JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League): Round 2 report
JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 21st Sept 23 – 6:00pm
Season 8 – Round 2
Division Three – Group A
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULT
Suffolk Juniors (1539) 4½ – 3½ (1554) Dundee City Juniors
On grading, it looks a close match, but Suffolk Juniors were by far the stronger side, indeed, I would say one of the favourites to win the division!
Dundee City Juniors had Rishi Vijayakumar J12 on board one with a grading of 2269! This is what gave us the average team grading of 1554!
Board one: Rishi Vijayakumar (2269) was given a game by his opponent (1778), but was just too strong for him in the end, winning both his matches. I don`t think the Suffolk number one board will face another junior like Rishi this season!
Board two: Matthew Hunter (1535) was playing his first Junior 4NCL match and played well against his 1553 opponent! It was not his night, losing both matches, but the tight time controls take some getting used to, but I think we have another star junior on our hands!
Board three: Leonardo Devisme (1144) was another junior playing his first match for Dundee City Juniors in the Junior 4NCL! Like Matthew, he found the quick time-controls had to adjust too, but will learn. He did lose both matches, but the experience he gains from playing in this type of match, will stand him in good stead for the future!
Board four: Josh Dickson (983) is normally board 1 or 2, so board 4 was a new experience for him! Unfortunately, due to a problem at Suffolk Juniors end, Josh won his first game by default! He could have claimed his 2nd game by default as well, but his opponent did turn up, and you know, for the juniors, it`s about playing chess, not defaults! Josh was up against it in the opening faze and was losing after a blunder on move 7! But Josh is a fighter, and got himself back into the match, but time pressure forced another error and that was that! Still, it was a tremendous effort against his 1318 opponent, especially as he had to wait a long time for the game!
We lost the match 5 – 3, but Suffolk Juniors got a ½ point penalty, making it 4½ – 3. Now if we had claimed the 2nd default, the match would have finished 4 -4, then Suffolk would have had a 1-point penalty, making it a win for Dundee City Juniors! But that would not have been in the right spirit for a junior match and in the end, we were well beaten by the better side on the night!
Congratulations to Suffolk Juniors, and we wish them will in the rest of their campaign!
Well played to our juniors and I see plenty from them to suggest, we have something to look forward to in the future!
The battle continues with round 3 taking place on Thurs 5th Oct 23, 6pm!
For all the results and standings, click the link below.