With Round 6, played on Tuesday 19th November, we’re now just one round from wrapping up the all-play-all sections before we move into the division play-offs (as/where we qualify).
At an individual level, we scored 11 wins, 4 draws and 17 losses which we somehow managed to convert into 4 match wins and 4 match losses.
Apart from…
- A late starting opponent (due to a late running school event)
- A default from one of our opponents
… it all went relatively smoothly
With 6 rounds from 7 completed the promotion / relegation battles are nearly complete – with several “double pointers” involving Wessex to come in the final round.
Division 1
Wessex A were off to a quick (default win) start and went on to win the match with a further win from Jamie & a draw from David.
With 3 teams, including Wessex A, leading their section with 9 points from 12 all will go down to the wire in a “double pointer” against Hebden Bridge 1 in Round 7.
Wessex B have waited until round 6 for their first match win and won it in style in a 4-0 victory with wins from Peter, Roger, Jamie & Anuhas.
In 7th place with 3 points from 12 we “just” need to win our round 7 “double pointer” against Oxford 1 to stay up
Division 2
Wessex C were always swimming uphill against a strong Ashfield Anonymous A team and went down 4-0.
With 5 points from 12 we only need a draw against the bottom-placed team, Oxford 3, in the final round to ensure we stay up.
Division 3
Wessex D out graded their opponents yet went down 3-1 with Arjun & Robert drawing to avoid a wipe-out.
Our D team lie in 3rd place, with 7 points from 12and will need some very favourable and unlikely results in Round 7 to go up (but stranger things have happened!)
Wessex E (theoretically) heavily outgraded their opponents yet were wiped out 4-0 – our opponents’ grades were largely meaningless e.g. their board 3 grade of 1107 refers to OTB Rapid play – his Online grade for this season is a more realistic 1541, whilst their board 4, graded online as 896 has an OTB rating of 1536!
With 7 points from 12 Wessex E will avoid promotion/relegation battles and, barring major league upheavals, remain in Div 3 next season.
Division 4
Our F team showed our depth in strength by beating a B team, East Kilbride B, with wins from Tom & Steven, plus a draw from Thomas , who made his debut at just 9 years old!
With 9 points from 12 we are currently in 1st place (on goal difference) although with just one point separating the top 4 teams getting into the play-offs will still require at least a draw in round 7.
Division 5
| Wessex G had a tough evening and went down 4-0, with Karen & Michal battling to the bitter end – Michal was our last game to finish @ 21:30 just after Karen @ 21:26
Wessex G now sit in 18th place (of 26) just one place ahead of Wessex H – perhaps they will play in Round 7 ?? |
Wessex H won comfortably with Tim, David & and Steve all notching up wins – this has moved us to 19th (of 26) with a chance of finishing above our G team
So a reasonable evening overall, with wins for Wessex A, B, F & H and losses for Wessex C , D, E & G
Stats-time
With 6 rounds completed and our two “golden pawn” leaders both losing it’s now very close at the top with 4 players in with a shout as we approach the final round.
4.5 – Simon Redmill
4 –Andrea Bucchi, Arjun Pyda, Jamie Doyle
Peter Anderson won the “biggest upset” award with his win, beating a player graded 68 points above him.
With Thomas Ewart making his season debut we have now had 49 different players in action across the 6 rounds – an impressive 8 of these have played in all 6 rounds, with 9 playing in 5 rounds – that’s made my life a lot easier as captain finding 32 boards each round.
Keith Gregory, Wessex Captain, Nov 22nd 2024
