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Division 2,
Fifth Weekend, Hinckley Island, 4th-6th May
2013
by John Carleton
All weekends are vital in the
4NCL but none more than the final matches where
every single game has the potential to change
the outcome of the whole season. Our start in
the demotion pool of division 2 had given
encouragement in what appeared, on form, a dog
fight between Barbican Youth, Rhyfelwyr Essyllwg
and ourselves to avoid the last relegation slot
[KJCA Kings with 2 points, e2-e4 2nd team and
North-East England each with 0 points looked
doomed; whilst The ADs and Poisoned Pawns with
8 and 7 points respectively looked safe]. We
were playing the ADs on the Saturday in round 9
and that appeared our toughest fixture, many
expecting them to finish with 100% in the
relegation pool. Thereafter we were due to play
North-East England on Sunday and KJCA Kings on
Monday.
After the Saturday
games the whole complexion of the
pool had changed following a
sensational 6-2 victory by KJCA
Kings over Poisoned Pawns. These
young Kent players clearly had not
given up the fight, and, with other
results going as anticipated, the
relegation danger list had suddenly
increased to any two from five:
North-East England and e2-e4 doomed
, The ADs safe and everyone else
playing for their Division 2 lives.
Our match with the ADs looked pretty
balanced for much of the time and
out of the opening phase we might
even have felt to have an edge.
Gradually, things turned against us
and we lost 3 matches and drew the
rest for a score line that was
perhaps fair even though we were
aware that we had missed
opportunities.
Saturday evening saw us at the
familiar hunting ground of Rossini's in Hinckley
and we were able to relax even more vigorously
than usual with the prospect [unique to the gap
between rounds 9 and 10 ] of a lie-in on the
following morning.
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Rd9: Spirit of
Atticus (left) against The AD's |
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Thus the evening out saw the
customary blend of excellent food, drink and
sophisticated discussion and the return to
Hinckley Island saw a good turnout for the
traditional nightcap.
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Andy Smith
during Rd10 |
Sunday's round of matches would
give us a clear view of what we needed to do in
what promised to be an exciting and tense finale
but we had to concentrate on beating North-East
England to try to take some of the tension out
of that last round. So far as the match went we
scored the necessary win but as in our defeat by
the ADs the North-East team could rightly claim
that until pretty late on they were well in
contention.
The pick of our wins came in
quick-fire style from Andy Smith making a
welcome return to our line-up and this put us in
good heart. It was not the first result of the
match however; a draw offer came to Dave Latham
after just 6 moves. Dave consulted with his
captain [me] and decided he was happy with a
draw with the black pieces and so the deal was
done. What was the reason for the offer I hear
you say? Perfectly simple: Just before the match
opponent Ray Sayers had heard tragic news from
home: the family guinea pig had died suddenly
and the children were inconsolable. Ray's wife
demanded his immediate presence back home or she
was going to hit him with a frying pan [I may
have made that bit up].
This information was
readily given by Ray to Dave, who, perhaps
feeling empathy with the domestic bliss inherent
in this tale, and having finished so early,
decided after a couple of hours watching the
match that he would nip up to Wigan and bring
his wife [and prominent Spirit of Atticus
supporter] Jeannie, down for the remainder of
the weekend. So deeply was he affected that Dave
forgot to tell anyone he was going; so shambolic
was our departure to the Sharnford Arms in the
picturesque neighbouring village of Sharnford
that it was only on our arrival for the
scheduled Chinese meal that we realised that
Dave was missing. Obviously we were very worried
but after a swift search of the hotel we put our
worries behind us.
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Rd10: Andy Smith v Malola TS Prasath |
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Position after 1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 e5.
White to move |
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I digress; our other victories
came from our highest % scorer of the season,
Martin, and from Dave Robertson. Martin's win
came after he faced some pressure from the
opening, broke out when his chance came and
converted to an easily won ending. Dave had a
pleasant edge from the opening which had almost
dissipated, but playing at high tempo Dave kept
the pressure on and eventually broke through in
the rook ending. Our one loss was a good game
between the two women in the match; Sheila was
playing Sue Mororoa who seized the initiative
and emerged victorious after a long struggle.
This was not to be the last time over the
weekend that the younger player scored the
full point.
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And so back to our Chinese meal:
this was our third season in the 4NCL and for
the first time we did not know at this stage
[i.e. after round 10] if we had been successful
in our season's objective. Nonetheless
Entertainment Secretary Dave Robertson made his
by now traditional toasts to various members of
our group who had caught his eye over the season
and by supplying ample wine [another excellent
tradition, cheers Dave!] for said toasts and
indeed for much of the evening. The food and
service proved to be most acceptable and we
returned to base replete.
There was a brief,
delirious reunion with Dave and the newly
arrived Jeannie but perhaps with the morrow in
mind only a small contingent required the bar.
There are over a season many
crunch matches: we knew that this was the the
biggest crunch of all. Figures hastily compiled
on the back of a Nicorette packet in the
Sharnford Arms on the previous evening indicated
that we would be safe with a victory and had a
good chance of safety with a draw. Round 10 had
seen an impressive win by Rhyfelwyr Essyllwg
against the ADs and a very strong Barbican Youth
line-up had been held by Poisoned Pawns who
rallied well after their mauling in the Saturday
match. These results had muddied the waters even
more from our perspective. The possibility of a
loss did not even arise in our discussions but
it transpired that there was a slender chance of
survival even in defeat. The ther games in the
final round saw Poisoned Pawns take on The ADs,
Rhyfelwyr Essyllwg versus a further strengthened
Barbican Youth team and the fiercely contested
battle of the basement between e2-e4 2 and
North-East England.
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Rd11:
Saravanan Sathyanandha v John Carleton |
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Position after 27.Bh4.
Black
to move |
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The match started badly for us
with a phone default on board 5 within the first
10 minutes. This did not affect the
determination of our team but it did affect the
mindset of some players who were even more
determined to make a real difference. Thus Nick
on board 1 and Peter on board 6 independently
decided that it was S or B time [Editor's note:
Sonneborn or Berger] . Nick's decision created a
position of rare mayhem but he missed an
opportunity to keep everything really murky.
This omission was exploited by opponent Victor
Jones, who with sustained accuracy, brought in
an impressive win completing his 3/3 for the
weekend. Peter grabbed material and had fast
running pawns: he kept his nerve admirably as
his opponent's desperate counters opened up
Peter's king position and after threading his
way through the complications, was rewarded
with a deserved win. This was to be our solitary
victory of the match but every board was hard
fought.
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John Carleton |
I missed several reasonably
straightforward wins around the first time
control but opponent Saravanan Sathyanandha's
[yes, you're right there is an Anand in there]
analysed accurately to escape my attempted
mating net and then gave me an uncomfortable
hour as I had to scramble to save the draw.
Sheila on board 4 got some initiative which she
carried into the ending but she could do nothing
to avoid the inescapable logic of a drawn bishop
of opposite colours endgame. Andy Mort on board
7 appeared to have an opening edge but his
opponent hung in and soon both players were
pushing for an attempted win. Peace was agreed
when both sides were about to run out of
material. Martin on board 3, our most consistent
performer and gatherer of points, fell to defeat
after another fine game by a young KJCA player:
Martin's mistake was not obvious but opponent
William Jones produced a fine strategic game
where an opening edge led to middlegame pressure
which led to material advantage and a
straightforward endgame win.
Last to finish,
also in defeat, was Dave Robertson who was under
pressure after coming out worse from a queenside
skirmish early in the middlegame. Dave kept
managing to postpone the apparently inevitable
but his young opponent Yasmin Giles held her
nerve, kept her concentration and put the seal
on a fine victory for KJCA Kings sufficient for
them to complete the great escape and condemn
Poisoned Pawns, who put up a great fight in the
last round, and ourselves to the drop.
Final Division 2 Demotion Pool
We were most
impressed with KJCA's skill,
composure and togetherness and have
no complaints about the result of
our match. This notwithstanding we
were shaken by the outcome of our
season. To describe our emotions
fully we need to transport ourselves
to the football scene of the 1970s.
Coincidentally it was then that
three of the team picked up their
football-style nicknames [I refer to Robbo, Jacko and Carlo, all part
of the
Atticus National Clubs winning squad
during that decade]. Yes, relegation
meant we were as sick as a parrot
[amazingly the parrot could take on
the mantle of a collective noun in
those wonderful days of old].
Congratulations to Wessex who like
KJCA were promoted last year and
managed to stay up [not easy, every
step up a league tends to be an
enormous one]. Wessex used a highly
recommended method of staying up:
they made it to the promotion pool.
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The playing
rooms at Puma Hotel Hinckley Island
are ideal for 6-8 board division 1, 2
and 3 matches. |
The last round tension of our
pool was repeated all over the divisions and
subdivisions and we were delighted to be part of
it. We are already looking forward to life back
at our roots in the Northern League [briefly we
hope] where we will resume some old rivalries
and the relatively new one with North-East
England. Commiserations to fellow Northerners
Cheddleton 2 who missed promotion by the
narrowest of margins and congratulations to
Bradford DCA Knights A who made it back to the
second division. Blowing the trumpet of the
Northern League is easy; the venues are of the
same excellent standard as those further south
but the spaciousness of the playing
accommodation is an added luxury. If your team
is predominantly composed of northern players
and you play in the 3rd Division South then give
serious thought to joining us; if you are club
based in the North contemplating joining us, do
it; you will be over the moon [Oops! back to the
1970's again].
The 4NCL remains the greatest
show in the land; we thank the Management Board,
led by the incomparable Mike Truran, for their
clarity of vision and the army of workers who
translate that vision into actuality.
Photos © Steve
Connor 4NCL
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Rd9 results •
Rd10 results •
Rd11 results
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Spirit of Atticus team page
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Division 2d Table •
Games in PGN
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This report is also available here
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Previous Spirit of Atticus
reports
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