4NCL (Nations Chess League) – Round four report!
4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 25th Nov 22 – 7:30pm
Season 6 – Round 4
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
Division One – Group B
Dundee City A (2269) 4 – 0 (1880) Hertford 1
Four wins out of 4 matches for Dundee City A, and sitting top of group B in division one! They lead by 2 points and 1½ match point’s from their nearest rivals, Streatham A! They play Streatham in round 6! What an “A” team we have this season with Richard Polaczek IM (2358), Declan Shafi (2288), Jacques Ophoff CM (2209) & David Findlay (2223) working their magic on the night!
Division Two – Group B
Warwickshire Bears A (1624) 1 – 3 (2029) Dundee City B
Another banana skin avoided as Dundee City B make it 3 wins out of 4, with one draw! This puts them top of group A in division two on 7 points, 1 point ahead of their two nearest competitors, Shropshire & Friends 2 and Ashfield Anonymous B. Things could change over the next two rounds as Dundee City B face both of them with Ashfield up first in round 5! Well played Ed Spencer (2137), Stephen Hogg (2040), Gary Weir (2004) & Alan Borwell (1936).
Division Four – Group B
Charlton Cobra`s B (1686) 3 – 1 (1896) Dundee City C
One of those night were things did not go to plan! Dundee City C had the grading advantage but not by much. It was still disappointing not to get something out of the match, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes! Charlton Cobra`s brought a lot of venom to the board! Dundee City C are on 4 points and sit in 4th place in group B in division 4, 4 points behind leaders, Sheffield University Graduates. Ross Bremner (1996) on board one was our only winner on the night but Richard Kynoch (1821), Alastair Dawson (1879) & Theodoros Vasiliadis (1888) gave it their all! Still time to move up the table!
Division Four – Group A
Ashfield Anonymous D (1465) ½ – 3½ (1824) Dundee City D
While another comfortable win for Dundee City D, it`s always a bit squeaky bum time playing a team which on paper you should beat, anonymous or not, as captain Graham Mooney found out! But they did do the business with brutal efficiency to make it 4 out of 4 and sitting top of the group A pile in division 4 on 8 points! They lead by 1 point from their forever rivals, Jurassic Coast A, who they play in round 6! Keep it going lads: Dariusz Kosznik (1866), Sir Philip Cohen (1870), Graham Mooney (1875) & Ross Brennan (1586).
Division Five – Swiss – 36 teams
The Hemel`s Gambit (1419) 0 – 4 (1614) Dundee City E
That makes it 3 wins out of 4, with one loss to the current leaders and division 5 odds-on favourites Heffalump Hunters (2073)! Dundee City E sit in 4th place on 6 points, just 2 behind the leaders. They are doing fantastically well and are still in the running for promotion! Dundee City E team is make up of very experienced and battle hardened players who have nothing to prove! Well played Ray Flood (1630), James Anderson (1630), Leyton Hackney (1613) & Trevor Harley (1586).
Dundee City F (1561) 1 – 3 (1713)Farnham C
This was a tough match for Dundee City F against a very strong side, especially on the top 3 boards. With a 2000+ player on board one our player’s backs were up against the wall, but standing steadfast and trading blow for blow! In the end Farnham were worthy winners on the night, with John Robertson Jnr on board 4 our only winner. All 4 matches were good ones but our opponents were the better team on the night. Ray Noble on board one against the 2000+ player was the last match to finish, but in truth, it was all over in the opening faze after he dropped a pawn and just faced a slow death as his opponent squeezed the life out of him like a Boa Constrictor!
That leaves Dundee City F in 16th place on 4 points, but with still an outside chance of promotion. The surprise package of the division is East Kilbride Wanderers who like the Heffalumps are unbeaten on 8 points but grading wise as a team are only 1026! Of course I think they are mostly juniors (could be wrong?) who’s official grades do not represent their grades in “real terms” yet!
City Gladiators on the night were: Ray Noble (1591), Robert Jackson (1582), Euan Murray (1506) & John Robertson Jnr (1567).
So Four wins, two losses in round four not to shabby at all for our Dundee City teams. We have three teams in top spot with the rest still in contention in their respective divisions and groups!
Bring on round five in two weeks time!
For all the results and standings, click the link below!