Suffolk Chess

This weekend has seen the fourth weekend of 4NCL matches, with all divisions playing at the vast Puma hotel at Hinckley Island in Leicestershire.   The four East Anglia-based teams were all in action.

Anglian Avengers 1 are in Division 2, whilst their second and third teams, as well as Iceni, all play in Division 3.

The standard of chess at the 4NCL is very high, with players allowed up to 3½ hours each to complete their games.   For obvious reasons, there's just one game each day.

Anglian Avengers 1 had a good weekend, winning both their matches.   Following Round 7 on Saturday, Division 2 was split into two, a 'promotion pool' and a 'demotion pool', each containing eight teams   AA1 crept into the promotion pool following an excellent 5½-2½ win on Saturday, and after another win, this time by 5-3, on Sunday, are currently in 5th place.

In Division 3, the 'south' and 'north' sections were combined for the first time, leading to a massive division with 49 teams from around the UK.   Going into this weekend Anglian Avengers 2 were joint leaders, but without several of their leading players, lost ground by losing both matches against higher-rated opponents.

Anglian Avengers 3 also lost both their matches.   The other team, Iceni won their first match convincingly, assisted in no small part by two default wins, and drew their second match.

So after 8 rounds, these are the positions of the local teams in Division 3:

Anglian Avengers 2 - 5th
Iceni - 16th
Anglian Avengers 3 - 31st

Individual results of Suffolk players were as follows:

David Spence (Anglian Avengers 1) - 2 wins
Ed Player (Anglian Avengers 1) - 1 win (out of 1)
Alan Merry (Anglian Avengers 1) - 1 win (out of 2)
Mark Gray (Anglian Avengers 1) - ½ out of 2
Adam Taylor (Anglian Avengers 1) - 1½ out of 2
Steve Gregory 1 win for AA1 and a loss for AA2
Phil Hopkins (Anglian Avengers 2) - 1 win (out of 2)
Mike Cook (Anglian Avengers 2) - ½ out of 2
Ian Wallis (Anglian Avengers 2) - ½ out of 2
Martin Fogg 1 loss for AA2 and a draw for AA3
Silas Peck (Anglian Avengers 3) - 2 losses
Keith Woodcock (Anglian Avengers 3) - 2 losses
Andrew Shephard (Anglian Avengers 3) - one draw (out of one)
Steve Peck (Anglian Avengers 3) - 1 loss (out of one)
John Feavyour (Iceni) - one draw (out of one)
Bob Jones (Iceni) - one draw (out of one)

The final weekend is the May Bank Holiday weekend, when three rounds are played on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, 4, 5 and 6 May.   This weekend often creates problems for team captains, as some players are unwilling to play on all three days.

Anglian Avengers 1 will probably find the going tough and may just be happy to retain their position within the Division 2 promotion pool.

Some good results for Anglian Avengers 2 could possibly see them being promoted to Division 2 next season, whilst Iceni and Anglian Avengers 3 would simply like to see their positions in Division 3 improved.

Next season, Iceni hope to be able to field a second team, and anyone graded over, say, 140 who is interested in playing, should contact John Feavyour,