Round 4 on 7th March saw our eight Wessex teams going into battle across all five divisions.
We played on 30 boards (sadly, we had both a win and a loss by default).
From the 30 games played, we scored 7 wins, 6 draws and 17 losses. I suspect this is by far our worst round in Wessex 4NCL Online history.
This translated in match terms into 3 draws and 5 losses – a grim set of results!
Division 1
Our A team faced a strong Dundee City B team and with 4 hard-fought games ended up drawing 2-2
With 5 points from 4 matches, we’re mid-table and likely to stay around there.
Dominic had a great battle with Richard Pert and was better at some points before a final error on move 38 (Shredder had Nf2 as 0.0 and Nf4, the move played, lost immediately) – a real shame and no disgrace to lose to one of the strongest players in the league. https://lichess.org/3EmvWJVW#74
With 4 points from 4 matches, we’re looking at another mid-table finish.
Division 2
Our C team drew, helped by an immediate default win on board 4combined with a “real win” by Mike on board 3.
Interesting to see Phil Eastlake still playing “up North” – I played him back in the 1970s when we both Hampshire juniors!
With 4 points from 4 matches our C also seems set for a mid-table finish.
Division 3
Our D team lost a very tight match with Jamie Doyle winning to take his run to 4 from 4 this season. His opponent features on Wikipedia as a top scientist in a field which Jamie is interested in pursuing. You can see Jamie’s game with light notes by Peter Anderson at the end of the report.
With 4 points from 4 matches, we’re looking at yet another mid-table finish!
Our E team faced very strong opposition on boards 1 & 2, although we ended up with a default loss on board 2 anyway, and despite some draws on boards 3 & 4 went down to a heavy loss.
With 2 points from 4 matches, we’re in the relegation zone (7th place of 8) although we can stay up if we win against a few of the teams just above us, who we will play in each of the final three rounds.
Division 4
Our F team had a surprise 4-0 loss despite out-grading our opponents on the lower boards.
With 4 points from 4 rounds we’re almost certain to have yet another mid-table finish!
Division 5
Our G team drew a hard fought match 2-2 and Paul was delighted to break his run of 10 consecutive losses!
With 5 points from 4 matches…. you’ve guessed it ….another mid-table finish beckons!
Our H team were heavily out-graded and went down 3-1 – a great win from Florence saved us from a whitewash.
As you will have guessed, with 4 points from 4 matches…
Summary
A tough day at the office with no match win –things can only get better!
Stats-wise:
- we now have just one player on 100%, i.e. 4 from 4: Jamie Doyle, take another bow…
- Mike K & Allan P with 3 from 4 (Allan is still unbeaten) are his only rivals for the “golden boot”.
Grade performance-wise (for players with 3 or more games):
- Jamie Wilson is our top player at 2281
- followed by David Pye (2215), Jamie Doyle (2124) and Dominic Tunks (2111).
11 players have now played all 4 rounds.
Keith Gregory, 8th March 2023
