Ashby 1 Season Review

Tom Dove has just written the following review of the Ashby 1 season:

In the 2017/18 season, Ashby won the Division 2 title after a hard-fought campaign that could easily have seen any of three teams promoted as champions. It was a particularly proud moment in our history, since it was the first time we'd ever had a team in the top division.

Ashby 1 (class of 2024/25) have repeated the feat by again becoming champions of the 2nd Division, only this time with two games to spare. 

In reality, this mathematical cushion doesn't nearly do justice to the overwhelming superiority of Ashby 1 throughout the season. There have been been four victories by a 4-1 margin, a 5-0 whitewash of Braunstone and four 3½-1½ wins so far. Only Thurnby managed to nick a point - although Ashby 2 came very close in a tight 3-2 win for the champions.

The five regular first team players (Tom, Gheorghe, Richard, Paddy and Andrew) have been well supported by Chris, Paul and Les who stepped up when needed, chipping in with much appreciated wins and draws.

In fact, such is the strength in depth of the Ashby Chess Club that we can be very optimistic of bettering our last Division 1 total (relegated with 11 points) and establishing ourselves in Division 1. Indeed, it's highly likely that some of our younger members will stake a claim to a place in the first team having performed very well in the lower leagues.

Special thanks must go to Paddy Buckley for his excellent lead-by-example attitude to 1st team captaincy (doubtless taking his inspiration from the legendary captain of the 2017/18 side, Mr Tom Dove) and to Gheorghe for taking on the strongest players div 2 had to offer and (mostly) beating them all.

Onwards and upwards!

A Busy Thursday Evening

It was a busy night at the Club last night, with the back bar completely full and all tables taken. I think that this speaks volumes for the health of the Club.

Ashby 4 were due to be at home against Braunstone 2 but, unforrtunately, our opponents were unable to raise a team and defaulted the match.

However, there were a lot of games played in the 1st Round of the Club Championship. You can view all of the results here, I won't go through all of the results, but I suppose the biggest upset was Dominic Lennon holding Tom Dove to a draw. Paul Mayer also did very well to draw with Chris Tipper. There are only 3 matches outstanding in the 1st Round now and these should be completed by the 24th April.

Ashby 2 Off The Mark

Ashby 2 finally got off the mark on Tuesday with a 2.5 - 1.5 win at fellow strugglers Market Harborough. With both Chris and Steve missing from the usual Ashby 2 team, Tom and Nick stepped in to fill their places. And fill them they did, with both of them winning their games on boards 2 and 5 respectively. Paul had a great win on board 1 against Ashby old boy Andrew Faulds and Team Captain Larry chipped in with a good draw on board 3. With 3 matches left to play it is still mathematically possible for the team to avoid relegation. It's a big ask but with matches against Melton Mowbray (twice) and Braunstone, who are both just above us, still to play it's not impossible.

April Rating List

The April Rating List has now been published. You can view all of the Ashby ratings here, or from the tab at the top of the page.

Bristol Congress Update

Very well done to Tom Gerrard on finishing joint 2nd in the U1750 Section of this weekend's Bristol Congress, in a field of 62. Tom scored 4/5, just half a point behind the winner, with 3 wins and a draw, plus a half point bye in the 4th round. There was further LRCA representation in the shape of Paul Mottram of Wigston, who came joint 25th, with a score of 2.5/5, in the same section as Tom.

Members Games

Following the closure of the Chess Microbase website, I have found an alternative location to store Members Games. It is called ChessDrop and can be accessed from tab at top of this page.

Should you be asked to login, use the email address ashbychessdrop@gmail.com. The password is Ivanhoe99.

Bristol Congress

Good luck to Tom Gerrard who is playing in the U1750 Section of this weekend's Bristol Chess Congress, where he is ranked 28th out of 62 entries. 

Ashby 1 Crowned Division 2 Champions

It has now been confirmed that Loughborough defaulted last night's match against Ashby 1, meaning that we are the Division 2 Champions with a couple of matches to spare. Well done to everybody who has turned out for the team this season. Tom's report on the match - or non match - can be found here.