4NCL (Nations Chess League): Round 4 report!
SEASON 2023-24
4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 24th Oct 23 – 7:30pm
Season 8 – Round 4
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams is a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
With 5 wins, one draw and two losses, it could be considered a good nights work!
RESULTS
Div 1 – Group A
Dundee City A (2301) 3½ – ½ (1910) Hertford 1
Dundee City A get back to winning ways after their shock default last week! Richard Polaczek IM and Ian McDonald won, while Declan Shafi drew his match, giving our “A” team the win with one match to go. The last match on board 4 was a humdinger of a match, with twists & turns, even snakes & ladders! Everything changed on move 30 when Rishi Vijayakumar, sacked a piece for an attack, but went a piece down, but the exchange up. At one point Rishi was down to 1 second, while his opponents had 10 minutes! It was a fascinating game to watch and how Rishi with the clock always threatening to time-out manged to out manoeuvre his opponent and get the win, I will never know! Phew, what a game!
Dundee City A sit in 5th place on 5 points, just one point behind the leaders, so still in the mix with 3 rounds to go!
Div 1 – Group B
Charlton Cobras A (2062) 3 – 1 (2065) Dundee City B
An evenly matched game grading wise, Charlton Cobras A just seemed to hold the edge over our “B” team. Stephen Hogg arrived late into the action, but managed to secure a draw, as did Scottish Champion, Ed Spencer. David Findlay on board one and up against an FM, fought hard, but had to concede in the end. That left Alan Borwell, playing on board 4 with the winner taking the spoils, or a draw sharing the points. This time, Charlton Cobras A team that took the honours and the match!
Dundee City B sit in 6th place on 3 points, with the leaders on 7 points, so a bit of work to do!
Div 2 – Group B
Dundee City C (1871) 3 – 1 (1362) Cornish Choughs
Dundee City C teams campaign just goes from strength to strength, with a comfortable win against Cornish Choughs, who took their medicine well, no more choughs! Graham Mooney, Alastair Dawson and Dariusz Kosznik all won, with Ross Bremner being the only one to lose.
Dundee City C sit proudly at the top of the able on the full 8 points! It`s theirs to win or lose!
Div 3 – Group A
Dundee City D (1704) 4 – 0 (1717) Wessex Some Stars E
Once again a Dundee City team battles it out with Wessex Some Stars, this time our “D” team against their “E” team, with both evenly matched grading wise. Well maybe they were grading wise, but OTB, Dundee City D stood head and shoulders above Wessex Some Stars E! It was a masterclass by Richard Kynoch, Ross Brennan, Ray Flood & Leyton Hackney”!
Dundee City D sit in 2nd place on 6 points, just 2 points behind the leader!
Div 4 – Group B
Dundee City E (1598) 2 – 2 (1368) East Kilbride B
Well if you go by the published grades, you would think this was a walk in the park for our “E” team, but all is not what it seems sometimes and this was one of those occasions! East Kilbride B had drawn their last two matches against stronger teams and it seems they are on a roll as they once again get a draw against a stronger team, us!
Alisdair McLeod on top board won, Jim Anderson lost, while Trevor Harley and Ray Noble both drew their matches. Trevor maybe had the edge and just missed finding the killer move in time-trouble, while Ray was busy checking and sorting out all our 8 teams, which took up 40 minutes of his time! By then he was the exchange down and losing! Once able to fully focus on his game, somehow (call it a miracle!), he managed to salvage a very important draw!
This draw keeps Dundee City E in 1st place on 7 points! You can`t ask better than that!
Div 4 – Group A
Cozy Tomatoes (1697) 2½ – 1½ (1544) Dundee City F
These two teams met in season 7 with our “F” team winning, just, so for Cozy Tomatoes it was sweet revenge! Another close game, and Cozy Tomatoes were the ones to beat this time. Dundee City F, pushed them close and on another day, it could have gone the other way! Sir Philip Cohen got the “F” team off to the perfect start, then Subhayu Banerjee followed that up with a draw. Unfortunately, Conor Kelly and captain, Robert Jackson lost. Given the side our “F” team have, it astounding that they have yet to register a point!
Dundee City F team are in 7th place on zero points and looking relegation in the face! Still time to pull a rabbit out of the hat!
Div 5 (Swiss)
Charlton Cobras (1136) 0 – 4 (1394) Dundee City G
Nice win by Dundee City G team with Stuart Duff, Matthew Hunter J15, Ana Belen Otero Seijas and Chris Moore all on hot form, with some adding a slice of luck on top to boot!
In a Swiss division of 32 teams, Dundee City G team sit in 12th place on 4 points, 3 points behind the leaders. A promotion place is still in their grasp!
Dundee City H (1014) 3½ – ½ (879) Chess Challengers D
Dundee City H team faced a” chess challenge” and met it head-on to take the points. They were helped by Chess Challengers D only having 3 players, meaning David Ewing did not get a game, but we got the default start! It was not plain sailing and some players tried their best to make it difficult, but in the end, got there! Well played Leonardo Devisme J13, Judith Firth & Norman Waugh.
Dundee City H team sit in 21st place on 3 points, so still an outside chance of promotion!
Round 5 is on Tuesday 7th November 23, 7:30pm
For all the results and standings, click the link below.