With the continued success and growth of the club, it was decided to team up with some friends from Cardiff and enter an official Castell Nedd team in the 4NCL for the first time. The 4NCL is the UK’s premier team chess competition, and takes place over 5 weekends (11 rounds) spread throughout the year. We are competing in division 4, which has matches played over 6 boards, and some high quality opposition despite the division number!
The first weekend saw us travel all the way to Peterborough which meant an earlier start and a longer drive than anyone really wanted! Round 1 was a tough match against Watford A, who were slight favourites by ratings. One thing you don’t want after insufficient sleep and a 4 hour drive is a King’s Gambit, but that’s what Steve got on board 3, and he found it difficult to get into the game. Complications soon erupted and it was clear he was going to be walking a tightrope for a while with his King feeling the heat. Josh McK played a fairly equal game on 5 according to the engine, but it was not at all pleasant to play for him, and he was first to finish, with a loss. Jordan found himself up a pawn, with a nice space advantage on 6, Sam’s game was fairly equal on 1, and Matt was looking comfortable on 2. Dale had an interesting position on 4 out of the opening where he had perhaps been slightly overambitious and his opponent had some nice development for Dale’s sins. It quickly entered a worse rook ending that became defending against a passed pawn on the 7th. His opponent misplayed it, but Dale missed his one chance to grab a draw with a tactic, and lost. His young opponent quickly pointed out the miss! D’oh. Jordan polished off his opponent on 6 for a debut win, and Matt seemingly cruised to victory on 2, but by now board 3 had gone awry. Steve had done all the hard work, but by the time he had an advantage on the board he was down to 30s increments. After either missing or forgetting a win on the spot, he started chasing the white King, but he managed to run to safety, and with 20s on the clock Steve suddenly thought he was being checkmated, and blundered hard trying to get more time. Unfortunately this had the knock-on effect of Sam overpressing on 1 trying to save the match and falling to defeat. Watford were the victors, 4-2.
A trip into Peterborough for curry and drinks helped to numb the pain. Or maybe it was the cold. Then back to the warmth of the hotel for some blitz. 2am bedtime was probably not ideal, but what can you do?
Round 2 saw us rewarded with the lowest rated team in the division, so everyone was desperate to avoid embarrassing slip-ups, with very large rating advantages on every board. Josh was first to finish, again, after winning material, then “blundering” a pawn fork, but getting lucky, escaping with a fork of his own. Dale had a slight pull in his game, but not much. Jordan was slightly for choice on 6, and Sam was attacking on 1. Matt had a nice position out of the opening but this didn’t stop his much younger and lower rated opponent offering him a draw. Matt, who must have been quite happy with his position said he would not like one at the moment, thank you! Steve’s opponent went very passive, gave him the centre and a lot of time to bring his pieces to attack, before making an unfortunate pawn break in the centre, and then giving a piece, and then resigning after dropping another. By then, Dale had sneaked a win in a R+P ending, and Jordan’s opponent who played well for a while down an exchange for a pawn, ultimately fell apart. Jordan with the perfect 2-0 debut weekend! This left Matt and Sam, whose opponents were putting up more resistance. Matt’s game had become slightly more double-edged, and Sam had had to regroup after his initial attack had not borne fruit. Sam’s opponent’s King was left weak, however, and this ultimately gave Sam some tactics for the W. Matt then eventually brought home the 6-0 as his vast experience inevitably told.
A mixed weekend then, but everyone had something to be happy about and a nice reminder that the Castell Nedd Juniors don’t get to have all the fun!
