5th 4NCL Weekend, 6 May 2013, Rd11 - Lawrence Cooper

League winners:

Round 11 report:

1C: Guildford led Wood Green by a point going into the league title decider. Wood Green had drafted in Vassily Ivanchuk and Alexey Shirov whilst Guildford had added Matthew Sadler to the players that had served them so well over the season. Eight of England’s top ten were involved, four on each side. The only two not involved were Stewart Haslinger, top board for Cheddleton and Stephen Gordon, a regular in the Wood Green team, but currently playing in the European Individual Championship.

Division 1 Final Championship Pool

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 GP Pts 1 Guildford 1 4-4 5-3 8-0 6-2 7-1 6½-1½ 5½-2½ 42 13 2 Wood Green Hilsmark 1 4-4 5-3 4-4 5½-2½ 6½-1½ 7½-½ 5-3 37½ 12 3 Barbican 4NCL 1 3-5 3-5 5-3 3-5 5-3 6-2 4½-3½ 29½ 8 4 Cheddleton 1 0-8 4-4 3-5 4-4 4-4 5-3 5½-2½ 25½ 7 5 Jutes of Kent 2-6 2½-5½ 5-3 4-4 1-7 5-3 5-3 24½ 7 6 White Rose 1 1-7 1½-6½ 3-5 4-4 7-1 2½-5½ 5½-2½ 24½ 5 7 Barbican 4NCL 2 1½-6½ ½-7½ 2-6 3-5 3-5 5½-2½ 5½-2½ 21 4 8 Cambridge University 1 2½-5½ 3-5 3½-4½ 2½-5½ 3-5 2½-5½ 2½-5½ 19½ 0

Robin van Kampen gave Guildford the lead by beating Pia Cramling and after five draws Wood Green were left needing to win the last two games to win the league. Whilst Michael Adams was able to grind down Laurent Fressinet, David Howell was unable to defeat Nigel Short meaning that Guildford took the title.

Guildford 1 2627   Wood Green Hilsmark 1 2647 111 w Jones, Gawain CB gm 2654 ½-½ Shirov, Alexei gm 2700 112 b Fressinet, Laurent * gm 2693 0-1 Adams, Michael gm 2727 113 w Edouard, Romain gm 2670 ½-½ McShane, Luke J gm 2698 114 b Sadler, Matthew D gm 2647 ½-½ Ivanchuk, Vassily gm 2757 115 w Short, Nigel D gm 2697 ½-½ Howell, David WL gm 2638 116 b Hebden, Mark L gm 2546 ½-½ Rowson, Jonathan W gm 2586 117 w Van Kampen, Robin gm 2588 1-0 Cramling, Pia gm 2525 118 b Stefanova, Antoaneta gm 2525 ½-½ Pert, Nicholas gm 2547   4-4
		Bd5: Nigel Short & David Howell start their game

Barbican 1 took third place by beating White Rose with wins for Sam Collins and Ingrid Lauterbach against Peter Wells and Tereza Olsarova. Congratulations to James Adair of White Rose who completed a GM norm to add to the IM norm he had already made this season and to Sam Franklin and Ryan Rhys Griffiths of Barbican who made IM norms.

Cheddleton & Jutes of Kent also finished with wins (against Barbican 2 and Cambridge) to finish fourth and fifth. Jutes players Bragi Thorfinnsson made a GM norm and Ezra Kirk an IM norm whilst Sabrina Chevannes of Cambridge made her first WIM norm and Daniel Bisby his first IM.

No announcement has yet been made on which three teams have accepted the places for the European Club Cup.

Round eleven results:

Guildford 1 (12) - Wood Green Hilsmark 1 (11) 4-4

Barbican 4NCL 2 (4) - Cheddleton 1 (5) 3-5

White Rose 1 (5) - Barbican 4NCL 1 (6) 3-5

Jutes of Kent (5) - Cambridge University 1 (0) 5-3

Match points: Guildford 13, Wood Green 12, Barbican 1 8, Cheddleton & Jutes of Kent 7, White Rose 5, Barbican 2 4, Cambridge 0.

1D: Warwickshire Select only managed a 4-4 draw with BCM Dragons despite a fine result for young Scottish Olympiad player Ali Roy who beat Maria Yurenok on bottom board. Ameet Ghasi was their only other winner whilst Shawn Tavares and Keith Richardson’s wins denied Warwickshire both their division one place and also Nicholas Thomas an IM norm. Any match victory would have been enough to keep them in the top flight next season.

e2e4.org.uk survived by beating South Wales Dragons despite being outrated and losing the top two boards. Wins for Alan Byron, Mark Josse, Michael Barnes and Rasa Norinkeviciute saw them home and to safety.

Division 1 Final Demotion Pool

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 GP Pts 1 Wood Green Hilsmark 2 5-3 4½-3½ 2-6 4½-3½ 7-1 3½-4½ 6-2 32½ 10 2 Blackthorne Russia 3-5 6-2 4½-3½ 6-2 3½-4½ 3-5 6½-1½ 32½ 8 3 e2e4.org.uk 1 3½-4½ 2-6 5-3 2½-5½ 4½-3½ 4½-3½ 6-2 28 8 4 Guildford 2 6-2 3½-4½ 3-5 6-2 3½-4½ 7-1 4-4 33 7 5 Sambuca Sharks 3½-4½ 2-6 5½-2½ 2-6 4-4 4½-3½ 5-3 26½ 7 6 Warwickshire Select 1 1-7 4½-3½ 3½-4½ 4½-3½ 4-4 4-4 4-4 25½ 7 7 South Wales Dragons 4½-3½ 5-3 3½-4½ 1-7 3½-4½ 4-4 3-5 24½ 5 8 BCM Dragons 2-6 1½-6½ 2-6 4-4 3-5 4-4 5-3 21½ 4

Guildford 2 convincingly beat Wood Green 2 with wins for Yang-Fan Zhou (against GM Alex Baburin), David Smerdon, Alexander Cherniaev, Stuart Conquest and Dagne Ciuksyte. Yang-Fan was agonisingly close to a GM norm, but his final performance was 2598, just two points too low albeit on live ratings his performance would have been enough.

Sambuca Sharks started round eleven second out of eight in the demotion pool but were weakened by the absence of Tom Rendle (en-route to the World Schools) and their lady player Klaudia Kulon from Poland. In their absence they were outrated by an average of 200 points and wins for Harriet Hunt, Andrew & Dave Ledger and Bob Eames was more than enough to ensure that Blackthorne had completed their escape to safety. Their season does seemed to have turned on signing Danny Gormally to play top board for the last five rounds and having Harriet Hunt available for the final matches.

Round eleven results:

Guildford 2 (5) - Wood Green Hilsmark 2 (10) 6-2

e2e4.org.uk 1 (6) - South Wales Dragons (5) 4½-3½ Sambuca Sharks (7) - Blackthorne Russia (6) 2-6

BCM Dragons (3) - Warwickshire Select 1 (6) 4-4

Match points: Wood Green 2 10, Blackthorne & e2e4.org.uk 8 G’ford 2, Sambuca Sharks & Warwickshire 7, SW Dragons 5, BCM Dragons 3.

2C: The only teams in with a chance of breaking into the top four played each other with White Rose 2 being one match point above Anglian Avengers and one behind Oxford (who faced champions Kings Head) who were a point behind Pandora’s Box and 3Cs who played each other.

As it turned out White Rose crashed to a 6½-1½ defeat to Anglian Avengers which meant that Oxford needed a drawn match to be promoted and that 3Cs and Pandora’s were promoted regardless of their match result.

Division 2 Final Promotion Pool

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 GP Pts 1 Kings Head 3-5 4½-3½ 4-4 4½-3½ 4½-3½ 5-3 6½-1½ 32 11 2 Pandora's Box Grantham 5-3 4½-3½ 2½-5½ 4½-3½ 3-5 4½-3½ 4½-3½ 28½ 10 3 3Cs 1 3½-4½ 3½-4½ 4½-3½ 3-5 5-3 6-2 5-3 30½ 8 4 Oxford 1 4-4 5½-2½ 3½-4½ 4-4 4-4 4-4 5-3 30 8 5 Anglian Avengers 1 3½-4½ 3½-4½ 5-3 4-4 6½-1½ 4½-3½ 3½-4½ 30½ 7 6 White Rose 2 3½-4½ 5-3 3-5 4-4 1½-6½ 4-4 6-2 27 6 7 Bristol 1 3-5 3½-4½ 2-6 4-4 3½-4½ 4-4 4-4 24 3 8 Wessex 1½-6½ 3½-4½ 3-5 3-5 4½-3½ 2-6 4-4 21½ 3

Oxford managed the 4-4 that was needed with wins for Jochem Snuverink and David Guthrie balanced by wins for David Zakarian and Tom Eckersley-Waites.

Pandora’s edged home against 3Cs with Jerzy Slaby’s win against Alex Longson being the only decisive result. That just leaves Bristol and Wessex who drew 4-4 meaning that Bristol finished above their opponents on game points but without either being close to the four promotion places.

Kings Head (10) - Oxford 1 (7)

3Cs 1 (8) - Pandora's Box Grantham (8)

White Rose 2 (6) - Anglian Avengers 1 (5)

Bristol 1 (2) – Wessex (2).

Match points: Kings Head 10, 3Cs and Pandora’s Box 8, Oxford 7, White Rose 2 6, Anglian Avengers 5, Bristol & Wessex 2.

2D: KJCA Kings completed their dramatic escape by beating Spirit of Atticus who alongside Poisoned Pawns had started the day two match points ahead of KJCA. Wins for Victor & William Jones, Matthew Lunn and Yasmin Giles saw them complete a 5½-2½ victory against a team on average almost one hundred points higher rated. Their escape from relegation was only possible due to Poisoned Pawns being narrowly defeated by The ADs, Svetlana Sucikova being the Pawns only winner.

Division 2 Demotion Pool

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 GP Pts 1 The AD's 4½-3½ 3-5 5½-2½ 4½-3½ 5½-2½ 4½-3½ 6½-1½ 34 12 2 Barbican Youth 3½-4½ 6-2 7-1 4-4 3½-4½ 6½-1½ 5-2½ 35½ 9 3 Rhyfelwyr Essyllwg 1 5-3 2-6 4½-3½ 3½-4½ 4-4 5½-2½ 5½-2½ 30 9 4 KJCA Kings 2½-5½ 1-7 3½-4½ 6-2 5½-2½ 5-3 6-2 29½ 8 5 Poisoned Pawns 3½-4½ 4-4 4½-3½ 2-6 4-4 5-3 5½-2½ 28½ 8 6 Spirit of Atticus 2½-5½ 4½-3½ 4-4 2½-5½ 4-4 5-3 5-3 27½ 8 7 e2e4.org.uk 2 3½-4½ 1½-6½ 2½-5½ 3-5 3-5 3-5 5-3 21½ 2 8 North East England 1½-6½ 2½-5 2½-5½ 2-6 2½-5½ 3-5 3-5 17 0

Barbican Youth ensured their survival with a 6-2 win over Rhyfelwyr Essyllwg albeit a draw would have sufficed due to their superior game points. Wins for Peter Poobalasingam, Isaac Sanders, Ashley Stewart, Andrew Brett and Natasha Regan ensured that they will play in Division 2 again next season.

e2e4.org.uk beat North East England to record their only match points of the demotion pool and finish seventh above NE but both will drop down to Division 3 next season.

Poisoned Pawns (8) The AD's (10) 3½-4½

Rhyfelwyr Essyllwg 1 (9) v Barbican Youth (7) 2-6

Spirit of Atticus (8) - KJCA Kings (6) 2½-5½

e2e4.org.uk 2 (0) - North East England (0) 5-3

Match points: ADs 12, Rhyfelwyr Essyllwg 1 9, Barbican Youth 9, KJCA Kings, Poisoned Pawns & Spirit of Atticus 8, e2e4.org.uk 2 & NE England 0.

Division Three

Hackney confirmed their promotion as champions with a 5-1 victory over Sussex Smart Survivors, which ended the latter’s hopes of promotion. Rubel Cenez Gutierrez, Nicholas Walker, Kevin Bowmer and John Reid all won whilst Dominic Mackle and Francis Chin both drew.

Cambridge University 2 and Bradford DCA Knights A were also promoted and finished with wins against Cheddleton 2 and FCA Solutions 1. Stuart Robertson won the only decisive game in the Cambridge match whilst Oskar Hackner, Denis Molofej and Steven Jones were winners for Bradford. Cambridge were placed second with a superior SOS (sum of opponents scores) tiebreak despite having few game points.

The final promotion place was decided in the match between Brown Jack and The Rookies. The Rookies had one match point more meaning Brown Jack had to win on rely on other results going their way. Paul Girdlestone and Michael Rabbitte both won whilst Tyson Mordue, Peter Richmond and Johnathan Bourne all drew resulting in a 3½-2½ win.

Match points: Hackney 20, Bradford & Cambridge 18, Brown Jack, Guildford 3 & Celtic Tigers 15. | Final Div3 Rankings |

To sign off my final 4NCL report I leave you with a selection of games from rounds 10 and 11 (PGN).

Thanks to all the players, captains, arbiters, organisers, game inputters and hotels for playing their part in another exciting season. I’m looking forward to being involved again as a captain next season.

Photos: Steve Connor 4NCL

• Download games from Weekend 5 in PGN

• For your diary: 4NCL Rapidplay, 5-6 Oct at the Daventry Ct Hotel | All dates for 2013/14 |