4NCL – 2008–09
Nottinghamshire has two teams in Division 3 of the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL). Games are played on weekends throughout the season.
Schedule:
- Rounds 1 and 2: 18–19 October, Sunningdale Park, Berkshire
- Rounds 3 and 4: 6–7 December, Barcelo Hotel, Hinckley Island
- Rounds 5 and 6: 7–8 February, Staverton Park, Daventry
- Rounds 7 and 8: 21–22 March, Barcelo Hotel, Hinckley Island
- Rounds 9–11: 2–4 May, Barcelo Hotel, Daventry
Full details of the 4NCL can be found at the 4NCL web site.
First weekend
Round 1: 18 October 2008
Ian Kingston
With several players either permanently or temporarily unavailable this season, finding players for the first pair of matches – which happened also to be the only long-distance trip of the season – proved interesting, especially for the new captain. In the end, with some assistance from Neil Graham in particular, I was able to add three players to the squad: West Nottingham's latest French star (Mathieu Tournier), former Notts player Mark Jones (now living in Swindon), and – at the last minute – Robert Willoughby.
The new boys had a mixed day. Mathieu held a significant advantage as Notts 1 took on Poisoned Pawns 2 in a very evenly balanced match. Unfortunately he was unable to force the win – a fate that also befell Andy Walker and me. It was cruel, therefore, that with five of us drawing a miscalculation by Mark decided the result in the opposition's favour.
A 50:50 match going the wrong way is hardly a disaster, of course. Notts 2, however, didn't have the luxury of a roughly even contest. Conceding an average of 281 rating points per board to Guildford A&DC 4, anything other than a whitewash could be considered a success. For a while things looked quite promising, but one by one the zeros started to appear on the scoresheet. In the end it was the third of the debutants who scored the solitary half point, Robert narrowly failing to beat his much higher rated opponent.
| Poisoned Pawns 2 |
2057 | – | Nottinghamshire 1 | 2051 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harley, Andrew | 2211 | ½ – ½ | Tournier, Mathieu | 2268 |
| 2 | Bailey, Kevin | 2071 | ½ – ½ | Walker, Andrew N | 2070 |
| 3 | McCorry, Robert T | 2059 | ½ – ½ | Levens, David | 2005 |
| 4 | McMahon, Paul | 2018 | ½ – ½ | Kingston, Ian | 2002 |
| 5 | Davison, Chris | 2020 | 1 – 0 | Jones, Mark | 2015 |
| 6 | Stewart, Ashley | 1960 | ½ – ½ | Taylor, Robert P | 1944 |
| 3½ – 2½ |
| Nottinghamshire 2 | 1878 | – | Guildford A&DC 4 |
2159 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thompson, Brian | 1935 | 0 – 1 | Anderton, Matthew N | 2232 |
| 2 | Graham, Neil | 1925 | 0 – 1 | Richardson, Keith B | 2194 |
| 3 | Cranmer, Stan | 1890 | 0 – 1 | Jackson, Adrian | 2206 |
| 4 | Hill, Maurice J | 1870 | 0 – 1 | Adair, James | 2072 |
| 5 | Myers, Richard | 1840 | 0 – 1 | Chipanga, Takaedza | 2146 |
| 6 | Willoughby, Robert | 1810 | ½ – ½ | Punnett, Alan K | 2102 |
| ½ – 5½ |
Round 2: 19 October 2008
Possibly the last thing any of us needed after a day of six draws and six defeats was to be woken by a fire alarm at 3:00 a.m. on Sunday morning. With a loudspeaker blaring out instructions to get out of the building as quickly as possible, we (and all the other players staying overnight) staggered out of the building in various states of dishevelment. One or two (but none of us, I'm glad to say) had taken the order to leave immediately at face value and were wearing only the bare minimum – not a pretty sight. Fortunately, it was a false alarm, so we all trudged back in and tried to get back to sleep.
It didn't affect us too badly. The first team's loss in Round 1 meant a relatively easy pairing against Oxford 3 in Round 2. Mark put his first round loss behind him to win a game that he described as 'one of the strangest I've played. Black blundered a piece on two separate occasions and in each case got away with it due to some chance tactics'. Everybody else except the captain also won – I, however, failed to beat 12-year-old Maria Wang and was somewhat relieved when she accepted my draw offer. (You can stop with the jokes now guys.)
Notts 2 received another tough pairing – SCS – but this time the rating difference was a more manageable 51 points per board. Brian Thompson registered an excellent draw with Black on top board, featuring an amazing rook sacrifice.
Haydon–Thompson; White to play
Both players had missed good chances for an advantage earlier, and the position now looks roughly level. White should probably have castled here, but instead he tried to invade on the queenside: 18. Qa4?, only to be rocked by the stunning 18... Rxf2!! 19. Kxf2 (probably best is 19. Bxe6+ Qxe6 20. Kxf2 Qf5+ 21. Kg2 Qf3+ 22. Kh3 Bxe3 23. Qc6 Qf5+ (or 23... Qh5+) should be drawn by perpetual check) 19... Qf8+ 20. Bf5 (to provide an escape square for the king; alternatively, 20. Ke1 Qf3 21. Bxe6+ Kh8 22. Rc3 Qxh1+ 23. Kd2 Qxh2+ 24. Kc1 Rf8 wins) 20... Qxf5+ 21. Kg2 Qf3+ 22. Kh3 Qh5+ (Now probably best is 23. Kg2 Rf8 (23... Qf3+ forces a draw, of course) 24. Qd1 Bxe3 25. Qxh5 gxh5 26. Rc2 Bxd4, when Black has the advantage, but probably not enough to win) ½–½. (Notes based on analysis provided by Brian.)
With a win for Stan Cranmer and a draw for Neil Graham things were looking good. Boards 4 and 5 didn't turn out so well though, leaving Robert to try to pull things round. He had a sizeable advantage as the time control approached, but was very short of time – about four minutes for his last 12 moves. His opponent, however, was struggling to defend, and gradually the clock times grew closer together. I left the playing hall when the players were down to about two minutes each – I hate watching that kind of time scramble. Five minutes later I went back in to find that Robert had reached a completely winning position and had won on time, salvaging a draw for the team.
| Nottinghamshire 1 | 2051 | – | Oxford 3 |
1839 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tournier, Mathieu | 2268 | 1 – 0 | Zhang, Marco | 1975 |
| 2 | Walker, Andrew N | 2070 | 1 – 0 | Harvey, Marcus R | 1905 |
| 3 | Levens, David | 2005 | 1 – 0 | Lai, Yi Ming | 1835 |
| 4 | Kingston, Ian | 2002 | ½ – ½ | Wang, Maria | 1845 |
| 5 | Jones, Mark | 2015 | 1 – 0 | Henbest, Kevin B | 1795 |
| 6 | Taylor, Robert P | 1944 | 1 – 0 | Wang, Anna | 1680 |
| 5½ – ½ |
| SCS |
1929 | – | Nottinghamshire 2 | 1878 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Haydon, David | 2148 | ½ – ½ | Thompson, Brian | 1935 |
| 2 | Heard, Andrew H | 1975 | ½ – ½ | Graham, Neil | 1925 |
| 3 | Clarke, Sean A | 1885 | 0 – 1 | Cranmer, Stan | 1890 |
| 4 | Lutton, J Arnold | 1874 | 1 – 0 | Hill, Maurice J | 1870 |
| 5 | Bogoda, Sagara T | 1870 | 1 – 0 | Myers, Richard | 1840 |
| 6 | Scarry, Herbert | 1823 | 0 – 1 | Willoughby, Robert | 1810 |
| 3 – 3 |
The next two rounds, on 6 and 7 December, should be fun. All three divisions will be playing that weekend, so there'll be grandmaster chess to watch.
Second weekend
A rarity: all three divisions playing in the same venue on the same weekend. We third division hackers therefore got to rub shoulders (almost literally) with a large number of Britain’s best players. I lost count of the number of GMs present, but here’s a selection of names to convey the flavour of the event: Speelman, Howell, Chandler, Conquest, Hebden, Rowson, Flear, Wells, Davies... the list goes on! So how did the Nottinghamshire contingent fare alongside such August company?
Round 3: 6 December
Nottinghamshire 1 received an unexpected gift from Round 3 opponents The Full Ponty in the form of a default on Board 6. We were notified in advance, so no one had to make a wasted trip. Very quickly the score moved to 2–0, when Alex Combie, making his debut, turned what looked like an exercise in pawn grabbing into an overwhelming kingside attack. All was well on the other boards and a big score looked possible, but it didn’t quite materialise. I overcame a slight disadvantage from the opening and forced a repetition in a knight endgame; David Levens’ position never quite delivered on its apparent promise; and Richard Truman’s extra pawn never came to anything. With the match won, Rob Richmond was left to try to find a win in what looked like a level position, but it too proved elusive.
The second team had the misfortune to be paired against Warwickshire Select 2, conceding around 170 rating points per board. Brian Thompson and Richard Myers did well to draw (in fact, Richard missed a win), but the opposition proved too strong overall. Maurice Hill came closest to adding a half-point, but he eventually succumbed in a long rook ending.
| Nottinghamshire 1 |
2032 | – | The Full Ponty | 1997 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richmond, Robert J | 2236 | ½ – ½ | Sully, David | 2135 |
| 2 | Truman, Richard G | 2035 | ½ – ½ | Adams, Mark A | 2034 |
| 3 | Levens, David | 2005 | ½ – ½ | Perrett, David | 1996 |
| 4 | Kingston, Ian | 2002 | ½ – ½ | Robinson, David | 1986 |
| 5 | Combie, Alexander | 1950 | 1 – 0 | St Clair, Allan | 1836 |
| 6 | Place, William | 1965 | 1 – 0 | Default | |
| 4 – 2 |
| Nottinghamshire 2 |
1901 | – | Warwickshire Select 2 | 2078 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taylor, Robert P | 1944 | 0 – 1 | Galloway, Iain | 2139 |
| 2 | Thompson, Brian | 1935 | ½ – ½ | Malik, Dani | 2125 |
| 3 | Graham, Neil | 1925 | 0 – 1 | Malik, Kaiser | 2075 |
| 4 | Cranmer, Stan | 1890 | 0 – 1 | Webster, Paul | 2095 |
| 5 | Hill, Maurice J | 1870 | 0 – 1 | Cooper, David M | 2085 |
| 6 | Myers, Richard | 1840 | ½ – ½ | Weaving, Richard | 1950 |
| 1 – 5 |
Round 4: 7 December
Board orders were shuffled to avoid players receiving the same colour on both days, but whether or not this influenced the results is hard to say. Against Bristol 2 the first team started well, with a quick draw for Alex and an easy win for me (finally ending an eight-game drawing streak in the competition). But then things started to go badly. Richard dropped a pawn for nothing and was well beaten; David was under a little pressure; and Rob had also lost a pawn. The best hope for a win seemed to be Andy Walker’s game, but that came to nothing, and when Rob failed to hold his position it was left to David to try to level the match. He reached an advantageous endgame, but the one fleeting winning chance slipped by.
Notts 2 looked like they were facing another beating against Mind Sports, but they rose to the occasion. Neil Graham took an early draw, after which two defeats made the situation look grim. The key game was Bob Taylor’s on Board 1. About halfway through he assessed his position as ‘desperate’, but a little while later he reached an endgame with a piece for two pawns and his technique proved secure enough to deliver the point against a much higher-rated opponent. Richard was grinding out his second draw of the weekend, so the match came down to Robert Willoughby’s apparently easy game on bottom board. Typically, of course, his opponent played well above her notional strength, and at one point appeared to have prospects of a perpetual check. But Robert eventually extricated his king and brought home the point to level the match.
| Bristol 2 |
2030 | – | Nottinghamshire 1 | 2050 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Collier, David O | 2089 | 1 – 0 | Richmond, Robert J | 2236 |
| 2 | Humphreys, Jerry | 2067 | ½ – ½ | Walker, Andrew N | 2070 |
| 3 | Bass, John W | 2099 | ½ – ½ | Levens, David | 2005 |
| 4 | Littlejohns, David P | 2066 | 1 – 0 | Truman, Richard G | 2035 |
| 5 | Richardt, Mike | 1951 | ½ – ½ | Combie, Alexander | 1950 |
| 6 | Varley, Ed | 1910 | 0 – 1 | Kingston, Ian | 2002 |
| 3½ – 2½ |
| Mind Sports |
1991 | – | Nottinghamshire 2 | 1880 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ackley, Peter | 2112 | 0 – 1 | Taylor, Robert P | 1944 |
| 2 | Taylor, Robert K | 2107 | 1 – 0 | Cranmer, Stan | 1890 |
| 3 | Hardman, Michael J | 2088 | ½ – ½ | Graham, Neil | 1925 |
| 4 | Hawkins, Nick | 2013 | ½ – ½ | Myers, Richard | 1840 |
| 5 | Twitchell, Neville H | 1983 | 1 – 0 | Hill, Maurice J | 1870 |
| 6 | Chadwick, Susan E | 1640 | 0 – 1 | Willoughby, Robert | 1810 |
| 3 – 3 |
Funding
The Executive Committee is likely to confirm that the teams' entry fees for this season will be paid by charging a board fee of £2.50 per game played (applied retrospectively).