4NCL Online League – Season 10 – Round 5 report
With Round 5, played on Tuesday 5th November, our 8 teams have now moved into the final few rounds of season 10.
At an individual level, we scored 11 wins, 23 draws and 19 losses which we converted into 2 match wins, 1 match draw and 5 match losses.
Apart from a
- A late starting opponent (due to internet problems)
- Unwisely trusting an opponent (who issued a challenge for an “Unrated game”)
- A default from one of our opponents
It all went relatively smoothly after the carnage of round 4
With 5 rounds from 7 completed the promotion / relegation battles are nearing completion and the Wessex teams still feature in many of these.
Division 1
Wessex A were again missing a few regulars although it was great to see Dominic back in action and, having shaken off his rust in Round 4, notch up a vital win in Round 5. Oxford 1 battled hard across all the boards and the match ended up as a hard-fought 2-2 draw – our wins coming from Mark & a rust-free Dominic. David had an epic 52 move battle with the highly graded junior, Ken Hobson, on board 1 – David had all the play earlier on before his opponent somehow managed to hang on and then eventually transition into a winning endgame.
Mark was the last game to finish @ 21:21 with an elegantly played R+P v R endgame which he won to draw the match.
Weirdly black won all 4 games……
With 3 teams, including Wessex A, leading their section with 7 points from 10 our chances of getting into the Div 1 play-off will likely hinge on a “double pointer” against Hebden Bridge 1 (in the final round!)
Wessex B faced strong opposition in the Dundee City A team led by an IM on board 1 and with a 2136 on board 4. Heavily out graded on every board they fought hard before finally succumbing 4-0.
In 7th place with 1 point from 10 we are looking almost certain to be relegated from what has turned out to be the stronger (by far) of the two Div 1 sections.
Division 2
What looked like a close match on paper turned out to be a tough evening for the Wessex C team with only one draw, from Bill, preventing a whitewash.
With 5 points from 10 we are looking likely to finish mid-table.
Division 3
Wessex D out graded their opponents and “filled their boots” with a crushing 4-0 victory, with wins from Jamie, Arjun, Joe & Phil.
Our D team lie in joint 1st place, with 7 points from 10 along with 2 other teams – this looks set to go down to the wire!
Wessex E were heavily outgraded but a win from Simon and a draw from Doug meant we were only just edged out 2.5 – 1.5.
With 7 points from 10, Wessex E are in 3rd place in their group with a real chance of promotion if we can win the “double pointer” against the 2nd placed team.
Division 4
Our F team went down 3-1 , our win coming from Manuel.
With 7 points from 10 , and dropping to 2nd place, we can all but ensure promotion by winning the “double pointer” against the 3rd team.
Division 5
| Wessex G were out graded and lost to a strong Corieltauvi team, our win coming from Michal on board 2.
Wessex G now sit in 14th place (of 26) and will finish mid-table. |
Wessex H won via a default win on board 1 and an OTB win from David on board 2. Our first result of the season moves us to 24th (of 26) and we will finish somewhere in the bottom half.
So a grim evening overall, with wins for Wessex D & H, a draw for Wessex A and losses for Wessex B, C, E, F & G
Stats-time
With 5 rounds completed and a loss for Andrea our 100% club is no more and Simon Redmill has taken poll position with an impressive 4.5 / 5, with Andrea, Arjun & Hugo in hot pursuit as we go into the last 2 rounds.
4.5 – Simon Redmill
4 – Andrea Bucchi
3.5 – Arjun Pyda, Hugo Melling
Simon Redmill also won the “biggest upset” award with his win, beating a player graded 165 points higher.
With Larissa making her season debut we have now had 48 different players in action across the 5 rounds – an impressive 11 of these have played in all 5 rounds.
Keith Gregory, Wessex Captain, Nov 6th 2024
