Knight vs a slightly inferior Bishop. Bob carried on fighting and towards the end of the game, had an advantage (assuming that the previous notation was correct):

As we can see, Smallfish sees an advantage for Bob and I think it’s important that he knows this and that d5 was the move here, to undermine the Knight once more, as he had tried to do with f4 previously.

After h4 in the position on the right, the h file got opened and this was the beginning of the end for Bob as the Rook on g8 shifted to h8 and after a rook double, the end was nigh and the fat lady started to clear her throat. With disconnected Rooks, Bob was unable to parry the attack and by his own admission, should have shifted his pieces to defend earlier.

A tough loss for Bob but time to recharge the batteries for him as he’s off to Lanzarote soon for a well deserved holiday.

1-1 and scores are level with 2 to play.

Third to finish was El Presidente who was facing off against his old friend/adversary Granville Hill with the black pieces on board 3. Granny and Ben have played a few games and after initial dominance from Granville, El Presidente has started to even up the scales going in to the match.

The game started with the French defence: Schlechter variation that El Presidente had slipped up on in the past. Knowing this, he changed the move order a bit and played dxe4, going for Bxe4 and developing the f6 Knight with tempo and Bf3 being played – thus meaning that white had moved the light squared Bishop 3 times in the first 5 moves. Black was never really in any trouble after this apart from how his light squared Bishop would get in the game and try to trade it’s white counterpart off and when to play e5. Happily the opportunity to play e5 presented itself which meant white replied d5, blocking in said light squared Bishop. Play ebbed and flowed as pieces found homes. Granville tried to attack first with 12. Ne4 which meant an advantage to black and although El Presidente misplayed the move sequence (thinking he was trapping the light squared Bishop when he wasn’t), black never looked back, retaining a slight advantage until picking up the c pawn for nothing that had advanced too far to be defended. Granville did make El Presidente sweat a bit with a dangerous Knight hopping around the board and protecting key squares and causing trouble with his rooks, forcing defence from El Presidente and level positions every now and again.

El Presidente was simply trying to get the Rooks off and the pawn ending was won. After 46. Kc4 from Granville in the position on the left, the opportunity presented itself and it was taken.

White had the passed a pawn but El Presidente knew that white’s King would be on c5 and too far away from the e and f pawns and it was time to find a breakthrough with f4 followed by e3.

El Presidente’s King was always ‘in the square’ to stop the a pawn, and as soon as Granville tried to push his a pawn, e3 was played and a resignation followed.

A good win for El Presidente – 2-1 to Anstey.

Finally we go over to the Griller Brian on board 4. 2-1 up with his board to play, he was facing tough opposition in the shape of Brian Slater with the black pieces.

Starting with 1. d4, Brian replied with his favoured Slav defence, fianchettoing is dark squared Bishop. The players set about developing their pieces with white successfully trading off black’s light squared Bishop and not castling until move 17. The Griller got a well-timed e5 followed by e4 into the game whilst white completed development. A few piece trades followed whilst a battle for the b file was in operation and at point, Brian was in a poor position of +4.2 in whites favour at move 27. The Griller must have felt under the cosh as at move 29, he sacced a Knight for two pawns, hoping for some play. The engine (not Julian) didn’t like it but it isn’t unreasonable, if only to get inside the head of his opponent:

As The Griller stopped notating, he had played c5 which is visible to the right. We can see that those connected c, d, e and less so the f pawns are very dangerous and with the Queens on the board, anything was possible.

Sure enough, the Griller got the pawns rolling and whilst Latimer’s Brian was trying to beat The Giller on time to claim a team draw, The Griller emitted a calm persona whilst using the time that was accruing with his increment.

A slightly unsavoury incident occurred with Latimer’s Brian claiming a 2 minute time penalty to add to his 26 minutes on the clock, after The Griller pressed his clock too early. Indeed, this is the first time that a time penalty has been requested this league season and followed through with, so El Presidente wanted to ensure that it was done correctly. We are sure that both Brian’s had chance to calculate the position on the board and El Presidente reminded Latimer’s Brian that he had to notate, which whilst trying to beat the Griller on time, had seemingly escaped his attention.

As the Griller manoeuvred one of his passers to the second rank, Latimer’s Brian was forced to repeat moves by repeatedly checking Brian’s King and a draw was amicably agreed, securing the match for Anstey.

El Presidente told Sky Sports’ chess channel:

Relieved to get over the line to be honest – Latimer have been and probably always will be our bogey team and to come out the right side of it is very pleasing. They’re such a tough team to play. Well done to the team and to Brian the Griller for holding his nerve and delivering for the team in a precarious position, despite telling me at the end that he was freezing cold!

Episode 2 of the Anstey Chess Club podcast – Mr Engine and the start of the new season

/ bobideco / Leave a comment

It has been an interesting period for our club as Anstey Chess Club and its members grow both over and off the board. Following the growth of the club, we have decided to take the next step in our development through the release of a monthly podcast. Throughout the next year, we will use this new platform to give you updates on the season and Leicestershire chess in general. Our team is also committed to do their absolute best to interview each episode a member of the club or the community.

In the second episode of our podcast, the hosts Boris “The Toaster” and “El Presidente” Ben were joined by Julian ‘Mr. Engine’. Our top-rated player spoke about his background in chess and provided some tips for the aspiring chess players out there. After the interview, Julian, Boris and Ben all discussed the first four games of our teams and also addressed the biggest topic in the world of chess these days – the matter of cheating and the accusations of cheating.

To listen to the episode, follow this link. It is also available on Anchor, Spotify and Amazon Music. Subscribe, comment, like and share!

Anstey 1 Begin League Campaign with a Hard-Fought Draw

/ magicmattc / Leave a comment

Anstey 1 began life in LRCA Division 2 with a hard-fought draw away at Braunstone on Wednesday night. On paper it looked like the teams were evenly matched (7,090 vs 7,031) and so it proved.

We did get off to a flyer though. After only about 15 minutes or so there was a commotion and the sound of pieces being reset coming from board 1. Julian Tarwid, playing white the first time for ages, had faced off against Graham Booley his opponent from only the week before in the county championships. Both players blitzed out their opening moves, Julian expanding on the kingside with g4 and h4 before opening the h file and infiltrating black’s position with Rh8 and Qh7:

Position after 17. Qh7

Graham tried to pinch the free looking g-pawn but after 17. … Qxg5 18. Rxf8+ Kxf8 19. Qh8+ Ke7 20. Qxa8 he had to resign. Already a candidate for the quickest win of the season timewise! Braunstone 0 – 1 Anstey.

Captain Matt Connor was next to finish on board 3 with white against Gavin Hart, the same pairing as in the Chapman Cup game a few weeks back, Gavin no doubt looking for revenge. Matt gambited a pawn in the opening for a lead in development, followed it up with a nice tactic in the middle of the board and just when he was eyeing up another nice tactic and a possible mate in 5 he made an inexplicable move order error and lost the chance. Luckily for Matt, Gavin then blundered his pawn advantage straight back and the position came out dead even and a draw was agreed. Braunstone ½ – 1½ Anstey.

Mick Sandham was black against Braunstone’s captain Jim Bingham on board 4. After a cagey start, a couple of minor pieces were swapped off and Mick looked to start his kingside attack first with f5 and later h5, g5 and g4. Jim meanwhile had closed up the centre allowing Mick to swing his knight over to join the attack. The critical position came after 29. Bf4:

Position after 29. Bf4

Mick went for it with 29. … Nf3+ taking advantage of the latent pin on the g pawn. Jim here missed the (extremely) calm 30. Kf2 with a better position instead going the exchange for a pawn down with 30. Rxf3. Shortly after the queens came off and with the closed position and his bad light-squared bishop Mick couldn’t make any headway and a draw was agreed. Braunstone 1 – 2 Anstey.

John Robinson played black against Daniel Wilkinson on board 2 and was the last game to finish. Well, we say game, it was more like a war of attrition with over 80 moves. John had gambited a pawn in the opening but never quite had enough compensation for it. Daniel calmly went about his business gradually manoeuvring his pieces to better squares, keeping a space advantage and reducing material. John was in full defensive mode and when the position came down to the rook, knight and pawn endgame he was still a pawn down and under the cosh. And very low on time! At one point Daniel very gentlemanly pointed out that John had forgotten to press his clock, thanks Daniel. In the end he sacrificed his rook for a knight and pawn leaving king, knight and 2 advanced connected passed pawns against king and rook, John momentarily activated his rook and gave a few checks but the king and knight marshalled the pawns home to queen and the game was over. Braunstone 2 – 2 Anstey.

So, honours even on the night.

Anstey captain Matt Connor told The Leicester Mercury:
Yeh, that was a tough one. I thought that we were winning first half until I completely messed up my game, not exactly a captain’s innings. But another great win for Julian and a good half point for Mick, it’s a shame John couldn’t hold on. Still, we’re off the mark, there’s a long way to go in this division.

John deep in thought
Mick at the end of his game