Introduction
Season 3 of the 4NCL Online leagues commenced yesterday evening with seven Wessex Some Stars teams in action, all captained by Keith Gregory.
The format of the leagues is that each of Divisions 1 to 6 consists of 32 teams in 4 groups of 8. There are 7 rounds so it is all-play-all within the groups. The top and bottom two of each group get promoted and relegated. The top team in each group enters into two knock out rounds for the honour of finishing top of the division. Division 7 is one Swiss paired pool comprising 64 teams.
The Wessex teams are placed in the divisions thus:
• A Team – Division 1 (Group A)
• B Team – Division 2 (Group A)
• C Team – Division 3 (Group D)
• D Team – Division 4 (Group D)
• E Team – Division 6 (Group D)
• F and G Teams – Division 7.
Round 1 Results
There were no upsets last night as all the matches went to form with the B, C, E and F teams winning, whilst the A, D and G teams lost.
As last season, the A team will be up against very tough opposition in every round. They only narrowly lost, holding three draws, including against two titled players: David Pye against IM Richard Bates on top board and Jamie Wilson against FM Lawrence Webb. I give David’s game below.
Spare a thought for the D and G teams who were both up against teams that look very strong for their divisions. They were outrated by over 100 on every board and by over 800 on one.
Conversely all Wessex’s winning teams all had big rating advantages. We can expect subsequent rounds to be much closer. Jamie Doyle in the F team match got a dodgy position from the opening but navigated his way through a queen and minor piece ending better than his opponent to prevail in the end. The game is below with light notes.
Games
Future Rounds
The rounds are held every other week on a Tuesday at 7:30 pm. The future schedule is:
- Round 2: 9th Feb
- Round 3: 23rd Feb
- Round 4: 9th March
- Round 5: 23rd march
- Round 6: 6th April
- Round 7: 20th April
Knock-out stages to determine division champions will be held on 4th May and 18th May. Let’s hope Wessex is involved in some of these!
If you want to watch the games live you can do so on lichess. You don’t have to be a member but equally it is free to join.
To find the games go to http://www.4ncl.co.uk/data/4ncl_online_results_3.htm which within a few minutes of the start of the rounds gives the links to the games in progress.
