WIGSTON CHESS CLUB

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30 September 2024

Three Wigston teams took part in the LRCA Charity Quickplay event. The 1st team of Lewis Turner, Martin Burrows, Phil Horspool and Turan Asgarova won all 5 matches to take the trophy.

13 September 2024

19 players took part in the handicap blitz tournament. There was a 3-way tie for first place on 4 points out of 5 between Turan Asgarova, Lewis Turner and Laurence Norton. Full results are here. One of the games from the event has been added to the games section. Looking ahead, the new league season starts in October, and the Christmas Doubles Blitz Tournament will take place on 19th December.

21 July 2024

Wigston Club Tribute Neil Beasley I report the sad news that Neil Beasley died recently at the age of 88, following some recent poor health. Neil joined the Wigston Club in 1960, having studied at Leicester University. He soon got involved with the club, running teams, including the club first team which he continued to run until 1982. He ran other teams over the years, often as non-playing captain when no one else wanted to do the job, and he also became our Club Secretary in 1996. He continued in that role until 2022 when ill health meant he could no longer get to the club but he was keen to continue his involvement, and carried on doing the annual player and team statistics. Neil also had various roles within the LRCA in the 60s and 70s – President, League secretary, Adjudication secretary, H.E. Atkins Congress controller, and County Captain. Ironically, as the non-playing County Captain he achieved his best over-the board playing result against Nottinghamshire in 1968. The Leics Board 1, Phillip Wallis, had broken down on the way to the match so, after waiting for half an hour and with all of the other matches in progress, Neil stepped in on Board 1 against K.B Richardson – whose equivalent rating today would be around 2300 – and got a draw. Leicestershire also won the match. Neil was also a keen bridge player, and unlike chess, he was able to do this with his wife Pat as his partner. They both continued to play right up until Neil’s health deteriorated , and both also had roles in local Bridge administration. Personally, I learnt a lot from Neil on the art and details of Chess Administration, taking on the Wigston 1st team captaincy from him, and also following him as the H.E Atkins congress controller. I continued to follow his methods until computers came in and changed everything! Neil and Pat were friends of my parents, playing bridge together every month or so. So I knew them outside of chess, and they were both really good people and good company. Neil’s contribution to the club over 60 years was immense, and without it the Club would certainly not have been as successful, nor as vibrant as it is today. His funeral will be held on Monday August 12th at the Heart of England Crematorium, Eastboro Way, Nuneaton, CV11 6WZ. Andy Morley

28 June 2024

A new annotated game has been added.

31 May 2024

At the AGM the Player of the Year was awarded to Fahim Nasiri who won all his 10 games in the league. This is the first time the trophy has been won with a 100% score. The full statistics for the season can be found here. The Junior Player of the Year was won by Sathsara Dissanayake after an impressive season. The Clubmanship Trophy was awarded to Phil Watkinson. A 5 round handicap blitz tournament held after the AGM was won jointly by Alan Byron and Martin Burrows with 4.5 points.

13 April 2024

It is shaping up to be one of the club’s most succesful ever league season. Our (mostly) youthful 5th team wrapped up the division 5 title a few weeks ago, and our 2nd and 4th teams are well placed to win their respective divisions. The 1st team followed the crucial win against Syston with a tense victory over Shepshed to guarantee the 1st division championship. Fittingly the crucial game was won by captain Andy Morley in one of his trademark time scrambles. This has been annotated in the games section.

12 January 2024

A new annotated game has been added.

4 January 2024

The traditional Christmas doubles tournament was held at the club on December 21st. The event was very well attended, with 15 senior members and 7 juniors making up 11 teams. There were 5 rounds, with a time control of 5 minutes per team + a 3 seconds increment. The worthy winners were Phil Horspool and Shiv Purshottam with an excellent 4.5 points, just ahead of Lewis Turner and Chris Brown with 4 points. Phil and Shiv’s success was based around playing sensible chess and avoiding blunders – both of which are quite difficult at the rapid time control!

2 December 2023

In addition to our usual Thursday club night we have held some tournaments on Tuesday nights, at a time limit of 10 minutes plus 3 seconds a move. These are mainly aimed at our recent influx of juniors, with a couple of adults also playing. The first event in October was won jointly by Paul Mottram and Sathsara Dissanayake on 4/5. The full results are here. The second one in November was won by Laurence Norton with a perfect 5/5, full results here.

13 October 2023

The full results from the September blitz tournament have now been added. There is also a new puzzle.

22 September 2023

23 players took part in the handicap blitz tournament. It was won by Martin Burrows with 5.5 points from 6 rounds, with Lewis Turner (5) second and Sathsara Dissanayake (4.5) in third.

9 September 2023

The new league season starts in a few weeks and with 6 Wigston teams there are plenty of matches for everyone. Before that to get you warmed up there is the LRCA charity quickplay at Syson on Tuesday 19th September and the Wigston handicap blitz on Thursday 21st September. Looking further ahead, the Christmas doubles blitz tournament will take place on 21st December.

20 June 2023

Neil Beasley has produced the detailed statistics for the season. These can be found on the results page. A junior tournament was held at the club on 8th June and was won by Laurence Norton. Full results can be found here.

31 May 2023

Barrie Cooper was awarded the President’s trophy at the AGM. Barrie recently stepped down as club President, having held the position since 1999. In addition to his long service as Club President, Barrie’s involvement as a player goes back longer than anyone. He first joined the club as a junior, back in the 1950s, but didn’t pursue his chess “career” and his membership lapsed for a few years until he rejoined and started playing league chess again in 1977. Andy Morley was elected as the new club President. The following awards were made: Player of the year - Martin Burrows Junior player of the year - Stefan Savic Clubmanship Trophy - Chris Brown A 5 round handicap blitz tournament held after the AGM was won by Martin Burrows with 4.5 points. Joint second with 4 points were Iain Dodds and Rob White.

12 April 2023

A new game has been added from the recent exciting drawn match between Wigston 1 and Syston 1.

22 March 2023

The AGM will be held at the club on 25th May at 7.30pm. It will be followed by a blitz tournament that should start around 8pm. A new game has been added.

23 February 2023

The British Chess Championships are coming to Leicester this year, from 20th to 30th July. Its not just for the strong players in the main Championship, with a wide range of events for all standards. There is a weekend tournament, junior and senior events, as well as one day rapidplay and evening blitz. Full details are here. A new tactics puzzle has been added.

22 December 2022

The traditional Christmas doubles blitz tournament attracted 16 players, a convenient number for a 7 round all-play-all event. Pairs were drawn randomly on the night and some decent chess found its way in amongst the usual blunders and confusion. An enjoyable event was jointly won by two pairs on 6/7, Alan Ward & Stuart Dawkins and Alan Byron & Chris Brown.

24 November 2022

The Wigston Club Challenge has been set up is an opportunity to play rated games against other members. The winner will be the player with the most points at the end of April 2023. Here are the results to date. A new puzzle has been added.

7 October 2022

23 players took part in the September handicap blitz tournament. The joint winners were Phil Horspool and Phil Harlow.

3 September 2022

The new league season is almost upon us. The 1st and 4th teams play on 29th September, with the 2nd and 3rd teams playing each other the following week. Before that is the Wigston handicap blitz tournament at the club on 22nd September. Looking further ahead, the Christmas doubles blitz tournament will be held on 22nd December. Finally, a new annotated game has been added.

16 July 2022

A new annotated game has been added.

26 May 2022

Neil has produced some detailed statistics for the season. These can be found on the results page.

20 May 2022

A number of awards were made at the AGM: Player of the year - Andy Morley Junior player of the year - Stefan Savic Clubmanship Trophy - John McKiernan Iain Dodds has taken on the role of club secretary. The AGM was followed by a handicap blitz tournament. 15 players took part and it was won by Andy Morley.

5 May 2022

After a quarter of a century as club secretary, Neil Beasley will be retiring from the role at the forthcoming AGM. He has been a member of the club for longer than anyone can remember and was also a team captain for more then 50 years before stepping down in 2016. Neil continues to contribute with his match reports via the Twitter feed, and the production of the end of season statistics. Many thanks Neil for your great service to the club.

4 May 2022

Stefan Savic has provided a new tactics puzzle for you to solve.

20 April 2022

Andrew Pike had an excellent win against a player rated 300 points above him, which is annotated in the games section.

19 March 2022

The deferred “Christmas” doubles tournament took place the Club on March 17th. It was a well supported event, and produced the usual fun and mayhem for the 16 members who took part. The winners, with a perfect 7/7, was the pairing of Paul Mottram and Alan Byron.

18 February 2022

A fine win by Stefan Savic in the recent 3rd team match against Loughborough has been added to the games section.

4 February 2022

A new learning page has been added. This gives a number of books and online resources aimed at players of different standards.

14 January 2022

With our 2nd and 4th team both playing home matches last night we took some sets down to the bar for some casual games. A highly entertaining blitz encounter has been added to the games page.

19 December 2021

The Christmas doubles blitz tournament that was planned for 23rd December has been postponed and will now take place on 17 March 2022. The club is now closed until the New Year. We hope to re-open on Thursday 6 January 2022.

10 September 2021

Lewis Turner played at the recent Northumbria Masters and came second in the Under 2000 section, with a score of 7/9. He has provided an annotation of his round 4 win in the games section.

6 September 2021

The league fixtures have now been published. Upcoming matches and other events at the club are shown on the top right of this page.

22 August 2021

The club is now fully open on every Thursday evening. We will be entering 4 teams in the Leicestershire league, with matches starting in the last week in September. The ECF has changed to a new grading system, with 4 digit ratings similar to those used by FIDE and online chess sites. You can find your new rating here. To convert from old grades to the new ratings, multiply by 7.5 and add 700. As a guide: Old grade 100 = New rating 1450 Old grade 150 = New rating 1825 Old grade 200 = New rating 2200

31 July 2021

The club will be open on August 5th and 19th. We hope to be open every Thursday from September.

19 July 2021

I am very pleased to annouce that the club will be re-opening on Thursday 22 July from 7.15 onwards. There is no specific "event" planned, but the idea is to offer the opportunity to all Wigston existing and new members to come along and remind ourselves of the pleasure of playing over-the-board chess, with real pieces, real clocks and against real people. Please note that players agree to play at their own risk and are responsible for their safety and that of others. In particular players should not play if they are experiencing Covid-19 symptoms (as outlined on the Public Health England website: www.gov.uk/coronavirus) or if they are required to self-isolate.

27 April 2021

As we await a return to over-the-board chess the club continues to compete in the online 4NCL which is now in its third season. The first team has won promotion to divison 1 by finishing top of division 2b and now goes into the play-offs to determine the overall division 2 winner. The second team managed to hold its own in division 4d despite encountering several very strong opponents.

17 December 2020

This year’s Christmas blitz tournament took place online as a 5 round swiss on chess.com. Ten players participated, and the tournament was won jointly by Phil Horspool, Martin Burrows and Lewis Turner with 4/5. Full results are here.

6 November 2020

We are still unable to meet, but that hasn’t stopped us playing matches. The club has two teams in the second season of the 4NCL online league, with Wigston 1 in division 2 and Wigston 2 in division 4. Results can be found on the 4NCL website. Andy Morley played a very exciting game that has been annotated on the games page.

9 July 2020

The LRCA have now finalised the 2019-20 League season with league positions being determined by average points per match played. The final league table and statistics for the season can be found on the results page. Player of Year has been won by Harry Kershaw who scored an impressive 89% for the season. The Clubmanship Trophy was awarded to Paul Mottram. In addition to his work in running the 5th team and being League Secretary, Paul has also, since the lockdown started, put in a tremendous amount of work in the organisation of all the Club and County on-line chess. Our grateful thanks to him for all his efforts.

9 April 2020

We continue to play a variety of online chess. We have entered two teams in the 4NCL online. In the 1st round Wigston 1 defeated Maryport Assassins A by 2.5-15. Wigston 2 drew 2-2 with Broken Herts I. There will be a club night on chess.com, starting 8.15pm tonight.

27 March 2020

The shutdown of the UK hasn’t stopped us from playing chess, and there are a number of on-line events taking place. A Wigston club has been set up on Chess.com and to date there are 17 members. We have played two blitz tournaments so far. We also played a match against Ashby in the same format as the Wylie/Harrod Cup, which ended in a 7-7 draw. All the details are on the results page. In addition, an LRCA club has been formed, also on Chess.com. There will be a blitz tournament (5 minutes plus 3 seconds a move) on Monday 30th March, 7.30pm start.

18 March 2020

The club is closed until further notice due to the current coronavirus situation. We hope you all keep well during this very difficult period. There are a number of ways to keep playing chess: • The ECF Online Chess Service which allows members to take part in regular ECF internet chess tournaments and events and to receive an ECF online rating. • The two main websites for online chess are Chess24 and Chess.com. Both allow you to play online and have numerous other resources. In addition both are currently giving video coverage of the Candidates tournament, which is the best/only sporting event taking place in the world at the moment.

22 December 2019

The traditonal doubles blitz tournament attracted a record turnout of 23 players, including former members and some new faces. The pairs were randomly drawn and after 5 rounds the finalists were Martin Burrows and Les Corlett against Alan Byron and Peter Epson-Mottram. After an exciting game, with a couple of blunders thrown in to add to the entertainment, the event was won by Martin and Les. The evening was rounded off with a trip to the Cusine of India.

27 November 2019

A new annotated game has been added

16 October 2019

[Posted by Andy Morley] Congratulations to Martin Burrows who finished second in the recent 4NCL Nottingham Congress. Martin scored 4/5, which included a win against Brandon Clarke, and a draw against Jonah Willow (annotated in the games section). Full results are here.

20 September 2019

[Posted by Andy Morley] The club held its annual handicap quickplay event on September 19th. This produced the usual fun and games with the handicap doing its job of levelling things up. In the midst of all the mayhem there was some decent chess played, especially by the winner, Craig Norton, who scored 4.5 /5. A close second, losing only to Craig, was Sasha Kerbel with 4/5. Phil Harlow scored 3.5 and a cluster of players – Alan Byron, Martin Burrows, Andy Morley, Phil Horspool, Harry Kershaw and John McKiernan registered 3/5. 15 players competed in total.

18 September 2019

It was a successful evening for the club at the LRCA prize-giving. Wigston collected the trophy for winning the Wylie Cup, having won all 5 matches in the competition. Jason Lv was awarded the John Robinson Cup for the most improved junior player. The charity quickplay that followed was won by Wigston 1 (Martin Burrows, Phil Horspool, Alan Ward, Jason Lv). This included a win against a very strong Syston 1 team. Alan scored an impressive 5/5.

9 September 2019

Congratulations to Jason Lv who has won the Challengers section of the County Championship after an impressive win over John Robinson in the last round. Well done also to Charles Eastlake who has won the Minor section. Charles has annotated his game here.

10 June 2019

At the AGM, the player of the year was awarded to Martin Burrows. The junior player of the year was Jason Lv. The clubmanship trophy was awarded to Trevor Woods. Afterwards, a handicap blitz tournament was won by Andy Morley. Statistics for the year have been added to the archive page.

30 December 2018

The Christmas doubles blitz tournament took place at the club on 20th December. 16 players took part, with pairs drawn randomly on the night. The winning team was Alan Byron and Sasha Kerbel, scoring 6.5/7.

16 September 2018

The Wigston time handicapped quickplay tournament was won jointly by Craig Norton and Martin Burrows.

28 July 2018

The grades for the new season have been published by the ECF. A new puzzle has been added.

7 June 2018

At the AGM, the player of the year was awarded to Phil Harlow. Phil played 27 games with an impressive grading performance of 173. The junior player of the year was Ben Raine, who had won the County under 18 tournament. The clubmanship trophy was awared to Iain Dodds. Afterwards, 14 members took part in the handicap blitz tournament, which was won jointly by Andy Morley and Martin Burrows. Statistics for the year have been added to the results page.

30 May 2018

A new game and puzzle have been added.

28 April 2018

The AGM will be held at the club on 31 May, starting at 7.30 p.m. It will be followed by a quickplay tournament.

21 December 2017

There was a record turnout of 17 players for the traditional Christmas doubles blitz tournament. The seven pairs plus a team of three competed in an all-play-all tournament, with players making alternate moves. After a fun evening, Trevor Woods and Iain Dodds were the runners-up with 5/7 and the winners, with a score of 6/7 were Harry Kershaw and Alan Ward. Merry Christmas to everyone!

27 November 2017

The Christmas doubles blitz tournament will take place at the club on Thursday 21st December, starting at 7.30pm. Teams will be randomly drawn on the night.

4 October 2017

Wigston player Ben Vaughan is offering chess tutoring for beginners and is running sessions from Anstey Community Library in Anstey. The next session is on Saturday 7th October. Anybody interested is welcome to come along from 10am to 1pm. There will also be boards set up for friendlies for those that are a little more experienced. And it's free, so come and enjoy a morning's chess. Contact Ben on 07469 207548 if you've got any questions.

15 September 2017

There were 12 participants in the club quickplay tournament, played with a time handicap. There were two groups of six players, with the top two in each section progressing to the final. The four finalists were Rafal Malczyk, Martin Burrows, Phil Horspool and Iain Dodds, with Rafal emerging as the winner.

1 September 2017

The new league season is about to start, but before that there are a couple of events to get you warmed up: Thursday 14th September: Wigston Quickplay tournament Tuesday 26th September: LRCA Charity Quickplay (at Syston)

31 August 2017

Congratulations also to our Harrod Cup team who have won their first four matches to ensure winning the event with a round to spare.

21 August 2017

Congratulations to our Chapman Cup team who won the event for the 2nd year in a row, beating Market Harborough in the final.

5 June 2017

Andy Morley was awarded the President’s Trophy at the AGM and made a life member for his 50 years service to the club (see photo). Andy joined the club as a teenager with his father Anthony. Even when away at Keele University Andy continued playing for Wigston at every opportunity and took over the Club captaincy shortly after his full time return to Wigston. Andy has regularly represented the County 1st team over many years and is himself a former county individual champion. As well as his work for the Wigston Club he has been a senior administrator at the County level as organiser of the annual HE Atkins Congress and also the County Individual tournaments. Alan Ward won the player of the year, with an 80% score for the season. Ben Vaughan is stepping down as 4th and 5th team captain, and has provided a personal message to club members. The AGM was followed by a handicap blitz tournament which was jointly won by Rafal Malczyk, Andy Morley and Martin Burrows.

2 May 2017

The AGM will take place at the club on 1 June and will be followed by a blitz tournament.

8 April 2017

The 1st team have retained the Division 1 championship following a 4-1 win against Melton.

16 March 2017

Entries are now invited for the 2017 County Individual tournaments which will, once again, be taking place at the Wigston club during the summer. The full details of how to enter, the different sections, the current list of entries and dates can all be found here. Please note the closing deadline for entries is 31st March..

6 February 2017

Please take a look at the Puzzles section which will feature a selection of tactics found and missed during our games. There is also a new game published.

22 December 2016

16 players took part in the traditional doubles blitz tournament. Games were played at a time limit of 5 minutes plus 3 seconds per move, with players making alternate moves. There was the usual selection of blunders, the occasional lengthy pause followed by “Oh, is it my move?” mixed in with some decent chess. The final results were: 1st (5½ out of 7) Phil Harlow and Barrie Cooper 2nd (5) Alan Byron and Ben Raine 3rd (4½) Andy Morley and Ben Vaughan

10 December 2016

The Christmas doubles blitz tournament will take place at the club on Thursday 22nd December, starting at 7.30pm. Teams will be randomly drawn on the night.

27 September 2016

Congratulations to Phil Harlow who has won the Challengers section of the County Championship, beating John Pattinson in a play-off.

15 September 2016

The club quickplay tournament was held as a 10 player all-play-all. The time limit was 5 minutes plus 3 seconds per moves for players graded less than 15 points apart. There was a time handicap, rising to 9 minutes versus 1 minute for players graded more than 60 points apart. The tournament was won by Martin Burrows with 8.5/9, with Iain Dodds (7) 2nd and Alan Byron (6) in 3rd.

26 August 2016

Our team have won the Chapman Cup after beating Market Harborough in the final. They overcame the 1.5 point grade handicap with a convincing 4-0 win on the night. Our team in the Wylie Cup were also successful, with an exciting 4-4 draw with Syston securing the trophy on game point difference.

26 May 2016

At the AGM, Neil Beasley was awarded the President’s trophy . Neil is stepping down as a team captain, having done this role since 1960! Neil continues to serve as the club secretary. Other awards were made to: Player of the Year - Alan Ward Clubmanship Trophy - Nik Chalashkanov Junior Player of the Year - Ben Raine A blitz tournament was held afterwards and was won by Alex van Hoof.

19 May 2016

Another league season has drawn to a close. The 1st team saw off a determined challenge from newly promoted Syston to win the 1st division championship. This is the 10th year in a row we have won the league! Neil has put together some statistics for all the teams and players in the Results section.

7 April 2016

The AGM will take place at the club on 26th May and will be followed by a blitz tournament. Entries are still being taken for the County Championship (closing date 15th April). There are 6 rounds, held at the Wigston club over the summer months, and there are 4 sections to cater for all strengths

3 December 2015

13 players took part in the traditional Christmas doubles blitz tournament held at the club. In each round there was a “doubles” game, with players making alternate moves, and two conventional “singles” games, with both games played at a time limit of 5 minutes plus 5 seconds a move. After an evening of highly entertaining and interesting chess, the tournament was won by Laurence Livsey and Andy Morley with a score of 12/15.

22 November 2015

The Christmas doubles blitz tournament will take place at the club on Thursday 3rd December, starting at 7.30pm. Teams will be randomly drawn on the night.

24 September 2015

It was a successful evening for the club at the LRCA charity quickplay event. The first team (Martin Burrows, Phil Horspool, Richard Lee, Phil Harlow) were victorious, comfortably winning all their five matches. Phil Horspool and Richard Lee both scored 5/5. The second team (Craig Norton, Iain Dodds, Stephen Smith, Ben Raine) won the handicap trophy.

11 September 2015

The Wigston Club handicap quickplay tournament was held on September 10th. The event was a 6 round Swiss, with 12 members participating. The time limit was 10 minutes per game, plus 3 seconds a move - with each player receiving between 1 and 9 minutes, depending on the grading difference between the players. There were the customary mishaps, swindles and travesties but the event was won jointly by Martin Burrows and Richard Lee, both scoring 5 / 6. Phil Harlow was 3rd with 4 / 6 and the youngest player, 13 year old Ben Raine, scored an excellent 3 / 6.

6 September 2015

The County Championship has been won by Martin Burrows with a score of 5½ out of 6.

13 August 2015

Congratulations to Ben Vaughan who has won the Minor section of the County Championship. The decisive game can be found in the games section.

3 April 2015

It has been a highly successful season for our teams in the Leicestershire league. The first team have won Division 1, for the 9th season in a row. The sixth team have won Division 6. Also, the 4th team have won promotion from Division 4.

18 December 2014

10 players took part in the 3rd Wigston doubles blitz tournament. In each round there was a “doubles” game, with players making alternate moves, and two conventional “singles” games, with both games played at a time limit of 5 minutes plus 3 seconds a move. At the end of a very entertaining evening the winners with 8.5/12 were Martin Burrows and Neil Beasley.

8 December 2014

The Christmas Doubles Blitz tournament will take place at the club on 18th December.

15 November 2014

A reminder that the Leicester Atkins Memorial Tournament takes place on 28-30 November at Regent College, Regent Road, Leicester. Please support your local tournament if you are able to play. If you know you can't play all 5 rounds and would like a (half-point) bye in any round (except the last) you can take one. You can enter online here.

10 October 2014

For the first time we entered a team (Martin Burrows, Alan Byron, Phil Horspool, Andy Morley) into the 4NCL Rapidplay played on 4-5 October at Daventry. Games were played at the rate of 10 minutes plus 10 seconds per move, with 7 rounds on the Saturday for the team event and 7 on the Sunday for the individual. There was a strong line up, with 6 of the teams having an average grade of over 200. After a slow start, with a draw and two losses, we hit our stride in round 4 with a 4-0 win against Midland Monarchs then had three further wins against Oxford 2, Brown Jack Witney and Marple. We finished with a respectable 16 game points (from 28) and 7th place (out of 27 teams), beating our seeding of 11th. The event was won by a Guildford team containing two grandmasters. Martin and Andy then took part in the individual event, scoring 4/7 and 3.5/7 respectively. This was won by grandmaster David Smerdon.

25 September 2014

LRCA Presentation evening and Charity quickplay 9 members played in the Charity quickplay. We fielded 2 roughly equal teams, and both finished on 6 points over the 5 rounds. The winners were Braunstone with 9 points, just ahead of Syston with 8 and Shepshed (who they beat in the last round) with 7. Martin Burrows was the only one out of the 64 players taking part to score 5 / 5.

11 September 2014

10 members played in a 5 round handicap quickplay tournament. The result was a win for Alan Ward and Andy Morley, with 4 / 5. As they had previously drawn the game against each other, the final result was a tie.

29 August 2014

The new season is about to start, with the first league matches on 2nd October. Before that there are a few events: Alan Byron and Phil Horspool are jointly leading the County Championship with 3.5/4. They play their 5th round game at the club on 4th September. There is a quickplay championship at the club on 11th September, 10 minutes per game with a handicap based on grade. The LRCA prize-giving and charity quickplay takes place on 25th September at the Latimer club.

29 May 2014

At the AGM, Ben Vaughan was awarded the Presidents’ trophy for services to the club. The player of the year was won by Grant Hammond with a score of 78.6% (11 wins, 3 losses). The handicap quickplay after the AGM was won by Martin Burrows.

22 March 2014

Wigston 1 beat Melton 3.5-1.5 and have won the 1st division with 3 matches to spare.

2 January 2014

12 players took part in the 2nd Wigston doubles blitz tournament. In each round there was a “doubles” game, with players making alternate moves, and two conventional “singles” games. There was just enough time for 5 rounds all-play-all and somewhat surprisingly there was a 3- way tie on 9.5/15 at the end of a very entertaining evening. The joint winners were: Martin Burrows & Ben Vaughan Alan Byron & Barrie Cooper Andy Morley & Charles Eastlake

17 October 2013

We held a blitz tournament and experimented with a new handicapping scheme, making use of a 3 second increment per move, thanks to the digital clocks. The games were of 10 minutes (+ the increments) and the handicapping escalated so that for a grade difference of more than 80 points, the ratio was 1 minute: 9 minutes. This seemed to work well, and there were quite a few “upsets”, which is what you expect to see is the handicaps are set right. 12 club members took part, and the event was a 6 round Swiss, won jointly by Phil Harlow, Alan Byron and Andy Morley with 4.5 points.

26 September 2013

The LRCA charity quickplay was won by Wigston 1 (Martin Burrows, Alan Ward, Phil Harlow, Charles Eastlake).

19 September 2013

Andy Morley has won the County Championship, beating Graham Sharpe in the last round. Ricky Vaja beat John Manger in a playoff to win the Major section, completing a clean sweep of Wigston winners in this year championship. Congratulations to all.

6 September 2013

It has been a successful summer with our teams winning both the Wylie and Harrod cups. In the County Championships, Steve Wylie has won the Challengers section and John McKiernan has won the Minor section.

16 May 2013

Congratulations to Nik Chalashkanov on winning the club player of the year with a score of 77%. The Grade Handicapped Quick-Play Tournament following the AGM was won by Martin Burrows.