Weekend 4 round-up, 22-23 Mar 2014 - John Saunders

With the split division system employed by the 4NCL for its top two divisions, things tend to come to a head at the all-important fourth weekend, with the results of the seventh round deciding which section teams play in during the final four rounds of competition. Equally important is which teams accompany them into the final section, as they carry forward three results from the preliminaries – and everyone prefers to be accompanied by a team they’ve thrashed 8-0, rather than a team which demolished them. Hence, much frantic examination of scoreboards and impromptu workings-out of improbable permutations.

That was the scene as the teams arrive for the weekend’s entertainment in Hinckley Island on 22 March. It’s also a pretty frantic weekend for officials, by the way, as they have to check and re-check the scores on the Saturday evening prior to publishing the draw for the Sunday games, which is the start of the Championship/Relegation final pools. Making a mistake at this stage doesn’t bear thinking about, but as someone who works alongside the organisers in one of the back rooms and sees them close up, I have to say I’m impressed by the cool efficiency of the officials as they do their stuff.

Round 7

Pool A

As we left things in February, Guildford 1, Cheddleton and Grantham Sharks were already sure of their places in the top final section, with Barbican 2 two points clear of three possible rivals with at least mathematical of overhauling them for fourth, those three being Wood Green 2, Blackthorne Russia and Oxford, and with King’s Head now just playing for fun. As it turned out, Barbican 2 clinched their place in the Championship group with a win over back-markers King’s Head so there was an absence of sporting tension in this round. Of course, each match still mattered going into the Championship and Relegation groups, so let’s have a look at them.

Oxford couldn’t have entertained much hope of catching Barbican 2 as they were paired with leaders Guildford 1. It was a complete mismatch and the favourites won 7-1. The two Oxford heroes who escaped with draws were David Zakarian (against Gawain Jones) and 15-year-old Aussie-registered (and Welsh-born) FM Justin Tan (against Robin van Kampen), so congratulations to them. However, Justin, aged 14 and having a terrific season in the 4NCL, will probably be kicking himself that he didn’t take the full point...

4NCL Division 1a, Round 7, 2014

Justin Tan (Oxford)

Robin Van Kampen (Guildford 1)

White is a pawn up but it’s not a decisive advantage as things stand. Black now makes a serious oversight. 28...Rg5?? 29.Qh4 Rxg6 30.Rxd7? White sees a way to draw but he can do much, much better: 30.Qh8+ Kf7 31.Qh5! is a murderous pin. Black can try 31...Be8 but 32.Rg1 Kg8 33.Rxg6 Rxd2 34.Nxd2 doesn’t get him off the hook, e.g. 34...Qxc2 35.Rxg7+! Kxg7 36.Qxe8 and there are no tricks or perpetual check chances. Maybe both players fixated on bishop pin ideas (which don’t work) and overlooked the less juicy looking queen pin. 30...Rxd7 31.Rxd7 Qxd7 32.Qh8+ Kf7 33.Bh5 Qd4 34.Nc3 Qxf2 35.Bxg6+ Kxg6 36.Qe8+ Kh6 37.Qh8+ Kg6 38.Qe8+ Kh6 39.Qh8+ Kg6 ½-½

Cheddleton have been playing second fiddle to Guildford 1 all season and they beat Grantham Sharks 5-3 to secure that place in the final preliminary table. Thomas Rendle managed to buck the trend of the match by beating GM Aleksandar Colovic, but otherwise the Cheds were their normal, efficient selves.

4NCL Division 1a, Round 7, 2014

Aleksander Colovic (Cheddleton)

Thomas Rendle (Grantham Sharks)

Black has pressure on f2 so it seems logical to support the f3 bishop... 30.Kg2?? ... but actually it’s a disaster. The right way to defend was 30.Rd1 or the tricky 30.Qe1!? when White is probably just about OK. 30...Qe3! 0-1 Game over. It shouldn’t happen to a grandmaster.

This match also featured S William versus S Williams. Sounds like a divorce case but it was actually GM Simon against (future GM?) Sam. The players attacked each other on opposite, but suddenly there was only one attack that mattered.

4NCL Division 1a, Round 7, 2014

Simon Williams (Cheddleton)

Sam Williams (Grantham Sharks 1)

Sicilian Defence

1.e4 c5 2.Be2 e6 3.f4 Ah, the Reversed Dutch, of course. 3...d5 4.d3 g6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.0-0 Ne7 7.Qe1 b5 8.Nc3 b4 9.Nd1 Bb7 10.Nf2 Nbc6 11.a3 a5 12.Rb1 Qb6 13.Be3 Rc8 14.c3 0-0 15.Kh1 Ba6 16.h4 Rc7 17.h5 d4 18.Bd2 dxc3 19.bxc3 The computer gives this as equal but you have to keep reminding yourself that Simon Williams is playing White, and he doesn’t really do ‘equals’. 19...Rb7 The computer wants to play 19...gxh5 but you would have be brave ro risk that against the Ginger GM. 20.hxg6 hxg6 21.Ng4 Rfb8 Again, the computer comes up with something a bit sketchy-looking: 21...f6 - no, that kingside looks too vulnerable. 22.Qh4 Qd8 Suddenly the computer wakes up to the danger and wants to run away with 22...Kf8 but it could be too late. 23.Ng5 Now it’s game over. 23...bxc3

Stand by for the pretty finish. 24.Nf6+! Kf8 Black clearly has a fine aesthetic sense and allows the GM an elegant tableau on which to finish. 25.Ngh7 mate

As already mentioned, Barbican 2 scored the necessary points against back-markers King’s Head, though Aussie IM John Paul Wallace scored another notable victory on the top board against Scotland's Graeme Morrison (although the game score seems to have gone walkabout).

Blackthorne Russia and Wood Green 2 were two well-matched teams and the result was close, with WG 2 winning by the odd point, which will make a difference as the two sides proceed into the Relegation pool.

Pool B

There was a much more exciting finale in Pool B than in Pool A. As things began, Wood Green 1 and Guildford 2 were already sure of their top section place, but four teams – e2e4.org.uk, White Rose, 3Cs and Barbican 1 – were locked in battle for two Championship places, with only one match point separating them. Two other teams, Cambridge University and Grantham Sharks 2, were out of contention.

Wood Green 1 were paired with Grantham Sharks 2, but it wasn’t the bloodbath that might have been expected. Five untitled Grantham players hung on for draws with five Wood Green GMs, and the favourites had to rely on David Howell, Andrew Greet and Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant to secure the two match points for them.

For Barbican 1, the good news was that they were fielding an extra GM compared with February (Jonathan Parker) and they won their match 5-3 against 3Cs. However, the bad news was that they needed a favour or two from other teams and this was not forthcoming, as we shall soon see...

White Rose’s seventh round team was only slightly lower rated than Guildford 2, who were already secure in the knowledge that they would be in top section. Whether that made a difference to the result is hard to tell but anyway White Rose won the match 5-3 and that put them ahead of Barbican 1 on game points. That was the first bit of bad news for Barbican 1.

e2e4.org.uk faced Cambridge University in what looked like being an evenly-contested match. However, the Cantabs were a player short, and that was bad news for Barbican 1 as well as them. Two of their team won but otherwise it was a sweeping victory for e2e4.org.uk who thus consolidated their third place in the table.

That meant that Barbican 1 were out in the cold, while their second team was in the Championship pool. Rather a bizarre situation: under the rules they are still obliged to play their strongest players in the first team, even though they will be playing in an inferior section. But that is just reward for the Barbican 2 players who won them their place and I gather that their officials wouldn’t want it any other way. Incidentally, the same thing might happen to the Cambridge University club, as their primary team is in some danger of failing to record a ‘first’ in the top division, while their second team have so far achieved what you might call a ‘two-one’ in their Division Two preliminary exam.

Final Preliminary Group Places

Round 8

Championship Pool

Now the serious business starts... you will notice above that Guildford 1 and Wood Green 1 had scored 45 and 43 game points respectively in their preliminary groups, but those were not their carry-forward game points. (Pay attention, because I might be testing you on this later.) Teams only carry forward the game points scored against their preliminary group opponents who proceed into the same section. So Guildford carried forward 18 game points, and Wood Green (boosted by an 8-0 battering of e2e4.org.uk) 19½ game points, so it was the London club which led the Championship race before a pawn was pushed in the final pool.

Guildford 1’s first opponents in the final pool were their second team. Of course, the second team is quite a formidable outfit in its own right, but the first team crushed them 7-1. The honour of being second team’s point went to 13-year-old, 2185-rated Matthew Wadsworth, who defeated 2587-rated Canadian GM Eric Hansen. It was one of those fleeting opportunities which the lower-rated player often seems to miss - but not Matthew...

4NCL Division 1, Round 8, 2014

Matthew Wadsworth (Guildford 2)

Eric Hansen (Guildford 1)

English Opening

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.d3 d6 6.e4 e5 7.Nge2 Nc6 8.0-0 Nh5 9.Be3 Nd4 10.Bxd4 10.Qd2 is the usual choice here. 10...exd4 11.Nb5 c5 12.h3 a6 13.Na3 Rb8 14.g4 Nf6 15.f4 b5 16.b3 bxc4 16...Qa5 seems a more natural way to pursue Black’s slight initiative. 17.Nxc4 d5 18.Ne5 Bb7 19.Ng3 dxe4 20.dxe4 Re8 21.g5 Nd7 22.Nc4 Nb6 23.Nxb6 Qxb6 24.e5 c4 25.Bxb7 d3+ 26.Kh2 Qxb7 27.bxc4 Qb2+ 28.Kh1 Qd4 29.c5 h6 30.gxh6 Bxh6 31.Qf3 Rb4 32.Rad1 Bxf4 33.Rxd3 Qxe5 Matthew has put up a great to here but now the analysis engine thinks he’s a bit worse. But he continues playing optimistically. 34.c6 Qe6 34...Rc4 seems the logical way to keep an eye on the c-pawn. 35.Qg2 Be5 36.Re3

36...Rb2? Unexpectedly, Black starts to crack. 36...Reb8!? is playable, answering 37.c7 with 37...Rc8 38.Rc1 Rb5 and Black is in good shape. 37.Qxb2! Bxb2 38.Rxe6 Rxe6? Black makes another more serious error. He should play 38...fxe6 39.Rb1 Be5, though the edge has now passed over to White. 39.c7 Re8?? A third, and this time fatal, error. 39...Rc6 allows Black to fight on after 40.Rb1! Rxc7 41.Rxb2 although he could well lose. 40.Rd1! 1‑0 Well spotted! This is the only move to win and easily overlooked as it looks like 40...Bf6 might be a defence, but then 41.Ne4! Be7 42.Rb1! wraps things up. It is one thing to find the winning move but to find it on move 40 requires an extra helping of sang froid.

Wood Green 1 were paired with Barbican 2 and they came through 6½-1½, which was enough to retain their token game point lead over Guildford 1 going into the final weekend of matches. The squad roused itself from its apparent stupor of the Saturday (when they showered gifts of half-points over Grantham's second team in an inconsequential match), conceding just three draws.

One of the highlights for me when I travel to the 4NCL is to have a beer and a chat with Jon Speelman. He usually gives me a thumbnail of his game, in his usual idiosyncratic way, and then we chat about anything and everything – politics, family, cats, etc, etc, and sometimes we are joined by Jana Bellin, who tells us something about her globe-trotting role as the FIDE drugs tsarina. Anyway, it’s nice to show you a bit of Jon’s eighth round game, which shows that his grandmasterly hand has lost nothing of its cunning.

4NCL Division 1, Round 8, 2014

Sam Franklin (Barbican 2)

Jon Speelman (Wood Green 1)

With the pawns all on the one side, it could be a long and sweaty job to win this endgame, depriving both Jon and me of our much-cherished chat in the bar. For which reason I am deeply grateful to White for playing 65.f3?, which is a mistake, although it might have been intended as a trap: 65...Rxf3! 66.Re2!? Now, hang on - has Jon fallen for a trap? As well as gxf3, White threatens Ne8+, followed by Rxe5, and when the king captures the knight on e8, White has Rxe6+ and the draw is just around the corner. 66...Rc3! Black puts a stop to White’s little dream. The game continues: 67.Ne8+ Ke7 68.Rxe5 Rc6! Black overprotects the e6 pawn and now the knight can’t escape capture. 69.g4 69.Ng7 Kf6 forks rook and knight. 69...hxg3+ White is undone by the en passant rule. 70.Kxg3 Kxe8 0-1

Cheddleton were higher rated than White Rose but the Yorkshire side gave the representatives of the Staffordshire village a 6-2 pasting. James Adair, who is clearly improving rapidly beat GM Aleksandar Colovic in a long grind, while Keith Arkell went down to Nicolas Croad. As a result White Rose have the honour of being placed third behind the twin Leviathans of Guildford 1 and Wood Green 1 going into the final three rounds in May.

Another match which looked close on paper but turned into a bloodbath in fact, was Grantham Sharks against e2e4.org.uk, with the Sharks living up to their macho name (I knew someone would eventually), winning 6-2.

Relegation Pool

Not so much a pool as the Slough of Despond (except that Slough no longer compete in the 4NCL)... of course, the business end of this division is the bottom, not the top, as teams battle to avoid the slide into the lower division for 2014/15. King’s Head and Grantham Sharks 2 look unlikely to avoid the drop, with 3Cs, Blackthorne and Cambridge University being the three likeliest candidates to take the other two places.

If Barbican 1 were distraught at being brigaded with the relegation strugglers, they didn’t show it, running out 5½-2 winners against King’s Head. The strange scoreline is because the London pub side were a player short.

The game between Matthew Turner and John Paul Wallace contained some splendid ultra-violence, some of which was sound.

4NCL Division 1, Round 8, 2014

Matthew Turner (Barbican 1)

John Paul Wallace (King’s Head)

Neither king looks particularly safe. White decides to start the fun with 22.Re6!? Nb4!? A highly enterprising reply but the beady-eyed Hiarcs spots 22...Qxa2!! and now 23.Rxc6+ Kb7! 24.Re6 Qa3+ 25.Kb1 Rb8!, ingeniously setting up the mating attack down the b-file which Black so signally failed to do in the game. Computers, eh? 23.Bb3 Bxc3 Looks great but unfortunately it doesn’t really work. 23...Nxa2+! 24.Kc2 Bxc3 looks survivable for Black. 24.Bxc3 Nxa2+ 25.Bxa2 Qxc3+ 26.Kb1 Now Black is aching to get a rook onto the b-file but there is no good way to arrange it. 26...Rd7 26...Kc7 fails to a queen check on the h2-b8 diagonal, of course. 26...Rh4 27.g4! shuts the door on a rook switch across from the kingside. Now 27...Rxh3!? 28.Qxh3 Kd7 nearly works but runs into 29.Rb6! axb6 30.gxf5 and White wins. 27.Bxd5 Rh4 27...Qb4+ 28.Kc2 and the king escapes to the kingside. 28.Re8+ Kc7 29.Qg3+ 1-0

3Cs and Oxford were well-matched, with only a single (average) rating point separating them at the off, but Oxford ran out 5-3 winners.

I would have tipped Blackthorne Russia to beat my old Alma Mater, but Cambridge University defied the rating list to win 5-3. Danny Gormally lost again, this time to Eddie Dearing, while Guillaume Camus de Solliers (great name – is he an existentialist?) beat Simon Ansell.

Grantham Sharks 2 may not find the Relegation pool much easier than the preliminary section, but it was tough being paired with Wood Green 2 at the outset. They scored five draws and three losses – which, come to think of it, is exactly what they scored against Wood Green 1 on the Saturday. Still, to be fair, not a bad effort, but they need to win some games to get match points. As a former member of perennial relegation-dodgers South Wales Dragons, I know exactly what that feels like.

SCORES AFTER ROUND 8

Photos © John Saunders

Annotated games from the above report | Download in PGN |