4NCL Online League – Season 11 – Wessex Squad Round 6 Report
With Round 6 played on Tuesday, April 1st, we are going down to the wire with the various promotion / relegation battles. After our recent run of “good evenings” this was a not-so-good one – indeed our worst set of results so far this season ☹
Overall Wessex Squad Performance:
- Match results: 2 wins, 1 draw, 6 losses
- Individual results: 13 wins, 4 draws, 19 losses
- Logistics: Just a couple of “late start” games and everyone played with the correct colours and time controls. Peter, Jaimie, Phil P & Tim all kindly helped me check round that all the games were underway with correct info – this was an immense help and meant for the first time in living memory I knew we were all underway BEFORE the 19:45 default time – this was good for my stress levels
Division 1
Wessex A took on a lower-graded Hertford 1, who provided tough opposition. We went 2-0 down before wins from David & Mark saw us hold the match 2-2.
Current Position: We remain top of our section with 9 points from 12, 2 points clear of 2nd place. Our Round 7 match will be a winner-takes-all for the section title although we are already qualified for the play-offs given we have a 4 point lead over the 3rd placed team.
Wessex B yet again faced a higher graded team in what has turned out to be a significantly stronger section in Div 1 (Wessex A have faced an average of 1952 opposition whilst our Wessex B opponents have averaged 2002)
A win from Raj against the very experienced John Hall saw us avoid the whitewash after going 3-0 down before 21:00 – Raj was one of the last Wessex games to finish and finally prevailed in queen & pawns endgame.
Current Position: 7th place and 2 points adrift from 6th place. Looking at the game points we will need a minor miracle and some freak results to stay up.
Division 2
Wessex C out-graded East Kilbride on all 4 boards yet struggled against an in-form Ashfield Anonymous C team. A win from Hugo and a draw from Rob saw us still lose a close match.
Current Position: 4th place with 6 points from 12—well clear of the promotion & relegation zones.
Division 3
Wessex D faced a strong Morpeth team, headed up by a 2114. A strong board 1 even for Div 1. Phil had a great result, beating a higher graded player, as we went down 3-1.
Current Position: 3rd place with 6 points from 12—safe from relegation and (remarkably) 5 points adrift of the top two teams (Better Call Tal & Morpeth) who are both on 11/12 and are clearly in the “wrong division”
Wessex E looked to have a great chance on paper against a lower graded Dundee City E team (in a rare E team v E team battle) although we went down to a narrow defeat despite a win from Andrea and a draw from Tom.
Current Position: We are now in 2nd place with 9 points from 12. Given the 3rd to 5th placed team are all on 7 points we need the right results in the final round, even a draw will suffice, to go into the play-offs.
Division 4
Wessex F came up against an insanely strong (particularly for Div 4) team in “Chess Rising Stars”, who unsurprisingly, notched up their 6th win in 6 rounds against us. Phil Stevens was our star with a win against a player graded 212 points higher.
Current Position: 2nd place with 9 points from 12 so still in the running for a play-off place depending on results in the final round. As we are 2 points clear of the #3 & #4 teams and are playing one of them, even a draw would suffice to go up…
Division 5
Wessex G had a close match on paper yet rose to the occasion and overwhelmed Lenzie Dementors with a solid draw from Ashraf n board 1 and wins from Manuel, Gerard & Steven.
Current Position: 4th place with 8 points from 12, with a possible play-off place if we can win in round 7.
Wessex H were heavily out-graded on every board but edged a tight 2.5 – 1.5 victory, with wins from Michal and Sofia plus a draw from Tim.
Current Position: 2nd place with 10 points from 12 – looking good to go into the play-offs.
Wessex J faced a useful looking Epsom Salties 2 team and lost 3-1, with our win coming from Rose.
Current Position: 24th place from 26, with 2 points from 4 – obviously we missed the first 4 rounds this season so will do far better next season.
Overall Summary
A solid evening for Wessex:
- Match wins: Wessex G, H
- Draws: Wessex A
- Losses: Wessex B, C , D, E, F, J
Stats Corner
- Top performers: Phil Stevens, Michal Orszulak & David Pye now share the lead for the “Golden Pawn” race with 5 points as we go into the final round – who will take the title ?!
- Most active players: Remarkably, 14 players have competed in all six rounds.
- Total participation: 47 different players have represented Wessex this season.
- Biggest upset: Michal Orszulak beat a player graded 251 points higher.
Keith Gregory – 4NCL Wessex captain, April 2nd 2025
