Leamington B 0.5 v 3.5 Shirley & Lucas B
In the match against Shirley on 1st February, Andy faced a determined Louis Rawson who seized a decisive advantage early on by winning material and Andy called a halt. Guy was pinned back in defence and lost out to John Freeman and then Towan making his debut on board four put up good resistance but was given too many problems by Frank Jimenez. Lastly, Tom fought valiantly and secured a draw in a long bishop and pawn endgame against Eric Ward. (Guy Greenland)

C team return to winning ways
Leamington C 3-0 Kenilworth D (9 Febrary 2010) This result came as a relief after losing our last games against Daventry and Chipping Camden, which caused us to lose our high position in the league table. Jason beat Tony Pickering, avenging the defeat to Tony earlier in the season. Roy and Peter went on to win agaist Frank Holmes and Tony King respectively. (Roy Hadfield)

The A team bounce back
Leamington A 3.5-0.5 Olton B (3 February 2010) After the heavy defeat in the last match Leamington reversed the trend by beating Olton B 3.5 to 0.5 Dan's game with Trevor Holt was a bit wild with both players going for the exchange, each winning R for N, but Dan's attack won through first. Soon afterwards, Steve won a similar fighting game against Gary Holt. Andy's draw with Dave Cheshire made the match secure before Mark clinched a solid win against Richard Reynolds. This was an encouraging result after the disappointing news that Ovidu Bodnar has moved away. We wish him well in his new career. (Andrew Price)

Victory at last at Chipping Campden
Chipping Campden 1.5 : 2.5 Leamington B (28 Jan 2010) A quick point was gained by Andrew against Richard Dobedoe's French defence and this was the springboard for the first team win of the season. Tom drew with Peter Drury in an English opening and David drew after suffering a pinned knight which cost too much time to untangle for any advantage against William Langley. Guy was playing a solid Sicilian defence but after getting short on time decided to hold out for the draw against Bill Nash. (Guy Greenland)

Leamington B 1.5 : 2.5 Shirley A (19 Jan 2010)
Prospects were looking good when Tom achieved a draw against Jonathon Dale's Queen's gambit declined. However, David lost to Gordon Christie's King's gambit after shedding a minor piece in an exchange melee. Then Guy, opening with a Ruy Lopez, raised hopes when he won on time after setting Ken Warren too many problems in the middle part of the game. So the match was now 'down to the wire', but Matt's play after a Modern defence could not stop a clinical Dave Thomas seizing a decisive advantage in the endgame and sealing the match. (Guy Greenland)

Leamington A vs Solihull Checkmates (6 Jan 2010)
Our first match in the New Year was against an extremely strong SolihullCheckmates. It also took place in very snowy conditions which meant that we were without Dan Aldridge (who was snow bound in Edinburgh) and Ovidiu Bodnar who was still away for the New Year. Steve Burnell and Andy Price had to move up a board and Guy Greenland had to fill in on board 4. It was good of him to turn out at very short notice.

Andy on Board Three blundered a pawn very early on. Worse, he had a poor position to boot , and his opponent (Murray David) never let him recover, leading to an early resignation. Half an hour later, Steve lost as well, his opponent (Richard Weaving) forcing a passed pawn through. Guy put up a tremendous fight on Board Four against a very strong opponent (Statham) before eventually losing. However, for the second match running our Board One prevented a white wash with Mark Page securing an excellent result with a draw against Thomas (probably the highest graded player in the League at present). A disappointing result, but given that we were so heavily outgraded, not surprising! (Steve Burnell)

Leamington A 2.5-1.5 Banbury A
Steve Burnell's opponent didn't turn up on Board 3, so 1-0 to Leamington. Dan Aldridge on Board 2 was winning comfortably against Georgs Vikanis who is a rapidly improving young player. Unfortunatly Dan made a catastrophic error and overlooked a checkmate, so 1-1. Meanwhile Andy Price on Board 4 was being pummelled by his young opponent, Nathan Manley, the only consolation being that Nathan was using a lot of time. Mark Page on Board 1 won his game against Gary Jackson, so 2-1 to Leamington.

Luckily, Andy's opponent let him back in, partly through time pressure, partly through over confidence, and Andy was able to force a draw. So Leamington A reached the half-way point in the season with two wins, one loss and three draws to put them in second place in Division One - but so far behind the leaders Olton A that second is realistically the Team's best hope. (Andrew Price)

Peter wins the club's FischerRandom event
Peter Leggett won this year's Christmas FischerRandom event, in which the pieces occupy randomly determined squares on the back rank, behind the pawns, with the oppponent's men set up as a mirror image . The play that follows is certainly different, with no opening theory but "normal"opening principles and middle and end game play are still relevant. This is the second year we have done this Christmas event, thanks to Guy again for getting it going. The FischerRandom seems to provide the most satisfactory format of all the chess variants. The games were enjoyable and required the usual serious concentration and skill. (Roy Hadfield)

Stratford A too strong for B team
Stratford A 3 - 1 Leamington B (17 Dec 2009) We were again unable to achieve the capture of that elusive first League point. Tom lost to Richard Mcnally's sharp gambit play and then Guy drew with his centre counter against Robin Yeung. Owen, making a rare appearance this season, achieved a solid draw against Andrew Chowne. Finally David, after an even and lengthy encounter, could not stop Wiatt Ropp queening his extra pawn. (Guy Greenland)

Chipping Camden beaten
Leamington C 2-1 Chipping Camden B (15 Dec 2009) The C team won again to go further up the table. First, Roy won quite quickly with a rapid attack against William Langley, but Peter was down in material and had to resign against Bill Nash, who had built up an overwhelming position. Jason then won his game with Adrian Grimes, having earlier sacrificed a piece for excellent attacking options, only to then enter the end game a piece down, but then found a back rank mate to save the day. (Roy Hadfield)

C team win at Shirley
Shirley C 0.5-2.5 Leamington C (7 Dec 2009) The C team have now lost only one of their opening seven games, and the winning form continued at Shirley and Lucas. Jason made his pawn majority count in the end game to beat Kim Gilbert, while Roy, running out of time, but a pawn ahead, drew with Phil Purcell. Peter had another good win, beating Roger Ball on board three. (Roy Hadfield)

B team succumb to Shirley
Leamington B 1-3 Shirley B (24 Nov 2009) The visitors were also looking for their first win and unfortunately for us they got it. Early on, Guy blundered his queen against Frank Jimenez. Peter, after a promising opening and early middle game, had the tables turned on him by Kim Gilbert. David lost a minor piece whilst trying to fend off an attack against Eric Ward - who then made no mistake in closing out the game. Matt saved the team's blushes by beating Louis Rawson. (Guy Greenland)

Leamington keep their unbeaten record
Olton B 2-2 Leamington A (24 Nov 2009) Leamington A drew their 3rd match in a row at Olton. However, this was a good result against a full strength Olton B, because Leamington were missing 2 regulars, Mark Page on board 2 and captain Steve Burnell on board 4. Andy Price came in on 3 and Roy Hadfield made a welcome return to the first division on board 4. Andy was the first to finish, agreeing an early draw with Rob Reynolds, neither player being willing to take any risks. Shortly afterwards Dan Aldridge beat Trevor Holt on board 2 when Trevor overlooked a check which cost him a piece. Ovidu Bodnar had a good position for a while on board 1 against Richard Reynolds but was unable to clinch the win and in the end a draw was agreed. Finally, Roy was putting up a good fight, but eventually had to concede when Dave Cheshire forced a passed pawn through in the endgame. (Andrew Price)

Leamington B stumble at Kenilworth
Kenilworth B 3-1 Leamington B (18 Nov 2009) The team is still looking for its first point after an away loss to Kenilworth B . Firstly, Tom lost to Bernard Rogers on board one then Guy agreed a draw whilst comfortable against Mike Johnson on three. Then, on board two, Matt lost in an end-game having had a fairly even tussle with Dave Shurrock. Peter played well and drew a long game with Nick Mottram. (Guy Greenland)

700 team knocked out
Leamington 1.5-3.5 Solihull (17 November 2009) Leamington suffered an exit from the under 700 cup, losing to a strong Solihull side. On board one, Tom achieved a draw with Julian Summerfield by threefold repetition of the position, while Matt and Roy also gained hard fought draws to Richard Chillcott and John Green. David lost to Iain Brodie and Kegan Harrison beat Jason.

Being out of the cup means we can now "concentrate on our league positions"! (Roy Hadfield)

C team win at Kenilworth
Kenilworth D 1-2 Leamington C (11 November 2009) The C team picked up both points after some very interesting and close-fought encounters. First, Roy won aganst Mike Whatson and then Peter overcame Frank Holmes. Jason resigned in a fascinating game against Tony Pickering, in which both players had played vigorously and both were close to running out of time. (Roy Hadfield)

Narrow cup victory
Leamington 2-2 Chipping Camden (10 November 2009) Leamington progress to the next round of the 120 Cup after bottom board elimination after two wins each. Matt Poulson and Roy Hadfield beat William Langley and Bill Nash respectively, while Simon Harris lost to Brian Barrett and John Wilson was beaten by Nile Langley. (Roy Hadfield)

B team lose at Banbury
Banbury B 1.5-2.5 Leamington B (27 October 2009) The B team lost their match in Banbury. Matt on board two and Tom on board one both drew tense games. Guy lost on board four. David on board three was left to try and salvage a team point in an interesting endgame but he could not quite manage it and he had to take the draw. (Guy Greenland)

C team finally lose
Solihull B 2-1 Leamington C (21 October 2009) The C team lost to a strong and unbeaten Solihull team at the Blossomfields club. Jason gained a draw against Iain Brodie, then soon afterwards Roy drew with Kegan Harrison. Peter battled away on board 3, but finally had to resign agaist John Green. (Roy Hadfield}

C team continue unbeaten
Daventry A 1-2 Leamington C (14 October 2009) The C team continued their good start with a win at Daventry. Jason and Peter had fine wins over K Bowman and A Eley respectively, but Roy lost his game to Tim Lawson. (Roy Hadfield)

A team draw at Kenilworth
Kenilworth A 2-2 Leamington A (14 October 2009) Leamington dropped a point against their 'bogey' team in the second fixture of the season. Leamington were fielding a weakened side, without the strong Mark Page on board 2, Andy Price substituting on board 4.

First to finish was Steve Burnell who drew with Phil Wood on board 3. Andy was under heavy pressure on board 4 but his opponent, Dave Shurrock, had used up a lot of time. Eventually Dave slipped under time pressure and allowed Andy back into the game. Andy won just before the first time control.

Meanwhile, on board 2 Dan was regretting sacrificing a piece against Carl Pickering. Finally though Dan's persistence was enough for Carl to settle for the draw by perpetual check. Last to finish was Ovidu on board 1. In a wild end game, with connected passed pawns for both sides and very little time left, Ovi lost on time, but by then his opponent, Phil Pelton was just about to queen a pawn anyway.

A well earned point in the circumstances, and Leamington remain unbeaten after 2 matches. (Andrew Price)

C team gain hard fought draw at Stratford
Stratford B 1.5-1.5 Leamington C The C team remain unbeaten atfter the draw at Stratford. Jason Madden ageed a draw in a tense game with both players pressed for time. Roy Hadfield overcame Dave Bowie's strong centre to win, but Peter Leggett lost on Board three. (Roy Hadfield)

Winning start for the A team

Solihull Checkmates 0-4 Leamington A (17 Sep 2009)

The Leamington A Team played their first match away to Solihull Checkmates on 17 September. Newly promoted, Solihull Checkmates were rather unfortunate to play their first Division One match against League Champions Olton A, and their second against a full strength Leamington A Team. Unfortunately for Solihull Checkmates, the Leamington team were all on top form and recorded their first 4-0 victory for several seasons.

Ovidiu Bodnar beat Richard Weaving on top board; Mark Page beat Robert statham on Board Two; Dan Aldridge beat Tom Lilburn on Board Three and Steve Burnell beat John Gilbert on Board Four.

A great start to the season for Leamington A, but there's a long way to go........! (Steve Burnell)

Season starts with a win for the C team

Banbury C 1-2 Leamington C (15 Sep 2009)

The C team made a promising start, with Jason Madden and Roy Hadfield both winning their games. Matthew Poulson lost a hard fought game, in the ending, to Steve Rumsby. (Roy Hadfield)