Division 2 4NCL
Fourth Weekend, Hinckley Island, 31st March &
1st April 2012 by John Carleton
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Hinckley Island
Hotel |
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With the prospect of
relegation hanging over us, we headed, in a
nonetheless relaxed frame of mind, to meet
Warwickshire Select on the Saturday of the
fourth weekend at Hinckley Island. This match
for us was a visit to the last chance saloon, a
long shot but an opportunity to avoid playing
the last 4 rounds in the demotion pool of
Division 2.
Once the teams were published it
was clear that the Warwickshire team were not in
the mood for taking any chances outranking us on
average by over 100 points per board. This may
have been in recognition of the fact that we
were fielding no fewer than three products of
the Warwickshire Academy in our own ranks,
including two members of the all conquering
County U18 Champions of 1964, but there again it
may not.
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Captain: John Carleton |
The games started with Nick
Ivell looking bright for us on board 2, Dave
Robertson looking under pressure on board 8 and
the others not far from "equal chances". As time
moved on Peter Ackley on board 5 and myself on
board 1 came under increasing pressure and
Sheila on board 4 had a dicey position, having
overpressed against her opponent John Pitcher's
provocative set up. On board 3 Dave Latham
uncorked a lovely combinative strike to gain a
pawn and then kept the initiative in good style.
Steve and Andy were playing solidly on boards 6
and 7 and theirs were amongst the early results
each achieving comfortable draws, Andy's after a
flurry of activity at the finish.
First to finish had been Peter
who solved all his problems by sacrificing
piece, exchange and a final piece to force a
perpetual. Don Mason wriggled out against Nick
to set up a repetition on board 2 and Dave on
board 8 had to give in after enduring some
suffering. I achieved my limited ambition of a
draw and we were thus one down with 2 games in
play. Sheila was completely lost, even going a
piece down, but kept playing in the hope of a
miracle. Dave Latham had achieved a technically
won but difficult ending but was thwarted by the
resourceful junior Richard Weaving who hemmed
him in at all opportunities. Sheila gave up the
ghost shortly after Dave agreed the draw, her
first defeat in 10 games in the Spirit of
Atticus colours. We took consolation from our
5-3 defeat; the team seemed to be rediscovering
its collective will and we were pleased to have
pushed our erstwhile opponents so hard.
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Barbican Youth vs.
Spirit of Atticus |
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Thus the two teams went their
separate ways, Warwickshire Select moved into
the promotion pool and we headed for the
demotion pool via Rossini's Ristorante Italiano
in Hinckley. Through the diligence of our
Entertainment Secretary and the well organised
establishment we found we had smooth service,
good food and two wine tasters on duty. As Nick
[wine taster/red] put it, "Our best evening out
to date, marked by tasty meals, pleasant and
efficient staff, good company, pleasing ambiance
and very good wine, an excellent choice by Dave
R [Entertainment Secretary and wine
taster/white]". A quick nightcap at the Hotel
was sufficient to prepare us for the prospect of
a match against, as was by then known, Barbican
Youth.
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And so on to Sunday morning and
our first match in the relegation pool. We had
actually finished 8th [bottom! but it was close]
of our half-league and so under the stipulated
method for setting we were playing the team who
finished 5th in the other league. For those with
a mathematical bent there is a nifty little
arrangement to ensure colour alternation over
this weekend for teams entering the promotion
and demotion pools [with the proviso that the
teams have met their seeded predicted
performance].
This system overall, which
discards results against the promotion pool [for
those fighting relegation like ourselves and
vice versa for those in the promotion pool]
seems as fair as it can get, but spare a thought
for Brown Jack who finished 6th in our pool with
5 points but because they were all scored
against the top 4 teams carried forward 0 points
whatsoever. [Rhyfelwyr Essyllwg carried forward
5 points, 3C s 4 points and we took forward 3
points].
The match itself offered a
sizeable challenge as we were 40 points adrift
per board on ratings but we took that as a
positive: we were 70 points per board better off
than the day before. The match took an early
turn in our favour with Steve on board 6
emerging from the opening phase the exchange and
two pawns up, and although the position was
rather blocked both teams could be 99% sure what
the result would be. There was an early draw for
Sheila on board 4, justifiably if
uncharacteristically wary, after her defeat the
day before. Peter Ackley followed suit against
one of the most youthful [in every respect
except for age] of the Barbican Youth team,
Julian Farrand, as their position approached a
massive liquidation. Dave Robertson on board 8
was having trouble getting his pieces near the
halfway line let alone across it but there was
no immediate disaster threatened. Andy on board
7, perhaps put off his stride by the prospect of
Steve on the adjacent board not drawing, lashed
out in a pretty flat position but merely left
himself facing an arduous defensive task.
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The spacious
Paris Suite playing area at Hinckley
Island Hotel |
The top boards looked balanced
if unclear but once again the approach of the
time control decided matters: Steve converted
his victory to end a drawing streak of 12 games
in the 4NCL [13th time lucky as they say;
another Atticus record and another one of which
the skipper can only dream]. Andy duly gave up
what turned out to be an unequal struggle but
Dave Latham showed himself to be our man in
form. Having endured some uncomfortable pressure
Dave turned the tables by converting his b-pawn
from a 7 stone weakling into a muscle bulging
monster on the 7th rank which could only be
stopped at a ruinous cost and thereby putting us
one ahead.
Nick had played a dynamic
Sicilian against an opponent trying to knock him
off the board and would have been entitled to
play on in a position not without danger but
with promise as well; Nick's time shortage and
an appreciation that the match was swinging our
way fully justified the draw. The swing had
happened on board 8 where Dave had struck back
emerging from behind the barricades to break
into his opponent's position and force
resignation. As Dave put it after the game, "The
result was never in doubt"; I think he must have
been interrupted at this point because I didn't
hear the " after the first three and three
quarter hours" needed to give this some
semblance of truth. I thought my game was
heading our way too as the 4 hour mark drew near
but my opponent defended well in his time
trouble [a main contributing factor being his
late arrival for play] and I surely missed
better options than the ending which arose. With
the match safe there was no question of taking
risks in an attempt to win.
We look forward to resuming
battle and friendships in the final weekend and
are determined to enjoy the 4NCL experience to
the full.
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Rd7 results •
Rd8 results
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Spirit of Atticus team page
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Division 2b Demotion Table
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Games in PGN
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This report is also available here
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