Distraction

Venues, fixtures, teams and related matters.
Jonathan Rogers
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Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2008 9:26 pm

Distraction

Post by Jonathan Rogers » Tue Jan 07, 2014 12:28 pm

I want a distraction. Let's discuss which should be the live matches at the forthcoming 4NCL weekend. These are the options:

Round 3 - 1a
Blackthorne Russia v Guildford 1
Barbican 4NCL 2 v Grantham Sharks 1
Oxford 1 v Wood Green HK 2
Cheddleton 1 v Kings Head 1

Round 3 - 1b
Wood Green HK 1 v e2e4.org.uk 1
3Cs 1 v White Rose 1
Cambridge Univ. 1 v Grantham Sharks 2
Guildford 2 v Barbican 4NCL 1

Round 4 - 1a
Guildford 1 v Barbican 4NCL 2
Wood Green HK 2 v Cheddleton 1
Grantham Sharks 1 v Blackthorne Russia
Kings Head 1 v Oxford 1

Round 4 - 1b
White Rose 1 v Wood Green HK 1
Barbican 4NCL 1 v Cambridge Univ. 1
e2e4.org.uk 1 v 3Cs 1
Grantham Sharks 2 v Guildford 2

LawrenceCooper
Posts: 7175
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2011 8:13 am

Re: Distraction

Post by LawrenceCooper » Tue Jan 07, 2014 1:08 pm

Jonathan Rogers wrote:I want a distraction. Let's discuss which should be the live matches at the forthcoming 4NCL weekend. These are the options:

Round 3 - 1a
Blackthorne Russia v Guildford 1
Barbican 4NCL 2 v Grantham Sharks 1
Oxford 1 v Wood Green HK 2
Cheddleton 1 v Kings Head 1

Round 3 - 1b
Wood Green HK 1 v e2e4.org.uk 1
3Cs 1 v White Rose 1
Cambridge Univ. 1 v Grantham Sharks 2
Guildford 2 v Barbican 4NCL 1

Round 4 - 1a
Guildford 1 v Barbican 4NCL 2
Wood Green HK 2 v Cheddleton 1
Grantham Sharks 1 v Blackthorne Russia
Kings Head 1 v Oxford 1

Round 4 - 1b
White Rose 1 v Wood Green HK 1
Barbican 4NCL 1 v Cambridge Univ. 1
e2e4.org.uk 1 v 3Cs 1
Grantham Sharks 2 v Guildford 2
What about Division Two, Three and the junior event? :wink:

Graham Borrowdale

Re: Distraction

Post by Graham Borrowdale » Tue Jan 07, 2014 1:11 pm

It would be interesting to know how many people watch this live coverage. I imagine many players who are interested would be playing anyway, and for the rest it is difficult to work out the significance of the games in the sporting context of the league, etc, other than that they are high level games. No criticism intended, but the website does not make it immediately obvious who is top of the league, who needs what scores, etc, you have to hunt that out and work it out.

For my part I will tune in from time to time to see the latest positions, probably between gardening/shopping/DIY, etc. I suspect this is how most people watch live chess on the internet. I would probably pick the matches with the highest rated players, much like Match Of The Day concentrates on the top of the league, with the occasional foray into the lower divisions.

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Joey Stewart
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Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 2:35 pm
Location: All Of Them

Re: Distraction

Post by Joey Stewart » Tue Jan 07, 2014 2:37 pm

The wood green and Guildford games will likely just be thrashings so not overly competitive, although you do see some nice miniatures by the grand masters (provided they are not in the mood to grind out nice safe wins)
Lose one queen and it is a disaster, Lose 1000 queens and it is just a statistic.

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Peter D Williams
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Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2011 2:15 pm
Location: Hampshire

Re: Distraction

Post by Peter D Williams » Tue Jan 07, 2014 2:39 pm

LawrenceCooper wrote:
What about Division Two, Three and the junior event? :wink:
I like to see some of the lower Divisions and junior matches shown on the live boards.It would give encouragement to these players to be on a live board.

The weather a little better today so i will venture out again to walk our Westie but first a cup of tea and some chocolate biscuits :D
when you are successful many losers bark at you.

David Robertson

Re: Distraction

Post by David Robertson » Tue Jan 07, 2014 3:10 pm

As someone who appeared on the 'live' boards a few years back when topping Div 3, I can assure you that no encouragement whatsoever can be extracted from the experience. Some private amusement perhaps. At least I have a screen capture of my name in the same frame as Mickey Adams etc. Alas this impresses no one dear to me :( And I did receive a little gentle ribbing as colleagues watching the game observed all three results float across my bows (0.5-0.5 at the end).

I really can't see any general benefit in showing Div 3 matches. Nor Div 2 to be honest. It may be worth establishing a courteous tradition of showing a critical top match in Div 3 just once over the final weekend, as a nod to the wider community.

But that gesture apart, who in their right mind wants to watch chess played poorly when high quality alternatives are available. My view: stick with Div 1 matches - with the one exception mentioned

Afterthought Of course, to show a Div 3 match (or juniors), teams need to be in the same building as Div 1 etc. And they aren't. And they won't be this year; nor next. So that knocks even the gesture on the head.

After-afterthought Of matches to watch, were I watching, I'd choose the War of the Roses (3Cs v. WR) in Rd 3 with, I suppose, BR v. Guildford from the South. And in Rd 4, frankly I've no idea - Barb 1 v. Camb; & KH v. Oxford
Last edited by David Robertson on Tue Jan 07, 2014 5:38 pm, edited 4 times in total.

MartinCarpenter
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Joined: Tue May 24, 2011 10:58 am

Re: Distraction

Post by MartinCarpenter » Tue Jan 07, 2014 3:23 pm

Well the top of division 2 is surely a reasonable quality? Think I have to agree about division 3 though :)

benedgell
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Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:43 pm
Location: Somerset

Re: Distraction

Post by benedgell » Tue Jan 07, 2014 5:27 pm

Its worth mentioning Bristol 1- Anglian Avengers 1, Div 2 for round 3. Bristol 1 from first weekend (admittedly without the junior/ female board which would've brought it down) had an average rating of 2270. Anglian Avengers (with a full team) had an average of 2272.

benedgell
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Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:43 pm
Location: Somerset

Re: Distraction

Post by benedgell » Mon Jan 13, 2014 10:26 am

Howell- Fernandez, Div 1b, Rd. 3. You've got to admire black's guts to play 1...a5

MartinCarpenter
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Joined: Tue May 24, 2011 10:58 am

Re: Distraction

Post by MartinCarpenter » Mon Jan 13, 2014 11:27 am

A (briefly) playable position out of it too :)