4NCL - The Four Nations League - www.4ncl.co.uk/pre2010

4NCL Newsletter

Summer 2003

Firstly can I thank everyone for making last season such a success. It was another tight finish in most divisions with relegation and promotion issues undecided until the final hour. Congratulations to the successful teams and commiserations to the others!

It is also my great pleasure to welcome various new teams to the 4th Division. Please note, though, that due to space constraints we are limited to a maximum of 18 teams in this division.

Consequently I must stress how important it is to get your entry sorted out quickly. This is so we can decide as soon as possible what the exact structure of the league will be next season. Please see here for the full details of how to enter.

It is also not our intention to accept any late entries this year so it is vital that all teams adhere to the strict deadlines in place.

In the meantime I thought it would be useful to keep you in touch with the key items that were discussed at the recent 4NCL Board Meeting.

1/ The AGM was held and accounts for the year to 30/06/2003 were approved. These are available from Companies House and a summary here.

2/ Trophies will be awarded at a prize-giving ceremony to be held on Saturday 18th October at 9-30pm in the West Bromwich Moathouse restaurant, where it is hoped most people will be dining.

The trophies will be for the following categories:

The four division winners
The four division players of the year-based on total points scored
The manager/captain of the year

3/ Further preparations will be made for a rating tournament to be held during the weekends of 17-18 January and 19-21 March 2004.

4/ With regard to lady players it was thought that it was difficult to hold a list on the 4NCL web-site because of possible legal implications. However, Claire Summerscale (Director of Women's Chess) should be able to help any Captain who is struggling to find players.

5/ The Board will continue to look for alternative venues but at this stage it still seems impossible to find a suitable venue that will take all four divisions, whilst still offering us the generous financial conditions that we need to keep entry fees down.

6/ Obtaining sponsorship still seems to be very difficult, mainly because of the prevailing uncertain economic climate. However, we will continue to pursue opportunities as and when they arise.

7/ Provisional dates for 2004/2005 were discussed and they will be rechecked with tournament organisers for any clashes. They will be published once agreement has been reached with the various hotels.

8/ The Board will continue to recommend that players in the league should join their national federation on the basis that non-members will not have their games FIDE-rated.

9/ The league continues to expand (see here) and so the Board will continue to consider initiatives to cope with the increasing number of teams wanting to be a part of one of the most successful leagues in the world (see, for example, the Schach Magazin 64 article).

Finally it was noted with sadness the decision of Chris Dunworth to resign from the Board.

It's safe to say that without Chris's vision and drive a decade ago the 4NCL National Chess League would either not exist or be a shadow of what it is now. Chris has changed the landscape of league chess in this country, to the extent that after a comparatively short existence the 4NCL National Chess League already compares very favourably with other national chess leagues across Europe, and indeed the world.

We wish him well for the future!

Best wishes,
Paul Littlewood (4NCL Chairman)