Keith Gregory was away on holiday for Round 6 so the match captaincy was managed jointly on Tuesday evening by his deputies, Allan Pleasants and Martin Simons. This arrangement seemed to work well as they had to deal with a few late substitutions, an opposing team default, an opposing individual default, one very late arrival (but our player made it with seconds to spare!), internet connection issues, and an incorrect recording of a result by an opposing team captain!
Keith would probably say ‘Welcome to my world!’.
Results
With 6 rounds completed and with only one round to go:
- No Wessex team can win their division.
- 3 Wessex teams (E, F & G) are in with a chance of promotion from Division 4. The E team have a great chance, the G team have a small but reasonable chance whilst the F team have only an outside chance.
- The Wessex D team have to win their final match to have any chance of avoiding relegation from Division 2.
The pairings for round 6 seemed kinder than in the previous round with our players outrating their opponents on 24 boards out of the 32 – this translated to 22 individual wins (5 by default), 3 draws and 7 losses and in match terms there were wins for the A, B, E, F (by default), G & H teams, and losses for the C & D teams. In match point terms this is probably the best the Wessex teams have ever performed in one evening.
Division 1
Wessex A outrated their opponents, Ashfield Anonymous A, on all boards and lived up to expectations by winning all 4 matches to win comfortably 4 – 0. The controversial moment of the evening was probably after the match had finished when the opposing team captain accidentally and incorrectly amended the 4NCL result software to a win on board 3 for the Ashfield Anonymous A player. This was immediately picked up by Allan & Martin and amended back to the right result!
The A team are 3rd in their group and looking likely to finish mid-table. However, a big win versus Oxford 1 in their final match could mean the team come 2nd, whilst a loss could mean they drop to 5th.
There was not much to choose on paper in the Wessex B team’s match versus Oxford 2 but fine wins by Peter Anderson, Richard Allis & William Lovell ensured the B team took the match comfortably 3½ – ½. Richard Allis also appeared to be in a hurry as he finished his game with 5 minutes more time left on his clock than what he started with! William’s game is given at the end of this report.
Having been in a possible relegation dogfight 2 matches ago, Wessex B could now come in the top half of the table, which would be an excellent performance!
Wessex C were heavily outrated by an average of almost 400 rating points per board and had the toughest match of all the Wessex teams by a mile. John Weatherlake put up the stiffest resistance against his 2350 opponent but unfortunately succumbed (only just) in a king and pawn endgame which went to 61 moves with both players having less than a minute on their clocks at various stages during the game.
Even though the C team lost heavily, they will still stay up as they remain in 6th place and cannot be caught due to their superior game points.
Division 2
Switching to Division 2, our Wessex D team lost out narrowly in an even contest. Bill Adaway survived intermittent internet connection problems to secure a well deserved draw whilst our very own last minute super-sub, Frank Pittman, went one better by winning his game!
Wessex D are now in bottom place and only a win in their last match against the 2nd placed team will give them any chance of survival, and even then they need other results to go their way.
Division 4
Switching to Division 4, the Wessex E team had a tough match versus Guildford Castles 2 but pulled through with good wins from Joe Coburn and Chris Leeson (who started his game with only seconds to spare!).
We remain in 2nd place and, barring a heavy loss in their final match against the 2nd from bottom team, the E team should be promoted to Division 3.
Wessex F had an easy match, mainly because the away team failed to turn up! Whilst this may feel like a great result, most of us just want to play and enjoy our chess games. It is disappointing that the opposition captain had not informed us in advance so that our players could have made other arrangements. At least there was a post match apology. Thanks to Jamie Doyle, Edward Blanden, Ashraf Syed and Paul Sandy for being available on the night to collect the points.
The F team currently sit in 4th place in their group, and are only 1 point behind the team in 2nd place so there is still a possibility of promotion although Calstock Killers, who are in 3rd place, have the bottom placed team to play in their final match.
The G team had an easy 4 – 0 win as they heavily outrated their opponents. Unfortunately, Douglas Blythe’s win was by default.
A win for the Wessex G team in the last round could secure a top 2 place and promotion!
Division 5
Like the G team in the division above, the H team had a large rating advantage and also won 4-0!
The Wessex H team sit comfortably in mid-table. The table is too large to include here but can be seen here on the 4NCL website.
And finally…
Jamie Doyle still leads our list of high scorers and is now on 5.5/6 whilst Tim McCullagh keeps his 100% score with 5/5.
Martin Simons & Allan Pleasants, 7th April 2022