Division Three East 2022-23

[Neil Graham]

No one has anything to say about Division Three East as yet. I assume that by the end of the season there will be some comments so I have started a thread.

[Mick Norris]

I assume it will be tightly contested, given at the first weekend only 1 team won both matches, and only 1 lost both

Table

[MartinCarpenter]

I assume it will be tightly contested, given at the first weekend only 1 team won both matches, and only 1 lost both

Table

It does look like Anglian Avengers should have enough to be first amongst equals, probably not winning every match unless they have a really good season.

[Neil Graham]

See my comments in Division Four thread - national rail strike will disrupt Weekend 2.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61634959

[Roger Lancaster]

Just learnt from Alex McFarlane that Guildford Castles have withdrawn from Division 3 East.

[Neil Graham]

Just learnt from Alex McFarlane that Guildford Castles have withdrawn from Division 3 East.

Withdrawing from an all-play-all tournament is just crazy, highly disruptive and disrespectful to all the other teams. Guildford have a second team in Division Four - what is happening to that? Surely if there are problems they could withdraw their second team for the weekend and fill up any vacancies in Team 1. Division Four has had several teams not turning up for a weekend but the Swiss system effectively negates the consequences of this. I already envisage problems about relegation from Division Three West after Wessex failed to show up for Weekend One - how this one is sorted I have no idea.

[Roger Lancaster]

Just learnt from Alex McFarlane that Guildford Castles have withdrawn from Division 3 East.

Withdrawing from an all-play-all tournament is just crazy, highly disruptive and disrespectful to all the other teams. Guildford have a second team in Division Four - what is happening to that? Surely if there are problems they could withdraw their second team for the weekend and fill up any vacancies in Team 1. Division Four has had several teams not turning up for a weekend but the Swiss system effectively negates the consequences of this. I already envisage problems about relegation from Division Three West after Wessex failed to show up for Weekend One - how this one is sorted I have no idea.

A second email from Alex suggests there may be "a solution". Fingers crossed!

[Neil Graham]

I see that all Guildford Castles results have been deleted and there are no pairings for them this weekend.

[Roger Lancaster]

I see that all Guildford Castles results have been deleted and there are no pairings for them this weekend.

Yes, situation here - for those unaware of it - is that all GC's results have been voided (although the individual game results will, of course, count towards ECF and FIDE rating) and that only one of the remaining 11 teams is liable to be relegated. It's unfortunate, as Neil mentioned earlier, when one competitor drops out part-way through an all-play-all competition although, not knowing the reasons, I'm reluctant to condemn.

[Neil Graham]

I see that all Guildford Castles results have been deleted and there are no pairings for them this weekend.

Yes, situation here - for those unaware of it - is that all GC's results have been voided (although the individual game results will, of course, count towards ECF and FIDE rating) and that only one of the remaining 11 teams is liable to be relegated. It's unfortunate, as Neil mentioned earlier, when one competitor drops out part-way through an all-play-all competition although, not knowing the reasons, I'm reluctant to condemn.

We don't know the reason but my previous comments apply. Guildford Young Guns play in Division Four. Why can't they be moved up to replace the other team thus avoiding the maximum disruption this withdrawal means? It seems ridiculous that a Guildford team will be playing on Saturday/Sunday whilst Division Three East opponents have to sit out a round possibly having booked accommodation and this becomes even more problematic in the final three rounds when someone will have games in Round Nine and Round Eleven and be left twiddling their thumbs on Sunday.

[NickFaulks]

Why can't they be moved up to replace the other team thus avoiding the maximum disruption this withdrawal means?

There is no fair solution. Yours would mean that six teams faced "strong Guildford" while the other five face "weak Guildford".

[Ian Thompson]

Why can't they be moved up to replace the other team thus avoiding the maximum disruption this withdrawal means?

There is no fair solution. Yours would mean that six teams faced "strong Guildford" while the other five face "weak Guildford".

The obvious question is why the 4NCL has not adopted the standard practice of letting the results of the 6 matches that were played stand and giving the 5 remaining teams walkovers.

Without knowing the reasons for the withdrawal, it's speculation how strong the team might have been. It seems a bit unlikely that the entire team are unable to play when several of them have been regular 4NCL players for decades and also play a lot of chess in general. It also seems unlikely that it was impossible for them to recruit a few new players if they'd wanted to do that and player shortage was the problem. My guess is that the reason for withdrawal is not an insurmountable shortage of players.

[Roger Lancaster]

I see that all Guildford Castles results have been deleted and there are no pairings for them this weekend.

Yes, situation here - for those unaware of it - is that all GC's results have been voided (although the individual game results will, of course, count towards ECF and FIDE rating) and that only one of the remaining 11 teams is liable to be relegated. It's unfortunate, as Neil mentioned earlier, when one competitor drops out part-way through an all-play-all competition although, not knowing the reasons, I'm reluctant to condemn.

We don't know the reason but my previous comments apply. Guildford Young Guns play in Division Four. Why can't they be moved up to replace the other team thus avoiding the maximum disruption this withdrawal means? It seems ridiculous that a Guildford team will be playing on Saturday/Sunday whilst Division Three East opponents have to sit out a round possibly having booked accommodation and this becomes even more problematic in the final three rounds when someone will have games in Round Nine and Round Eleven and be left twiddling their thumbs on Sunday.

"when someone will have games in Round Nine and Round Eleven and be left twiddling their thumbs on Sunday". Organisers have had the good sense to arrange, since those rounds are played in Milton Keynes, that the "someone" is the MK Phoenix team where travel and hotel costs presumably aren't a major issue.