4NCL 2023-24 Division Two

[Neil Graham]

I has occurred to me that Jonathan has already opened a thread "and so starts the 31st season" - which seems to primarily deal with Division One.

He write about Division Two:-

Division two looks considerably stronger than it has been for some years. No fewer than five teams average over 2200 over the top seven boards, which is good in this age where rating deflation seems to be hitting those between 2000-2400 especially harshly (though having said that, perhaps it is four teams. Warwickshire Select are playing their teams on the basis of converted ECF, not official Elos; as too are the Sharks 2, though they would surely be above 2200 even if using official ratings). Even I am not foolish enough to predict the top three finishers in this division.

It seems sensible to me to split off each Division into it's own thread - certainly as nothing has been said to date about Division Three Knights -so that's what I'm doing.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Thanks to Neil for this. If I have it right, Barbican and SchachAttack are the early joint leaders, and guess what ... they do play in the last round!

So maybe the arbiters know something that the rest of us don't!

[Nick Burrows]

I think Barbican are top by alphabet difference.

Since we joined Division 2, we find ourselves repeatedly surprised by our positive results. Long may they continue..

[Joey Stewart]

I think Barbican are top by alphabet difference.

Since we joined Division 2, we find ourselves repeatedly surprised by our positive results. Long may they continue..

What would happen if you actually won the division, do you think you would be able to handle division 1 or would you have to decline the promotion?

[Nick Burrows]

What would happen if you actually won the division, do you think you would be able to handle division 1 or would you have to decline the promotion?

In the unlikely event of getting promoted, we would invoke the spirit of The Crazy Gang's FA Cup victory and enter the foxes den with hope in our hearts and the mantra of "win, draw or learn" on our lips. Then, in May our featherless carcass will be carried from the playing venue, never to be seen again.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"In the unlikely event of getting promoted, we would invoke the spirit of The Crazy Gang's FA Cup victory and enter the foxes den with hope in our hearts and the mantra of "win, draw or learn" on our lips. Then, in May our featherless carcass will be carried from the playing venue, never to be seen again."

That's great - much better than all that AI-created drivel on the internet.

"foxes den" does bring forth an image of an unholy alliance of Leicester City and Millwall though...

[Ben Purton]

Your team has dangerous depth Nick. I would not be shocked.

Our 2nds have solid promotion chances but as many have said the top 6 could all be div 1 teams.

[Nick Burrows]

Gonzaga 8 - -3 Cambridge Uni 2

[Graham Borrowdale]

Gonzaga 8 - -3 Cambridge Uni 2

Not sure everyone will see the funny side…

[Nick Burrows]

Gonzaga 8 - -3 Cambridge Uni 2

Not sure everyone will see the funny side…

Nope - including my team.

[Jonathan Rogers]

I was going to write some reflections on the second division so far on the well worn theme of it being so much harder to predict than the first division. That is still true, but only in the sense that very many competitions are. This last weekend was in fact remarkably close to the seedings. As in division one, the six seeds played six non-seeds on both days. Being seeded was not to help Cambridge with their defaults on two boards on both days (not to mention that many of their missing players were their usual top boards) but if we exclude their two defeats it was 9.5/10 for the seeds against the non-seeds.

This does at least make more difference to the table. CSC/Kingston, going into the weekend first on gamepoints from Barbican, are now on third, having lost to Barbican, fielding seven men titled FM or above for the first time since before the pandemic, and Audible Checks. These teams now stand first and second respectively. Also, at the other end of the table, Gonzaga's strengthened team finally performed to its seeding and looks determined to make its escape from relegation.

Not only that, but there is much more to play for in division two in the final weekend. Whereas for most competitive purposes those placed between fourth and seventh inclusive in division one have little left to play for, by contrast everyone is potentially looking up or down in division two. Both Barbican and Audible Checks should be quietly confident of promotion, but CSC in third place lead Sharks 2 only on gamepoints and they lead ADs and SchachAttack only by one matchpoint. In fact, Warwickshire Select, currently in seventh place a further matchpoint behind, are not at all out of contention, for they have a good number of gamepoints, have already played the top five teams and are facing the two bottom markers in the final weekend. A plausible case could be made for any of these five teams claiming third spot with a good/very good final weekend and only by the end of round ten is the picture likely to look somewhat clearer.

By contrast teams in positions eight to twelfth have relegation to consider. Cambridge 2, in twelfth place, might be happy just for the season to end, but it is not clear which two teams will join them in relegation. Anglia Avengers are most in trouble in eleventh but they are at least yet to play Cambridge 2, unlike their other rivals, though they will need to win another match too. Sussex Martlets are in eighth and safer than the others but, as with all the non-seeds, have two seeded opponents left to play and are only one matchpoint above the team in tenth (Gonzaga). Since most of their matches are very close, even they face a tense final weekend. Cambridge 1 have the strength to stay up, if their players are available but they will need them, and they will need to beat Martlets at the very least, and given their weak game point count, perhaps Gonzaga too. Gonzaga should be "too good to go down" on the showing of this past weekend but they too have tough pairings. Unless the Martlets have a bad final weekend, it is quite likely that Cambridge and Gonzaga will play a last round with relegation facing one of them, and with it a considerable fall from having been in division one last year.

I will have some sympathy for those relegated from division two. Whoever finishes tenth will certainly have been strong enough to have avoided it in most seasons. Against that, in principle it is healthy that a league strengthens, at least when it does so organically rather than because some teams suddenly appear with money, and it is certainly more compact in strength than was the case when there sixteen teams. I cannot say that I have asked anyone's opinion, but still I doubt that many, except perhaps the relegated, would argue for a return to the 16 team league experiment.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Audible Checks? Are there no checks(!) on team names? On other matters, can I ask your views on the progress of the CSC/Kingston team? I have been following with interest and wondered if their emergence has been a bit unexpected or a natural progression?

[Jonathan Rogers]

Formerly West is Best. The name change was explained on another thread as honouring a former player who very audibly checked his opponents. All things being equal I should prefer that teams change their names as seldom as possible but it is not the sort of thing to make rules about (though there is in fact a rule for mid-season changes - the team has to pay!).

As also mentioned on another thread, CSC is arguably the team which changed its name the most! I must say that I have rather lost track of them since the time when, as BCM, their first team was relegated from the second division (long before the pandemic) but they are obviously having a successful first season back in the second division. I was impressed by their relative youth, enthusiasm and opening preparation over the weekend, and so whether they can become occasional visitors to the first division over this and the next few years is largely down to them - and to their many pursuers.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Thank you Jonathan. I should apologise, as I was actually thinking of the performance of a Kingston team in winning the 1st Division of the 4NCL (the online one), though the OTB progression gets mentioned as well:

https://kingstonchess.com/club-history-2/

John Foley entered a Kingston ChessPlus team into the online 4NCL championships. The 4NCL is the national chess league and the most prestigious team event in the UK. Starting with the home players and recruiting stronger international players as the team progressed, the team won division 1 of the 4NCL in 2020. This was the first time that Kingston had won a national tournament. Subsequently, Kingston has partnered with Chess in Schools and Communities (CSC) in an over-the-board team for the regular 4NCL league, and has worked its way up to the second division under the stewardship of Kate and Charlie Cooke.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Let's keep online and OTB chess quite separate.