English Chess Forum

Ian Jamieson wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 10, 2018 11:41 am

All I will say is that it is just as well that no-one is in contention for a norm because I don't see how anyone could reproduce this year's pairings.

I can just about justify it on minimising floats.
In reality it saved me having to guess the results of the top two matches to balance colours over the weekend. I expect the Sunday top pairings might reflect was expected.

Well done to those battling the weather conditions yesterday to make it to Bolton results; not sure if any of the defaults were weather related

Table looking like Gonzaga can pretty much seal promotion if they beat 3Cs 2 today, who had an important draw against Bradford A yesterday, both teams well in the hunt still

31 Gonzaga - - - 3Cs 2
32 Bradford DCA Knights A - - - Cheddleton 2
33 Shropshire 1 - - - Spirit of Atticus B
34 Warwickshire Select 2 - - - Manchester Manticores 3
35 Holmes Chapel - - - Jorvik
36 Ashfield-Breadsall 1 - - - Manchester Manticores 2
37 Bradford DCA Knights B - - - 3Cs 3
38 Ashfield-Breadsall 2 - - - Castleford Roses
39 Shropshire 2 - - - Manchester Manticores 4

Advantage to those teams staying over those travelling, based on weather and traffic reports this morning

Round 9
31 Bradford DCA Knights A (11) - - Gonzaga (16)
32 3Cs 2 (13) - - - Shropshire 1 (12)
33 Cheddleton 2 (12) - - - Warwickshire Select 2 (11)
34 Spirit of Atticus B (8) - - - Holmes Chapel (10)
35 Jorvik (7) - - - Ashfield-Breadsall 1 (9)
36 Manchester Manticores 3 (8)- - - Bradford DCA Knights B (7)
37 Manchester Manticores 2 (6)- - - Enniscorthy (4)
38 Shropshire 2 (5)- - - Ashfield-Breadsall 2 (5)
39 3Cs 3 (4)- - - Bradford DCA Knights C (3)

Castleford Roses (4) and MM4 (1) are absent

Gonzaga drew, so no 100% this season as Bradford again do well at the final weekend; Shropshire won the key battle against 3Cs; Cheddleton & Warks drew too, so all to play for yet

Gonzaga (17) - - - Warwickshire Select 2 (12)
Cheddleton 2 (13) - - - Shropshire 1 (14)
Holmes Chapel (12) - - - 3Cs 2 (13)
Ashfield-Breadsall 1 (11) - - - Bradford DCA Knights A (12)

Bradford DCA Knights B - - - Spirit of Atticus B
Manchester Manticores 3 - - - Manchester Manticores 2
Ashfield-Breadsall 2 - - - Jorvik
Bradford DCA Knights C - - - Shropshire 2
Enniscorthy - - - 3Cs 3

Great result from Bradford that. Really scary number of teams that could go up from here.

Bradford win again as do Shropshire and 3Cs so between them to go up with Gonzaga

Congratulations to Gonzaga by the way and good luck in Division 2

Gonzaga v Holmes Chapel
Shropshire v AB 1
3Cs v Cheddleton
Bradford A v B

Wins for Gonzaga Cheddleton AB1 and Bradford A

Dramatic finish sees Bradford A promoted again Congratulations

Congratulations to Bradford, but farcical that there promotion place should be decided by winning a match against their B team.
Obviously all the discussion earlier in the thread regarding pairings has failed to provide a sensible framework for the league.

They did just fine with the pairings under very difficult circumstances.

I hope Bradford can make a better fist of division 2 than last time out!

Bob Clark wrote: ↑

Mon May 07, 2018 7:08 pm

Congratulations to Bradford, but farcical that there promotion place should be decided by winning a match against their B team.
Obviously all the discussion earlier in the thread regarding pairings has failed to provide a sensible framework for the league.

I echo Martin's comments above. They were the correct pairings for the final round.

As for Bradford winning a promotion place on the back of a victory over their B team that isn't correct either. The key results were the meeting of Bradford A & Ashfield-Breadsall 1 in Round 10 which Bradford won 5.5-0.5 thus giving their board average a big fillip and the Round 11 match between Shropshire 1 and Ashfield-Breadsall 1 which was lost by Shropshire 3.5-2.5. The last game in the whole round to finish was a win for AB1 thus giving them the match. Had Shropshire won or drawn they would have been promoted so I would suggest this was the decider rather than the meeting of the two Bradford teams. The board average was +2 in Bradford's favour.