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The Four Nations Chess League does not accept responsibility for the content of other websites, to which this site links.

This website includes information on participants in the Four Nations Chess League in respect of name, grade, title, nationality and sex (team registration lists), as well as telephone number(s), email address(es) and postal address(es) in certain circumstances (team captains/managers, management board members, arbiters etc). Participants wishing this information not to be included on the website should contact the webmaster to have it removed, but should be aware that in this event they will not be permitted to play in the league.
2010/11 SEASON

We're inviting entries for next season - details here.
Last updated - Tuesday, October 19th
Recent updates
19/10 4NCL Rapidplay

Many thanks to Lawrence Cooper for this report on the recent Rapidplay weekend.
14/10 2010/11 Season

We're going to keep a running list of the teams who have entered for next season here. You'll also see information on which teams have registered players to date.
4/10 Teams and Players wanted

A list of players looking for teams, and vice versa here ...
29/9 4NCL Rapidplay

There are now 28 teams confirmed for the 4NCL Rapidplay:
  • AMCA
  • Barbican 1
  • Barbican 2
  • Bradford DCA Knights
  • Bristol 1
  • Bristol 2
  • Brown Jack
  • Cambridge University 1
  • Cambridge University 2
  • e2e4 1
  • e2e4 2
  • FCA Solutions
  • Leeds University Old Boys 1
  • Leeds University Old Boys 2
  • Leighton Buzzard
  • Metropolitan Police 1
  • Metropolitan Police 2
  • Mushrooms
  • NACCPO 1
  • NACCPO 2
  • On the Bit, Off the Bridle
  • Oxford 1
  • Oxford 2
  • Pandoras Box
  • Pride & Prejudice
  • RSJ
  • Sambuca Elite
  • Youth
You can still enter the team or individual competition - details here.
27/9 Live coverage

We're pleased to report that, thanks to Dave Clayton, there will be live games transmission here from the Rapidplay on 9/10th October.
27/9 Caterham Congress

The 6th Caterham Congress is at Caterham School (near M25 Junction 6) Friday to Sunday, October 15th to 17th. 5 rounds with FIDE-rated Open, Major (U175), Intermediate (U150) and Minor (U125) sections. Prize Fund: £1,175 with British Championship place and Club prizes. Entry Fees: £16 to £25 with discounts for titled players. Chief Arbiter: WGM Susan Lalic assisted by Ryan Foster. Entry form available here or go to the Kent Junior Chess Association site to enter on-line.
2/9 League Rules ...

We've made a couple of changes to the rules, specifically 10.4 and 11.4, here.
30/8 Richmond Rapidplay

The next Richmond Rapidplay event will be held on Sunday September 12th at the White House Community Association. Click here for details, including an entry form, previous results and forthcoming events.
18/8 Junior 4NCL

Details and an entry form for next season's competition are available here. All questions to 4NCL Chairman, Claire Summerscale.

Reports on last season's junior event can be found here.
11/8 Fantasy Football

From Neil Graham

Can I remind everyone that you have the opportunity to play Fantasy Premier League Football here. To join the Premier Chess League you will need the joining code 1161800-243947
8/8 English Chess Federation - International Rating Officer

Due to new responsiilties at work, Ray Ryan Foster has stepped down from the position of International Rating Officer and Howard Grist is covering the post until a permanent appointment can be made.

With thanks to Adam Raoof.
8/8 14th Mind Sports Olympiad

The 14th Mind Sports Olympiad will be held at the Soho Theatre, London from 21st to 30th August. See the official website for further details.

With thanks to Alain Dekker.
25/7 Appeals Committee ...

We have set up an Appeals Committee for next season to comprise an arbiter and two players, the panel comprising Alex McFarlane (arbiter), Dave Thomas (arbiter), David Anderton (ADs), Sean Hewitt (e2e4), Stephen Swanson (Poisoned Pawns) and Johnathan Bourne (Brown Jack), with other players to be invited onto the panel in due course.
22/7 Best Annotated Game prize ...

And the winner is ... Sam Collins for his victory against GM John Emms - click here for the game in ChessBase format.

Many thanks to everyone who took part in the competition.
9/7 CHESS Monthly Magazine

You can now download the final weekend report from CHESS Monthly magazine in PDF format here and in ChessBase format here.
9/7 FIDE crosstable

With thanks to Neville Belinfante, we can publish details of all the individual results for 2009/10, with the corresponding rating performances. You can download the file as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or in Comma Separated Variable format.

You can find an explanation of the various columns A to G at the bottom of the file.

18/5 - includes a correction to the calculations for Lucia Fidalgo Fernandez and Lynda Roberts and their opponents. Also added a large number of FIDE codes for unrated players. 19/5 - includes corrections due to missing codes and ratings. 8/6 and 9/7 - crosstable revised.

Please address any queries to Neville.
5/7 Room Sharing

Ljubica Lazarevic has recently set up a forum for players looking to share twin rooms for events such as the 4NCL. The forum is here.
5/7 Richard Lee and Steve Ruthen annotate ...

... A King's Indian battle ... click here for Richard's notes in PGN format or here for the ChessBase file. 5/7 - and now we have Steve's notes in PGN and in ChessBase.
29/6 Junior 4NCL ...

To avoid clashing with other junior events, we have rescheduled Weekend 3 of next season's Junior 4NCL competition. The revised dates are here. The schedule for the adult competition remains as previously published.
27/6 Joey Stewart annotates ...

Another entry for the best annotated game competition ... click here for the game in PGN format or here for the ChessBase file.
27/6 Planning ahead? - 2011/12 Season

Here are the dates for the 2011/12 season, along with room rate information. With thanks to Mike Truran.
24/6 2010/11 Season

We're going to keep a running list of the teams who have entered for next season here.
9/6 7th South Wales International Open

... takes place 10th to 15th July. Norm opportunities available. Web site here.
9/6 2009/10 4NCL complete

All the games from the 2009/10 season are now available for download.

PGN format (size 1.8 MB)
ChessBase format (size 300 KB)
8/6 Divisions 1, 2 & 3, Final Weekend

After a thrilling final round, congratulations to the following teams who emerged victorious:
  • DIVISION 1 Champions WOOD GREEN HILSMARK KINGFISHER 1
    2nd PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
    3rd BARBICAN 4NCL 1
  • DIVISION 2 Champions SAMBUCA SHARKS
    Also promoted CHEDDLETON, WARWICKSHIRE SELECT & E2E4.ORG.UK 1
  • DIVISION 3 Champions RHYFELWYR ESSYLLWG
    Also promoted SAMBUCA BLACK SHEEP, 3CS & CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY 2
Division 1 Championship Pool, Round 9 results
6/6 - includes correction to Pride & Prejudice vs. Wood Green Hilsmark Kingfisher 2 match.
Division 1 Demotion Pool, Round 9 results
Division 1 Championship Pool, Round 10 results
Division 1 Demotion Pool, Round 10 results
Division 1 Championship Pool, Round 11 results
Division 1 Demotion Pool, Round 11 results
6/5 - includes correction to the Barbican 4NCL 2 vs. Betsson.com match.
Division 1 Championship Pool final score table
Division 1 Demotion Pool score table

Division 1, Round 9 games in PGN or in game viewer
Division 1, Round 10 games in PGN or in game viewer
Division 1, Round 11 games in PGN or in game viewer
6/5 - includes correction to Beckett vs. Povah, 7/5 - includes correction to Turner vs. Hammer.

Division 2 Championship Pool, Round 9 results
Division 2 Demotion Pool, Round 9 results
Division 2 Championship Pool, Round 10 results
Division 2 Demotion Pool, Round 10 results
Division 2 Championship Pool, Round 11 results
Division 2 Demotion Pool, Round 11 results
Division 2 Championship Pool final score table
Division 2 Demotion Pool score table

Division 2, Round 9 games in PGN or in game viewer
Division 2, Round 10 games in PGN or in game viewer
Division 2, Round 11 games in PGN or in game viewer

Division 3, Round 9 results
6/5 - includes correction to Wessex 2 vs. Sussex Smart Controls match.
Division 3, Round 10 results
Division 3, Round 11 results
Division 3 final score table

Division 3, Round 9 games in PGN or in game viewer
4/6 - includes correction to Coates vs. Mordue. 8/6 - includes correction to Smith vs. Dean.
Division 3, Round 10 games in PGN or in game viewer
31/5 - includes correction to Zhu vs. Walker.
Division 3, Round 11 games in PGN or in game viewer

Congratulations to the following who secured title norms:-

GM:- Andrew Greet
IM:- Graham Morrison, Alexei Slavin, Peter Sowray and Ian Thompson ...

With thanks to Jack Rudd, Neville Belinfante, Dave Thomas, Alex Holowczak, Jonathan Rogers, Chris Beckett, Chris Ross, Nick Walker, Brian Thompson and David Smith.
4/6 Andrew Ledger annotates ...

Andrew annotates his win against GM Daniel King - click here for the game in PGN format or here for the ChessBase file.
4/6 2009/10 - Reflections on Division 1

We're grateful to Barbican's Jonathan Rogers for these reflections on the climax of last season's top flight, pairings, tie-breaks and other matters.
31/5 4NCL Northern League

And Cheddleton join Bradford DCA Knights and Manchester Chess Federation as confirmed entrants to the new Northern League.
30/5 4NCL Northern League

We're pleased to welcome another entrant, Bradford DCA Knights.
27/5 Division 3 rating prizes

Congratulations to KJCA Kings and The Full Ponty who came 1st and 2nd respectively in the race for the two Division 3 rating prizes.
26/5 An apology ...

... it's taken us much longer than we would have liked to publish the remaining games from the last weekend of this season's competition. We won't bore you with the details, except to say that it featured the usual combination of IT glitches, illness, circumstances beyond our control and the dog eating our homework. We've published Division 3, Round 9, this evening and more will follow. 31/5 - Division 3, Round 10, now available, 1/6 - Division 3, Round 11, now available, 4/6 - Division 2, Round 11 now available ... so we're complete!
24/5 Andrew Greet annotates ...

And we welcome a further entry for the Annotated Game prize... Andrew Greet describes his draw against Mickey Adams which put him on the way to his GM norm - click here for the game in PGN format or here for the ChessBase file.
18/5 Thomas Rendle annotates ...

... the game between John Emms and Sam Collins from Round 10. Click here for the video, or here for the PGN file.
17/5 Chess in Schools and Communities (CSC)

We thought that the following employment opportunities might be of interest to visitors to the 4NCL web site.

CSC is a charity recently established to promote chess amongst young people. It is working in association with the London Chess Classic tournament and the initiative to bring the 2012 World Championship to London. CSC is looking to make three appointments:
  • Project Researcher
    A self motivated individual to work full time as a Researcher on an initial 3 month contract. Based in Baker Street, London or working from home, the successful candidate will be responsible for a study of chess in schools in England and Wales, identifying existing initiatives, areas of excellence and activity. Research will also focus on the chess activity in the broader community and the game’s popularity in other countries and may involve work with a market research / polling company. Good technical, organisational, interpersonal and presentational skills a pre-requisite. Marketing background, knowledge of education or junior chess an advantage. Salary by negotiation.
  • Project Field Workers (2)
    Two self-motivated individuals to work full time as Field Workers developing the charity’s pilot plan which will involve the introduction of chess into a minimum of 60 primary schools around the UK in the first two years. Based in Baker Street Central London but also involving traveling to schools around the UK, the successful candidate will be responsible for liaising with head teachers, teachers, parents, LEA’s and voluntary bodies as well as conducting chess classes in primary schools. CRB Clearance will be required, experience of teaching in primary schools or of working with young people an advantage. The successful candidate will have excellent inter-personal skills and the energy and enthusiasm to bring chess to a network of schools around England and Wales. Salary by negotiation.
To apply, please send your CV with a detailed covering letter by email or by post to Chess in Schools and Communities, 44 Baker Street, London, W1U 7RT. CSC is an equal opportunities employer.
13/5 British Championships qualifiers ... a further update

Additional places have been successfully claimed by Maria Yurenok (Betsson.com) and Chris Briscoe (Wood Green Hilsmark Kingfisher 2). A place has also been offered to Brandon Clarke (Warwickshire Select).

With thanks to Neville Belinfante.
13/5 Final weekend report

Thanks to Lawrence Cooper and Claire Summerscale for this report on the final weekend action.
13/5 Daily Telegraph

Malcolm Pein writes a daily column in the Telegraph. You can read his latest article on the 4NCL here.
12/5 4NCL Team and Individual Rapidplay Championships 9-10 October 2010

From Mike Truran

The 4NCL will be holding its first team and individual rapidplay championships on 9-10 October 2010 for which entries are invited from all interested teams and players. For those of you with long memories, the format we are using is not dissimilar to the now defunct British team lightning championships (held between 1953 and 1992), with the team championship held on the Saturday and the individual championship on the Sunday. Winners will hold the title of 4NCL Team and Individual Rapidplay Champion respectively for 2010/2011. We are guaranteeing a prize fund of at least £2,000 for the weekend.

Hopefully both the format (significantly different from the previous 4NCL rapidplay events last held in 2008), the time control (10 minutes + 5 second increment per game) and the time of year (a month before the start of the new 4NCL season) will prove attractive.

Although it would of course be unrealistic to expect entry fees to be paid in advance of the deadlines (30 September, or 30 June for discounted entry fees), I would very much appreciate it if you could let me know whether you expect to enter. That will help me give the venue an idea of likely numbers in advance.


Full details of this event here (12/5 - revised to include more details on prize fund).
12/5 Ian Snape annotates ...

And thanks also to Ian for these ChessBase notes to his win against David Moskovic.
10/5 Graham Morrison annotates ...

Thanks to Graham for this ChessBase file telling the story of how he achieved his IM norm in the 4NCL this season.
9/5 Norms and qualifiers ... an update

Apologies ... we omitted to congratulate Ian Thompson (Guildford-A&DC) on achieving an IM norm this season.

Additionally, British Championships places have been claimed by Subin Sen (Barbican Youth) and James Jackson (e2e4.org.uk) for achieving a Tournament Performance Rating of over 2350 from 7 or more games.

If anyone else believes they have achieved this, please contact Neville Belinfante.
6/5 Photos

Many thanks to Meri Grigoryan for some photos capturing the critical matches of the final weekend - click here.
5/5 Photos

There are some photos from the final weekend on the Atticus web site here.

With thanks to Steve Connor.
3/5 From Clare Furness

Result of raffle in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association

Congratulations to FSA Solutions who won first prize (ticket no. 378) - a £100 reduction in the team entry fee for the 2010/2011 season.

Congratulations also to Simon of Sambuca Sharks (ticket no. 147) who wins a poker set - an additional prize which was kindly donated to the cause during play on Monday at Sunningdale.

Thank you to all those of you who donated so generously to MND in memory of my Dad, Richard. Although a full count is still to be done, with well over 500 raffle tickets sold, the weekend has been a huge success from a fundraising point of view. On a personal note I thank you also for the kind words spoken about my Dad and for the memories of him that you have shared with me. The 4NCL have certainly done him proud this weekend, so now it's over to me to hopefully do the same.
27/4 Save £100 on your entry to next season's 4NCL!

In memory of the late Richard Furness, 4NCL Chief Arbiter 1997-2004

In September 2010, Richard's daughter Clare will be cycling from London to Paris to raise valuable funds for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. In recognition of the great service that Richard gave to the 4NCL we are delighted to be supporting Clare in this fundraising challenge. Visit Clare on her stand this coming weekend and find out how your team could benefit from a £100 reduction in the entry fee for next season's league.
23/4 Registrations

Registration lists, good for the final Weekend, are now available here.

Due to the recent disruption to international travel from the volcanic ash cloud, a couple of rules are being relaxed. The deadline for submitting players is being extended from Thursday midnight to Sunday midnight. Also if there are any excess registrations where the player concerned is unable to attend because of the international travel difficulties, then the £5 fee shall be waived for that player.

26/4 - includes some late additions to the following squads:- Anglian Avengers, Bristol, e2e4.org.uk, Guildford A-&DC and The Full Ponty.

With thanks to Neville Belinfante, the League's Registration Secretary:- please contact Neville with any queries, errors, omissions, etc.
31/3 4NCL Northern League

We delighted to welcome the Manchester Chess Federation as the first confirmed entrant to next season's inaugural Northern League.
14/2 British Championships

A reminder that the English Chess Federation treats the 4NCL as a means of qualifying for the British Championship (July 25th to August 7th, 2010 in Canterbury) for players eligible to participate, based on a Performance Rating in the 4NCL 2009/10 season of 2350 or over (males) and 2120 or over (females).

Performance ratings must be based on 7 or more 4NCL games played against FIDE Rated players. Qualifying players will be expected to pay their own entry fees and expenses to the British Championship.
31/12 4NCL Northern League

From Mike Truran

The 4NCL have recently been working to develop the idea of a 4NCL Northern League in response to the comment often made in the past that the 4NCL's choice of locations for its weekends has not always been conducive to northern teams playing in the 4NCL.

After various discussions with the Barcelo and De Vere hotel/conference centre chains we have now been able to secure weekends for a 4NCL Northern League on the same terms and conditions as our other 4NCL venues as follows. Within the constraints of venue availability, venue willingness to host us, coordination with other 4NCL weekends etc we have tried to get an equitable geographical spread between the north-west and the north-east:

6/7 November 2010: Barcelo Redworth Hall (nr Darlington)
15/16 January 2011: De Vere Wychwood Park (nr Crewe)
19/20 February 2011: Barcelo Majestic Hotel (Harrogate)
26/27 March 2011: De Vere Wychwood Park (nr Crewe).

These weekends are the same as those already booked for rest of the 4NCL for the 2010/2011 season to avoid the 4NCL taking up too many weekends in an already crowded chess calendar. We envisage all 4NCL teams (Divisions 1, 2, 3 and the Northern League) coming together at the fifth and final weekend on 30 April-2 May 2011 at the 4NCL's Hinckley Island venue (between Coventry and Leicester) for what would hopefully be a memorable and spectacular coming together of chess players from across the country.

As regards format etc:

1. The Northern League would have a similar format to existing 4NCL Division 3 (six boards, no female player requirement, Swiss system, FIDE rated, ECF graded etc etc). There would be two matches a weekend as with the rest of the 4NCL.
2. Rules, entry guidelines etc would be the same as the 4NCL. You might want to visit these links for the 4NCL's rules and entry guidelines for the 2009/2010 season for an idea of what playing in the Northern League would entail: here and here.
3. Our current thinking is that the Northern League would be combined with the current 4NCL third division for the fifth and final weekend, with match and game points carried forward from the first four weekends. Promotion places to Division 2 would be from the combined Northern League/Division 3 league for those teams that wanted it.
4. As with the existing 4NCL, rules around the composition of teams would be as relaxed as possible. Teams can be existing clubs and teams, amalgamations of two or more clubs and teams, groups of friends, junior teams etc etc etc.

I need now to gauge more specifically the level of interest for a Northern League that we would get from northern clubs and teams. Ideally we would need at least 12 teams from across the north to get things started (and if we did so, we could probably guarantee a prize fund of at least £1,000 to provide some further interest and incentive) - but by the same token if there is minimal interest in the idea, then the sooner I know the better so that I can cancel venue bookings in good time so as to give the venues a decent chance of finding alternative bookings.

I have also emailed the various northern federations and associations directly, including as many individual clubs as I was able to find email addresses for, so if this project doesn't take off it won't be for lack of publicity.

I look forward to hearing from you. Do feel free to contact me on 01993 708645 if there is anything you would like to discuss in more detail.
CONGRESS ORGANISERS
Whilst we are happy to display entry forms for forthcoming congresses at the 4NCL weekends, please send any such information to Dave Welch. You can find Dave's address here.

Previous news updates can be found in the Archive.

Division 1

WGHK 1
Pride and Prejudice
Barbican 4NCL 1
White Rose 1
WGHK 2
Guildford-A&DC 1
Cambridge Univ. 1
The ADs
Betsson.com
Barbican 4NCL 2
Oxford 1
Pandora's Box Grantham
S. Wales Dragons
Guildford-A&DC 2
Poisoned Pawns 1
Jutes of Kent

Division 2

Sambuca Sharks
Cheddleton
Warwickshire Select 1
e2e4.org.uk 1
Barbican 4NCL Youth
AMCA Dragons
Kings Head
Poisoned Pawns 2
Anglian Avengers
Wessex 1
Celtic Tigers 1
Bristol 1
White Rose 2
Brown Jack
Guildford-A&DC 3
FCA Solutions 1

Division 3

Rhyfelwyr Essyllwg
Sambuca Black Sheep
3Cs
Cambridge Univ. 2
Wessex 2
Warwickshire Select 2
KJCA Kings
FCA Solutions 2
The Full Ponty
Sussex Smart Ctls.
e2e4.org.uk 2
Iceni
Nottinghamshire 1
Nottinghamshire 2
Oxford 2
AMCA Rhinos
Braille Chess Assoc.
AMCA Hippos
Glos. Gambits
Bristol 2
KJCA Knights
Guernsey Mates
Bristol 3
SCS
Hackney
e2e4.org.uk 3
Beauty and the Beasts
Celtic Tigers 2
Oxford 3
Halesowen
Guildford-A&DC 4
AMCA Cheetahs