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

Press Release

2003/04 season
Weekend 1
Divisions 1 and 2

The opening rounds of the top 2 divisions were played at the West Bromwich Moat House over the weekend of October 18th and 19th. There will be a record number of 54 teams playing 4NCL this season, including 8 new teams in Division 4, but the opening weekend was largely dominated by familiar names.

Division 1 is headed by title-holders Wood Green 1 and Betsson.com, both with 2 wins from the weekend. Betsson.com will be particularly pleased with their round 2 victory over strongly fancied Guildford-ADC 1. A remarkable match saw 8 decisive games, with the top 4 boards won by the black pieces, and a final result of 5-3 in favour of Betsson.com.

It was a difficult weekend for some of the Division 1 teams who had players away competing in the European Team Championship in Bulgaria. Slough 1 particularly suffered and are currently at the foot of the table.

The first weekend always sees some first team versus second team battles, and this year the first teams did not have it all their own way. The two Barbican teams were involved in a tight 4-all draw, whilst Wood Green 2 did better than in previous years, finally going down to a 5-3 defeat to their first team.

Division 2 saw a good performance from two of the teams relegated from last season’s Division 1. Perceptron Youth and Bristol 1 managed to win both their matches and are joined at the top of the table by Wessex 1. At this early stage, Perceptron hold a narrow lead by half a game point.

The prize-giving ceremony for last season’s winners was held on Saturday evening. A full photo report can be found here.

Selected games

Keith Arkell vs. Peter Taylor
Numerica 3Cs 1 vs. Barbican-4NCL 2, board 1
Division 1, round 1

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 d6 5.Nc3 exd5 6.cxd5 g6 7.g3 Bg7 8.Bg2 0–0 9.0–0 a6 10.a4 Re8 11.Nd2 Nbd7 12.Nc4 Nb6 13.Na3 Bd7 14.Bf4 Nh5 15.Bd2 Bxc3 16.bxc3 Nxa4 17.Nc4 Qf6 18.Qc1 b5 19.Rxa4 bxc4 20.Bg5 Qe5 21.Ra2 f6 22.Bh6 f5 23.Re1 Nf6 24.Bf4 Qe7 25.Bg5 Qf7 26.Qf4 Re5 27.Qxc4 Bb5 28.Qb3 c4 29.Qb4 Ne4 30.Bf4 Rxd5 31.Bxe4 fxe4 32.Bxd6

Arkell vs. Taylor

32...e3 33.f3 Qe6 34.Bf4 g5 35.Bc7 Rc8 36.Ba5 Rd2 37.Qb1 g4 38.Rb2 Qd5 39.Bb6 gxf3 40.Bxe3 Rxb2 41.Qxb2 Bc6 42.Bf4 fxe2 43.Rxe2 Qh1+ 44.Kf2 Qg2+ White resigns.

David Coleman vs. Lorin D’Costa
Barbican-4NCL 2 vs. Barbican-4NCL 1, board 7
Division 1, round 2

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 d6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nf6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Be3 Be7 8.Qe2 Qc7 9.0–0–0 0–0 10.Bb3 a6 11.Rhg1 Nd7 12.g4 Nc5 13.Nf5 b5 14.Bd5 Bb7 15.g5 Rfc8

Coleman vs. D’Costa

16.Nxg7 Kxg7 17.Qh5 Rg8 18.f4 b4 19.Bxc6 Bxc6 20.Nd5 Bxd5 21.exd5 Rac8 22.Rg2 Kf8 23.Qxh7 exd5 24.f5 Ne4 25.g6 Bf6 26.Bh6+ Bg7 27.gxf7 Qxf7 28.Rxg7 Rxg7 29.Rg1 Rc7 30.Rxg7 Qxg7 31.Qh8+ Black resigns.

Murray Chandler vs. David Howell
The ADs 1 vs. Slough 1, board 1
Division 1, round 2

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0–0 8.d4 d6 9.c3 Bg4 10.d5 Na5 11.Bc2 Qc8 12.h3 Bd7 13.Nbd2 c6 14.dxc6 Qxc6 15.Nf1 Rfe8 16.Ng3 h6 17.Qe2 Be6 18.Nh2 Kh8 19.Ng4 Ng8 20.Bd3 Bf8 21.Qf3 Rad8 22.Nf5 Nc4 23.b3 Nb6 24.Bd2 h5 25.Nge3 g6

Chandler vs. Howell

26.c4 bxc4 27.bxc4 Nd7 28.Nd5 gxf5 29.Qxh5+ Kg7 30.exf5 Bxd5 31.Re3 Nh6 32.cxd5 Qxd5 33.Rg3+ Kh7 34.f6+ Qxd3 35.Rxd3 Nxf6 36.Qh4 Re6 37.Rf3 Black resigns.

Alex Posazhennikov vs. Andrew Bigg
Poisoned Pawns 1 vs. Perceptron Youth, board 2
Division 2, round 2

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 Ne7 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.Qg4 Qc7 8.Qxg7 Rg8 9.Qxh7 cxd4 10.Ne2 Nbc6 11.f4 Bd7 12.Qd3 dxc3 13.Nxc3 Nf5 14.g4 Rxg4 15.Bh3 Nxe5 16.fxe5 Qxe5+ 17.Kf2 Rc4 18.Bd2 Rac8 19.Rae1 Qd4+ 20.Qxd4 Rxd4 21.Bxf5 Rxd2+ 22.Ke3 Rg2 23.Kd3 Rf2 24.Bg4 Rc4 25.h3 Rff4 26.Ne2 Rfe4 27.c3 Bb5 28.Kd2 Ra4 29.Nd4 Bd7 30.Rxe4 dxe4 31.h4 f5 32.Bd1 Rxa3 33.h5 Kf8 34.h6 Kg8 35.Bb3 f4 36.Bxe6+ Bxe6 37.Rg1+ Kh8 38.Nxe6

Posazhennikov vs. Bigg

38...Ra2+ 39.Ke1 Ra1+ 40.Kf2 e3+ 41.Kg2 f3+ 42.Kh2 Ra2+ 43.Kg3 f2 44.Rd1 Rd2 45.Rh1 Rd6 46.Kf3 Rxe6 47.Ke2 Rg6 and White resigns.

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