English Chess Forum

There has been no comment so far on this Division - possibly that's good. As the opening two rounds have been played, I have now opened a thread.

Crowthorne with their trio of FM's will be difficult to stop.
Fermented Sharks turned out a very good team and beat Oxford 2 on a knifedge.
James Coles win was quite brilliant, and Arya Conts win against Shabir Okhai was highly original.

In the other pool CSC anx Wessex A will be there or thereabouts as usual.

Oxford 3's debut weekend was a success with a 50% score, and are eagerly anticipating rounds 3 & 4.

[Event "4NCL 3 South pool B"] [Site "Maidenhead, ENG"] [Date "2019.11.09"] [Round "1.65"] [White "Cole, James"] [Black "Niccoli, Tony"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2042"] [BlackElo "2040"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2019.11.09"] [WhiteTeam "Oxford 2"] [BlackTeam "Fermented Sharks"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 a6 6. Bb3 d6 7. Nbd2 Ba7 8. h3 h6 9. Nf1 O-O 10. Ng3 Ne7 11. O-O Ng6 12. d4 Re8 13. Bc2 Bd7 14. Re1 Qc8 15. Nf5 Kh7 16. g4 exd4 17. cxd4 Bc6 18. e5 dxe5 19. Nxe5 Qe6 20. Bxh6 Qd5 21. Nxc6 Rxe1+ 22. Qxe1 Qxc6 23. Rc1 Re8 24. Qd2 Qf3 25. Bxg7 Nxg4 26. hxg4 Qxg4+ 27. Kh2 c6 28. Qh6+ Kg8 29. Be5 Nxe5 30. dxe5 Bxf2 31. Ne7+ Rxe7 32. Bh7+ Kh8 33. Bg6+ 1

Look at the position after move 9!

[Event "4NCL 3 South pool B"] [Site "Maidenhead, ENG"] [Date "2019.11.09"] [Round "1.63"] [White "Cont, Arya"] [Black "Okhai, Shabir"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2032"] [BlackElo "2159"] [PlyCount "119"] [EventDate "2019.11.09"] [WhiteTeam "Oxford 2"] [BlackTeam "Fermented Sharks"] 1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 Nc6 3. e3 a6 4. Nf3 f6 5. d4 e4 6. Nh4 Nh6 7. d5 Nb8 8. Qh5+ Nf7 9. Qg4 Ng5 10. d6 Bxd6 11. Nf5 Bb4+ 12. c3 Bf8 13. h4 Ne6 14. Qxe4 d5 15. Qc2 Nc6 16. Bd3 Ne5 17. Be2 Nc5 18. Nd2 Be6 19. b4 Ncd7 20. Nd4 Bf7 21. f4 Ng6 22. h5 Ne7 23. N2b3 c6 24. O-O-O Qb6 25. Bg4 Ng8 26. e4 O-O-O 27. e5 Nh6 28. Bh3 Re8 29. e6 Bxe6 30. Nxe6 Rxe6 31. Bxe6 Qe3+ 32. Qd2 Qxe6 33. Rhe1 Qf7 34. Na5 Nf5 35. g4 Nd6 36. Qe3 f5 37. g5 Ne4 38. a3 Bd6 39. c4 dxc4 40. g6 hxg6 41. hxg6 Qe7 42. Nxc4 Bc7 43. Nd2 Rh4 44. Nxe4 fxe4 45. Qxe4 Bxf4+ 46. Kb1 Qd8 47. Qe6 Bh6 48. Rd3 Rh2 49. Red1 Rxb2+ 50. Kxb2 Qf6+ 51. Qxf6 Nxf6 52. Rd8+ Kc7 53. Rh8 Bf4 54. Re1 Nd5 55. Rh7 Bd2 56. Rxg7+ Kd6 57. Rc1 Bxc1+ 58. Kxc1 Ne7 59. Rh7 Nxg6 60. Rh6 1-0

One our players flew to Heathrow from the North-East so he could play. Is this a first for Division 3?

"One our players flew to Heathrow from the North-East so he could play. Is this a first for Division 3?"

Probably not, I can't remember which division the Channel Islands team was in a few years ago, but most of the team flew in (apart from the one who doesn't like flying!)

It might be a first for a mainland resident of course.

A short game from today's Round 5. First to finish in Division 3.

Event "4NCL Wessex B v Crowthorne 1"] [Site "Maidenhead"] [Date "2020.02.08"] [Round "5.5"] [White "Johnson,DR"] [Black "de Coverly, RD"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B20"] [Remark "board 5"] 1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.a3 e5 5.axb4 Bxb4 6.Na3 Nf6 7.Bd3 O-O 8.O-O d5 9.exd5 Qxd5 10.Bc4 Qc5 11.d3 Bg4 12.h3 Bh5 13.g4 Nxg4 14.hxg4 Bxg4 15.Nb5 e4 16.Be3 Qh5

nice win Roger

It felt like something went horrendously wrong for white- usually in those lines they just play the standard c3, d4 stuff and then pretend like they were such a brilliant tactician by stifling the play enough that black gets frustrated and blunders.