Division One 2016-17

Venues, fixtures, teams and related matters.
Alan Walton
Posts: 1393
Joined: Mon Nov 02, 2009 8:33 pm
Location: Oldham

Re: Division One 2016-17

Post by Alan Walton » Mon Mar 06, 2017 8:08 pm

LawrenceCooper wrote:
Jonathan Rogers wrote:Worth noting that 3Cs have good chances of finishing third; though even fourth or fifth would be very much a record performance too. The "local boys" element which used be such a strong feature of the team has become somewhat compromised in the process, though of course their identity has not been abandoned to the extent that happened with Pride and Prejudice when they became ambitious.
There's still quite a strong presence though: Stephen Gordon, Adam Ashton, Alex Longson, Andy & Jaime Horton, Daniel Abbas, Alan Walton etc
Thanks, Loz

The main aim is to have at least 6 "home grown" players each weekend in the squad; unfortunately the weekend which has just passed I had a few players unavailable hence the four players this weekend

Remember we need a female, which currently the club doesn't have; and we realised that strengthening the top board has made a significant impact to our results (Christian has certainly helped on that one)

Richard Bates
Posts: 3338
Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2008 8:27 pm

Re: Division One 2016-17

Post by Richard Bates » Mon Mar 06, 2017 9:05 pm

LawrenceCooper wrote:
Jonathan Rogers wrote:There was some good news this weekend for those concerned about our lack of young GMs: both Ravi and Daniel moved to 7/8, with excellent GM norm chances, though they may need to play more than one game to clinch it - it is not easy to play an average of 2380 these days, given the number of weaker teams which often have no one at all of that level, and I wonder whether either or both of them might need to drop one of their wins against one of their earlier weaker opponents.

Ravi has his last IM norm and title, of course.
Ravi has an average of around 2379, the relevant requirement is that he plays a GM against Cheddleton so the round 9-11 pairings appear to have fallen kindly. David Fitzsimons is also very close to an IM norm.
I believe that Yang Fan needs a win against a GM for a norm as well, although he was perhaps somewhat fortunate to have the chance...

MartinCarpenter
Posts: 3041
Joined: Tue May 24, 2011 10:58 am

Re: Division One 2016-17

Post by MartinCarpenter » Sun Apr 30, 2017 9:22 pm

A bit impolite of Guildford 1 that I think :)

David Robertson

Re: Division One 2016-17

Post by David Robertson » Sun Apr 30, 2017 10:40 pm

Never mind Guildford 1 doing what they do. Go look at the dog-fight in Pool 1d.

In Rd 9, the bottom four beat the top four, throwing most stuff into chaos. To make matters worse, the doomed Anglian Avengers have refused to lie down. Holding zero points and no chance of survival, they've clearly decided to cause as much damage as they can before leaving. The net effect is that, after Rd 10, albeit some order has been recovered to the extent that Barb 2 & Blackthorne Russia survive, while Celtic Tigers have blown it, all eyes in Rd 11 will be on a resurgent NE1 v SWD for one survival place, while Oxford will need to hold themselves together against CT to secure the other. The top match is irrelevant. But if Kings Head were to beat AA, and CT were to beat Oxford, heaven only knows who would survive.Tense

But next day...

SWD produced a convincing win to settle their survival, and pitch NE1 back to Div 2. Meanwhile, Oxford made no mistake against CT. And AA have continued their impressive surge to the finishing line, pointless to begin with - and pointless at the end because it was all too late. Might have been different perhaps, had they beaten not drawn with SWD in Rd 10

So the four who went up have gone straight back down. Again

Paul Dargan
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Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 11:23 pm

Re: Division One 2016-17

Post by Paul Dargan » Tue May 02, 2017 10:15 am

We gave it a pretty good shot to stay up I thought

Mick Norris
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Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 10:12 am
Location: Bolton, Greater Manchester

Re: Division One 2016-17

Post by Mick Norris » Tue May 02, 2017 10:26 am

Paul Dargan wrote:We gave it a pretty good shot to stay up I thought
Indeed, hard luck to NE England (any chance of you reviving your second team?)

Alba will presumably stay in Div 1 now they have got there
Any postings on here represent my personal views

Jonathan Rogers
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Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2008 9:26 pm

Re: Division One 2016-17

Post by Jonathan Rogers » Tue May 02, 2017 10:58 am

Paul Dargan wrote:We gave it a pretty good shot to stay up I thought
Yes, you beat the odds just to be playing for survival in the final round. Good luck for next year.

Paul Dargan
Posts: 526
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 11:23 pm

Re: Division One 2016-17

Post by Paul Dargan » Tue May 02, 2017 2:44 pm

Mick Norris wrote:
Paul Dargan wrote:We gave it a pretty good shot to stay up I thought
Indeed, hard luck to NE England (any chance of you reviving your second team?)

Obviously nothing is definite - but there are discussions about what to do next year. I suspect that some of the core squad may be looking ot take a break - having been with the team since Div3 (later 3N) days - having played in Div1, the attraction of travelling the same distances to play Div2 chess is rather less.

There's also some talk about resurrecting the second team in 3N - but as you guys will know there's logistical challenges managing split locations, car shares, etc... as ever these things rely on a fairly small number of volunteers tokeep the show on the road.


Paul

Paul Dargan
Posts: 526
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 11:23 pm

Re: Division One 2016-17

Post by Paul Dargan » Tue May 02, 2017 2:46 pm

Jonathan Rogers wrote: Yes, you beat the odds just to be playing for survival in the final round. Good luck for next year.
Indeed - somehow we'd managed to get draw odds as well! - which even the most optimistic team members hadn't predicted...

Paul D.

David Robertson

Re: Division One 2016-17

Post by David Robertson » Tue May 02, 2017 4:12 pm

Paul Dargan wrote:I suspect that some of the core squad may be looking to take a break - having been with the team since Div3 (later 3N) days - having played in Div1, the attraction of travelling the same distances to play Div2 chess is rather less.
Understandable. Understood. But having travelled this path before, I'd advise caution. Hold together as much as you can, once the disappointment has ebbed. Guys will feel tired and flat just now; best let Nature take its course. Come the Autumn, things will look different. If, though, guys do want a break next season, you may find the break becomes a change of habit, and you'll not be able to put things back together again. That would be a loss all round. My advice? Decide nothing too soon.
Paul Dargan wrote:There's also some talk about resurrecting the second team in 3N - but as you guys will know there's logistical challenges managing split locations, car shares, etc... as ever these things rely on a fairly small number of volunteers to keep the show on the road
Split venues have been a complete disaster for my squad; ruined the 'togetherness' which motivated everyone. Nothing to be done about it, of course. Alas

LawrenceCooper
Posts: 7167
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2011 8:13 am

Re: Division One 2016-17

Post by LawrenceCooper » Tue May 02, 2017 4:55 pm

David Robertson wrote:Split venues have been a complete disaster for my squad; ruined the 'togetherness' which motivated everyone. Nothing to be done about it, of course. Alas
Especially when the distance between the two prevent movement between the two that occurred in the Hinckley/Daventry or Staverton/Daventry days. I just about managed to juggle four teams at two venues this season but with the promotion from Division Three I've reluctantly decided to drop my two teams in Division Four. At least that will free up a decent number of juniors (including girls) which should help teams with a shortage of either/both.

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